314 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



ity timber and for small and irregular lots of timber 

 products also are often lacking. 



Frequently the owner himself cannot give a 

 cogent reason for poor management, as illustrated 

 in the Mississippi ownership survey (table 177). 

 In this survey, all private owners whose forest 

 management was rated poor, very poor, or de- 

 structive (accounting for 75 percent of the area 

 in the sample) were asked to give a reason for 

 their practices. Most of these owners did not 

 recognize the fact that their management was 

 poor and consequently could give no clear ex- 

 planation. The explanations given included: 



PeTcent 



of forest 



area 



Lack of iiitere.st in timber production 9 



Present high prices preferred to uncertain prices of 



future 9 



Immediate need of liquidating timber for cash 8 



Belief that woods do not need care 7 



Inability to supervise because of physical limitation.'; 



or demands of more remunerative activity 3 



Long period between incomes 3 



Area too far away for constant supervision 3 



Miscellaneous 2 



Didn't know 56 



100 



Little information is available on the relation- 

 ships between intensity of forestry practices and 

 ownership factors such as occupation, age, resid- 

 ence, intent of ownership, method of acquisition, 

 or length of tenure. As previously indicated, 

 productivity has been found to vary directly with 

 size of holding — recently cut lands in large 

 ownerships are significantly more productive 

 than lands in medium-size holdings, and these in 

 turn are more productive than recently cut lands 

 in small holdings. There is little evidence avail- 

 able, however, to indicate what relationships 

 exist, if any, between productivity and occupation 

 or other owner characteristics. 



Farm and "Other" Private Forests 

 OF Major Importance 



In appraising the problems and opportunities 

 for future timber supplies, it is evident that farm 

 and miscellaneous private ownerships are of first 

 importance. They represent 61 percent of all 

 commercial forests. Because of their extent, 

 potential productivity, and location with respect 

 to markets, these lands should be expected to 

 provide the greater part of the Nation's future 

 timber needs. This will require solution of 

 difficult problems, however. Most of these owner- 

 ships are of small size, productivity of recently 

 cut lands is relatively low, and for various reasons 

 management efforts are Umited or lacking. In- 



creasing the productivity of farm and "other" 

 private holdings is a challenge for American 

 forestry. 



FEDERAL OWNERSHIPS 



Federal holdings of commercial forest land total 

 103 million acres, or 21 percent of all commercial 

 forest land (table 163, p. 291). The noncommercial 

 forest land in Federal holdings aggregate about 110 

 million acres, or two-thirds of the 176 million 

 acres of forest land that is unproductive for 

 timber use or reserved for other purposes. 



The national forests, administered by the 

 Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 include 85 million acres of commercial forest 

 land, or 17 percent of all commercial forests, and 

 represent the largest public holding of commercial 

 forest land. In addition, they have about a third 

 of the noncommercial forests, including such types 

 as pinyon pine-juniper, chaparral, and subalpine 

 in the West, and unproductive muskeg and rocky 

 areas in Coastal Alaska, as well as certain pro- 

 ductive forest land reserved from timber use in 

 wilderness and wild areas. 



Federal lands administered by the Bureau of 

 Land Management and other agencies in the 

 Department of the Interior, the Department of 

 Defense, and various "other" Federal agencies 

 make up about 18 million acres, or 4 percent of 

 the commercial forest land, plus about a third of 

 the noncommercial forest area. 



National Forests Established 

 Largely From Public Domain 



The forest reserves that were authorized by 

 the Act of March 3, 1891, and designated as 

 national forests in 1905, were formed by with- 

 drawals of portions of the Federal public domain. 

 By 1910, the national-forest system comprised 

 about 168 million acres of such public-domain 

 land. Subsequently, under the Weeks Law of 1911 

 as amended, the Federal Government purchased 

 certain lands for the purpose of protecting water- 

 sheds of navigable streams and for the production 

 of timber. In 1922 and 1925, Congress also 

 provided for additions to the national forests 

 through exchanges of public land or timber for 

 private forest land. Donations for national-forest 

 purposes were authorized in 1924. 



By 1930, 3.7 million acres had been added to 

 the national forests under these authorizations 

 but, because of the elimination of rather sub- 

 stantial areas of public-domain land, the total 

 acreage of national-forest land had declined to 

 slightly less than 160 million acres. 



Addition of land to the national forests was 

 greatly accelerated during the depression years of 



A. 



