FOREWORD 



Tomorrow the Nation's need for timber will be strikingly greater 

 than today or at any time in the past. We have the potential to meet 

 that need if we fully apply our forestry knowledge and skills promptly, 

 with vigor and determination. 



That, m brief, is the essence of our findings in this comprehensive 

 appraisal of the timber situation in the United States. The appraisal 

 was started by the Forest Service in 1952, released in preliminary 

 form in 1955, and has now been revised for final release. 



Periodically the Forest Service has examined the forest situation as 

 part of its overall responsibility to keep the people and the Congress 

 informed as to timber supplies and outlook. This Timber Resource 

 Review is the sixth of these "State-of-the-Union" reports on timber — 

 one of the Nation's most important renewable natural resources. As 

 was true of each of its predecessors, this report is more reliable and 

 more comprehensive than any of its forerunners, because of improved 

 technical skills and the availability of more information. 



Although the natural resources of the United States have re- 

 ceived much study in recent years by various commissions. States, 

 the Congress, educational institutions, and others, there has been no 

 assembly of new timber resource information for the entire country 

 since the appraisals made by the Forest Service and the American 

 Forestry Association in 1945. Since then, more and better timber 

 inventory information has become available ; there has been a decade 

 of timber cutting and growth ; and impressive strides have been made 

 in forestry and in wood utilization. Since the 1945 appraisals the 

 outlook for the future economy of the United States has changed 

 greatly, particularly with respect to population. These and other 

 changes made a new report timely. 



The Timber Resource Review project was directed by Edward C. 

 Crafts, Assistant Chief of the Forest Service in charge of program 

 planning and legislation. The planning and field surveys in connec- 

 tion with this study were carried out with the advice and assistance 

 of a great many organizations and individuals, especially the State 

 Departments of Conservation or Forestry and forest industries. Be- 

 cause of this collaboration, the study was better conceived, more 

 complete, and more soundly executed. The Forest Service, however, 



