A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



27 



were developed. This second main part of the 

 summary deals with the currently available supply 

 of forest land and timber and related items. The 

 third major part will review projected demand 

 estimates in relation to needed and prospective 

 growth and inventory of timber. 



Forest Land 



Forest land is the basic resource. The extent 

 of forest land in relation to total land area of the 

 United States, the proportion of forest land that 

 is available for commercial timber production, the 

 location of such land geographically, its owner- 

 ship, its condition, the forest types represented, 

 the degree to which it is stocked with growing 



trees, and the condition of the timber are all sig- 

 nificant facts essential to an understanding of the 

 current timber situation and its future poten- 

 tialities. 



One- Fourth of Nation's Land Is Com- 

 mercial Forest 



The total forest area is considerably larger than 

 the area devoted to crop land, but slightly smaller 

 than the pasture and range area. However, of the 

 664 million acres of forest land in the continental 

 United States and Coastal Alaska, as of January 

 1, 1953, 489 mdlion acres, or about one-fourth of 

 the total land area of the United States, is classed 

 as commercial forest land (fig. 10). 



1. FOREST LAND 34% 



COMMERICAL 25% 



NONCOMMERICAL 9% 



2. CROPLAND 21% 



3. PASTURE-RANGE 36% 



4. OTHER 



9% 



includes Coastal Alaska 



Figure 10 



