FOREST LAND AND TIMBEE 



129 



PACIFIC 

 NORTHWEST 



COASTAL ALASKA 



figures inciicate billion board-feet 



Figure 56 



It is of course the major western species (table 76), 

 accounting for half of the sawtimber volume in 

 the Pacific Northwest, one-third in California, and 

 more than one-fourth in the Northern Rocky 

 Mountain Region. Ponderosa pine is also an 

 abundant western species, though exceeded by 

 western hemlock in the Pacific Northwest and by 

 the true firs in California. Although not widely 

 distributed, western white pine in the Inland Em- 

 pire and redwood in California are of considerable 

 importance because of their high value and spe- 

 cialty uses. 



The commercial forests of Coastal Alaska are 

 nearly all softwood, principally Sitka spruce and 

 western hemlock (table 77). Less than one per- 

 cent of their sawtimber volume is hardwood. 



The North is hardwood country (table 78). 

 Nearly four-fifths of its sawtimber volume is in 

 hardwood trees and its stands carry half of all the 



hardwood sawtimber in the country. The forests 

 of the Central States Region, with sizable volumes 

 of oak and hickory, are more than 95 percent 

 hardwood. New England forests, with high pro- 

 portions of spruce, balsam fir, and white pine, are 

 only 47 percent hardwood. 



In the three southern regions, the volumes of 

 softwood and hardwood sawtimber are nearly 

 equal. Almost all of the softwood is in the four 

 important southern yellow pines — longleaf, slash, 

 loblolly, and shortleaf pine (table 79). Longleaf 

 and slash pines predominate in the Southeast, 

 while loblolly and shortleaf pines are widely 

 distributed throughout the South. Cypress — 

 most of it in the Southeast Region — is the only 

 other southern softwood of note. More than two- 

 fifths of the Nation's hardwood sawtimber is in the 

 South 



