GROWTH AND UTILIZATION 



Anyone familiar with developments in timber 

 harvesting will agree that improved practices and 

 higher prices for timber products have made for 

 closer utihzation of the timber cut in recent years. 

 Yet a substantial volume of the timber cut is never 

 brought out of the woods. In 1952, logging resi- 

 dues were almost 1.4 billion cubic feet, or 13 per- 

 cent of the total growing stock cut (table 95 and 

 fig. 62). Logging residues are discussed more 

 fully later in this section (p. 168). 



Major Dependence Is on Sawtimber 



Sawtinaber has always been the backbone of 

 f the Nation's timber economy. In 1952, it com- 

 prised 84 percent of the 10.8 billion cubic feet of 

 timber cut (table 95). Poletimber contributed 



155 



only 16 percent. The preponderance of saw- 

 timber in the total cut is, of course, understand- 

 able in the light of present low minimum sizes for 

 sawtimber — 9 inches for eastern softwoods and 11 

 inches for all other species. But it is worth em- 

 phasizing that even for products that do not re- 

 quire trees of sawtimber size, much of the cut is 

 from sawtimber: Pulpwood, 56 percent; fuelwood, 

 53 percent; fence posts, 34 percent; and round 

 mine timbers, 30 percent. The proportion of the 

 cut of pulpwood coming from poletimber is un- 

 doubtedly rising as supplies of larger trees are less 

 readily available to meet the increasing demand. 

 Nevertheless, it generally costs less to cut pulp- 

 wood from trees over 9 inches in diameter in the 

 East or 11 inches in the West than from trees 

 below these sizes. 



POLETIMBER 



SAWTIMBER 



1 



2 



SAW LOGS 



PULPWOOD 



FUELWOOD 



products 1 

 residues J 



timber cut 



VENEER LOGS 

 AND BOLTS 



ALL OTHER 



3 4 



)illion cubic feet 



5 6 7 





^H 



4 



6 



8 10 



ALL PRODUCTS 



billion cubic feet 



includes Coastal Alaska 



Figure 62 



