Forest Inventory 



■^ 



^c<- 



Areas 



FORESTS once covered 103.7 million acres 

 (37), nearly 85 percent of the land area of the 

 Lake States region. Today they occupy 54.7 

 million acres, or 45 percent (table 1). 



Only 50 million acres of the present forest area is 

 commercial forest. The other 4.7 million acres is 

 practically unavailable for timber production, either 

 because it has poor drainage and other features 

 which preclude growing merchantable sawlogs and 

 pulpwood, or because it has been reserved for parks 

 and other exclusive use. 



Commercial Forest 



The condition ot the cominercial forest land with 

 respect to size, species, and quality of tiinber, as 

 well as ownership, will determine to a large extent 

 the prospects for timber production during the next 

 40 to 50 years. Therefore, this land deserves rather 

 careful exainination. 



Table \.—Area nf foreil land, by broad classification, in rela- 

 tio7i to total laud area in the Lake States resion, 1950 



Kind of land 



Region 

 total 



Minnesota 



Wisconsin 



Michigan 





Thousand 

 acres 

 122,718 



Thousand 

 acres 

 51.206 



Thousand 

 acres 

 35,018 



Thousand 

 acres 

 36 494 







Commercial forest 2 



Noncommercial forest (scrub)^.. 



50, 000 

 3,400 



900 

 400 



17,000 

 2,100 



450 

 150 



15,200 

 600 



60 

 140 



17,800 



7on 



Commercial quality 



Noncommercial quality 



390 

 110 



Total, all forest ^ .. . . 



54, 700 

 68,018 



19,700 

 31,506 



16,000 

 19,018 



19,000 





1 7. 494 









' From U. S. Census of .Agriculture: 1945, v. 1, pt. 6-8. 



- Land bearing or capable of bearing timber of commercial character and 

 economically available now or prospectively for commercial use and not with- 

 dravk^n from such use. 



^ Lands which appear to be permanently out of commercial timber-producing 

 class, owing to very low productivity, excessively poor quality of timber, or 

 extreme inaccessibility. This consists largely of bogs incapable of producing 

 commercial saw timber or pulpwood in 100 years. 



^ Land withdrawn from commercial use for parks, preserves, wilderness areas, 

 etc. 



5 Land bearing forest growth or land from which the forest has been removed 

 but which shows evidence of past forest occupancy and is not now in other use. 

 Excludes woodlands within city limits. 



.STAND CLA.SSES 



For sustained timber yields, a forest should be 

 made up of trees of all ages and stages of develop- 

 ment from seedlings to mature timber, in such 

 proportions that when one mature group of trees 

 is harvested, another is ready to take its place. The 

 present Lake States forests do not meet this require- 

 ment. 



Only a very small remnant of the original virgin 

 forest remains, and relatively small areas of second 

 growth have reached saw-timber size. Nearly nine- 

 tenths of the land supports second growth from 

 seedling to pole size— some in very poorly stocked 

 stands (table 2). In other words, they have too 

 little mature and near-mature timber, and far too 



Table 2.— Area of commercial forest land in the Lake States 



res:ion. h\ stand class, 1950 



Stand class 



Region 

 total 



Minnesota 



Wisconsin 



Michigan 



Old-growth saw timber ' 



Second-growth saw timber - 



Pole timber' _ 



Thousand 



acres 

 1,500 

 4,400 

 9,600 



22,000 



12,500 



Thousand 



acres 



200 



1,400 



2,900 



7,400 



5,100 



Thousand 



acres 



300 



1.500 



2,900 



6.900 



3,600 



Thousand 

 acre; 

 1.000 

 1.500 

 3,800 

 7.700 



Poorly stocked and 



deforested ^ 



3,800 



Total 



50,000 



17,000 



15,200 



17.800 



'Saw-timber stands (1.500 board feet or more per acre by International 

 J^-inch rule) in which more than 50 percent of the net board-foot volume is in 

 old-growth saw-timber trees; i. e.. trees that have reached or passed the age of 

 physiological maturity. Does not include any of the pulpwood types — jack 

 pine, aspen, spruce-fir, etc. The limited areas of saw-timber size in these types 

 are included with second growth regardless of age or condition. 



- Saw-timber stands other than old growth. 



' Stands failing to meet the saw-timber stand classificalion but at least 

 10-percent stocked with trees pole-sized and larger (5.0 inches d.b.h. and 

 larger) and with at least half the minimum stocking in pole-size trees. No 

 stands included in this class with less than 3 cords per acre of live, merchantable 

 timber. 



< Stands not qualifying in any of the above classes, but having at least 40-per- 

 cent stocking mostly of seedlings and saplings of commercial tree species, less 

 than 5.0 inches d.b.h. 



'•Poorly stocked areas are seedling or sapling stands with 10- to 39-percent 

 stocking of young trees; they may include some scattered trees of saw-timber or 

 pole size, but not enough to be considered as belonging in one of the larger 

 size classes. Deforested areas are forest lands less than 10-pcrcent stocked with 

 trees of commercial species. 



Forest Resource Report No. 1, U. S. Deptirtmeut of Agriculture 



