TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



33 



New Cny/and _ 



Middle Atlantic- 



Lake. 



Central- . 



South At/antic and 

 Last Gulf... 



Lower Mississippi 

 Rocky Mountain. .... 



Patifit Coast- - 



100 



200 



300 



400 



700 



800 



500 600 



BILLION BOARD 



FIG. 5. Stand of saw timber in the United States by regions. 



300 



1000 



1100 



IZOO 



feet, or less than 3 per cent of the total. (See Table 6 and 

 fig 6.) 



The exhaustion of the eastern forests and the steady progress 

 of the lumber industry toward the West is well indicated by 

 the location of the remaining stands of sawtimber. Thus, New 

 England, the Middle Atlantic, Central, and Lake States, with 

 35 per cent of the total forest area, contain only 349 billion 

 board feet, or 16 per cent of the total ; while the Pacific Coast 

 States, with only 13 per cent of the forest area, contain 1,141 

 billion board feet, or nearly 52 per cent of the total. (See 

 fig 7.) Between these two extremes come the South At- 

 lantic, East Gulf, and Lower Mississippi States, with 39 per 

 cent of the forest area and 23 per cent of the suwtimber; and 

 the Rocky Mountain States, with 13 per cent of the forest 

 area and 10 per cent of the sawtimber. Altogether, 61 per 

 cent of the present stand of sawtimber lies west of the Great 

 Plains. 



In other words, the depletion of our eastern forest resources 

 has now reached the point where the softwood stands in the 

 Northern and Central States can no longer contribute any large 

 proportion of the total softwood lumber consumption of the 

 country, where the Southern States are losing the command- 

 ing position that they have held for the last 20 or 30 years, 

 and where the one great reservoir of softwood timber still left 

 lies on the Pacific coast, chiefly in the Pacific Northwest. 

 Douglas fir, with an estimated total stand of 596 billion board 

 feet, approximately 85 per cent of which is in the two States 

 of Washington and Oregon, is the principal species in the West. 

 (See Table 7 and fig. 8.) Western yellow pine is a fair 

 second, with a total stand of 250 billion board feet, 27 per cent 

 of which is in the Rocky Mountains and 73 per cent on the 

 Pacific coast. Following these two species, which together com- 



prise nearly half of the softwood sawtimber in the entire coun- 

 try, come western hemlock, the true firs, and redwood, with 

 stands of 95, 91, and 72 billion board feet, respectively. 



TABLE 6. Ownership of forest area ana stand of sawtimber 

 in the United States 'by regions. 



AREA. 



STAND. 



1 Not indicated because of lack of data. 



In the East the only softwood with a stand comparable to 

 any of these is southern yellow pine, with a total of 258 billion 

 board feet, or slightly more than western yellow pine. (See 

 Table 7 and fig 8.) Spruce and fir come next, with a stand 



Eastern US. 



Rocky Mountains 



Pacific Coast 



50 



100 



ISO ZOO 



AREA MILLION ACRES 



Z50 



300 



350 



STAND -BILLION Bd.Ft. 



National Forest ED Farm Wood lots in Eastern U.S. 

 H Other Public (Not esi -' mated for Astern U.S.) 



D Other Private 



FIG. 6. Ownership of forest area and stand of saw timber in the United States by regions. 



18621220 5 



