F — 24302O 



Fic.iJRF. 2.— One of the numerous farms on easily erodable soils in southwestern Wiseonsin seriously damng^ed by runoff folloiving 



clearing of timber from steep slopes. 



made in improving farming methods, but very little 

 in restoring a suitable protective cover on the steep 

 upper slopes (fig. 2). 



Economic and Industrial Conditions 

 Area and Population 



The Lake States region covers 122.7 million land 

 acres, or approximately 6 percent of the area of the 

 continental United States. The three States together 

 are about the size of Sweden. 



The 1947 population was about 12.2 million, 

 which was 8.5 percent of the United States total. 

 It is rather significant from a timber-marketing 

 standpoint that, roughly, one-fourth of the popu- 

 lation of the country lives within the region and 

 six adjoining industrial and prairie States. 



The region may be divided into three broad zones 

 (fig. 3). The northern forest zone includes 43 per- 

 cent of the region's land area, but has only 12 

 percent of its poptdation. The southern forest 

 zone, which is predominantly farm woods, has 40 



Forest Resources of the Lake States Region 



percent of the land area and 82 percent of the 

 population, nearly half of whom reside in three 

 metropolitan areas— Detroit, Milwaukee, and Min- 

 neapolis-St. Paul. The prairie zone covers about 

 17 percent of the land and has 6 percent of the 

 population. 



Figure 2).— Principal forest zones in the Lake Stales region. 



