it does not follow that forest land necessarily means 

 productive timberland. Of some 630 million acres of 

 forest land in the United States, approximately 16S 

 million acres is of noncommercial types — that is, al- 

 pine, semidesert, chaparral or other forest land types 

 not suited or not available for growing timber of com- 

 mercial quality or quantity, although much of it is 

 valuable for watershed protection, grazing, wildlife, 

 or other purposes. Of the 462 million acres of com- 

 mercial forest land, some 77 million acres is virtually 

 nonproductive as a result of destructive cutting and 

 fire. Of the remaining area all but about 100 million 

 acres has been cut over^ and a large part of this cut-over 

 land is now producing at only a fraction of its potential 

 capacity. 



The amount of usable wood that can be supplied an- 

 nually does not depend upon the acreage and character 

 of the land alone. It depends fully as much on the 

 character of the growing stock, i. e., the number of re- 

 maining trees large enough and of the proper kinds 

 to produce good sawlogs, piling, pulpwood, etc., in a 

 short time. Therefore, our growing stock, or forest 

 "capital," must be maintained if it is to yield regular 

 "interest" in the form of usable products. 



We cannot continue indefinitely to allow this forest 

 capital upon which future growth of useful timber de- 

 pends to melt away. Not only must adequate new 

 growth be assured on areas cut over, but thrifty young 

 trees up to and including the sizes of good quality saw 

 timber must be retained as growing stock. The decline 

 in productive growing stock is most notable in the East 

 and South, where thrifty young stands are being cut in- 

 discriminately. Throughout the East, which contains 

 three-fourths of the Nation's commercial forest area, 

 forest growing stocks are generally below the level 

 needed to sustain the current rate of cutting. War de- 

 mands for forest products have accelerated the needless 

 destruction of rapidly growing young timber through- 

 out the country. 



