146 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



epidemic losses from insects and disease, and ab- 

 normal losses from other causes were not deducted 

 from growth, but were included as part of the 

 drain. ^^ 



The South Leads in Annual 

 Timber Growth 



Annual growth of sawtimber in 1952 totaled 

 47.4 billion board-feet for the United States and 

 Coastal Alaska. The corresponding growth for 

 growing stock was 14.2 billion cubic feet (table 88). 



About half of the growth of both sawtimber and 

 growing stock occurs in the South, which has only 

 40 percent of the commercial forest land. The 

 West has 24 percent of the sawtimber growth and 

 almost the same proportion of the commercial 

 forest land. Its share of growing-stock growth, 

 however, is only 19 percent. The North, with 36 

 percent of the commercial forest land, has only 

 25 percent of the sawtimber growth and 33 per- 



28 In addition to losses from fire, epidemics of insects or 

 disease, and other destructive agents, forest drain as re- 

 ported in the 1945 Reappraisal included commodity drain 

 or the amount of forest growing stock cut for various 

 products, including the volume knocked down or otherwise 

 killed in logging and left unused in the woods. Thus, 

 commodity drain in the Reappraisal report is equivalent 

 to timber cut in this report. No term comparable to 

 forest drain or total drain, as used in the Reappraisal 

 report, appears in this report. 



cent of the growing-stock growth. Growth in the 

 West stUl tends to be held down by the large re- 

 siduum of virgin timber, which has little net 

 growth. In the East, annual growth reflects the 

 adverse results of past treatment. In their pres- 

 ent rundown condition, eastern forests are produc- 

 ing much less than they are capable of. 



Softwoods, generally more desirable than hard- 

 woods, account for 59 percent of the sawtimber 

 growth, but onh" 49 percent of the growing-stock 

 growth. The larger proportion in sawtim.ber 

 growth is related primarily to the fact that the 

 m.inimum size of sawtimber trees in the North 

 and South is lower for softwoods than for hard- 

 woods. It is worth noting that hardwoods ac- 

 count for four-fifths of the sawtimber growth in 

 the North and two-fifths in the South (fig. 58). 

 For the reason already stated, hardwoods account 

 for still larger proportions of the growth of growing 

 stock. 



The dominant position of the South is due to its 

 lead in softwood growth; it falls a little below the 

 North in hardwood growth. The proportions for 

 softwood sawtimber growth are South, 52 percent; 

 West, 39 percent; North, 9 percent. For hard- 

 wood sawtimber, the distribution is North, 50 

 percent; South, 49 percent; West, 1 percent. The 

 distribution of growing-stock growth is generally 

 similar, but for both softwoods and hardwoods the 



Table 88. — Net annual timber growth in the United States and Coastal Alaska, by section and region, 1952 ' 



Section and region 



Growing stock 



Live sawtimber 



Total 



Softwood 



Hardwood 



Total 



Softwood 



Hardwood 



North: 



New England 



Middle Atlantic 



Million 



cu. ft. 



878 



1,357 



1,180 



1, 128 



116 



Million 



cu. ft. 



291 



156 



319 



46 



9 



Million 



cu. ft. 



587 



1,201 



861 



1,082 



107 



Million 

 bd.-ft. 

 1,857 

 3, 160 

 2,693 

 3,963 

 401 



Million 

 bd.-ft. 

 "914 

 470 

 802 

 249 

 40 



Million 

 bd.-ft. 

 943 

 2,690 



Lake States 



1,891 



Central 



Plains 



3,714 

 361 



Total 



4, 659 



821 



3,838 



12, 074 



2,475 



9,599 



South: 



South Atlantic _ . _ _ 



1,908 

 3,056 

 1,843 



969 



1,714 

 881 



939 



1,342 



962 



6,880 



10, 035 



7,102 



3,670 

 6,679 

 4, 146 



3,210 



Southeast 



3,356 



West Gulf 



2,956 







Total 



6,807 



3,564 



3,243 



24.017 



14, 495 



9,522 



West: 



Pacific Northwest: 



Douglas-fir subregion . 



998 

 329 



943 

 329 



55 



(?) 



5, 149 

 828 



5,010 

 824 



139 



Pine subregion 



4 







Total 



1,327 

 595 

 603 

 220 



1,272 

 539 



591 

 194 



55 

 56 

 12 

 26 



5,977 



2, 939 



1,534 



728 



5,834 



2,895 



1,508 



677 



143 



California 



Northern Rocky Mountains 



44 

 26 



Southern Rocky Mountains. 



51 







Total 



2,745 



2,596 



149 



11, 178 



10, 914 



264 



Total, United States ._. . . 



14, 211 

 32 



6,981 

 32 



7, 230 



(?) 



47, 269 

 128 



27, 884 

 127 



19, 385 



Coastal Alaska. 



1 







United States and Coastal Alaska 



14, 243 



7,013 



7, 230 



47, 397 



28,011 



19,386 







' Statistics by States are shown in appendix table 12. 



' Less than 0.5 million. 



