A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



37 



In addition to forest land areas there are other 

 areas that support tree growth. These include 

 isolated forest areas of less than 1 acre in the East, 

 or less than 10 acres in the West, tree-covered 

 areas in thickly populated urban and suburban 

 sections, fence rows, orchards, and roadside, 

 streamside, and shelterbelt strips less than 120 

 feet wide. Also in such classification would be 

 the areas from which forest has been removed to 

 less than 10 percent stocking and which have been 

 developed for grazing, agricultural, residential, 

 and industrial or other uses. The aggregate area 

 of these lands, which support tree growth but are 

 not considered forest land, is probably much 

 greater than generally realized. 



Timber Volumes 



The quantity of timber in the United States and 

 the extent of forest land are the two most funda- 

 mental aspects of the forest situation. Standing 

 timber is the basic raw material from which cur- 

 rent supplies are drawn. Because timber grows 

 and thus is a renewable natural resource, present 

 timber volumes have great significance for the 

 future. They constitute the capital to which 

 growth is added. And because of the long-time 

 nature of forestry, trees now growing will neces- 

 sarily constitute the available supply for some 

 time in the future. 



Throughout the Timber Resource Review 

 quantities of timber are discussed in two classes: 

 (1) Sawtimber, or trees large enough and suitable 

 for lumber; and (2) growing stock. The latter 

 includes not only the sawtimber, but also trees of 

 smaller size which meet some commercial needs 

 but are generally too small to be made into 

 lumber. More precise definitions are given in the 

 appendix. 



The differentiation of the sawtimber portion of 

 the growing stock has long been followed. It is 

 continued in the Timber Resource Review because 

 sawtimber has been and will continue to be the 

 backbone of the Nation's timber economy. From 

 sawtimber in 1952 came 96 percent of the saw logs 

 cut and 56 percent of the pulpwood. More than 

 half of the timber cut from growing stock for fuel- 

 wood was sawtimber, and even about one-third 

 of the fence posts. Sawtimber comprised 84 

 percent of the timber cut in 1952 for all products. 

 Hence the quantity of sawtimber continues to be 

 of prime importance. 



The Nation's total inventory of timber on com- 

 mercial forest land at the beginning of 1953 was 

 605 billion cubic leet, which included 2,094 billion 

 board-feet of sawtimber. In addition to the usual 

 estimates for live sawtimber and poletimber trees, 

 estimates were also developed for cuU trees, salv- 

 able dead trees, and hardwood limbs. This was 



done because such material is being increasingly 

 used for commercial purposes. No estimate was 

 prepared for conifer limbs. Likewise, no separate 

 estimate was made of the sound cull volume in 

 growing stock trees, because by definition the 

 entire sound volume to measurable limits is in- 

 cluded in the cubic-foot inventory of growing 

 stock. The significance of this is that the cubic- 

 foot inventory estimates of growing stock include 

 a substantial but unknown volume of cull-quality 

 material. Table 20 summarizes the basic overall 

 figures on timber volumes in terms of sawtimber 

 trees, growing stock, and various other classes. 



The terms "live sawtimber" and "growing stock" 

 as used in the Timber Resource Review are 

 roughly comparable to the terms "sawtimber" and 

 "all timber" as used by the Forest Service in its 

 Reappraisal study in 1945. However, estimates 

 for these categories are not comparable without 

 adjustment of the 1945 estimate as subsequently 

 explained. 



Table 20. — Timber volume in United States and 

 Coastal Alaska, 1953 



Class of material 



All 

 timber 



Saw- 

 timber ' 



Growing stock: 



Live sawtimber trees: 



Sawlog portions 



Upper stems 



Billion 



cu. ft. 



331 



48 



Billion 

 bd.-fl. 

 2,057 



Total, live sawtimber 



Live poletimber trees 



379 

 138 



2,057 







Total, growing stock 



Cull trees _ . - _ _ _ 



517 



56 



9 



23 



2,057 



Salvable dead trees _ _ . _ . 



37 



Hardwood limbs 





Total, all classes 



605 



2,094 







' Included in all-timber volume but also measured in 

 board-feet. 



Over Two-Thirds of Sawtimber Volume 

 Is in the West 



About 70 percent of all the live sawtimber volume 

 is in the West, including Coastal Alaska (fig. 17). 

 In terms of growing stock, the West has a smaller 

 proportion (56 percent) of the total but still has 

 well over half the timber volume : 



Area 



Growing 

 stock 



Live 

 sawtimber 



(percent) (percent) (percent) 



North 36 22 13 



South 39 22 17 



West and Coastal Alaska 25 56 70 



All sections 100 100 100 



