294 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



SIZE OF HOLDING 

 (acres) 



LESS THAN 100 



100 TO 500 

 500 TO 5,000 

 5,000 TO 50,000 



50,000 AND LARGER 



west and 

 Coastal Alasko 



20 



40 60 80 



MILLION ACRES 



100 



120 



Figure 95 



Forest industry holdings number about 23,450. 

 Slightly more than half of these properties are in 

 the South, about two-fifths in the North, and 

 one-tenth in the West (table 166). In terms of 

 number as well as acreage held, lumber manu- 

 facturers represent the principal type of owner 

 in the forest industries. 



Other private forest holdings, owned by a wide 

 variety of individuals, groups, and corporations, 

 number about 1,104,800, or nearlj^ one-fourth of all 

 private forest ownerships (table 166). As in the 

 case of farm forests, these miscellaneous private 

 ownerships are concentrated in the North and 

 South. 



Most Private Lands Support 

 Young -Growth Stands 



The privately owned lands in the United States 

 and Coastal Alaska include a lower proportion of 



sawtimber stands, and more young-growth stands, 

 than the public lands. Sawtimber stands comprise 

 .33 percent of the 358.3 million acres of private for- 

 ests, compared with 49 percent of the 130.3 million 

 acres in public forests (table 167 and fig. 96). 

 Many of the private sawtimber stands are young- 

 growth, moreover, while public sawtimber stands 

 include a large proportion of the I'emaining old- 

 growth timber. 



In the national forests is found the highest pro- 

 portion of sawtimber stands — 58 percent. The 

 lowest proportion of 11 percent occurs on county 

 and municipal lands. The differences in age and 

 size of timber in private and public stands mainly 

 reflect the heavier cutting that has taken place on 

 the more accessible farm and other private forests, 

 and the limited development of the relatively inac- 

 cessible national-forest and other Federal lands in 

 the West. 



