FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



139 



western sawtimber volume (table 86) . Redwood, 

 Douglas-fir, sugar pine, and western white pine 

 sawtimber trees, on the average, are bigger than 

 sawtimber trees of other western species. Coastal 

 Alaska has relatively fewer large sawtimber trees 

 than the West, only one-third of the Alaskan 

 sawtimber being in 32-inch and larger trees. 



The data point to a continuing decrease in the 

 diameter of the average sawtimber tree. For ex- 

 ample, the forest survey in Mississippi showed 

 that between 1935 and 1948 softwood trees of the 



Table 85. — Distribution of live sawtimber volume 

 in the East, by species group and tree-diameter 

 class, January 1, 1953 





Total 



Diameter class (inches)' 



Species 



10 



12 



and 



14 



16 



and 

 18 



20 



and 



larger 



Softwoods : 



Southern yellow pine_ 

 Other softwoods 



Per- 

 cent 

 100 

 100 



Per- 

 cent 

 24 

 22 



Per- 

 cent 

 44 

 38 



Per- 

 cent 

 22 

 21 



Per- 

 cent 

 10 

 19 



Total, or average 



100 



24 



43 



21 



12 



Hardwoods: 



Oak 



Gum and yellow- 

 poplar 



Yellow birch and 



sugar maple 



Other hardwoods 



100 



100 



100 

 100 





41 



44 



37 

 44 



29 



33 



30 

 29 



30 



23 



33 

 27 



Total, or average 



100 





42 



30 



28 



Total all species 



100 



9 



42 



27 



22 



' The estimates of sawtimber volume include the volume 

 in softwood trees of the 10-inch diameter class but do not 

 include hardwood trees of that class. 



Table 86. — Distribution of live softwood sawtimber 

 volumes in the West and Coastal Alaska, by species 

 group and tree-diameter class, January 1, 1963 





Dia 



meter class 

 (inches) 





Species 







Total 





12-20 



22-30 



32 and 

 larger 







Per- 



Per- 



Per- 



Per- 





cent 



cent 



cent 



cent 



Douglas-fir 



18 



23 



59 



100 



Ponderosa pine and Jeffrey 











pine 



20 



36 



44 



100 



Sugar pine and western 











white pine 



21 



20 



59 



100 



Other western softwood 



28 



29 



43 



100 



All softwood _ _ 



23 



27 



50 



100 







20-inch and larger diameter classes decreased 42 

 percent in number; 12-inch softwood trees num- 

 bered only 5 percent less in 1948 than in 1935. 

 Among the Mississippi hardwoods, decreases were 

 substantial in the 16-inch and larger diameter 

 classes. Between the 1936 and 1953 surveys in 

 the Lake States, the proportion of sawtimber 

 volume in 16-inch and smaller trees increased as 

 follows: sugar maple from 44 percent to 61 per- 

 cent, yellow birch from 36 percent to 55 percent, 

 and white and red pine from 46 percent to 68 per- 

 cent. In the South Atlantic Region, between the 

 initial survey in the 1930's and 1953, the volume 

 of softwood sawtimber trees 20 inches and larger 

 declined 31 percent, while the volume in hardwood 

 trees in the same size class increased slightly. 



In the West, where old-growth provides most 

 of the timber harvest, gradual decreases in average 

 diameter are to be expected. For example, trees 

 of the 42-inch and larger diameter classes ac- 

 counted for 55 percent of Douglas-fir sawtimber 

 volume in western Washington in 1933; by 1953 

 these larger trees represented only 45 percent of 

 the total. Thus, even in the young-growth forests 

 of the East as well as in the old-growth forests of 

 the West the size of the average trees is declining 

 and the problems relating to quality increase 

 accordingly. 



Gull Trees Numerous 



Eastern hardwood stands have a large over- 

 burden of cull trees, many of them holdovers from 

 previous cuttings. The sound wood in these trees 

 is equivalent to one-fourth of the entire hardwood 

 growing stock. In the South alone, the net vol- 

 ume of hardwood cull trees exceeds one-third of 

 the hardwood growing stock. And, of all sound 

 hardwood volume in the East, some 18 percent ^® 

 is in cull trees: 



Region 

 North: 



New England 



Middle Atlantic. .. 



Lake States 



Central 



Plains 



Average 



South: 



South Atlantic 



Southeast 



West Gulf 



.Average 



Total East, average.. 



Hardwood cull-tree volume as 



proportion of— 





All-timber 



Growing stock 



volume 



(percent) 



(percent) 



22 



17 



14 



11 



16 



13 



20 



13 



22 



14 



18 



13 



29 



20 



42 



27 



31 



21 



34 



23 



25 



18 



" These percentages are not equivalent to "cull percent," 

 since the latter includes the sizable volume of sound but 

 defective material in growing-stock trees. 



