FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



125 



IN MILLIONS OF ACRES 



# 1.4 



2.7 



PACIFIC NORTHWEST 



(PINE) 



2.1 



2.8 



::■ 



NORTHERN 

 ROCKY MOUNTAIN 



.03 

 CAlFoRNIA 



0.6 



1.3 



0.7 0.7 

 PLAINS 



LAKE STATES 



2.0 "^-^ 



■ 

 CENTRAL 



SOUTHERN 

 ROCKY MOUNTAIN 



3.1 



2.4 



WEST GULF 



0.8 0.9 



NEW ENGLAND 



2-21.4 



MIDDLE ATLANTIC 



1.4 1.5 

 SOUTH ATLANTIC 



SOUTHEAST 



POORLY STOCKED SEEDLING AND SAPLING STANDS 



NONSTOCKED AREAS 



Figure 55 



and 1953 have a much greater reliability than 

 those of previous years: 



Noncommer- 

 Total forest Commercial cial forest 

 land area forest land land area 



~,^ . ,. , (million area (mil- (million 



I ear of estimate: acres) Hon acres) acres) 



1630' 950 850 100 



1920 2 614 464 150 



1930 3 615 495 120 



1938 < 630 462 168 



1945 5 624 461 163 



1953 648 485 163 



' Kellogg, R. S., The Timber Supply of the United States. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., Forest Serv. Cir. 97, 16 pp., illus. 1907. 



2 U. S. Forest Serv. Timber Depletion, Lumber Prices, 

 Lumber Exports and Concentration of Timber Ownership. 

 Ed. 2. Rpt. on Sen. Res. 311, 66th Cong., 2d Sess. 

 73 pp., illus. (Capper Rpt.) 1920. 



3 U. S. Forest Serv. A National Plan for American 

 Forestry. Sen. Doc. 12, 73d Cong., 1st Sess. 2 v., 

 1,677 pp., illus. (Copeland Rpt.) 1933. 



* Cong. U. S., Joint Committee on Forestry. Forest 

 Lands of the United States. Sen. Doc. 32, 77th Cong., 

 1st Sess. 44 pp., illus. (Joint Congressional Committee 

 Rpt.) 1941. 



^ U. S. Forest Serv. Forests and National Prosperity. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Pub. 668, 99 pp., illus. (Reap- 

 praisal Rpt.) 1948. 



Forest Land Area Now Greater 

 Than in 1945 



Forest land area as of 1953 totaled 648 million 

 acres. This was 23.8 million acres more .than was 

 estimated in 1945; all of the increase except 0.5 

 million acres was commercial forest land. The 

 difference is attributable to three main factors: 

 changes in classification and in land use and im- 

 proved accuracy of area estimates. 



In the South, over 10 million acres of abandoned 

 agricultural land were added to the commercial 

 forest area. Almost as many acres were added 

 to the estimate of commercial forest area in the 

 West when major shifts from the noncommercial 

 to the commercial class were made in the esti- 

 mates for the Rocky Mountain States. In the 

 North, nearly 4 million acres were added, mainly 

 by reclassifying forested swamps and poor aspen 

 sites and, in the Plains States, by more accurate 

 area determinations. 



In addition, there were shifts resulting from 

 clearing land for reservoir sites, parks, rights-of- 





