VOLUME PER ACRE 

 (BOARD-FEET) 



AREA 



VOLUME 1 



LESS THaN 1,000 



1,000- 2,499 



2,500-4,999 



5,000-9,999 



10,000-14,999 



15,000-30,000 



111 















1 

















1 









1: 



^ 1 









1 











^ 







r'li 





40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 

 PERCENT 



Figure 17. — More than 40 percent of the forest area supports less than 

 7,000 board-feel per acre; only 19 percent supports 5,000 board-feet 

 or more. 



an understory of seedlings, saplings, and poles. Many 

 of these stands will probably be eliminated as forest 

 land in the future (fig. 18). 



Volume by Log Quality 



Indiana produces some of the best hardwood timber 

 in the United States. However, the Forest Survey 

 data indicate that only about 14 percent of the entire 

 sawtiinber \"olunie and 14 percent of the anntaal 

 board-foot growth are in the high-qualit\- grade 1 

 and 2 logs, which are in greatest demand. Eighty- 



six percent of the hardwood saw^timber volume is in 

 grade 3 logs. These logs are generally" cut into rail- 

 road ties, timbers, or lumber for use on farms; they 

 are used in oil fields, as car blocking, or where quality 

 is not a requirement. Such logs \ield only about 

 20 percent of their volume in No. 1 Common 

 or better lumber. Past practices — methods of cut- 

 ting, burning, and grazing — are mainly responsible 

 for the low quality of stands. Improper cutting prac- 

 tices leave undesirable species, poorly formed and 

 cull trees, and those damaged in logging to produce 

 the next crop. Both burning and grazing deteriorate 

 the site, retard tree growth, damage the larger trees, 

 and open the stands by killing reproduction. 



Although quality is determined to a large extent by 

 log size, high-quality logs generally come from good 

 sites where growth is rapid, from fairly dense stands 

 that encourage straight stems and self-pruning, and 

 from stands that have not been damaged by improper 

 cutting, grazing, and repeated burning. 



More than 80 percent of the high-quality volume 

 is now in trees 18 inches d. b. h. and larger. About 

 one-third of this volume is oak, and the remaining 

 two-thirds is other hardw^oods. Northern Indiana 

 has more than half of the high-quality_^volume (fig. 

 19) of the State. 



Figure 18. — Indiana has nearly 

 half a million acres of heavily 

 grazed woodlands that are 

 gradually being eliminated from 

 the forest area. 



14 



Forest Resource Report No. 10, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



