44 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICAS FUTURE 



Table 25. — Ownership of live sawtimher, by soft- 

 wood and hardwood, 1953 



Ownership 



Total 



Soft- 

 wood 



Hard- 

 wood 



Private : 



Farm 



Billion 



bd.-ft. 



308 



772 



Billion 



bd.-ft. 



140 



579 



Billion 

 bd.-ft. 

 168 



Forest industry and other 



193 



Total, private 



1,080 



719 



361 







Public: 



National forest 



766 



135 



76 



740 



127 



62 



26 



Other Federal 



8 



State and local 



14 







Total, public 



977 



929 



48 







Ail ownerships . . . 



2,057 



1,648 



409 







Perhaps most significant is a 9-percent increase 

 in hardwood sawtimber volume in the East. The 

 indicated overall softwood sawtimber decrease of 

 2 percent is too small to be significant, but soft- 

 wood sawtimber should be increasing in the East. 

 Although an increase in hardwood sawtimber 

 volume is not an adverse trend, it is unfortunate 

 if some of it is replacing the more desirable soft- 

 wood. The much greater increase in eastern 

 hardwood growing stock volume relative to saw- 

 timber volume shows that the small-size hardwood 

 trees are increasing at a faster rate than are the 

 sawtimber trees. 



Supplementary Sources of Timber Vol- 

 umes Are Not Significant in Fore- 

 seeable Future 



Past appraisals of the timber situation have 

 been limited largely to consideration of live saw- 

 timber volumes and growing stock on commercial 

 forest land. Such estimates constitute the basic 

 timber inventory, which is the source of timber 

 growth, and to which the United States must look 

 for the great bulk of its timber supplies. 



In the Timber Resources Review, national esti- 

 mates have been made for the first time of the 

 volume of cull trees and salvable dead trees. In 

 addition, a rough estimate has been made of wood 

 volumes in hardwood limbs, and in the pinyon 

 pine-juniper and hardwood types of noncom- 

 mercial forest lands of the West, and of timber 

 volumes in Interior Alaska. 



Both growing stock and sawtimber volumes also 

 occur in parks, wilderness, and other areas reserved 

 from timber use and on nonforest areas in narrow 

 roadside strips, fence rows, small forest acreages 

 too small to be included in the standard inventor}- 

 (less than 1 acre in the East, less than 10 acres in 

 the West), and urbanized areas. Volumes on 

 these areas have not been estimated, nor have 

 volumes been estimated for conifer limbs or for 

 bark. 



Domestic timber supply sources currently or 

 potentially available to the United States as of 1953 

 have been brought together in the tabulation 

 following. 



Table 26. — Distribution of ownership of commercial forest area and of live sawtimber volume, 1953 



Ownership 



All sections 



North 



South 



West and Coastal 



Alaska 





Area 



Volume 



Area 



Volume 



Area 



Volume 



Area 



Volume 



Private: 



Farm 



Forest industry and other . 



Percent 

 34 

 39 



Percent 

 15 

 37 



Percent 

 35 

 46 



Percent 

 38 

 50 



Percent 

 46 

 45 



Percent 

 40 

 50 



Percent 

 11 

 22 



Percent 

 5 

 32 







Total 



73 



52 



81 



88 



91 



90 



33 



37 



Public: 



National forest- -__. ._ 



17 

 4 

 6 



37 



7 

 4 



6 



2 



11 



5 



1 

 6 



6 

 2 



1 



7 

 2 



1 



53 



10 



4 



51 



Other Federal. _. _ 



8 



State and local _ _._ . _. 



4 







Total 



27 



48 



19 



12 



9 



10 



67 



63 



All ownerships 



100 



100 



100 



100 



100 



100 



100 



100 



