Can Production Be Increased 



A large amount of the privately owned commercial forest is still at a 

 formative stage and can be manipulated to greatly increase future timber pro- 

 duction. Production could also be increased through improved utilization of 

 timber harvested. 



Timber production will be a major and probably a primary use of the land 

 for 25 percent of the commercial timberlands in Working Circle 3. The outlook 

 for timber production on the remaining two-thirds owned by non-industrial pri- 

 vate landowners is unclear. Getting the non-industrial private forest owner 

 to use intensive timber management practices is difficult. It remains to be 

 seen how well that challenge will be met. 



Sil vicultural treatment opportunities exist that could dramatically in- 

 crease the growth rates and thereby increase future timber supplies from state 

 and private timberlands. The extent to which these opportunities are real- 

 ized, beginning immediately, will determine the amount of timber available for 

 harvest in the future. 



The future supply of timber from private lands will depend, to a large 

 extent, on the intensity of forest management applied now and in the future. 

 A large amount of the privately owned commercial forest is still in a formative 

 stage and can be manipulated to greatly increase future timber production. 

 An estimated 68 percent of the commercial timberland (748,100 acres) offered 

 silvicultural treatment opportunities which have the potential to increase 

 timber yields from these acres. Table 79 in Appendix 3 shows there were 

 105.8 million cull trees (20 percent of all live trees greater than or equal to 

 1.0 inches d.b.h.) existing on commercial timberland. Cull trees do not 

 provide useable growth or volume to the standing inventory. They do, 

 however, occupy space that could be used by growing stock trees. Table 66 

 in Appendix 3 displays average breast height age by diameter class for 

 various site classes and species groups. Both the average age and the range 

 of ages indicate there are many non-vigorous growing stock trees. These 

 same tables also raise a concern for the genetic quality of the existing trees 

 to produce fast growing seedlings for future crops of timber. 



The large amount of silvicultural treatment opportunities, the existence 

 of non-vigorous trees of excessive age scattered throughout the forest, and 

 the large numbers of cull trees are some of the factors which contributed to 

 the modest average net growth of 32 cubic feet per acre per year. 



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