OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



293 



the total commercial forest area. There are about 

 2,330 of these holdings, with a total area of 35 

 million acres. 



Table 164. — Number oj private ownerships of com- 

 mercial forest land and area owned in the United 

 States and Coastal Alaska, by size of holding and 

 section, 1953 ' 



ALL SECTIONS 



Size of owner- 



Owner- 



Area 



Propor- 

 tion of 

 com- 



Average 

 size of 



ship (acres) 



ships 





mercial 



forest 



area 



holding 







Thousand- 









Number 



acres 



Percent 



Acres 



Less than 100 i__ 



3, 875, 093 



121, 023 



24. 8 



31 



100-500 



586, 467 



97, 882 



20.0 



167 



500-5,000 



46, 326 



46, 378 



9.5 



1,001 



Total 



4, 507, 886 



265, 283 



54. 3 



59 



5,000-50,000 2 _._ 

 Over 50,000 2 



2,330 

 283 



34, 669 

 58, 317 



7. 1 

 IL 9 



14, 879 

 206, 067 



Total 



4, 510, 499 



358, 269 



73.3 



79 



NORTH 



Less than 100 ».- 



100-500 



500-5,000 



2, 316, 089 



224, 935 



12, 259 



69, 338 

 37, 608 

 10, 214 



14. 2 



7. 7 

 2. 1 



30 

 167 

 833 



Total 



5,000-50,000 2_.- 

 Over 50,000 2___. 



2, 553, 283 



563 



75 



117, 160 



8,279 



16, 176 



24.0 

 1.7 

 3.3 



46 



14, 705 



215, 680 



Total 



2,553,921 



141,615 



29.0 



55 



SOUTH 



Less than 100 '._ 



100-500 



500-5,000 



1, 476, 478 



322, 414 



26, 605 



48,315 

 52, 449 



27, 428 



9. 9 



10.7 



5. 6 



33 



163 



1,031 



Total 



5,000-50,000 2_-_ 

 Over 50,000 2 



1, 825, 497 



1, 367 



156 



128, 192 

 20, 140 

 28, 277 



26. 2 

 4. 1 

 5.8 



70 



14, 733 



181, 263 



Total 



1, 827, 020 



176, 609 



36. 1 



97 



WEST AND COASTAL ALASKA 



Less than 100 i__ 



100-500 



500-5,000 



82, 526 



39, 118 



7,462 



3,370 

 7,825 

 8,736 



0.7 

 1. 6 

 L8 



41 



200 



1, 171 



Total 



5,000-50,000 2___ 

 Over 50,000 2 



3 129, 106 



409 



62 



19, 931 



6,400 



13,714 



4. 1 



1. 3 



2. 8 



154 



15, 648 



221, 194 



Total 



129, 577 



40, 045 



8.2 



310 



' Number of ownerships shown for holdings of 3-100 

 acres in the East and 10-100 acres in the West. 



2 Ownerships in a given size class on a sectional basis do 

 not add to national totals because holdings of a given 

 owner located in different regions were combined in deter- 

 mining number of ownerships on a national basis. 



' Includes 286 ownerships in Coastal Alaska. 



"Large" private holdings of more than 50,000 

 acres of forest land number 283. They represent a 

 total area of 58 million acres, or 12 percent of all 

 commercial forests. Seven of these large owner- 

 ships average 2,103,000 acres, and together in- 

 clude roughly 3 percent of the Nation's commer- 

 cial forest land, as shown in the following tabu- 

 lation: 



CommeTcial Average area 



Ownerships forest area per ownership 



Size class (acres) : (number) (million acres) (acres) 



50, 000-250, 000 233 24. 3 1 04, 000 



250,000-500,000 30 10.7 358,000 



500,000-1,000,000 13 8.6 658,000 



1,000,000 plus 7 14.7 2,103,000 



All classes 283 58. 3 206, 000 



Since some owners hold land in more than one 

 State, there are fewer medium and large owner- 

 ships on a regional or national basis than when 

 size of ownership is determined by area owned 

 within a State. Table 165 thus shows 325 large 

 owners on a State basis, rather than 283 as shown 

 above on a national basis. 



Small Holdings Concentrated 

 IN East 



On a geographical basis, most of the private 

 commercial forest lands in the northern and south- 

 ern sections of the country are in small ownerships. 

 In the West, on the other hand, only about half 

 the total area in private ownership is in these 

 holdings of less than 5,000 acres (table 164 and 

 fig. 95). 



In terms of numbers as well as area, private 

 ownerships are concentrated in the East, with 57 

 percei\t of all private ownerships in the North 

 and 40 percent in the South. Only 3 percent of the 

 private ownerships are located in the West and 

 Coastal Alaska. In the western regions, private 

 ownerships include an average of 310 acres of 

 forest land, compared with 97 acres in the South 

 and only 55 acres in the North. 



Comparisons of 1953 estimates with data from 

 the 1945 Reappraisal show an increase of roughly 

 185,000 small owners (i. e., owners holding less 

 than 5,000 acres), although exact figures cannot 

 be determined because of changes in the basis of 

 classification. There is some evidence of both 

 subdivision of small holdings since 1945 and some 

 consolidation of medium and large holdings. 



Farm Holdings Largest Glass 

 OF Ownership 



Thex'e are some 3,382,500 farm forests — three- 

 fourths of all private holdings of commercial 

 forest land (table 166). Most of these farm forest 

 ownerships are located in the North and South, 

 with only about 64,000 in the West. 



