GROWTH AND UTILIZATION 



153 



more intensive protection that is being provided 

 for our forest lands. Reduction of mortality — 

 especially from insects that attack mature timber 

 and from endemic diseases — is also implicit in the 

 more intensive management which is being widely 

 applied on public and industrial forest holdings in 

 the present economic climate. 



TIMBER PRODUCTS OUTPUT AND 

 TIMBER GUT 



It is encouraging to note that, for the country 

 as a whole, there have been substantial gains in 

 timber growth in recent years. Something of the 

 adequacy of this growth can be learned from the 

 quantity, kind, quality, and distribution of current 

 timber cut. 



The following analysis deals primarily with tim- 

 ber depletion due to cutting. Its purpose is to 

 present statistics on output and source of timber 

 products and analyze timber cut. 



Timber Products Output 



The American people utilize great quantities of 

 lumber, pulpwood, and other timber products each 

 year. Imports, though sizable in pulp and paper 

 products, are not large in comparison with total 

 needs. Most of the needs are supplied by our own 

 forests. But not all the domestic output consti- 

 tutes a drain on our commercial growing stock. 



Some of it is obtained from noncommercial forest 

 land, some comes from salvage of dead and cull 

 trees, some is taken from trees below the minimum 

 sizes included in growing-stock inventory or from 

 tops or limbs not included in the inventory. In 

 addition to these roundwood sources, residues from 

 the manufacture of certain products (such as 

 lumber and veneer) are used as raw materials for 

 other products (such as woodpulp) or as fuel. 

 Thus, the term "timber products output" refers 

 to the total output of timber products from all 

 domestic raw-material sources. 



More than 11 billion cubic feet of logs and bolts 

 were harvested in 1952 (table 94). Of this 

 amount, 9.4 billion cubic feet was from growing 

 stock and 1.7 billion cubic feet, or 15 percent, 

 came from cull and dead trees and other round- 

 wood sources not included in growing stock. 

 About half of the timber harvested for fuclwood, 

 one-third of that for fence posts, and about one- 

 tenth of the pulpwood and roimd mine timbers 

 came from these supplementary sources, . thus 

 saving growing stock. 



Plant residues also contributed significantly to 

 total output. For every cord of fuelwood har- 

 vested as roundwood, the equivalent of more than 

 one additional cord came from plant residues. 

 Plant residues supplied the equivalent of 31.4 

 million cords of fuelwood. They also supplied 

 the equivalent of 1.6 million cords of pulpwood, 

 or 6 percent of the total output. Thirty million 

 board-feet of lumber and 59 million cubic feet of 



Table 94. — Output and source of timber products in the United States and Coastal Alaska, by product, 1952 



Product 



Dome.stic output 



Standard unit 



Total 



From 



plant 



residues 



Output from roundwood 



Total 



Growing 

 stock 



Cull, dead 

 trees, 

 etc.2 



Saw logs (for lumber, timbers, 

 sawn ties, etc.). 



Veneer logs and bolts 



Cooperage logs and bolts 



Pulpwood 



Fuelwood 



Piling 



Poles 



Posts (round and split) 



Hewn ties 



Mine timbers (round) 



Other 5 



Board-foot lumber tallv-- 



Board-foot log scale. 

 do 



Standard cords. 

 do 



Linear feet 



Pieces 



do 



do 



Cubic feet 



do 



Million 

 units 

 39, 510 



2, 467 



355 



25 



59 



41 



6 



306 



10 



81 



227 



Million 

 units 

 30. 2 



1. 6 

 31.4 



59. 



Million 

 cu. ft. 

 6, 146 



422 



73 



1,823 



2,008 



28 



88 



194 

 67 

 81 



168 



Million 

 cu. ft. 

 5, 801 



392 



72 



1, 656 



966 

 28 

 88 



127 

 66 

 72 



125 



Million 

 cu. ft. 



345 



30 



1 



167 



1,042 



67 

 1 

 9 



43 



Total. 



11,098 



9,393 



1,705 



' Estimates of domestic output include both roundwood 

 and plant residues. 



2 In addition to cull and dead trees, includes trees of com- 

 mercial species less than 5.0 inches in diameter and tops 

 less than 4.0 inches in diameter, and trees from non- 

 commercial forest land. 



' Less than 0.5 million. 



* Less than 0.05 million. 



5 Includes box and shingle bolts, excelsior bolts, turnery, 

 dimension and handle stock, chemical wood, and bolts for 

 other miscellaneous products. 



