36 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



There Is No Excess of Commercial 

 Forest Land 



Whether there is enough land available for com- 

 mercial timber production is a key question and 

 an extremely difficult one to answer. Heretofore 

 it has generally been accepted that there was 

 ample forest land in the United States to meet 

 foreseeable needs if the land were adequatel}^ 

 "put to work." Now this no longer appears 

 clearly evident. 



If every acre of commercial forest land were 

 managed as intensively as the better managed 

 lands were in 1953, and if this could be achieved 

 in the next few years, sufficient timber might be 

 grown to nearly satisfy medium projected timber 

 demand. If the intensity of forestry and utiliza- 

 tion that now prevails in some European countries 

 were to be applied in the United States, it is 

 believed that more than enough timber could 

 ultimately be grown to meet foreseeable needs. 

 The current productivity of forest land in the 

 United States is low in relation to physical 

 capacity of the soil and climate to grow trees. 

 On the other hand, this physical capacity is pretty 

 much an academic concept from the standpoint 

 of practicable attainability over large areas. 



Although the long-time trend of commercial 

 forest land area in the United States has been 

 downward, there does not appear to have been 

 any great change since about 1920 when the first 

 estimate was made that compared reasonably well 

 with present standards and concepts. The present 

 estimate of 485 million acres in continental United 

 States compared to the Forest Service estimate of 

 461 million acres made in 1945 indicates a 24- 

 milhon-acre increase in commercial forest land. 

 This is believed due to three factors: (1) Changes 

 in land use, (2) changes in land classification, and 

 (3) more accurate estimates. The largest addition 

 was in the South where 10 million acres of farm 

 land reverted to commercial forest. Substantial 

 changes occurred in the West through reclassifi- 

 cation of noncommercial to commercial forests; 

 and in the North some 4 milUon acres of forested 

 swamps and poor aspen sites were reclassified. 

 On the other hand, there have been shifts in the 

 opposite direction resulting from clearing land 

 for reservoir sites, parks, rights-of-way, and urban 

 uses. 



It appears, however, that in view of probable 

 increases in population, further urbanization, 

 further development of our national highway 

 system, needs for reseivoir sites, priority use of 

 commeicial forest land for water yield and recrea- 

 tion, and needs for agricultural land to meet food 

 requirements, the long-term trend and pressures 

 will be in the direction of less area for commercial 

 forestiy purposes. 



The three factors which in combination indicate 

 that there is no excess of commercial forest land 



are (1) the probability that less land will be avail- 

 able for commercial forestry purposes in the 

 future, (2) a projected future demand much 

 greater than present levels of consumption, and 

 (3) the impracticality of every acre of forest land 

 growing timber to its full capacity. In view of 

 these factors, it would appear that further signifi- 

 cant withdrawals of commercial forest land for 

 other uses should, in general, be avoided, or should 

 be made with full realization that such withdrawals 

 may adversely affect future timber supplies. 



Noncommercial Forest Land Has 

 Important Values 



About one-fourth of the total forest land, or 175 

 million acres, is classed as noncommercial. All 

 but 14 million acres, or 92 percent, is considered 

 unproductive from, the standpoint of growing 

 commercial crops of timber. This large acreage 

 consists of extensive woodland types, both hard- 

 wood and coniferous, alpine areas, forested swamps, 

 chaparral lands, and steep mountainous slopes 

 with sparse tree cover. 



The 14 million acres of noncommercial lands, 

 which are classified as productive but reserved 

 from timber use, consist mostly of timberlands in 

 State or national parks, wild or wilderness areas 

 of the national forests, community watersheds, or 

 other areas reserved from timber use. The vol- 

 ume of timber on such reserved areas is not known, 

 but is small in relation to total timber volume. 

 The productive but reserved forest land is 3 

 percent of the total commercial forest land area of 

 the United States. 



Over two-thirds of the noncommercial forest 

 land is in seven States; namely, that part of Texas 

 occurring in the Plains Region, California, and 

 the five States of the Southern Rocky Mountain 

 Region. Texas and California lead with over 25 

 million acres of noncommercial forest land apiece. 

 The Plains, Southern Rocky JSIountain, Coastal 

 Alaska, and California Regions each have over 50 

 percent of their total forest land in the noncom- 

 mercial classification. 



Although not used for commercial timber grow- 

 ing, nonconamercial forest lands have important 

 values for other purposes. The recreational 

 values of the productive but reserved timbered 

 areas of the national forests and parks are very 

 high ; but the greatest values of the noncommercial 

 forest lands are for watershed protection and 

 water yield. Noncommercial lands are used ex- 

 tensively in the grazing of domestic livestock and 

 afford a valuable habitat for wildlife. 



The ownership of commercial and noncommer- 

 cial forest land differs sharply. Whereas three- 

 fourths of the commercial forest land is privately 

 owned, two-thirds of the noncommercial forest 

 land is publicly owned and nearly all of this is in 

 Federal ownership or management. 



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