FOREST LAND AND TIMBER RESOURCES 



81 



SITE DISTRIBUTION OF COMMERCIAL FOREST LAND 



South 



North 



Rocky 

 Mountain 



Pacific 

 Coast 



Annual Growth Capability, Cubic Feet 

 ■ 120+ 1150-85 



^85-120 20-50 



25 



50 



100 120 



million acres 



150 



175 



200 



225 



Figure 36 



FOREST TYPES 



Several hundred tree species in the United 

 States grow in a multitude of combinations of 

 species or forest types. From a management 

 standpoint, forest types often provide valuable 

 guides to the species the land is most capable of 

 growing. 



\ 



Softwood and Hardwood Types 

 About Equal in Area 



Hardwood forest types occupy about 53 percent 

 of the Nation's commercial forest land, and soft- 

 wood types 47 percent (table 55). However, 

 distribution of types differs sharply between the 

 East and the West. 



There is a slightly larger area of softwood types 

 in the West — about 125 million acres — than in 

 the East, where softwood types total 115 million 

 acres. Hardwood types, on the other hand, are 

 concentrated almost exclusively in the East. 

 Here they exceed the area of softwood types by 

 more than 2 to 1. 



East of the Great Plains, oak-hickory forests 

 dominate the forest landscape. This is by far the 

 most extensive timber type in the United States. 

 The loblolly-shortleaf pine type ranks second 

 nationally, followed by oak-gum-cypress, Douglas- 

 fir, ponderosa pine, and the maple-birch-beech 

 type. Together these six types occupy more than 

 half of the commercial forest area in the United 

 States. 



Table 55. — Commercial forest land in the United 

 States, by forest-type groups, January 1, 1963 



EASTERN TYPE GROUPS 



Type group 



Total area 



Proportion 

 of total 



Softwood types: 



Loblolly-shortleaf pine 



Longleaf-slash pine 



Spruce-fir 



White-red-jack pine 



Thousand 

 acres 

 57,995 

 25,977 

 19,638 

 11,120 



Percent 



11.4 



5.1 



3.9 



2.2 



Total 



114,730 



22.6 



Hardwood types: 



Oak-hickory 



Oak-gum-cypress _ 



115,963 

 37,788 

 26,941 

 33,318 

 23,715 

 20,403 



22.8 

 7.4 



Oak-pine 



Maple-beech-birch _ . 



5.3 

 6.5 



Aspen-birch 



Elm-ash-cottonwood 



4.7 

 4.0 







Total 



258,128 



50.7 



WESTERN TYPE 



GROUPS 





Softwood types: 



Douglas-fir 



Ponderosa pine 



Lodgepole pine 



Fir-spruce 



Hemlock-Sitka spruce 



White pine 



Larch 



37,352 



35,997 



15,796 



15,616 



10,008 



5,003 



3,532 



1,596 



7.3 

 7.1 

 3.1 

 3.0 

 2.0 

 1.0 

 .7 



Redwood 



.3 



Total 



124,900 



24.5 



Hardwood types 



11,087 



2.2 







All groups 



508,845 



100.0 







