OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



301 



Table 170. — Area ovmed and proportion oj commercial forest land, by private owner class and size of 



holdings, in the United States and Coastal Alaska, 1953 



AREA OWNED 



Type of ownership 



Total 



Less than 

 100 acres 



100-500 



acres 



500-5,000 

 acres 



5,000-50,000 

 acres 



Over 50,000 

 acres 



Forest industries: 



Lumber manufacturer _ _ 



Thousand 



acres 



34, 687 



23, 276 



4,419 



Thousand 

 acres 



467 



Thousand 

 acres 

 1, 905 



Thousand 

 acres 

 3, 137 

 147 

 137 



Thousand 

 acres 

 10, 634 

 1,278 

 2,451 



Thousand 

 acres 

 18, 544 



Pulp manufacturer 



Other wood manufacturer 



21,851 



23 



225 



1, 583 



Total 



Farm 



Other private 



62, 382 

 165,217 

 130, 670 



490 



77, 781 

 42, 752 



2, 130 

 59, 219 

 36, 533 



3,421 

 23, 132 

 19, 825 



14, 363 

 4,534 



15, 772 



41, 978 



551 



15, 788 



Total, all private 



358, 269 



121, 023 



97, 882 



46, 378 



34, 669 



58, 317 



PROPORTION OF COMMERCIAL FOREST 



Forest industries: 



Lumber manufacturer 



Percent 

 7. 1 

 4.8 

 . 9 



Percent 

 0. 1 



Percent 

 0.4 



Percent 



0.6 



(') 



Percent 



2. 2 

 . 3 

 . 5 



Percent 



3. 8 



Pulp manufacturer. 



4. 5 



Other wood manufacturer 



(') 



(') 



. 4 



. Total 



Farm 



Other private 



12. 8 

 33. 8 

 26.7 



. 1 



15. 9 

 8.8 



. 4 

 12. 1 



7. 5 



. 6 

 4.8 

 4. 1 



3.0 



. 9 

 3. 2 



8.7 



. 1 



3. 1 







Total, all private 



73.3 



24.8 



20.0 



9. 5 



7. 1 



IL 9 



' Less than 0.1 percent. 



Area of Industrial Holdings Shows 

 Moderate Increase 



In recent years, many pulp companies and cer- 

 tain other forest industries have adopted aggres- 

 sive land-acquisition programs. Between 1945 

 and 1953, for example, pulp company holdings 

 increased by 8.5 million acres. In the same 

 period, however, lumber company holdings de- 

 clined by nearly 2 million acres, largely through 

 transfer to pulp companies. The net acquisition 

 of 6.6 million acres by pulp and lumber manufac- 

 turers combined in the 8-year period 1945-53 thus 

 amounted to an increase of 13 percent. 



The comparatively small acreage of land held 

 by forest industries partly reflects the historical 

 practice of obtaining stumpage, logs, pulpwood, 

 or other products from other private land and 

 from public land through contract or open-market 

 purchase. Most small sawmill operators, for 

 example, own no timberland and depend on pur- 

 chased stumpage. The major part of the United 

 States' pulpwood cut also is obtained from non- 

 industry lands. 



Until about 1930, lumber manufacturers gener- 



ally disposed of timberlands after logging by selling 

 them for agricultural or other purposes; by allow- 

 ing them to revert to local governments through 

 tax delinquency; by selling them to the Federal 

 Government; or by exchanging them for public 

 timber, a practice which the Government has now 

 largely discontinued. Only recently have profit 

 possibilities in the growing of timber crops and 

 the need to hold timberlands for protection of 

 permanent plant investments become generally 

 recognized throughout the forest industries. 



Productivity of Forest Industry 

 Holdings Relatively High 



Productivity of recently cut lands is relatively 

 good on forest industry holdings in comparison 

 with other types of ownership (table 173).^° On 

 pulp company lands, 84 percent of the recently 

 cut area qualified for the upper productivity class, 

 1 5 percent for the medium class, and only 1 percent 



™ For a detailed discussion of concepts and findings 

 relating to productivity, see Productivity of Recently Cut 

 Lands, page 223. 



