National Forest Resources of Utah 



9 



national forests of the State. Note, for example, the importance of 

 lodgepole pine in such a forest as the Ashley and its entire absence in 

 the greater number of forests; the importance of western yellow pine 

 and pinon-juniper woodland in the forests of southern Utah; the 

 large areas of aspen in those in the central part of the State; and 

 especially the large areas of brush and grassland scattered very gen- 

 erally throughout all these forests. A study of this diagram gives a 

 clear-cut idea of both the actual composition of the national forests 

 of Utah and the geographic distribution of the various types of 

 vegetation. 



NATIONAL FOREST RESOURCES 



TIMBER 



EXTENT AND LOCATION 



Timber re- 

 sources of Utah 

 Are Relatively 

 Small. 



Although Utah has 5,452 million board feet of timber which could 

 be cut from trees over 12 inches in diameter 4J^ feet from the ground, 

 the amount is decidedly low in comparison with that 

 in the surrounding States with the exception of 

 Nevada. Figure 

 7 shows more spe- 

 cially how the na- 

 tional forests of this State compare 

 with those of other States in re- 

 gard to timber resources. 1 



In addition to trees now of saw- 

 timber size, it is estimated # that 

 there is in the national forests of 

 Utah 2,316 million board feet of 

 smaller material in trees 4 to 12 

 inches in diameter 43^ feet from 

 the ground. As much of this is up- 

 on old burned areas in the lodge- 

 pole-pine region of the Uinta 

 Mountains or upon the heavily 

 cut-over areas in the mountains, 

 it has considerable significance for 

 the future; the area producing 

 timber in the mountains of Utah 

 will increase notably, and the 

 amount of immature material which will ultimately become mer- 

 chantable assures the State an even greater production of timber 

 than it has at the present time. 



There are four main evergreen species of commercial value for saw 

 timber in Utah — western yellow pine, Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, 

 and lodgepole pine. Stands of these species are scattered very 

 unevenly over Utah forests; Figure 8 shows the relative proportion 

 in each forest. 



Fig. 7. — Map of western United States showing rel- 

 ative stands of national forest saw timber in differ- 

 ent States. Black circles indicate stands of na- 

 tional forest timber; figures, billions of feet of 

 timber 



• The timber resources of Utah have been computed as including the stands on the Utah portion of the 

 Cache National Forest, the total stands of the three national forests having relatively small areas extending 

 into adjoining States, and excluding the stands on the Minindoka National Forest. 



100264°— 26- 



