FOREST TREE PLANTING 



283 



Reappraisal Timber Resource 



estimate, 19J,5 Revieio estimate. 



Item : (million acres) 1952 (million acres) 



Poorly stocked seedling and 

 sapling stands plus non- 

 stocked conimercial forest 

 land 75.3 6a 9 



Forest area planted on com- 

 mercial and noncommer- 

 cial forest land 5.0 



Forest land planted, com- 

 mercial only 6.9 



Area of acceptable planta- 

 tions on commercial for- 

 est land 5.2 



Net area needing planting, 



commercial forest land__ 67.0 



Plantable area on commer- 

 cial forest land 51.9 



Expectation of possible fu- 

 ture planting on commer- 

 cial forest land 30.0 



to 

 35. 



Area of acceptable planta- 

 tions on commercial for- 

 est land anticipated by 

 1984 30.2 



Area that would profit from 



interplanting 23.0 



The estimate of poorly stocked and nonstocked 

 commercial forest land of 68.9 million acres in 

 1952 represents a difference of 6.4 million acres 

 from the 1945 estimate of 75.3 million acres. It 

 is questionable if the establishment of acceptable 

 plantings and natural restocking over the 7-year 

 period account for all of the difference. Some of 

 it may be due to variations in the definitions and 

 procedures employed in the two studies. 



Other figures in the two studies are not compar- 

 able, although treating somewhat similar phases 

 of the planting problem. For example, the 67.0 

 million acres estimated as needing planting in the 

 Reappraisal includes lands which might not be 

 physically practical to plant, while doubtful lands 

 are excluded from the 51.9 million acres of plant- 

 able area in the current review. Similarly, other 

 estimates in the two studies are not comparable 

 without careful adjustment and interpretation. 



A Long Way To Go 



Two existing trends that act to reduce the large 

 plantable area in this country have been discussed. 

 One is the natural reduction which tends to be- 

 come greater as forest lands receive better protec- 

 tion. Eventually, over a very long period, natural 

 restocking alone would restore much of the plant - 



able area to some measure of productivity. Ob- 

 viously, it would be impractical to do nothing but 

 let nature take its course. The second trend which 

 serves to reduce plantable area is the increasing 

 total of acceptable plantations. 



By way of summary at this point, it is interest- 

 ing to speculate where the combined action of 

 these two trends might leave the planting situa- 

 tion in 1984 (fig. 91). Although the reduction in 

 plantable area would be very great, more than 17 

 million acres would still remain to be reforested — 

 the most difficult acres. Furthermore, this as- 

 sumes that no catastrophes of nature or man will 

 upset the anticipated pattern. 



Although future trends presented here are specu- 

 lative, they are based on developments in the past 

 and an understanding of the present situation. If 

 present trends continue as outlined, and if no un- 

 foreseen difficulties arise, most of the plantable 

 area will be reforested by the turn of the century. 

 Developments such as faster growing species with 

 pest resistance and knowledge of how to plant the 

 more difficult sites would help immeasurably. 



Despite the rather strong indications that in 

 future years the planting situation will brighten 

 considerably, one feature overshadows all others. 

 That is the immensity of the task as shown by 

 the relationship of acceptable plantations estab- 

 lished in 1952 to plantable area (table 156). 

 Nationally, the acreage of acceptable plantations 

 established in 1952 was only 0.8 of 1 percent of 

 plantable area, and the rate is low in all sections 

 and regions. We still liave a long way to go. 



The rate at which acceptable plantations were 

 established in 1952 is uniformly low for all types 

 of ownership (table 157 and fig. 92). On private 

 ownerships which have 84 percent of plantable 

 area and on Federal ownerships, the rate was only 

 0.7 of 1 percent of plantable area. On State and 

 other public ownerships, acceptable plantations 

 established in 1952 axnounted to 2.0 percent of the 

 plantable area. 



Planting progress may be summed up in this 

 way: 5.2 million acres of acceptable plantations 

 established up to and including 1952, and 400 

 thousand acres of acceptable plantations estab- 

 lished in 1952, as compared to the 51.9 million 

 acres of plantable area remaining (fig. 93). The 

 advance so far has been too slow in view of the 

 projected demands for timber and the need to get 

 presently understocked areas into production and 

 to keep them producing. 



