A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



69 



Fifty-Two Million Acres Need Planting 



About 52 million acres of commercial forest land 

 is classed as plantable area. This is roughly- 

 equivalent to 10 percent of all commercial forest 

 land, or 45 percent of the 114 million acres of 

 poorly stocked (73 million acres) or nonstocked 

 (41 million acres) commercial forest land. About 

 83 percent of total plantable area is in the East 

 and is divided almost equally between the North 

 and South. The remainder or 17 percent is in the 

 West (table 44). 



Table 44.^ — Status of planting on commercial forest 

 land, by section, 1962 



Table 45. — Status of planting on commercial forest 

 land, by ownership class, 1952 









Total 









Total 



area of 







Plant- 



area 



accept- 



Planting 



Section 



able 



planted 



able 



success ■ 





area 



to date 



planta- 

 tions to 

 date 







Million 



Million 



Million 







acres 



acres 



acres 



Percent 



North 



21.4 



3.8 



2.7 



71 



South 



21. 9 



2.3 



2. 



85 



West 



8.6 



.8 



.5 



75 



United States 



51. 9 



6. 9 



5.2 



76 



' Area of acceptable plantations as a percentage of area 

 planted. 



About 84 percent of total plantable area is in 

 private ownership, 11 percent in Federal owner- 

 ship, and 5 percent in other public ownership 

 (table 45). 



In addition to the 52 million acres of plantable 

 area on commercial forest land, there are an esti- 

 mated 5.4 million acres of noncommercial forest 

 land which need planting. Most of this is in the 

 West, about equally divided between public and 

 private ownerships. About one-fifth of this area 

 has primary value for watershed protection and 

 the purpose of planting the remainder would be 

 mainly for improvement of wildlife habitat. 



Ninety Percent of the Planting Job 

 Lies Ahead 



The total area of acceptable forest plantations 

 in the continental United States is 5.2 million 

 acres. This is equivalent to 10 percent of the 

 remaining plantable area of 52 million acres and 

 about 1 percent of the total commercial forest land 

 area. About ninety percent of the job is still 

 ahead. About half of the acceptable plantations 

 are in the North, 40 percent in the South, and 10 

 percent in the West. 









Total 









Total 



area of 







Plant- 



area 



accept- 



Planting 



Ownership 



able 



planted 



able 



success 1 



>-, 



area 



to date 



planta- 

 tions to 

 date 







Million 



Million 



Million 







acres 



acres 



acres 



Percent 



Private 



43.7 



3.4 



2.5 



74 



Public: 











National forest. - 



4.6 



1.9 



1. 4 



76 



Other Federal 



1. 



.2 



. 2 



78 



State and local. 



2.6 



1. 4 



1. 1 



81 



Total 



8.2 



3.5 



2. 7 



78 



All ownerships 



51.9 



6.9 



5. 2 



76 



1 Area of acceptable plantations as a percentage of area 

 planted. 



On an ownership basis, 48 percent of the acreage 

 of acceptable plantations are privately owned, 30 

 percent are federally owned, and 22 percent are in 

 State, county, and municipal ownership (table 45). 



Acceptable plantations have been related to 

 total area planted in order to get some measure of 

 planting success. On a national basis, about three- 

 fourths of total area planted qualifies as acceptable 

 plantations. This varies by sections of the coun- 

 try and by major ownership gi'oups. The most 

 successful planting has been in the South where 

 85 percent success has been achieved. State and 

 local public ownerships show a slightly greater 

 planting success percentagewise than either Fed- 

 eral or private plantings. 



Planting Trend Is Upward 



Although most of the planting job lies ahead, the 

 increase in the annual rate of planting is distinctly 

 encouraging. The rate has increased between 5 

 and 6 times in the past quarter of a century (fig. 

 33). For example, an average of 68 thousand 

 acres of acceptable plantations were established 

 annually in 1926-29 in contrast to the annual rate 

 of 388 thousand acres in 1950-52. Since then the 

 rate has accelerated rapidly.^^ Planting rates 

 during the next 25 to 30 years are expected to 

 average more than twice the 1950-52 rate, so that 

 by 1985 possibly another 25 million acres will have 

 been transferred to acceptable plantations. There 



" For 1953-56, the average area planted aniuially is 769 

 thousand acres. It is estimated that this acreage planted 

 will result in an average annual establishment of acceptable 

 plantations of 615 thousand acres. 



