About 70 percent of the sawtimber volume is on 

 publicly owned lands. The table below shows the output of 

 timber products by ownership classes: 



(TABLE) 



Wood products are essential to our economy and 

 standard of living. Because demands for other uses of 

 forest land will prohibit expanding the area available 

 for wood production, land devoted to growing forests for 

 wood products must produce more efficiently to meet future 

 needs . 



Douglas-fir and western larch are Montana's most 

 important species, with most growing in western Montana. 

 Lodgepole pine, fast becoming an important timber 

 species, is the principal lumber producing tree in the 

 mountains of Montana east of the Continental Divide. 



(TABLE) 



Great opportunity exists for expanding the timber 

 industry in Montana. However, it must be emphasized that 

 this opportunity for expanding the cut is in types of 

 wood only lightly used at present. That is, Douglas-fir, 

 larch, and ponderosa pine are presently being cut above 

 the allowable annual cut, while lodgepole pine and spruce 



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