portant because of the high timber values involved 
and the large quantities of timberland in various 
classes of public ownership. Its usefulness has 
been emphasized by economic developments since 
the inception of this project. The subject of forest- 
land ownership is being carefully studied by 
economists, foresters, legislators, public officials, 
and the lumber industry. The break-down in 
private forest-land ownership (22) is a cause of 
particular concern and the subject of many studies. 
Ownership statistics were taken from the best 
public records available. It is recognized that 
ownership is constantly changing and that the 
totals given for individual ownership classes 
probably fail in many cases to coincide with sta- 
tistics from other sources. Both forest land and in- 
termingled nonforest land were classified as to own- 
ership. No distinctions were attempted as to the 
ownership of large bodies of agricultural land; they 
were all arbitrarily classified as privately owned. 
As applied to forest land,the own- 
ership classification was as follows: 
Private. All privately owned forest prop- 
erty, including farm woods. 
State, available for cutting. 
State, reserved from cutting. 
County. Forest property deeded to the 
county. (Tax-delinquent land not deeded 
to the county is classified as private.) 
Municipal. Includes all municipally 
owned forest property outside the platted 
limits of municipalities. 
Indian. Includes both tribal lands and 
trust allotments. 
Revested land grant. Includes Oregon 
& California Railroad and other land 
grants that have reverted to Federal own- 
ership whether classified as timber, agri- 
cultural, or power withdrawals. GRAYS 
Federal other than national forest and 
revested land grant. 
Includes national 
parks, military reservations, unappropri- 
ated public domain and miscellaneous. 
National forest, available for cutting. 
National forest, reserved from cutting. 
National forest, State selection. 
The term “reserved from cutting” 
as applied to State or national-forest 
land denotes areas unavailable for 
cutting because of statute, proclama- 
tion, or policy. Most land so classed 
had been officially dedicated to 
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watershed protection, to recreational use, or as 
national-forest primitive areas on which primitive 
conditions are to be maintained so far as possible 
for recreational purposes. The term ‘‘available for 
cutting’? means that there was no legal or formal 
prohibition on timber cutting; it does not imply 
the presence of timber ready for cutting or, in fact, 
of any timber at all. 
National-forest areas designated as State selection 
areas are lands in the north Puget Sound unit that 
have been designated for exchange with the State 
of Washington in order to enable the State to con- 
solidate scattered land holdings. 
Other Classifications 
For convenience and facility of analysis and dis- 
cussion, the region was arbitrarily divided into 
11 units (figs. 3 and 4). So far as was practical, the 
units were compact areas homogeneous as to eco- 
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Ficure 3.—Map of western Washington showing survey units, counties, and im- 
portant drainages. 
