284 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



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Figure 91 



Planting Noncommercial Forest 

 Land and Shelterbelts 



In addition to plantations on commercial forest 

 land which will eventually be harvested for forest 

 products, there are desirable noncommercial plant- 

 ings primarily valuable for some purpose other 

 than timber yields. Plantings for flood control 

 and watershed protection, wildlife habitat, and 

 aesthetic purposes, and plantings on parks, re- 

 stricted military reservations, and other areas 

 where land-use policies make harvest cutting un- 

 likely, are in this category. 



The practice of planting trees as shelterbelts to 

 protect buildings and crops has been employed in 

 the United States for many years. Early settlers 

 in the prairie States planted shelterbelts on a large 

 scale, but the most noteworthy effort in this line 

 was the Prairie States Forestry Project during the 

 1930's. Nearly 223 million trees were planted on 

 private land in the Plains Region under that 

 program . 



Acceptable Plantations on Non- 

 commercial Forest Land 



Acceptable plantations on noncommercial forest 

 land in the United States totaled 96 thousand acres 

 in 1952 (table 161). Of this total 92 percent was 

 in the North, with the balance (8 percent) in the 

 West. State and private ownerships together had 

 74 percent of the acceptable plantations, while the 

 States alone had 44 percent. 



Planting success was spotty, with survival vary- 

 ing all the way from 90 percent in New York to 

 10 percent in California. The national score was 

 96 thousand acres of acceptable plantations out 

 of 168 thousand acres planted, or a success of 57 

 percent. 



Area of Plantable Noncommercial 

 Forest Land 



The total area of plantable noncommercial for- 

 est land in the United States is estimated at 5.4 

 million acres (table 162). The West has 72 per- 



