142 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Table 87.- 



-Trends in timber volume for continental 

 United States, 1945-1953 



GROWING STOCK 





1945, 



1945, 





Appar- 



Species group 



as pub- 



ad- 



1953 



ent 





lished ' 



justed 





change, 

 1945-53 





Bil- 



Bil- 



Bil- 







lion 



lion 



lion 







cu. ft. 



cu. ft. 



cu. ft. 



Percent 



Eastern hardwoods 



147 



129 



151 



17 



Eastern softwoods 



84 



74 



74 





Western species 



239 



287 



274 



-5 



Total 



470 



490 



499 



2 



SAWTIMBER VOLUME 





Bil- 



Bil- 



Bil- 







lion 



lion 



lion 







bd.-ft. 



bd.-ft. 



bd.-ft. 



Percent 



Eastern hardwoods 



299 



351 



381 



9 



Eastern softwoods 



260 



247 



242 



-2 



Western species 



1,042 



1,408 



1,345 



-5 



Total 



1,601 



2,006 



1,968 



-2 



1 U. S. Forest Service. Gaging the Timber Resource of 

 the U. S., Rpt. 1 from a Reappraisal of the Forest Situa- 

 tion, 62 pp., illus. 1946. 



these resvilts because sampling errors associated 

 with the 1953 estimate or possible inaccuracies in 

 deriving the adjusted 1945 figure would, in all 

 probability, tend to nullify the significance of any 

 such small overall changes. 



It is believed that more reliance can be placed 

 on the volume changes indicated for broad species 

 groups, particularly eastern hardwoods and west- 

 ern species. Perhaps most significant is the 

 apparent increase in eastern hardwoods — a 17- 

 percent gain in growing stock and a 9-percent gain 

 in sawtimber. The apparent decline in w^estern 

 species amounted to 5 percent for both growing 

 stock and sawtimber since 1945. While the 

 actual amount of change may be somewhat more 

 or less in either instance, for the reason noted in 

 the preceding paragraph, it nevertheless seems 

 highly probable that the trends are correctlj'^ 

 indicated. 



To the extent that the apparent increase in 

 eastern hardwoods has resulted in displacement of 

 the already scarce softwoods, additional hardwood 

 volume may be an undesirable trend. The de- 

 cline in the volume of western species reflects a 

 logical trend that may not be arrested until such 

 time as m^ore second-growth timber gains in 

 volume and area and replaces present old-growth 

 sawtimber stands. Eastern softwoods appear to 

 have leveled off in both growing stock and 

 sawtimber. 



