FOREST LAND AND TIMBER RESOURCES 



97 



In the East, only in the case of southern hardwoods 

 was there an apparent dechne in net growth. 



Net Growth Averages 708 

 Board Feet Per Acre 



Net annual growth per acre in 1962 varied 

 rather widely between sections, as shown by the 

 following averages for all species combined : 



Section: 



North 



South 



Rocky Mountains. 

 Pacific coast 



U.S. average 



Cubic 



Board 



feet 



feet 



28 



73 



37 



126 



14 



54 



43 



192 



32 



108 



This relatively low level of current sawtimber 

 growth reflects in part the limited stocking of 

 sawtimber trees resulting from past cutting and 

 fire. A large amount of growing space is now 

 occupied by inhibiting brush or defective trees 

 that limit the growth of growing stock. Also, 

 many stands are as yet too young to include saw- 

 timber trees or are on relatively low sites. Some 

 of these stands, including about one-fourth of 

 all northern timber types and half of Lake States 

 types, consist of short-rotation species that are 

 harvested mainly for pulpwood. Average net 

 growth per acre in the West also reflects the fact 

 that considerable areas still support old-growth 

 timber where mortality to a large degree offsets 

 the gross growth. 



There are, however, sizable areas of young 

 forests at the threshold of the sawtimber-size 

 class; as these stands mature, sawtimber growth 

 may be expected to increase further. 



timber growth in the East is in marked contrast 

 to the distribution of inventory volumes, as shown 

 by the following proportions of national totals: 



Com- Saw- 

 mercial timber 



Section and species 



East: 



Softwoods 



Hardwoods 



West: 



Softwoods 



Hardwoods 



U.S. Total 



forest 

 area 

 (per- 

 cent) 



22 

 51 



25 



2 



100 



inven- 

 tory 

 (per- 

 cent) 



11 



17 



70 

 2 



100 



Saw- Saw- 

 timber timber 

 growth cut 

 (per- (per- 

 cent) cent] 



36 

 33 



29 

 2 



21 

 23 



55 

 1 



100 



100 



Southern pines accounted for 45 percent of the 

 softwood sawtimber growth in 1962, in contrast to 

 10 percent of the softwood inventory and about 

 22 percent of the total softwood cut in the Nation 

 (table 67 and fig. 43). Douglas-fir accounted for 

 only 15 percent of the total net growth of soft- 

 wood sawtimber, although this species made up 

 almost 30 percent of the total softwood sawtimber 

 inventory and one-third of the total cut. 



In relation to inventory and growth, a dispro- 

 portionate share of the timber cut has been 

 Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and a few other par- 

 ticularly sought-after species, as indicated under 

 the heading Timber Cut in the section on The 

 Outlook for Timber Demands. Those species 

 made up 53 percent of the western softwood in- 

 ventory in 1962 but supplied 71 percent of the 

 total sawtimber cut in the West. The trend is 

 toward an increasing proportion of the cut from 

 the less desired species, however, as adjustments 

 in utilization are made to use available species. 



Growth-Cut Situation Relatively 

 Favorable in the East 



About 70 Percent of Net 

 Growth in the East 



Except for a few scattered remnants of virgin 

 forest, the commercial forest land in the East 

 has all been cut over — some of it several times. 

 This is in contrast with the Western States, 

 where roughly a third of the forest area is still 

 classed as old-growth. 



Because of this cutting history, plus the con- 

 centration of 73 percent of the commercial forest 

 land in the East, the lion's share of the net annual 

 sawtimber growth — nearly 70 percent — is now in 

 eastern States (table 66). This concentration of 



Growth of eastern softwood sawtimber in 1962 

 was 92 percent higher than the cut, while hard- 

 wood sawtimber growth exceeded the cut by 63 

 percent (table 67). This favorable growth-cut 

 relationship in the East was partly a result of sub- 

 stantially improved fire protection in recent 

 decades and extensive planting programs, and 

 partly a result of recent reductions in the timber 

 harvest. 



The present excess of gi'owth over cut of 

 southern pine is resulting in an important buildup 

 of timber volumes and tree sizes in many parts 

 of the South. If continued this will in time 

 permit production of better quality and lower 

 cost products, and thus add to the competitive 

 strength of the forest industries in that section. 



