122 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Table 68. — Ovmership of private commercial jorest 

 land in the United States and Coastal Alaska, by 

 size, class of ownership, and section, 1953 



Section 



All 

 holdings 



Small 

 (less 

 than 

 5,000 

 acres) 



Medium 



(5,000 to 



50,000 



acres) 



Large 

 (more 

 than 

 50,000 

 acres) 



North 



South 



West 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 141, 615 

 176, 609 

 40, 026 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 117,160 

 128, 192 

 19,912 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 8,279 

 20, 140 

 6,400 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 16, 176 

 28, 277 

 13, 714 







United States 



Coastal Alaska _ _ 



358, 250 

 19 



265, 264 

 19 



> 34, 669 



158,317 









All sections 



358, 269 



265, 283 



34, 669 



58, 317 



' Sectional estimates do not add to this national total 

 because the holdings of a few owners are located in two 

 sections. The national total has been adjusted to eliminate 

 double counting of such holdings. 



forests, some 55 million acres, is in the West and 

 Coastal Alaska. Other Federal holdings, totaling 

 about 56 million noncommercial acres, are also 

 concentrated in the West, but there are some in 

 Coastal Alaska and in the East. 



Private, State, county, and local public areas of 

 noncommercial forest land cover approximately 65 

 m.Lllion acres. More than two-thirds of this is in 

 the West, but there are also sizable areas in the 

 North and in Coastal Alaska. 



Condition of Commercial Forest 

 Land 



Location and ownership of commercial forest 

 land are only part of the story. It is equally im- 

 portant to know something about the condition of 

 the land. Two criteria are commonly used by 

 foresters: the distribution of area by stand size 

 classes — that is, what portion supports sawtimber 

 stands, poletimber stands, seedling and sapling 

 stands — and how much is nonstocked. Another 

 main criterion is the density or stocking of timber 

 on forest land. Where old growth remains, 

 foresters also distinguish between old-growth and 

 young-growth sawtimber stands. 



Sawtimber and Poletimber Stands 

 Occupy Nearly Equal Areas 



Sawtimber stands (the main source of present 

 timber supplies) and poletimber stands each oc- 

 cupy more than one-third of the commercial 

 forest land. The remainder, more than one-fourth, 

 is occupied by seedhng and sapHng stands or is 

 nonstocked. These proportions vary greatly be- 

 tween regions (table 69) . 



Sawtimber area constitutes a relatively high 

 proportion of the commercial forest area in the 

 West and Coastal Alaska: 



United Stales 



and Coastal Coastal 



Alaska East West Alaska 

 (.percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) 



Sawtimber stands 37 29 60 96 



Poletimber stands 35 39 22 



Other stands and non- 2 



stocked ares 28 32 18 2 



Total 100 100 100 100 



Eastern forests are characterized by large acre- 

 ages of poletimber, saplings, and seedlings. Such 

 stands, occupying 63 percent of the commercial 

 forest land in the North and 60 percent in the 

 South, hold promise of increasing sawtimber |1 

 supplies from both of these sections in the future, n 



Not so promising is the acreage of nonstocked 

 lands — 8 to 10 percent of commercial forest area — 

 in all sections except Alaska. Totaling some 

 42 million acres, this nonstocked land present!}' 

 contributes little or nothing to the timber supply. 



Old -Growth Sawtimber on 10 Percent 

 of Commercial Forest Land fj 



Of the 74 million acres of sawtimber stands in 

 the West and Coastal Alaska, 50 million acres 

 bear old-growth sawtimber.-^ While old growth 

 accounts for 41 percent of the commercial forest 

 land in these two sections, nationally it appears i 

 less important — about 10 percent of the total com- 

 mercial forest area. In terms of timber volume, 

 however, old-growth sawtimber is of great im- 

 portance, both regionally and nationally. About ■ 

 three-fifths of it is in national forests; two-fifths is 

 in private or other public ownership, as these 1953 

 estimates for the West and Coastal Alaska show: 



Total 



commerciol Old-growth sawtimber 



forest land 

 ^ , ■ , (thovsand 



Ownership class: acres) 



National forest 64,105 



Other ownerships 57,175 



Total 121,280 49,984 



(thousand 



(percent 



acres) 



of total) 



31, 



570 



49 



18, 



414 



32 



41 



One-third, 10 million acres, of national-forest 

 old-growth is in the Pacific Northwest, and about 

 one-tenth, 3 million acres, occurs in Coastal 

 Alaska. The rest is distributed among national 

 forests in other western regions — roughly 6 million 

 acres in each Rocky Mountain region and in Cali- 

 fornia. About two-thirds of the old growth in 

 other ownerships is in the Pacific Northwest and 

 California. 



23 There is still some old-growth sawtimber in the Eaft, 

 but it is scattered and its area is relatively small. For 

 this reason, none of the East's sawtimber area has been 

 classified as old growth except a small area of ponderosa 

 pine in eastern South Dakota. Elsewhere in the East, the 

 old-growth areas are included with young-growth saw- 

 timber. 



