Increasing Timber Productivity on the National Forests 
John E. Alcock (1) 
| want to thank Dr. Bowen, Jack Warren, and the 
Forest Farmers Association, and all the sponsors for 
hosting this conference. It can be an important mile- 
stone in forestry in the South. 
It is a privilege for me to represent the men and 
women who manage the national forests in the 
South. Most of you who are familiar with the history 
of these forests know that they were not the most 
productive forest lands in the South before they 
were acquired for national forest purposes. 
Yet, thanks to the efforts of many Forest Service 
people and our cooperators over the years, their 
productivity has greatly improved. In 1930 the in- 
come from the national forests in the South was 
about $950,000, mostly from timber. In fiscal year 
1986, income from timber alone exceeded $96 mil- 
lion, and the productivity of these lands for other 
resources has also increased dramatically. Our wa- 
tersheds are in good condition, wildlife and fisheries 
populations are generally excellent, and over 27 
million people used the national forests in the South 
for recreation last year. 
It took a lot of teamwork to get where we are 
today. If | stray momentarily into State and Private 
Forestry programs or into Research, it is because 
the combined efforts of all these folks were needed 
to increase our productivity 
over the years. And the same will be true in the 
future. 
There are many opportunities to increase na- 
tional forest timber harvest while meeting our other 
multiple-use objectives. These opportunities are 
partially spelled out in the 17 land management 
plans that have been recently completed for each 
national forest in the South as required by the Na- 
tional Forest Management Act. These plans will 
guide our management of the national forests over 
the next 10 to 15 years. 
Let us briefly look at the land base we are work- 
ing with. There are 12 1/2 million acres of national 
forest land in the 13-State Southern Region. Of that, 
8,750,000 acres, or 70 percent, are classified "suit- 
able" for sustained-yield timber production. Of the 
Suitable acres, 38 percent are pine sites, 17 percent 
(1) John E. Alcock is Regional Forester, Southern Region, 
USDA Forest Service. 
are mixed pine and hardwoods, and 45 percent are 
hardwood sites. 
About 3 million acres of national forest land are 
Classified as "unsuitable" for timber production. 
These lands include: 
e@ Lands allocated to other uses that preclude 
sustained-yield timber production--for example, 
wilderness (614,000 acres in 69 areas totaling 5 
percent of national forest land), National Recre- 
ation Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, developed 
recreation sites, and administrative sites. 
@ Lands where our resource protection require- 
ments under the National Forest Management 
Act cannot be met. For example, areas where 
we have highly erodible soils. 
e And, lands that are understocked, or lands so 
low in productivity that they are not economic 
for timber production at this time. This category 
includes lands not needed to meet demand 
over the next 10 to 15 years. Approximately 
725,000 acres fall into this designation. They 
are primarily low-quality hardwood stands in 
steep or isolated conditions. 
These lands in our mountain forests offer some 
interesting potential. They are currently uneconomi- 
cal because they are either difficult to access, too 
fragile or steep to log, poorly stocked, or a combina- 
tion of these factors. However, if the right markets 
and demands should develop, these lands could be 
brought into the "suitable" land base and made 
available for timber management. If the small round- 
wood market improved or if, for example, local mills 
expanded or new mills were established, growing 
and harvesting timber on these lands could become 
economical. 
Most of the lands acquired for national forest 
purposes in the South were cutover timberland or 
depleted farmland. Our reforestation and timber- 
stand improvement efforts prior to the 1960's aimed 
at improving understocked or poorly stocked 
stands. We concentrated on producing a better tree 
and a better forest. These successful results are 
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