tice on private lands. Although the movement is gain- 

 ing ground, the number of owners adequately carrying 

 out the tree-farm plan is still relatively small. 



FOREST OWNERSHIP 



9. Who owns our forests? 



Of the Nation's 630 million acres of forest land, 196 

 million acres are in public ownership — community, 

 State, and Federal — and 434 million acres are in private 

 ownership. Of the commercial forest land — land capa- 

 ble of growing commercial timber crops and available 

 for this purpose — approximately 120 million acres are 

 in public ownership and 341 million acres in private 

 ownership. 



A major portion of the publicly owned forest land is 

 in national forests administered by the United States 

 Forest Service. On these lands scientific forestry is 

 being applied and the forests are being managed for 

 what foresters call sustained yield — that is, continuous 

 production at a high level. Similar management is 

 being applied to many of the forest lands in other Fed- 

 eral and State ownerships. 



Publicly owned forest land, however, comprises only 

 about one-fourth of the total commercial forest acreage. 

 Generally, the most accessible, easily logged, and most 

 productive forest lands are in private ownership. 



About 40 percent of private forest lands is in farm 

 ownership ; another 40 percent is in small nonf arm hold- 

 ings; and 20 percent is in industrial or other large 

 holdings (5.000 acres or more) . 



Private lands include possibly 90 percent of the 

 potential timber-growing capacity of the entire 

 country. They furnish about 90 percent of the 

 present cut of all forest products. 



It is evident, therefore, that the Nation is primarily 

 dependent upon private lands for its timber supplies. 

 The public has a vital interest in the proper manage- 



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