58 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICAS FUTURE 



Species group : Saw- Growing 



East: timber stock 



Spruce and fir 1.11 1.20 



White, red, and jack pine .93 1.05 



Southern yellow pines 1. 22 1. 15 



Other eastern softwoods 1.39 1.57 



Yellow-poplar .96 1.33 



Other "soft" hardwoods 1.55 2.17 



Oak 1.49 1.92 



Sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch. 1. 46 2. 21 



Other "hard' ' hardwoods 2. 56 3. 65 



West: 



Douglas-fir .37 .46 



Ponderosa and Jeffrey pine .51 .79 



Western hemlock .47 .63 



White and sugar pine .88 1.03 



Redwood .40 .47 



Other western softwoods .91 1.56 



Western hardwoods 3.31 6.48 



Growth-Cut Ratios Have Improved in the 

 Past Decade 



One of the most favorable features of gi-owth-cut 

 comparisons with respect to future outlook is the 

 apparent improvement of growth-cut ratios of 

 both eastern softwoods and hardwoods since 1944. 

 When 1944 estimates are adjusted so as to be 

 comparable to those of 1952, they show that in 

 1944 growth of eastern softwood sawtimber was 

 90 percent of cut in contrast to the 20 percent 

 excess over cut in 1952 (table 37). 



Similarly, eastern hardwoods showed an excess 

 of sawtimber growth over cut of 19 percent in 

 1944 in contrast to 57 percent in 1952. The im- 

 provement for both softwoods and hardwoods in 

 the East resulted from the combined effect of 

 increased growth and reduced cut. 



Table 37. — Comparison oj sawtimber growth and 

 cut in continental United States, 1944 ^t^d 1952 





1944 ' 



1952 



Species group 



Billion 

 bd.-ft. 



Ratio of 

 growth 

 to cut 



Billion 

 bd.-ft. 



Ratio of 

 growth 

 to cut 



Eastern softwoods: 



Growth 



Cut 



Western softwoods: 



Growth 



Cut 



Eastern hardwoods: 

 Growth. . . _ . _ 



15. 2 



16. 9 



11.3 

 18.7 



16.6 

 14. 



} 0.90 

 1 . 60 

 } 1. 19 



/ 17.0 

 1 14. 1 



/ 10.9 

 \ 22.4 



/ 19. 1 

 1 12.2 



} 1. 20 



} - 



1 1. 57 



Cut 



1 Adjusted to 1952 basis. 



In western softwoods, the trend has been in the 

 opposite direction and, whereas growth of saw- 

 timber was 60 percent of cut in 1944, it dropped 

 to 49 percent of cut in 1952. This trend is ex- 

 plained by the 20-p('rcent increase in cut of western 

 species since 1944, and ari apparent ;^-percent 



decrease in growth due chiefly to premature cut- 

 ting of second-growth softwood timber on small 

 private ownerships in the Pacific Northwest and 

 abnormally heavy insect losses in the Northern 

 Rock}^ Mountain Region in 1952. 



Timber Quality 



The need for high-quality timber is difficult to 

 appraise. Better grades of lumber and other 

 quality products are in great demand, have no 

 adequate substitutes for certain important uses, 

 and command premium prices. As quality timber 

 in terms of large-size, straight, fine-textured, knot- 

 free logs becomes scarcer, there have been impor- 

 tant developments in technology which have in 

 part made up for the growing deficiency in this 

 class of material. New processes and equipment 

 permit utilization of smaller, poorer logs for both 

 lumber and veneer, mask or correct many defects, 

 increase the service life, and improve the all- 

 round utility of wood. A good deal of progress 

 has been made, and will probably be continued, 

 toward better and closer utilization of lumber by 

 gluing short narrow pieces into larger members, 

 laminating techniques, and in combining lumber 

 with other materials to improve properties and 

 performance of fabricated products. These and 

 other products of technologj' should not be 

 minimized in appraising the future need for quality. 



There are many criteria of timber quality, rang- 

 ing from crude indicators to precise determinations 

 based on the requirements of a specific product or 

 end use. No single, all-inclusive measure of qual- 

 ity is possible, because of the wide variety of 

 products made from wood. In general, a high- 

 quality tree is one \vith a high proportion of its 

 volume suitable for conversion into the higher 

 grades of the more valuable end products and 

 \vith enough volume of that charactei- to eco- 

 nomically justify such use. 



vSize of tree is one crude measure of quality. 

 Log grades, the prevalence of cull trees, amoimt 

 of sound cull volume in growing stock, and species 

 are all indications of quality. There is relatively 

 little nationwide quantitative mformation on 

 quality, but there are numerous spot indicators 

 which, in the aggregate, point conclusively to a 

 decline in quality of standing timber. 



Nearly 10 percent of the sound timber volume 

 in the United States is in cull trees. The propor- 

 tion is even higher in hardwoods. In addition, 

 there is an undetermined volume of sound cull 

 material in growing stock that has little practical 

 use because of roughness or poor form. Although 

 some of the cull trees are being useil for pulpwood 

 in the East, their suitability for saw logs is ex- 

 tremely limited. Moreover, they are utihzing 

 valuable growing space and represent one of the 

 reasons why so much of the forest land does not 

 rate higher stocking. 



