OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



297 



On a sectional basis, there is considerable vai'ia- 

 tion in types of stands held by both private and 

 public owners. Thus, in the North and South 

 about 30 percent of the private holdings support 

 sawtimber stands (table 167). Public ownerships 

 in the East average somewhat less sawtimber area 

 than the private lands, and include relatively 

 large nonstocked areas. In the West, sawtimber 

 stands cover 64 percent of the pubUc and 52 

 percent of the private commercial forest land. 



Sawtimber About Equally Distrib- 

 uted Between Private and Public 

 Ownerships 



Largely as a result of the heavier cutting that 

 has taken place on private holdings, the 73 percent 

 of the commercial forest land in private owner- 

 ships supports only 53 percent of the sawtimber 

 volume and about 59 percent of the total growing 

 stock (tables 168 and 169). Farm forests are in 

 relatively poor condition from the standpoint of 



sawtimber volume; though comprising one-third 

 of the total commercial forest land, they support 

 only 15 percent of the present sawtimber volume 

 (fig. 97). Forest industry and other private hold- 

 ings, constituting 40 percent of the total commer- 

 cial forest land, support about 38 percent of the 

 total sawtimber volume. 



The national forests contain a high proportion 

 of the present volume of sawtimber. Although 

 these public lands account for only 17 percent of 

 the commercial forest area, they contain 37 percent 

 of the total sawtimber volume. Other Federal, 

 State, and local public holdings include about 10 

 percent of the sawtimber. 



Private holdings include most of the sawtimber 

 in the North and the South — about 90 percent of 

 the total (table 168). In the West, on the other 

 hand, about 60 percent of the sawtimber is on 

 public lands, with 48 percent of the western saw- 

 timber in the national forests alone. Most of the 

 sawtimber in Coastal Alaska also is on national- 

 forest lands. 



FARM 



FOREST INDUSTRIES 

 AND OTHER PRIVATE 



NATIONAL FOREST 



OTHER FEDERAL 



STATE AND LOCAL 

 GOVERNMENT 



















800 



^^^im 











1 



f////^^^ 



















■ 



1 



200 



300 

 BILLION 



softw 

 ■ihardv 



400 

 BOARD-FEE 



ood 

 vood 



500 

 T 



600 



700 



1 







100 



includes Coastal Alaska 



Figure 97 



