128 



TIMBER RESOURCE'S FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Table 73. — Regional distribution of live sawtimber volume and growing stock on commercial jorest land in 

 the United States and Coastal Alaska, softwood and hardwood, January 1, 1953 



Section and region 



Sawtimber ' 



Growing stock 



- 



Total 



Softwood 



Hardwood 



Total 



Softwood 



Hardwood 



North: 



New England 



Billion 



bd.-ft. 

 51 

 74 

 50 

 83 

 8 



Billion 



bd.-ft. 



27 



13 



14 



4 



1 



Billion 

 bd.-ft. 

 24 

 61 

 36 

 79 

 7 



Billion 

 cu. ft. 

 24 

 34 

 25 

 25 

 3 



Billion 

 cu. ft. 

 10 

 5 



7 



1 



Billion 

 cu. ft. 



14 



Middle Atlantic _ _ - . 



29 



Lake States . . _ 



18 



Central,. 



24 



Plains .._. 



3 







TotaL-_ 



266 



59 



207 



111 



23 



88 







South: 



South Atlantic ._ . - - 



107 

 139 

 HI 



51 



77 

 55 



56 

 62 

 56 



34 

 48 

 32 



15 

 23 

 13 



19 



Southeast . _ 



25 



West Gulf 



19 







Total .. 



357 



183 



174 



114 



51 



63 







West: 



Pacific Northwest: 



Douglas-fir subregion . _ _ _ 



595 

 154 



577 

 154 



18 



113 

 33 



108 

 33 



5 



Pine subregion . _ . 



C) 







Total 



749 



360 



167 



69 



731 



354 



166 

 66 



18 



6 

 1 

 3 



146 



66 



43 

 18 



141 



63 

 42 

 16 



5 



California 



3 



Northern Rocky Mountain. 



1 



Southern Rocky Mountain . . 



2 







Total 



1,345 



1,317 



28 



273 



262 



11 







United States 



1,968 

 89 



1,559 

 89 



409 



(2) 



498 

 19 



336 

 19 



162 



Coastal Alaska 



(?) 



All regions. 



2,057 



1, 648 



409 



517 



355 



162 







1 In addition to the live sawtimber volume, there are 37 

 billion board-feet of sawtimber in salvable dead trees; of 

 this total 34 billion board-feet are in the West, 2 billion in 

 the North, 1 billion in the South. 



2 Less than 0.5 billion board-feet. 

 ' Less than 0.5 billion cubic feet. 



tration of lumber industry in the Pacific Coast 

 States. 



From region to region, the volume of sawtimber 

 varies considerably. For example, the average 

 volume per acre of commercial forest land in the 

 West is 11,500 board-feet; in California it is 20,800 

 board-feet, and in the adjacent Southern Rocky 

 Mountain Region 3,400 board-feet. Likewise, in 

 the East where the average volume per acre is 

 1,700 board-feet, the average is 900 board-feet in 

 the Lake States and 2,300 in the South Atlantic 

 States. Such variations affect the economic pros- 

 pects of the dependent forest industries. They 

 also emphasize the wide range in timber values 

 found on the forest land. 



The growing stock is more evenly distributed: 

 53 percent is in the West and 3 percent occurs in 



Coastal Alaska. The remainder, 44 percent, is in 

 the East. However, there is wide regional varia- 

 tion too. For example, the 17 million acres of 

 commercial forest land in California carry over 

 2% times the growing stock volume found on 53 

 million acres in the Lake States. The volume of 

 growing stock in the Douglas-fir subregion, alone, 

 nearly equals the total found in the entire South. 



Softwood Species Comprise Four-fifths 

 of Sawtimber Volume 



Softwood trees make up 80 percent of the 

 Nation's sawtimber volume; the balance is in 

 hardwood trees (table 72). Nationally, Douglas- 

 fir is the most abundant species; it comprises one- 

 fourth of the total sawtimber volume (table 75) 



