PRODUCTIVITY OF RECENTLY CUT LANDS 



243 



These small ownerships in the South are also of 

 outstanding national significance. They include a 

 total commercial forest area of 128 million acres. 

 This is 36 percent of all private commercial forest 

 land in the United States, and over one-fourth of 

 all commercial forest, both public and private. 

 The total area in these small ownerships exceeds 

 by 11 million acres the entire commercial forest 

 area of the West, and by 66 million acres the com- 

 mercial forest owned by all the forest industries in 

 the United States. Because of the situation just 

 described, the high potential growth rate, and the 

 greater need for softwood supplies than hard- 



woods, the top national problem concerned with 

 improving growth by cutting exists on these small 

 ownerships of the South. 



Previous evidence (table 136 and fig. 81) has 

 emphasized the significant relation between type of 

 owner and condition of recently cut lands. The 

 generally less favorable conditions found on farm 

 and "other" private lands appear in exaggerated 

 form in the South. Here both these types of 

 ownership have much lower proportions of recently 

 cut lands in the upper productivity class than they 

 do in other sections (appendix section Basic Sta- 

 tistics, table 73). 



Table 139. — Productivity of recently cut lands ' in the United States and Coastal Alaska, by section and 



ownership class, 1953 



Section and ownership class 2 



Commercial forest area 



Proportion of operating area by 

 productivity class 





Total 



Operating ' 



Upper 



Medium 



Lower 



North: 



Small private . . _ 



Million 

 acres 



118 



8 



16 



10 



3 



19 



Million 

 acres 



22 



6 



13 



9 



1 



13 



Percent 



50 

 61 

 71 

 84 

 80 

 83 



Percent 



33 

 30 

 27 

 16 

 15 

 16 



Percent 



17 



Medium private 



Large private _ ._ __ .. 



9 

 2 



National forest 



0) 



Other Federal . _ . . _ 



5 



State and local . . . 



1 







Total or average 



174 



64 



67 



26 



7 







South: 



Small private . . _ 



128 



20 



28 



11 



4 



3 



44 



13 



19 



9 



2 



1 



34 

 63 

 81 

 89 

 83 

 70 



37 

 26 

 13 

 10 

 14 

 23 



29 



Medium private _ _ . . _ 



11 



Large private 



6 



National forest . 



1 



Other Federal . _ . 



3 



State and local . _ _. 



7 







Total or average 



194 



88 



55 



27 



18 







West: 



Small private 



19 

 7 

 14 

 61 

 11 

 5 



8 

 4 



10 



45 



8 



4 



48 

 73 

 80 

 79 

 73 

 58 



39 

 19 

 17 

 17 

 23 

 28 



13 



Medium private . . 



8 



Large private 



3 



National forest 



4 



Other Federal . . 



4 



State and local . . . _ . ... 



14 







Total or average . . 



117 



79 



74 



21 



5 







Coastal Alaska: 



National forest 



3 

 1 



3 



1 



87 

 100 



13 





Other Federal . 











Total or average. - .. ... 



4 



4 



89 



11 









Total or average, all sections 



489 



235 



65 



24 



11 







> During period January 1, 1947, to date of examination 

 in 1953 or 1954. 



' Size class based on total commercial forest area in the 

 ownership. Small, 3-5,000 acres in the East, 10-5,000 

 acres in the West. Medium, 5,000-50,000 acres. Large, 

 50,000 acres and larger. 



^ Operating area of an individual ownership is the 

 combined area of the forest types, within the ownership, 



in which some recent cutting was done. The operating 

 area of any size class or type of ownership is the sum of the 

 operating areas on individual ownerships in that size class 

 or type of ownership. The figures exclude operating area 

 on some large private ownerships to which access was 

 denied. 



^ Less than 0.5 percent. 



