72 



TIMBER TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES 



The growth projection analysis described in a 

 later section indicated that if this projected cut of 

 sawtimber were removed from the Nation's forests 

 in future years, the size of timber available for 

 cutting would steadily decrease. Under these 

 circumstances it was concluded that more of the 

 cut of pulpwood would be shifted to smaller sizes 

 of trees than was the case in 1962. The projected 

 cut of sawtimber was therefore adjusted downward 

 to 81 billion board feet in 2000, and by somewhat 

 lesser amounts in 1980 and 1990 (table 48). It was 

 also concluded that recovery of lumber and ply- 

 wood per cubic foot of logs would decline in the 

 future with smaller tree diameters, particularly^ in 

 the last decade of this century, although this would 

 be offset in part by expected improvements in 

 technology in the forest industries. Both factors 

 of changing tree size and improved technology are 

 reflected in the estimate of 21.6 billion cubic feet 

 of gi'owing stock cut in 2000 associated with the 

 projected cut of 81 billion board feet of sawtimber. 



Logging Residues Composed 12 

 Percent of Timber Cut in 1962 



Logging residues from gi'owing stock amounted 

 to an estimated 1.2 billion cubic feet in 1962, 

 including 2.8 billion board feet from the saw- 

 timber inventory (table 48). These logging resi- 

 dues, representing about 12 percent of the total 

 timber cut, consisted mainly of trees or sections of 

 trees that were included in inventory statistics but 

 were not utilized after the timber was logged. In 

 addition, considerable volumes of gi-owing stock 

 have been lost in stand improvement and land 

 clearing operations, including losses of timber on 

 areas converted to agricultural, residential, and 

 recreational uses. 



In deriving projections of timber cut, propor- 

 tions of logging residues have been decreased only 



Table 49. — Timber cut in the United States, by species, 1962 





Growing stock 



Sawtimber 



Species 



Volume 

 cut 



Percent of 

 total cut 



Volume 

 cut 



Percent of 

 total cut 



Eastern softwoods: 



Southern pines _ . _ 



Million cubic 

 feet 



2,460 



138 



210 



64 



180 



Percent 



24.2 



1.4 



2.1 



.6 



1.8 



Million board 

 feet 

 8,220 

 539 

 628 

 265 

 635 



Percent 



17.0 



White and red pines 



1.1 



Spruce and fir _ . ._ 



1.3 



Cypress . . _ _ 



.5 



Other.. .. -. . . 



1.3 







Total ... .... 



3,052 



30.1 



10,287 



21.2 







Western softwoods: 



Douglas-fir ... ... .. 



2,012 

 605 

 134 

 422 

 405 

 171 

 96 

 294 



19.8 

 6.0 

 1.3 

 4.2 

 4.0 

 1.7 

 .9 

 2.9 



13,215 

 3,644 



829 

 2,774 

 2,546 

 1,068 



579 

 1,806 



27.3 



Ponderosa and Jeffrey pine . . ... 



7.5 



Western white and sugar pine ... 



1.7 



Western hemlock . . 



5.7 



True firs . . . . 



5.3 



Redwood 



2.2 



Spruce. . _ 



1.2 



Other 



3.8 







Total 



4,139 



40.8 



26,461 



54.7 







Total softwoods. 



7,191 



70.9 



36,748 



75.9 







Hardwoods: 



Sele'ct oaks ... 



527 

 672 

 141 



59 

 130 

 290 



95 

 133 

 910 



5.2 

 6.6 

 1.4 



.6 

 1.3 

 2.8 



.9 

 1.3 

 9.0 



2,200 



2,568 



506 



221 



505 



• 1,156 



367 



653 



3,477 



4.5 



Other oaks^- .. 



5.3 



Hickory . . 



1.1 



Yellow birch 



Hard maple 



.5 



1.0 



Sweetgum ... 



2.4 



Ash, walnut, cherry 



Yellow-poplar. 



.8 

 1.3 



Other _ 



7.2 







Total hardwoods 



2,957 



29.1 



11,653 



24.1 







All species. 



10,148 



100.0 



48,401 



100.0 







