Cnapter 19 



CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF 

 AMERICAN FORESTS 



No country in the world has been endowed with such a 

 wealth, in quality and quantity, of forest tree growth as has the 

 United States. Originally possessed of a forest area greater than 

 any other country except Russia, we have a far greater diversity 

 of tree species than that country, with a resultant variety of 

 forest industries. This natural resource is all the more important 

 because it is renewable when properly cared for, so that it actually 

 is a case of being able to "eat one's pie, and have it, too" ! 



When the first white settlers landed on the New England coast 

 they found a forest which stretched unbroken across the Appa- 

 lachian mountains to beyond the Mississippi river. Similarly a 

 great belt of forest growth was found to exist along the Pacific 

 coast and in the Rocky mountains. The forests of the eastern 

 states are made up of both coniferous and deciduous trees, with 

 deciduous forest predominating; while those of the west are 

 almost entirely coniferous. The broad expanse of land between 

 these forest areas is occupied by grasses which form the Great 

 Plains, an area of scanty rainfall in which tree growth does not 

 survive in competition with the grasses. 



Extent of United States Forests 



The Eastern Forest is commonly divided into five regions: 

 the New England, the Middle Atlantic, the Lake States, the 

 Central States and the Southeastern regions (fig. 228). 



The Nevv^ England forest region includes the five New 

 England states, and is composed in the north of spruce-fir forests 

 with some hardwoods, and in the south of a predominantiy 

 hardwood forest in which birch, beech, maple, and hemlock 



331 



