Summary: 75 Years (1911-85) of National Forest 

 Establishment and Management 



The era of large acquisitions 

 of forest land for the national 

 forests is over. Since 1 940, 

 about 1,709,000 acres have 

 been added to the national 

 forests in the 12 States 

 included in this study. 



Timber stands in the 33 

 proclaimed national forests 

 are representative of nearly 

 every forest type in the 

 region. Except for a nucleus 

 of reserved public domain 

 lands in Alabama, Arkansas, 

 and Florida, most of the 

 lands had been cut over. 

 Practically all the lands had 

 suffered from repetitive 

 wildfires, and most were 

 nonstocked or 

 understocked at time of 

 acquisition. Site quality for 

 timber production was 

 relatively low, particularly in 

 the national forests of 

 Appalachia and the 

 Piedmont. Yet these lands 

 now support a softwood 

 (mostly pine) and hardwood 

 inventory of 16.5 billion 

 cubic feet. Current growth 

 rates are estimated to 

 average 57 cubic feet per 

 acre per year. 



Since 1923, 34.8 billion 

 board feet of timber have 

 been harvested from these 



national forests. Over $1.1 

 billion has been paid into 

 the Treasury of the United 

 States for that timber. 



Over 2 million acres have 

 been regenerated to 

 timber-producing species, 

 mostly pine, by planting 

 and seeding. Approximately 

 90,000 acres of commercial 

 forest land are regenerated 

 each year by natural and 

 artificial methods. 

 Genetically improved seed 

 and planting stock are 

 used on all artificially 

 regenerated pine sites. As 

 the Southern Region's 

 tree-improvement program 

 advances into its 

 second-generation 

 orchards, volume growth in 

 the new pine plantations is 

 expected to increase 25 to 

 30 percent. 



Debate continues on the 

 issue of even-aged versus 

 uneven-aged silvicultural 

 systems and the 

 regeneration cutting 

 methods associated with 

 the respective systems, 

 particularly in the hardwood 

 types. Even with the 

 extensive use of clearcutting 

 for regenerating both pine 

 and hardwood stands, the 



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