Forest Land 
Ss 
For three centuries the American people have 
been hewing an empire from a heavily wooded 
land. Both the amount of standing timber and 
the forest area have been reduced. But two-thirds 
of the original forest land remains, which is plenty, 
if properly used, eventually to furnish again all the 
forest wealth that a prosperous Nation needs. 
This remaining forest land—624 million acres— 
adds up to one-third of the continental United 
States, exclusive of Alaska. This is as big an area 
as all the States east of the Mississippi River with 
Kansas and Louisiana thrown in. Forest acreage 
exceeds the total farm cropland by nearly one-fifth 
(fig. 1). It is larger than that of the open lands 
used for pasturage and range. 
Mostly today’s forest land is that which has 
escaped the plow: forest land undeveloped for 
other uses because of roughness, stoniness, poor 
soils, aridity, short growing season, or other unfav- 
FOREST 
LAND 
di | 
\ 
and Its Uses 
Ke 
orable circumstances. It also includes worn-out 
or low-grade land that at one time or another has 
been farmed. 
The great shrinkage in forest land that began 
with early settlement is largely the result of clearing 
for crops and pasture. The major competitor of 
forestry for use of land has always been crop agri- 
culture, and therefore most of the reduction. in 
forest acreage has been in the humid agricultural 
territory east of the Plains. 
The total forest-land acreage probably will not 
change much from the present 624 million. It may 
even increase. Urban developments, and construc- 
tion of highways and other facilities, are not likely 
to make significant reductions. Some of the bet- 
ter-grade lands, particularly in the East and on 
the Pacific Coast, will be cleared for agriculture. 
On the other hand, many millions of acres of the 
poorer cropland doubtless will revert to forest use. 
CLASSES OF LAND 
Million acres 
FOREST LAND 
Gommercial== 2322 = $e s tee Seal 
Noncommercial 
OTHER: FARMSTEADS, ROADS 
URBAN, WASTE, ETC 
TOTAL LAND AREA 
FicureE 1.—Land area of continental United States (excluding Alaska) by major economic uses. 
Forests and National Prosperity 
13 
