OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



303 



Table 172. — Area of commercial forest land owned 

 by forest industries in the continental United States, 

 by region and type of industry, 1963 



Section and region 



Total 

 forest 

 indus- 

 tries 



Lum- 

 ber 

 manu- 

 fac- 

 turer 



Pulp 

 manu- 

 fac- 

 turer 



Other 

 wood 

 manu- 

 fac- 

 turer 



North: 



New England 



Middle Atlantic 



Lake States 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 8, 178 

 2,069 

 3,039 

 817 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 1,002 



977 

 1, 435 



541 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 



6,840 

 889 



1,495 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 336 

 203 

 109 



Central. _ 



276 







Total 



14, 103 



3,955 



9,224 



924 







South: 



South Atlantic 



Southeast . . _ 



5,614 

 15, 443 

 12, 466 



2,620 

 6,587 

 9,310 



2,603 

 6, 963 

 2,622 



391 

 1, 893 



West Gulf 



534 







Total 



33, 523 



18,517 



12, 188 



2 818 







West: 



Pacific Northwest 



California 



8,880 

 3,389 



2, 331 



156 



6,858 

 3,076 



2, 131 



150 



1,681 

 173 



10 



341 

 140 



Northern Rocky 

 Mountain. . . 



190 



Southern Rocky- 

 Mountain. 



6 







Total 



14, 756 



12,215 



1,864 



677 



All regions ' 



62, 382 



34, 687 



23, 276 



4, 419 



1 Area owned by forest industries in Coastal Alaska was 

 not reported. 



small sawmill operators, pulpwood contractors, 

 and other loggers generally cut purchased timber 

 on farm and other private forests with less care 

 than on company lands. Farmers and other 

 private owners usually sell their timber without 

 cutting restrictions, and in such cases logging op- 

 erators frequently leave the land in relatively poor 

 condition for continued timber production. 



Management Programs Adopted 

 BY Forest Industry 



In an effort to improve both the quantity and 

 quality of timber growth, many pulp companies 

 and certain other forest industry owners have been 

 investing in stand-improvement measures such 

 as cull tree removal and release cutting in both 

 natural and planted stands. Thus, in the period 

 1947-53, 45 percent of the pulp manufacturing 

 companies, with 58 percent of all pulp company 

 lands, were applying some form of stand improve- 

 ment on a part of their ownerships. This was 

 considerably in excess of the efforts by lumber 



companies and far more than the average of 2 

 percent of all private owners. Stand-improve- 

 ment efforts were especially important on pulp 

 company lands in the South. 



Forest industries are also making a large contri- 

 bution to fire protection on their lands by supple- 

 menting the efforts of public fire control agencies. 

 In 1952, private expenditures for fire control, 

 derived to a large extent from industrial forest 

 owners, amountecl to $10,500,000, or 17 percent of 

 all expenditures for organized fire control. 



To an increasing degree, the larger private 

 timber owners are cooperating in the detection 

 and control of insects and disease, and in many 

 areas forest industry is salvaging timber killed by 

 insects or other destructive agents. 



Tree planting programs of forest industries liave 

 also been steadilv expanding. In 1953, the forest 

 industries in the United States planted 220,000 

 acres, or 31 percent of the total area of new planta- 

 tions. Industry plantings of about 1 million acres 

 represented 12 percent of the total area planted 

 up to and including 1953. About 90 percent of 

 the industry plantings in 1953, and 75 percent of 

 all existing plantations, were located in the South. 



Table 173. — Productiinty of recently cut commercial 

 forest land in the United States and Coastal 

 Alaska, by type of ownership ' 



Tvpe of ownership 



Proportion of area by 

 productivity class 





Upper 



Medium 



Lower 



Private: 



Forest industries: 



Lumber manufacturer 



Pulp manufacturer 



Other wood manufacturer. 



Percent 

 73 

 84 

 73 



Percent 

 21 

 15 

 23 



Percent 

 6 

 1 

 4 



Average 



77 

 41 

 52 



19 

 37 



28 



4 



Farm _ 



22 



Other private 



20 







Average 



56 



29 



15 



Public: 



National forest 



Bureau of Land Manage- 

 ment 



81 



80 

 74 

 80 



77 

 76 

 93 



16 



15 

 25 

 16 



18 



24 



6 



3 

 5 



Indian 



1 



Other Federal 



4 



State ^ . - 



5 



County 





Municipal and local 



1 



Average 



80 



17 



3 



All ownerships 



65 



24 



11 



' Recently cut lands (or operating area) in an ownership 

 is the area of forest types in which there was some com- 

 mercial cutting in the period 1947-54. 



