114 



TIMBER TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES 



Table 76. — Expenditures for forest fire protection, 

 area protected, and area burned, 1 950-62 





Expenditures 



Forest area 



Forest area 



Year 



for fire 

 protection 



protected ' 



burned ' 





Millions of 









1957-59 



Million 



Million 





dollars 



acres 



acres 



1950...- 



74 



558 



15.5 



1951. __. 



70 



561 



10.8 



1952 



78 



566 



14.2 



1953 



78 



571 



10.0 



1954--_ 



85 



585 



8.8 



1955____ 



80 



589 



8.1 



1956__._ 



90 



592 



6.6 



1957 



93 



593 



3.4 



1958.... 



99 



594 



3.3 



1959. ._- 



107 



741 



4.2 



1960 



124 



745 



4.5 



1961__._ 



143 



755 



3.0 



1962 



153 



754 



4.1 



' Includes both commercial and noncommercial forest 



lands. 



Recent Levels of Management 

 Also Assumed 



Continuation of this level of stand treatment 

 programs was assumed in developing the growth 

 projections described below. 



TIMBER SUPPLY OUTLOOK IN PACIFIC COAST 



The Pacific Coast States of Alaska, Washington, 

 Oregon, Cahfornia, and Hawaii have 70 million 

 acres of commercial forest land. Although this 

 represents only 14 percent of all commercial 

 forests in the United States, the Pacific coast has 

 55 percent of the Nation's total sawtimber 

 volume, and 66 percent of the softwood saw- 

 timber inventory (fig. 51). Some areas of com- 

 mercial forest in this section are of low growth 

 capability, but almost 56 percent of the total area 

 is capable of producing more than 85 cubic feet 

 of timber per acre per year. 



RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF 



FOREST RESOURCES IN THE 



PACIFIC COAST STATES 



Tree planting activities expanded rapidly during 

 the 1950's to a peak of 2.1 million acres in 1959, 

 followed by a decline to 1.4 million acres in 1962 

 (fig. 50). In the period 1957-61 about 26 percent 

 of the total planting was attributable to the 

 temporary influence of the Soil Bank tree planting 

 program. 



In projecting growth it was assumed that 

 planting and natural regeneration rates would 

 continue at approximately the level of 1962. 



Stand improvement work, including such 

 measures as thinnings and cull tree removal, 

 covered an estimated 1.7 miUion acres in 1962. 



AREA PLANTED BY SECTION 



2.5 



^rea 



1965 



Fisure 50 



n 







mm 



Sawtim 



)er 



Volume 



i^^Hl 



Growing Stock Volume 



HBHWi^B 



Sawtimber Cut 



^^H 



Sawtimber Growth 



D 





(In Percent of U.S. Total) 



Fisure 51 



I 



