Forest Resources oj the Pacific Northwest 



25 



torn, which has more than doubled in rehitive im- 

 portance. Each of the seven rectangles is now sub- 

 divided into five types, arranged in the order already 

 stated, from left to right. The areas of the small rec- 

 tangles are agam entered in millions of acres. 



Nearly half of the forest land bears merchantable 

 timber, over a quarter bears second growth tunber 

 which will become merchantable later on, less than a 

 tenth of the land is unstocked and more than a tenth is 

 definitely and permanently noncommercial in character; 

 the hardwood land is negligible. But these proportions 

 apply to the Region as a whole without being reflected 

 in any of the subdivisions. Only in Oregon does 

 mature saw tunber predominate. Montana and Idaho 

 have more than their share of second growth, while 

 more than half of the unstocked land is concentrated 

 in the two subdivisions that compose the fir region. 

 The largest proportions of noncommercial land are 

 found in Montana and Idaho, while the small area of 

 hartlwoods is entirely west of the Cascades. 



The Volume of Timber in the Region 



On this forest land stand over 900 billion board feet of 

 tunber (lumber tally)- of many different species. 

 Douglas fir is by far the most important species from 

 the standpoint of volume, nearly half of the timber 

 being of tliis species. Ponderosa pine, the basis for 

 the lumber industry of eastern Oregon and Washington, 

 is a poor second with about 15 percent of the total. 

 But a fraction of a percent behind it comes hemlock, 

 which has always been considered, somewhat unjustly, 

 as inferior for lumber manufacture, but which is unques- 

 tionably an excellent pulpwood (pulpwood being the 

 raw material from which wood pidp is manufactured). 

 Grouped together under the heading "pulpwood 

 species" are a number of species of fir, etc., which are 

 of value chiefly as pulpwood, but tliis classification has 

 been used only m the case of the region west of the 

 Cascades where there is a thriving wood-pulp industry; 

 these species account for some 6 percent of the total. 

 The valuable Idaho white pine is almost insignificant 

 in its volume, being only 2.5 percent. Classed as 

 "miscellaneous" are a great number of species, many of 

 which have little commercial value, except possibly 

 for local use. 



Nearly half of the timber is ui the State of Oregon, 

 and over two-thirds of it is in the Douglas fir region of 

 Oregon and Washington. These proportions are widely 

 difl"erent from those of forested area already .shown in 

 figure 1, and these dift'erences reflect the fact that the 

 stands per acre are far greater in the western subdivi- 

 sions. Washington has about a third of the tunber; 



* Volumes of staD(Jing timber are commonly cited In l)o:ir(i feet, log scale, while 

 luml>er production .statistics are in board feet, lumber tally. The two units of meas- 

 ure dilTer by from 10 iwrcent to 30 percent, depending on species and size. For sim- 

 plicity, all figures in this report are od a lumber tally basis. 



Idaho, about a tenth; while Montana has only 6 percent, 

 most of it west of the Continental Divide. 



These interrelations can be more readily grasped, 

 however, by an inspection of figure 4, which is similar 

 to figures 2 and 3 in its construction. The major 

 square now represents the 935 billion feet of timber in 

 the entire Region, the horizontal lines divide this volimie 

 in proportion to its distribution between the regional 

 subdivisions, while the interior rectangles show, by 

 their hatchings, the proportions of the different species. 

 The predominance of the Douglas fir and its concentra- 

 tion in western Oregon and Washington are obvious at a 

 glance, as well as its association with hemlock and other 

 pulp species. Western Washington, however, has a 

 much greater proportion of the pulpwood and less of the 

 Douglas fir, due in part to heavy cutting of the latter. 

 The bulk of the ponderosa pine is in eastern Oregon, 

 where it makes up over three quarters of the entire 

 stand. Idaho white pine is concentrated in Idaho 

 (actually m the northern part of this vState), but is a 

 very small part of the stand. The "miscellaneous 

 species" of low value account for about half of the 

 tunber in western Montana, and 90 percent in eastern 

 Montana. 



TYPES OF FOREST LAND 



IN 

 COLUMBIA BASIN STATES 



EASTERN 

 WASHINGTON 



WESTERN 

 WASHINGTON 



1 1 1 1 1 1 1 T^ 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 60 90 100 



PERCENTAGE OF SUBDIVISION'S FOREST LAND AREA 



^^SAWTIMBER 

 KXXX] SECOND GROWTH 



HARDWOOD 

 NONCOMMERCIAL 



^^^ UNSTOCKED CUTOVER 

 OR BURN 



AREA OF SQUARE REPRESENTS FOREST LAND OF REGION 

 OR 95 MILLION ACRES 



AREAS OF RECTANGLES REPRESENT AREAS OF FOREST 

 TYPES ACCORDING TO ABOVE LEGEND 



NUMERALS ARE 



AREAS IN MILLIONS OF ACRES 



50859—38- 



