FOREST RESOURCES OF THE PONDEROSA PINE REGION 



Land Use 



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Nonforest Land Use 



THE total area of the ponderosa pine region is 

 65.5 million acres, of which 22.1 million 

 acres was classified as forest land by the sur- 

 vey, including 2.0 million acres classified as wood- 

 land pasture and 0.15 million acres as woodland 

 not pastured, by the 1935 census of agriculture. 

 The 1935 census designates 21.5 million acres as 

 nonforest land in farms. The remaining 21.9 mil- 

 lion acres of nonforest, nonagricultural land con- 

 sists of mountain barrens, alpine meadows, and 

 desert land. Not all is waste land, however, as the 

 mountain meadows and much of the desert land are 

 grazed in some degree. This type of land is usually 

 publicly owned and is used by neighboring stock- 

 men on a fee-permit basis. 



Approximately 8.5 million acres of the total land 

 in farms is available for crops and about 1 5 percent 

 of this area is under irrigation. The total area of 

 pasture land in farm ownership is 14.4 million 

 acres, composed of 12.4 million acres of nonwood- 

 land pasture and 2.0 million acres of woodland pas- 

 ture. In addition a very large percent of public 

 and private forest land is used for forage production. 



Water is the key element in the agricultural econ- 

 omy. Irrigation is necessary where intensive farm- 

 ing is practiced; elsewhere stock raising and dry- 

 land wheat growing are the principal agricultural 

 occupations. 



Forest Land Use 



There is no indication of any appreciable reduc- 

 tion in the forest-land area through conversion to 

 agriculture, and for all practical purposes the forest- 

 land area can be considered as stationary at 22 

 million acres. 



There has been little conversion of forest land to 

 cropland, and agriculture and forestry are in har- 

 mony in practically all parts of the region. The 

 forests are largely confined to the mountains and 

 high plateaus where topography is too rough and 

 climate too rigorous for successful agriculture. The 

 broad valleys, plains, and deserts are treeless 

 mostly because precipitation is inadequate for tree 

 growth. 



A significant feature of the forest situation is the 

 extent of multiple forest land use. Timber produc- 

 tion, forage production, watershed protection, 

 recreation, and wildlife support are all important 

 uses of forest land and all or nearly all are practiced 

 simultaneously over large areas. Seldom is it neces- 

 sary to restrict any extensive area to only one of 

 these uses. 



Timber Production 



Approximately 16.2 million acres or 73.2 percent 

 of the region's forest land was classified as poten- 

 tially productive of conifers on a commercial basis. 

 An additional 40.000 acres of hardwood land has 

 some slight value for timber production. Two mil- 

 lion acres of lodgepole pine land classified as non- 

 commercial yields occasional timber products. 



The withdrawal of public forest land for recre- 

 ation and other uses has made little reduction in 

 the area available for commercial timber produc- 

 tion. Most of the reserved lands are at the higher 

 elevations where the forest cover is either non- 

 commercial or low in merchantable value. Cutting 

 of timber is prohibited on about 900,000 acres. 

 There is little likelihood of extensive future with- 

 drawals as the land preeminently suitable for 

 recreation or protection is almost invariably non- 

 commercial. 



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