contribution does not always afford a stable source 
of revenue for local government. National-forest 
receipts, chiefly from timber sales, may fluctuate 
greatly from year to year. Moreover, there are 
other disadvantages: use of Federal contributions 
is limited to support of roads and schools, and 
the method of apportioning the funds to counties 
—on an acreage basis—is not always equitable. 
In recent years a number of bills have been in- 
troduced in Congress to stabilize Federal contribu- 
tions and to afford a more satisfactory method of 
apportionment. In general, the Forest Service 
favors annual payment of an equitable percentage 
of fair value of the land—probably about three- 
fourths of 1 percent—with no restrictions on how 
the money is spent. 
Private Ownership Is Widely Divided 
The ownership pattern of the 345 million acres 
of private commercial forest is largely the result 
of national land policies which, from the beginning, 
favored small-scale, fee-simple ownership of the 
bulk of the lands. From this stems much of the 
prodigal use and waste of forests. In some re- 
spects it enhances forestry opportunities, but in 
others greatly complicates the job of getting good 
forestry practiced. 5 
Because of the variety and number of owners, 
private forestry lacks a concerted policy. Its aims 
are varied, as individualistic as several million 
owners, each with his own purposes or lack of them 
in land ownership and management, and each with 
his own particular advantages or handicaps in 
practicing forestry. 
Perhaps the most significant fact about private 
ownership is that 76 percent of the private com- 
mercial forest is in more than 4 million small prop- 
erties averaging only 62 acres (fig. 30). Only 
3,600 owners hold the other 24 percent in medium 
and large properties. Even in the West more than 
half is in small holdings. In the North and South 
84 and 73 percent, respectively, is in this category. 
Farms include 40 percent (139 million acres) of 
the private commercial forest, as shown in figure 
31 and the following tabulation. 
About 125 million acres is in other small hold- 
ings. Of this, lumber manufacturers own 10 mil- 
lion acres, pulp companies another half million. 
But the great bulk is held by a variety of mainly 
absentee owners. 
Wood-using industries, directly dependent on 
timberlands for their raw material, own a surpris- 
Forests and National Prosperity 
ingly small part of the private commercial forest. 
Lumber manufacturers own some 37 million acres 
or 11 percent, about three-fourths in medium and 
large holdings. Nearly 45 percent of lumber-com- 
pany lands are in the South, about 40 percent in 
the West. 
Pulp manufacturers own about 14.5 million acres 
or 4 percent, nearly all in medium and large hold- 
ings. More than 95 percent is in the East. 
Some 43 million acres—about half of all medium 
and large holdings—are owned by a great variety 
of individuals and companies other than lumber 
and pulp manufacturers. 
Private commercial 
forest land 
Million 
acres Percent 
Ownership class: 
Small holdings (5,000 acres or less): 
APU ee avseias Satttnerss Secstesi rece tesserae * 136 40 
OUR Er erie aerate tee artes 7125 35 
Dota eee nectsasiiieartteres sta 261 76 
Medium and large holdings 
(more than 5,000 acres): 
Lumber company ....0........0..0.ccccccecseeee 27 8 
Pulprcompanys tie)! een eee 14 4 
Other (eee ee eae 43 12 
Ota SR ae Sere ees teen es oe 84 24 
VANTVGS Tel Vick Ce Set ease eae ee i eect 345 100 
1 Total acreage on farms is 139 million acres, 3 million in 
holdings larger than 5,000 acres. 
?Includes 10 million acres of lumber-company holdings; 
about 0.5 million of pulp-company lands. 
FicurE 30.—Ownership of the 345 million acres of private 
commercial forest land, by size of holding. 
93 
