268 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



about the same general level of productivity. 

 The proportions of these lands in the upper 

 productivity class by ownership groups are 

 pulp industry, 84 percent; national forests, 

 81 percent; other public ownerships, 77 

 percent; lumber and other wood-manufac- 

 turing industries, 73 percent. 



3. In contrast, the proportions of recently cut 

 lands in the upper productivity class were 

 much lower on farm and other private forest 

 lands. The proportions were farm, 41 per- 

 cent; other private, 52 percent. 



4. The national significance of this contrast is 

 emphasized by the area of commercial forest 

 land in these two broad ownership groups. 

 About 193 million acres or 39 percent of all 

 commercial forest land is found on ownerships 

 of the public and of the forest industries, 

 while 296 million acres or 61 percent of the 

 total is in farm and other private ownership. 



5. Condition of recently cut lands is closely 

 related to size of private ownerships. Pro- 

 portions of recently cut lands in the upper 

 productivity class are small private, 40 per- 

 cent; medium private, 64 percent; and large 

 private, 78 percent. Public lands taken to- 

 gether showed 80 percent of recently cut 

 lands in the upper productivity class. SmaU 

 private forest ownerships are largely on 

 farms and on other private lands. Together 

 these numerous small properties contain 265 

 million acres or 54 percent of all commercial 

 forest land. 



6. The condition of recently cut lands is poorest 

 in the South and best in the West. The posi- 

 tion of the South is due to the very large 

 area (128 million acres) of small private 

 ownerships on which only one-third of 

 recently cut lands were found to be in the 

 upper productivity class. The commercial 

 forest area in these small southern owner- 

 ships comprises 26 percent of all such area in 

 the country and exceeds the entire com- 

 mercial forest area of the West, the entire 

 national ownership of the forest industries, 

 and also of the national forests. 



7. Although both clear cutting and partial cut- 

 ting methods have a useful place in keeping 

 recently cut lands productive, clear-cutting 

 methods as now applied result in a generally 

 lower level of productivity than do partial 

 cuttings. Important exceptions to this gen- 

 eral relation exist particularly in the West. 



8. On 65 percent of all recently cut lands, the 

 cutting was made primarily for large products 

 such as saw logs, veneer logs, and piling. 

 Onl}^ 15 percent of the area was cut primarily 

 for products of small size such as fence posts 

 and cordwood for pulp or fuel. Integrated 

 utilization was practiced on the remaining 

 20 percent, i. e., products of both broad size 



classes were removed. The productivity of 

 recently cut lands was higher where inte- 

 grated utilization was practiced than where 

 either large or small products were the pri- 

 mary objective of cutting. This difference 

 in productivity is most pronounced on private 

 lands of medium and large size, least pro- 

 nounced on small private owTierships. 

 9. Comparison of the proportions of recently 

 cut lands in the upper productivity class 

 with the national average in this class identi- 

 fies the following weak and strong areas in the 

 recently cut area picture: 



Proportion of all commercial 

 forest land on which produc- 

 tivity of recently cut lands 



Type of ownership: 

 Private : 



Farm 



Other private 



Forest industries 



Public: 



National forest 



All other Federal 



State and local 



Total 



Below the 



Afiove the 



national 



national 



average 



average 



(percent) 



(percent) 



31. 1 





17.8 



3.6 



2.3 



7.9 





13.0 



.9 



2. 1 



.7 



4.6 



52. 8 



31.2 



Farm aiid other private forest ownerships on 

 which recently cut lands are below the 

 national average in productivity contain 49 

 percent of all commercial forest land or about 

 240 million acres. This area consists, for 

 the most part, of nearly 4.5 million small 

 private ownerships. 



10. The more important conditions adversely 

 affecting productivity of recently cut lands 

 are — 



(a) Deficiencies in stocking on small private 

 holdings in all sections for nearly all of 

 the more important forest tj-pe groups, 

 and particularly deficiencies in condi- 

 tions favorable for establishment of new 

 trees after clear cutting. 



(b) Deficiencies due to poor composition in 

 all sections and ownerships for some of 

 the more important forest type groups, 

 but particularly on small private owner- 

 ships in the North. Deficient composi- 

 tion in the North is related to the large 

 proportion of hardwood type groups and 

 the wide variation in utility of the many 

 species in such type groups. 



(c) Deficiencies due to premature cutting on 

 small private ownerships in all sections 

 and also on medium and large private 

 ownerships in the North. 



1 1 . Productivity of recenth' cut lands varies 

 significantly among major forest type groups. 

 The percentage of recently cut land in the 

 upper productivity class is below tiie national 

 average for 8 of the 19 major type groups 



