138 TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Table 84. — Distribution of live hardwood sawtimher volume in the East, by log grades, 1953 ^ 



Region 



Grade 1— 



standard 



lumber logs 



Grade 2— 



standard 



lumber logs 



Grade 3— 



standard 



lumber logs 



and tie and 



timber logs 



Total, all 

 grades 



Volume in 

 areas sampled 



New England 



Middle Atlantic 



Lake States 



Central 



South Atlantic 



Percent 



18 

 20 

 13 

 7 

 24 

 10 

 10 



Percent 



27 

 21 

 27 

 11 

 33 

 20 

 19 



Percent 



55 

 59 

 60 

 82 

 43 

 70 

 71 



Percent 



100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 



Billion bd-ft. 

 24. 4 

 61.0 

 35.4 

 53.6 

 5. 1 



Southeast 



West Gulf - -- - --- - 



62.5 

 45. 1 







Weighted average 



13 



20 



67 



100 



287. 1 



* The percentage distribution is based on sampling of 75 

 percent of the hardwood sawtimber volume in the East. 

 In all but the South Atlantic Region, the sampling was 

 well distributed throughout the regions. The South 



distinct trends in sawtimber volume represented 

 by Grade 1 logs: 



Change from 

 19S6-5S 

 (percent) 



Sugar maple — 58 



Yellow birch -84 



Bass wood +6 



Elm 



Beech -80 



Oak +27 



Aspen +187 



Soft maple —59 



In the regional estimates for the West, log grades 

 have been used less widely than in other sections. 

 In some places, during the past several years, there 

 has been a gradual decrease in the quality of logs 

 coming into primary manufacturing plants. The 

 decrease is due, chiefly, to two things: logging 

 started in the most accessible and highest quality 

 timber has gradually moved into areas of lesser 

 value; and as stumpage became scarcer and higher 

 priced, more timber of poorer quality was har- 

 vested. An example of this situation is apparent 

 in the gradual development of the Douglas-fir 

 subregion. Here, much of the better timber oc- 

 curred at lower elevations in the Puget Sound, 

 Grays Harbor, and Lower Columbia River areas. 

 As this timber has been cut, logging has moved to 

 higher elevations on the western slopes of the 

 Cascade Range and to southwest Oregon and 

 northern California, where per-acre volumes aver- 

 age less and timber quality is generally lower. 



Small Trees Lack Quality 



For lumber, veneer, and similar end uses, small 

 size is an important limitation. Many small 

 trees are defect-free and will improve in quality 

 if left to grow. However, the prevalence of small 

 trees, particularly in eastern softwoods, has an 

 important bearing on present supplies and on the 

 future outlook for high-quality timber. 



Atlantic sample covers only the southern Coastal Plain 

 counties in North Carolina. The Plains Region was not 

 sampled. 



In young-growth timber small trees inevitably 

 make up a high proportion of the sawtimber 

 volume. The result is a high percentage of low- 

 grade logs (table 85). To illustrate, the recent in- 

 ventory of timber in Alabama showed 88 percent 

 of the southern yellow pine sawtimber volume in 

 trees 18 inches or smaller in diameter, and only 

 12 percent in 20-inch and larger trees. In the 

 smaller trees less than 1 percent of the volume is 

 in Grade 1 logs and only 11 percent is in Grade 2. 

 The larger trees have 40 percent of their volume 

 in Grades 1 and 2, and 60 percent in Grades 3 and 

 4. Most of the sawtimber volume in the small 

 trees, 89 percent, is in Grade 3 and 4 logs — not an 

 encouraging situation for industries needing high- 

 quality softwoods. 



More than 40 percent of the eastern hardwood 

 sawtimber volume is in trees of the 12- and 14-inch 

 diameter classes. Such trees are too small to con- 

 tain any Grade 1 standard logs and even medium- 

 sized hardwood trees of the 16- and 18-inch di- 

 ameter classes seldom carry more than 5 percent 

 of their volume as Grade 1 saw logs. The volume 

 of hardwood trees in the 20-inch and larger di- 

 ameter classes represents less than 30 percent of 

 the total hardwood sawtimber volume. Even so, 

 the volume in larger trees is relatively greater in 

 hardwoods than in softwoods. This is demon- 

 strated by the following comparison of eastern 

 hardwood and softwood volumes in the 12-inch 

 and larger diameter classes: 



Softwoods Hardwoods 

 (percent) (percent) 



12- and 14-inch trees 56 42 



16- and 18-inch trees 28 30 



20-inch and larger trees 16 28 



Total 100 100 



Tree size is not yet a major factor in the West 

 and in Coastal Alaska. Softwoods in the 32-inch 

 and larger diameter classes contain about half of 



