278 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Figure 87 



acres in one case — 21.9 million acres in the other 

 (table 156). 



Among the regions, the Southeast stands out 

 with more than one-fourth of the national plant- 

 able area. The Southeast, Central, and Lake 

 States collectively contain 57 percent of all plant- 

 able area. Two other regions, California and 

 South Atlantic, each have plantable area in excess 

 of 4 million acres. 



In ratio of plantable area to commercial forest 

 area, California leads the regions with 24 percent 

 (table 156). Other regions which are high in this 

 regard are Central, 19 percent; Plains, 18 percent; 

 Southeast, 15 percent; and Lake States, 14 percent. 



The States with the largest plantable areas are 

 California, Florida, Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, 

 Minnesota, and Wisconsin, each with 2 million 

 acres or more (see appendix table, p. 542). Their 

 combined plantable area is about 24 million acres, 

 or nearly half of the United States total. 



Bulk of Plantable Area Is 



in Private Ownership 



The most striking feature with regard to owner- 

 ship of plantable area, nationally, is the heavy 



concentration (84 percent) in private ownership 

 (table 157 and fig. 87). Only 16 percent is in 

 public ownership. In the West, however, the 8.6 

 million acres of plantable area are about equally 

 divided between private and public ownership. 

 The proportion of commercial forest area plantable 

 on Federal lands is much lower than on private 

 and other public ownerships. 



Plantable Area Reducing Naturally 



There is another aspect of the reforestation 

 situation which should not be overlooked. It 

 appears that a gradual reduction in plantable 

 area is now taking place through natm'al seeding. 

 This marks a reversal of earlier trends and can be 

 attributed primarily to better fire protection and 

 generally improved forest-management practices. 



Results of this study suggest that a net annual 

 reduction in plantable area of 312 thousand acres 

 on the average, through natural seeding, can be 

 expected in the years ahead. Possible accretions 

 to plantable area from serious fires, fm'ther aban- 

 donment of submarginal farmland, and other 

 causes were considered in this estimate. Although 

 in the right direction, the reduction is so slow that 



