274 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



reasonable time.^' Plantable area includes virtu- 

 ally all of the nonstocked forest land. It also 

 includes certain areas of seedlings and saplings, 

 slightly in excess of 10 percent stocked, where 

 local experience and judgment indicated they 

 were practical to plant. In the case of California, 

 lands up to 20 percent stocked in all classes (in- 

 cluding sawtimber) were considered. The non- 

 forest category generally pertains to former tim- 

 berland diverted to cropland but which now lies 

 idle. 



All components of plantable area, including the 

 nonforest category, are hereafter referred to as 

 plantable commercial forest land. This analysis 

 does not attempt to incorporate business aspects, 

 nor does it suggest that it is economically feasible 

 to plant all plantable area. 



Natural reduction in plantable area. — -The grad- 

 ual decrease in plantable area through natural 

 seeding. As used in this discussion, it is a net 

 reduction, with accretions to nonstocked or poorly 

 stocked land taken into account. 



Planting. — The establishment of a tree cover 

 (and/or a shrub cover in the case of shelterbelts) 

 by the planting of nursery stock or by direct 

 seeding. 



Acceptable plantation. — For a plantation to be 

 classed as acceptable, it was required to have at 

 the end of the fifth year after planting at least 

 the following number of planted trees per plan- 

 tation acre:" Engelmann spruce and lodgepole 

 pine, 300; other western species, 200; all eastern 

 species, 400. These standards represent the 

 absolute minimum; most acceptable plantations 

 have more trees per acre after 5 years. Younger 

 plantations were judged acceptable if they ap- 

 peared likely to meet the stocking requirement 

 5 years after planting. 



Planting success. — The area of acceptable plan- 

 tations divided by the total area planted. For 

 example, with 1,000,000 acres planted in a given 

 area and 750,000 acres in acceptable plantations 

 at time of the 1952 estimate, the success would 

 be 75 percent. 



^^ For purposes of this study, "a reasonable time" means 

 that poorly stocked seedling and sapling areas in the 

 eastern types and coastal conifer types in the West should 

 not be left in an understocked condition for more than 5 

 years, and interior western types for more than 10 years. 



*^ The numbers of trees presented here were adopted as 

 minimum standards that would qualify a planted area as 

 "acceptable." Although the standards exceed the num- 

 bers of trees recjuired for full stocking at maturity, they 

 should not be construed as goals for highly productive 

 planted stands. Such minimum standards provide 

 lirnited opportunity for future intermediate cuttings or 

 thinnings and may not produce as good quality wood as 

 more heavily stocked plantations. 



STATUS OF PLANTING ON COM- 

 MERCIAL FOREST LAND 



Past Accomplishments in Planting 



Planting began early in the history of this coun- 

 tiy, probably soon after the first land clearing. 

 There are records of oak plantings for the produc- 

 tion of ship's timbers in the 1740's. It is known 

 that several hundred acres of plantations were 

 established in eastern Massachusetts in the 1840's. 



Reforestation efforts by private owners and 

 Government agencies gradually built up over the 

 years. It is estimated that 352,000 acres of ac- 

 ceptable plantations had been established on 

 commercial forest land by 1926. Undoubtedly a 

 much greater acreage was actually planted than 

 this figure suggests, because early planting was 

 attempted with little knowledge or expei'ience and 

 success was uncertain. 



Increasing interest in planting led in 1924 to the 

 inclusion of a provision for cooperative tree dis- 

 tribution in the Clarke-McNary Act. The first 

 trees were distributed under this law in 1926, and 

 organized reforestation efforts became widespread. 

 Systematic planting records for the Nation as a 

 whole also had their beginning in 1926, as a result 

 of the reporting system necessary to administer 

 the Clarke-McNary Act. 



Area of Acceptable Plantations 

 Low Nationally 



The total planting on commercial forest land in 

 the United States had reached 6.9 million acre* 

 by 1952. Of this total 5.2 million acres were con- 

 sidered acceptable (table 156).*^^ The acceptable 

 plantations are composed largely of coniferous 

 species. The hardwoods are more difficult to out- 

 plant successfully and have not been planted any- 

 where near as extensively as conifers. 



The 5.2 million acres of acceptable plantations 

 established by 1952 appear at first glance rather 

 an impressive accomplishment. However, as will 

 be shown later, in relation to the total area await- 

 ing planting it represents only a modest beginning. 



North Leads in Area of Acceptable 

 Plantations 



The area of acceptable plantations is about 

 equally divided between the North and the rest 



'" Area of acceptable plantations and plantable area b>- 

 States and ownership classes are given in appendix tables 

 18 and 19. 



