A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



Table 12. — Forest resources oj North America, 1953 



25 





Total 

 land 

 area 



Forest land area 



Country 



Total for- 

 est land 



Commercial 



Noncom- 





Total 



Softwood 



Hardwood 



mercial 



United States . .....__. 



Million 

 acres 



1, 904 

 366 



2, 218 

 487 



Million 



acres 



648 



136 



951 



64 



Million 



acres 



485 



44 



529 



49 



Million 



acres 



230 



33 



396 



16 



Million 



acres 



255 



11 



133 



33 



Million 

 acres 

 163 



Alaska ' 



92 



Canada 2 . . . _ . ... 



422 



Mexico 



15 







North America .. --. .. ... 



4,975 



1,799 



1, 107 



675 



432 



692 







Country 



Timber volume ' 



Net annual 



timber 



growth * 



Timber 





All species 



Softwood 



Hardwood 



cut* 



United States . . . . _ 



Billion 



cu. ft. 



498 



50 



397 



59 



Billion 



cu. ft. 



336 



41 



328 



19 



Billion 



cu. ft. 



162 



9 



69 



40 



Billion 



cu. ft. 



14. 2 



1.0 



« 4. 5 



.5 



Billion 

 cu. ft. 

 10. 8 



Alaska ' . . _ _ 



3. 6 



Canada ^ 



Mexico 



.7 



North America 



1,004 



724 



280 



20.2 



15. 1 



' Combines coastal and interior Alaska. 



2 Excludes Labrador. 



' On commercial forest land. 



* Of growing stock on commercial forest land. 



5 Less than 0.05 billion. 



' Questionable estimate. Growth on areas not under 



includes 19 percent of the world's forest area; the 

 rest of the Free World, 59 percent ; and the Soviet 

 Bloc of nations, 22 percent (fig. 9). The softwood 

 forest area of the world is fairly equally divided 

 between the Free World and Soviet Bloc of nations. 

 The Free World includes more than 90 percent of 

 the hardwood forest area. 



Only about one-third of the world's forest land 

 area is classed as under exploitation, and timber 

 volume estimates are available only for that 

 portion. There are no timber volume estimates 

 for all the world's forests. 



About one-fourth of the Free World's forest area 

 is under exploitation, whereas nearly half of the 

 forest area in the Soviet Bloc is so classified. 

 Roughly two-thirds of the timber volume on 

 forest land under exploitation is in nations of the 

 Free World and one-third in the Soviet Bloc. But 

 with respect to softwoods, about three-fifths is in 

 the Soviet Bloc and two-fifths in the Free World. 



North America includes the bulk of softwood 

 resources of the Free World with the Soviet Bloc 

 and Free World nations dividing the softwood 

 forest area about equally. The Soviet Bloc of 

 nations has a favorable margin with regard to soft- 



exploitation is probably less than on areas now being ex- 

 ploited. If the stands are comparable, total growth on 

 commercial forest land would be about 6.6 billion cubic 

 feet. If there is no net growth on unexploited areas, the 

 total would be about 2.4 billion cubic feet. The estimate 

 shown is halfway between these two extremes. 



world forest area — 9.6 billion acres 



Figure 9 



