6 CIRCULAR 661, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
statistics in terms of local conditions and to provide a sounder basis 
for programs adapted to varying conditions of site, population, and 
social and economic needs. 
GEOGRAPHIC BELTS AND ECONOMIC DISTRICTS 
Broadly speaking, as regards farm woodlands, the Lake States 
may be divided into 3 large areas: (1) The western prairie belt, 
(2) the southern woodland belt, and (3) the northern forest belt. 
Within the three broad geographic belts may be recognized 10 dis- 
tricts having distinctive farm-woods economic problems (fig. DS LO 
some extent determined by the character of the region’s original 
forests (fig. 2). Farm-land and farm-woodland areas and farm- 
timber volumes of these 3 belts and the districts they comprise are 
given in tables 1 and 2. The distinctive characteristics of the 3 belts 
are reviewed briefly in the following paragraphs, as a preliminary 
to the analysis of the farm-forestry problem. 
TaBLE 1.—Farm-land and commercial forest-land areas of the Lake States, by 
geographic belt and economic district 
5 a 4a wD = 
= a I ES a aS. Ba 
Ss s oR Ss sy OR 
2 S st gon Sai ao 
Ss n q g & om 5 on eS 5 oA 5 
Geographic belt and economic se} q Sie 3 S24 Srtiet aS 
district | i o& 2 LE wn a a 
= x &0 eS SoU SS 
— — fas) = mH Oo iS Ss MK 
& Seales & ggae fe |8s 
3 S > ° ofoB o8 Ba 
a al < a a .@) ice 
1,000 | Num- 1,000 | Per-| 1,000 | Per-| 1,000 | Per-| Per- 
acres ber Acres| acres | cent| acres | cent| acres | cent | cent 
Western prairie, Minn_-____________- 20, 852 | 91, 363 203 |18,552 | 89 | 1,563 7 881 56 5 
Southern woodland belt: 
Mississippi Valley, Minn_______ 11, 356 | 74, 885 133 | 9, 967 88 | 2, 240 20 | 1,904 85 19 
Southwestern woodland, Wis___| 7,351 | 48, 543 140 | 6,812 93 | 2, 560 35 | 2,076 81 30 
CentralpineysWiste= se ee 1, 244 | 435050) 128) 19555225) 16) 22970.) 4s (4a D 32 
Southeastern industrial, Wis____| 7,849 | 69, 256 104 | 7,198 92 | 1,066 14 883 83 12 
Southern woodland, Mich_______ 15, 055 142, 110 89 |12, 655 84 | 2, 257 15 | 1, 566 69 12 
Total and average____________- 48, 855 |377, 944 112 |42, 149 86 |11, 093 23 | 8,173 74 19 
Northern forest belt: 
Northeastern forest, Minn_-____- 18, 818 | 37, 054 116 | 4, 299 23 |13, 441 71 | 1,947 14 45 
INOTEbEWOOdS ss WiSeenns 12, 683 | 38, 928 101 | 3,932} 31 | 9,876} 78] 1,809 18 46 
Upper Peninsula, Mich_________ 10, 571 | 16, 081 90 | 1,450 14 | 9,076 86 663 il 46 
Northern pine-hardwood, Mich_| 10, 774 | 38, 326 114 | 4,355 40 | 7,346 | 68 | 1, 587 22 36 
Motalvand averages. 29255 220 Se0 52, 846 1130, 389 108 |14, 036 27 |39, 739 75 | 6, 006 15 43 
AN GISthIiCtS Ee === ae ee eee 122, 553, 599, 696 125 |74, 737 | 61 |52,395 | 43 |15,060 | 29 20 
1 From Forest Survey. 
2 As given in 1935 Census of Agriculture except that 651,000 acres of brush prairie in western Minnesota 
have been omitted. 
WESTERN Prairie BELT 
The western prairie belt (fig. 1) is confined to southwestern and 
western Minnesota and has an extent of some 21 million acres, or 
about two-fifths of the State’s total land area. It is a region of 
sparse natural woods and planted shelterbelts. Its naturally wooded 
areas comprise some 1.5 million acres, of which 56 percent is on 
farms. Along stream courses the natural farm woods consist of 
elm and other lowland hardwoods. Along the eastern boundary of 
