OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



291 



and game refuges or management areas, or are 

 leased for grazing purposes. Some areas are 

 without designated uses or development policies 

 and some are available for sale. 



THE PRESENT PATTERN OF COM- 

 MERCIAL FOREST LAND OWNER- 

 SHIP *' 



Nearly Three- Fourths of Forest 

 Land Is Privately Owned 



Largely as a result of past land policies that 

 have favored small-scale, fee-simple ownership, 

 about 358 million acres, or 73 percent of the 

 Nation's commercial forest land, is in private 

 holdings (table 163 and fig. 94). Farm holdings 

 represent the largest class of ownership, with 34 



*^ Statistical data presented here pertain chiefly to 

 sections or to the Nation as a whole. Statistics by States 

 and regions are given in the appendix, page 499. 



percent of the commercial forest land. Forest 

 industries own 13 percent. A variety of miscella- 

 neous other private owners hold 26 percent of the 

 total commercial forest area. Private owners also 

 hold nearly a third of the noncommercial forest 

 lands in the United States and Coastal Alaska. 



Public holdings comprise 27 percent of all 

 commercial forests. National forests represent the 

 most important class of public holdings, with 17 

 percent of the total commercial forest area. Other 

 Federal holdings include 4 percent of the total, and 

 6 percent is in State and local public ownerships. 



In the eastern regions, where practically all 

 lands at one time passed into private ownership, 

 most of the commercial forest land is still in private 

 holdings. In the South, 91 percent of the com- 

 mercial forest area is privately owned and, in the 

 North, 81 percent. In the West and Coastal 

 Alaska, on the other hand, most of the commercial 

 forest land is still federally owned or administered; 

 only 33 percent of the western commercial forests 

 are in private holdings. 



Table 163. — Ownership of commercial forest land in the United States and Coastal Alaska, by section, 1953 



Type of ownership 



All sections 



North 



South 



West 



Coastal 





Area 



Proportion 



Alaska 



Private: 



Forest industries: 



Lumber manufacturer. _ 



Thousand 



acres 



34, 687 



23, 276 



4, 419 



Percent 

 7. 1 

 4. 8 

 . 9 



Thousand 



acres 



3, 955 



9, 224 



924 



Thousand 



acres 



18, 517 



12, 188 



2, 818 



Thousand 



acres 



12, 215 



1, 864 



677 



Thousand 

 acres 



Pulp manufacturer 





Other wood manufacturer 





Total 



Farm - - _ . _ 



62, 382 

 165, 217 

 130, 670 



12. 8 

 33. 8 

 26. 7 



14, 103 

 61,394 

 66, 118 



33, 523 

 90, 143 

 52, 943 



14, 756 

 13, 680 

 11,590 





Other private 



19 







Total, all private 



358, 269 



73.3 



141,615 



176, 609 



40, 026 



19 



Public: 



National forest 



84, 759 

 6,965 

 6, 298 

 5, 102 



17. 4 

 1. 4 

 1. 3 

 1. 



10, 282 



1,488 



72 



1, 252 



10, 372 



117 



154 



3, 553 



60, 660 

 5, 340 



5,287 

 297 



3, 445 



Indian ' . _ . _ . . 



20 



Bureau of Land Management ' . - _ 



785 



Other Federal 









Total, Federal . - 



103, 124 



19, 169 



7,048 



999 



21. 1 

 3. 9 

 1.5 



, 2 



13, 094 

 12, 546 



} 6, 786 



14, 196 

 1, 857 



626 



71, 584 

 4,766 



635 



4,250 



State ^ 





County - .__ -- 









Municipal and local . _ _ _ 









Total, all public . . . . 



130, 340 



26. 7 



32, 426 



16, 679 



76, 985 



4, 250 







All ownerships ._ - - 



488, 609 



100. 



174, 041 



193, 288 



117,011 



4, 269 







' Because of different definitions of commercial forest land, figures for these ownerships may vary from published 

 figures of the public agencies concerned. 



