A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



45 



Estimated volume 



Billion cu. ft. Billion bd.-ft. 



United States and Coastal 

 Alaska: 

 Commercial forest land: 



Growing stock and live 517 2,057. 



sawtimber. 



Cull trees including non- 56 



commercial species. 



Salvable dead trees 9 37. 



Hardwood limbs 23 0. 



Saplings Unknown.. 0. 



Conifer limbs do 0. 



Noncommercial forest land: 



Reserves for special uses, Unknown Unknown 

 including State and na- but sub- but sub- 



tional parks, wild and stantial. stantial. 



wilderness areas, and 

 community watersheds. 

 Unreserved: 



Pinyon pine-juniper 34 Negligible. 



and hardwood types 

 in the West. 

 Other unreserved forest Unknown. Unknown, 

 classed as unproduc- 

 tive or inaccessible 

 for timber use. 

 Nonforest land, including Unknown Unknown 

 tree-covered land in sub- but sub- but sub- 



urban and metropolitan stantial. stantial. 



areas, city parks, shelter- 

 belts, fence rows, scat- 

 tered timbered areas less 

 than 10 acres in West and 

 1 acre in East, and nar- 

 row wooded strips along 

 streams and highways. 

 Interior Alaska 32 180. 



It is apparent that the growing-stock volume 

 from the various supplementary sources if com- 

 pletely available would equal at least one-third 

 of the growing-stock volume on commercial forest 

 land. Cull trees alone are 10 percent of such 

 volume. But the additional sawtimber volume, 

 which could come only from Interior Alaska and 

 from salvable dead trees, would add only 10 per- 

 cent to the sawtimber inventory on commercial 

 land. 



Although the supplementary sources of timber 

 enumerated above should not be overlooked, they 

 are not particularly significant with respect to 

 sawtimber. Moreover, with the possible excep- 

 tion of volumes in cull trees, dead trees, and hard- 

 wood limbs, it is most unlikely that they will enter 

 into available timber supplies in the foreseeable 

 future. Only under conditions of extraordinary 

 national emergency, important changes in State 

 and national conservation policies, or a major 

 change in the economic availability of Interior 

 Alaska would timber from these various supple- 

 mentary sources become available. 



Table 27. — Comparison oj timber volume in the 

 United States,^ 1945 and 1953 



Species 

 groups 



Growing stock 



Live sawtimber 



1945 2 



1953 



Differ- 

 ence 



1945 2 



1953 



Differ- 

 ence 



Eastern soft- 

 woods 



Eastern hard- 

 woods 



Western 

 species 



Billion 

 cu. ft. 



74 



129 



287 



Billion 



cu. ft. 



74 

 151 

 273 



Percent 

 



+ 17 

 -5 



Billion 

 bd.-ft. 



247 



351 



1,408 



Billion 

 bd.-ft. 



242 



381 



1,345 



Percent 

 -2 

 + 9 

 -5 



All species. 



490 



498 



+ 2 



2,006 



1, 968 



-2 



' Excluding Coastal Alaska. 

 2 Adjusted to 1953 basis. 



It may be more practical to stretch existing 

 timber supplies through utilization of substantial 

 amounts now lost in logging or plant residues, 

 through reduction of mortality, through the fur- 

 ther reduction of fuelwood consumption and the 

 utilization of wood now used for that purpose in 

 other ways, and through greater reliance on 

 imports from Canada. Volumes attributable to 

 these items in 1952 are as follows: 



Growing Sawtimber 

 stocli (bil- (billion 

 lion cu. ft.) bd.-ft.) 



Logging residues 1.3 2.7 



Unused plant residues 1. 4 (') 



Mortality less salvage 2. 7 9. 6 



Fuelwood consumption I.O 2. 2 



Net imports from Canada 1.2 2.7 



' Sawtimber portion not segregated. 



To the extent that such amounts can be utilized 

 or find their way into other channels of consump- 

 tion, or to the extent that imports can be increased, 

 the national wood supply will be augmented. 



Timber Growth and Utilization 



In addition to information on forest land areas 

 and amounts of standing timber, there are two 

 other key characteristics of the forest situation, an 

 understanding of which is essential not only with 

 respect to present-day conditions but also because 

 of their implications for the future. These are 

 the rates at which forests are growing and are 

 being utilized. Growth is especially significant 

 in that this characteristic of continuous replace- 

 ment differentiates timber from other physical- 

 structure raw material resources which are non- 

 renewable. 



