FOREST LAND AND TIMBER RESOURCES 



85 



for acceptable growth. These overly dense stands 

 include (a) stands in which utilizable growth 

 could be increased with cultural treatment; (b) 

 stands wherein overstocking has persisted so long 

 as to substantially reduce the feasibility of in- 

 creasing growth through treatment; and (c) 

 stagnated stands in which prolonged overstocking 

 has virtually eliminated all means of improving 

 growth in the existing stands. In many stands 

 of the latter class, moreover, trees are too small to 

 permit economic harvesting. 



Overstocking is not a general problem in most 

 regions, but the continuing buildup of inventories 

 on many areas is reaching the point where thinning 

 or other stand improvement measures are be- 

 coming increasingly necessary to maintain growth 

 in quantity and quality. 



One-Fifth of Forest Area Still 

 Less Than 40 Percent Stocked 



About 111 million acres of commercial forest 

 land has less than 40 percent stocking, based on 



the old occupancy standards for growing-stock 

 trees. This includes not only areas that have 

 recently reverted to forest, but also nonstocked 

 and partially stocked areas that reflect results of 

 past cutting, fire, or grazing. 



About 35 million acres of this land is nonstocked, 

 i.e., having less than 10 percent occupancy by 

 growing-stock trees. Much of this area, more- 

 over, is occupied by brush or other vegetation 

 that inhibits restocking of desirable trees. Three- 

 fourths of this nonstocked land is located in the 

 East, primarily in the Lake States and East 

 Gulf regions. The adequacy of stocking varies 

 rather widely by States, as indicated by stocking 

 data in appendix 1. 



STAND-SIZE CLASSES 



The distribution of forest land by stand-size 

 class provides an indication of the major source of 

 industrial timber for the next several decades, and 

 the location of prospective timber growth and 

 inventories. As in the case of site quality and 

 total stocking, the age and size of timber on the 

 land also provides some economic measure of the 

 forest resource. 



Much of the Nation's forest land is poorly stocked. 



F-478126 







