OWTSTERSHIP OF FOREST LAND AND TIMBER 



309 



The tabulation also shows that medium and large 

 farm forest holdings of more than 5,000 acres are 

 concentrated in the West. 



In the case of "other" private holdings, about 

 one-third of the total acreage is in ownerships 

 of less than 100 acres: 



United 



Size of "other" private hold- States 



ing (acres) {percent) 



Less than 100 33 



100 to 500 28 



500 to 5,000 15 



5,000 to 50,000 12 



50,000 and larger. _. 12 



Total 100 



North 

 (percent) 



46 

 26 

 10 



9 

 9 



South 

 (percent) 



21 

 30 

 22 



16 

 11 



100 



100 



West 

 (percent) 



12 



27 

 17 

 13 

 31 



100 



As indicated in the tabulation, large and medium- 

 size "other" private ownerships are found in all 

 sections, with the West having the highest propor- 

 tions in large ownerships. 



Half the Farm and **Other" Private 

 Ownerships Include 6 Percent of 

 Commercial Forest Land 



Ownerships of less than 30 acres number about 

 2.2 million, or half the total number of all farm 

 and "other" private holdings, but these very 

 small ownerships account for only 6 percent of the 

 total area of commercial forest land: 



Farm and "other" private 



ownerships, cumulative Percent of total 



commercial forest 



Size of holding (acres) (thousands) (percent) land, cumulative 



Under 10 796 18 1 



Under 20 1,660 37 4 



Under 30 2,240 50 6 



Under 40 2,608 58 9 



Under 50 2,962 66 12 



Under 75 3,475 77 18 



Under 100 3,864 86 25 



All holdings 4, 487 100 61 



The small size of farm and "other" private 

 ownerships represents a real obstacle to attain- 

 ment of intensive forest management. Incomes 

 from small holdings are necessarily limited and 

 usually infrequent. Small forests cannot support 

 full-time timber managers and must of necessity 

 be managed as sideline enterprises. 



Where forestry assistance programs require 

 personal contact with forest owners, problems 

 arise because of the large number of owners and 

 the relatively high cost per contact. When 

 resources available for such assistance are limited, 

 the question of priorities is of importance. Prior- 

 ities might be given to areas of low productivity, 

 for example, lands subject to accelerated erosion, 

 or to softwood-producing lands. Forestry assist- 

 ance programs might be made more effective by 

 concentrating required personal contact on hold- 

 ings above some minimum acreage. 



Thus, if farm and other private holdings under 

 30 acres were excluded from the priority group of 

 owners, half of all the farm and other private 

 owners, or 2,240,000 holdings, could be left out with 

 a loss of coverage of only 6 percent of the total 

 commercial forest land. Some production from 

 the smaller properties could be expected in any 

 case, and concentration of efforts on the larger 

 more productive holdings might significantly in- 

 crease output. 



Farm Forests Support Relatively 

 Low Timber Volumes 



The commercial forest land in farm ownerships 

 comprises 34 percent, of all commercial forest 

 land but contains only 15 percent of the present 

 sawtimber volume and 20 percent of the total 

 growing stock (tables 168 and 169). On the 

 average, farm ownerships support only 1,900 

 board-feet per acre, compared with 4,000 board- 

 feet for "industrial and other private" holdings, 

 and 4,200 board-feet for all ownerships. Although 

 farm holdings in general are accessible and of 

 relatively good timber-growing quality, they are 

 in comparatively poor condition. 



Information regarding timber volumes on 

 "other" private lands is available only for the 

 combined holdings of forest industries and other 

 private owners, partly because of the difficulty of 

 collecting accurate data and because differences 

 in owner categories have only recently been con- 

 sidered of primary importance. These lands 

 support considerably larger volumes on the average 

 than do farm holdings, as already indicated. 

 Industrial holdings are believed to support 

 heavier volumes on the average than do "other" 

 private holdings. But the fact that the latter 



