316 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



The national forests also support hundreds of 

 wood-using plants that ship lumber, plywood, and 

 other forest products to all parts of the Nation. 



Recreational resources in the national forests 

 are enjoyed by a great variety of users who in 

 1954, for example, made more than 40 million 

 visits to the national forests to enjoy the camping, 

 fishing, hunting, and other recreational values of 

 these public lands. 



National Forests Include 37 Percent 

 OF Sawtimber Volume 



The 85 million acres of commercial forest land 

 in the national forests contain 766 billion board- 

 feet, or 37 percent of the Nation's sawtimber 

 resources (table 168, p. 298). In terms of soft- 

 woods, the national forests contain an even larger 

 proportion — 45 percent — of the present sawtimber 

 inventory (table 169, p. 298). Sawtimber stands 

 cover well over half of the commercial forest land 

 in the national forests, including extensive areas 

 of old-growth timber in the Western States. 



Attention has frequently been directed to the 

 large volume of old-growth timber remaining in 

 the national forests. There are a number of 

 reasons for this. For many years, most of the 

 timber harvested for lumber, pulpwood, and other 



forest products was cut on private lands in the 

 East. Western logging operations were also 

 centered in private timber stands which were in 

 general more accessible and of higher quality than 

 the timber on those portions of the public domain 

 which the Federal Government had retained in 

 national forests. 



Much of the land in the western national forests 

 is in remote mountain areas of rough topography 

 that were the last to be reached in the process of 

 utilizing the Nation's old-growth timber resources. 

 Roads suitable for timber utilization have gen- 

 erally been lacking, and this has meant that much 

 national-forest timber has been beyond the eco- 

 nomic reach of logging operators. 



Until recent years, there was also little demand 

 for national-forest timber because of the general 

 availabilit}' of private timber. In addition, during 

 the depression years of the 1930's there was con- 

 siderable pressure from the timber industries to 

 withhold national-forest timber from a market 

 that was at the time oversupplied with privately 

 owned timber. 



In the Eastern States, most of the land acquired 

 for national forests was of primary importance 

 for watersheds or consisted of land that had been 

 cutover and heavily burned. Thus, until recently 

 these eastern forests also offered limited oppor- 

 tunity for commercial timber sales. 



T.\BLE 179.- 



-Area of national-forest land in the United States, Coastal Alaska, and Puerto Rico, by origin, 



June 30, 1956 



Section and region 



Total 

 area 



Reserved 

 public 

 domain 



Purchases 



Exchanges 



Transfers 



Donations 



North: 



New England 



Middle Atlantic . 



Acres 

 957, 125 



1, 373, 826 

 6. 742, 024 



2, 257, 927 

 1, 326, 045 



Acres 



Acres 

 949, 181 



1, 372, 603 

 4, 531, 375 



2, 192, 346 



666 



Acres 



3, 677 



1,040 



1, 037, 006 



46, 356 



60, 227 



Acres 



Acres 

 4, 267 





18," 857" 

 16, 659 

 91 



183 



Lake States. _ _ _ 



1, 151, 349 



2,486 



1, 264, 800 



3, 437 



•Central States . 



80 



Plains 



261 



Total 



12, 656, 947 



2, 418, 635 



9, 046, 171 



1, 148, 306 



35, 607 



8,228 



South: 



South Atlantic . _ _ . 



3, 156, 519 

 3, 998, 704 

 3, 762, 998 





3, 034, 540 

 3, 304, 975 

 2, 576, 357 



78, 790 



87, 948 



105, 100 



42, 234 

 417, 164 

 127, 776 



955 



Southeast 



187, 338 

 951, 987 



1, 279 



West Gulf 



1. 778 







Total 



10, 918, 221 



1, 139, 325 



8, 915, 872 



271, 838 



587, 174 



4,012 



West: 



Pacific Northwest 



California 



Northern Rocky Mountain 



Southern Rocky Mountain 



24, 511, 690 

 19, 958, 467 



45, 476, 709 



46, 762, 968 



22, 183, 157 

 18, 489, 278 

 43, 882, 899 

 45, 072, 257 



52, 335 

 160, 005 



41, 503 

 167, 323 



1, 653, 634 

 1, 227, 329 

 1, 177,024 

 1. 248, 690 



581, 121 

 61, 603 

 64, 441 



252, 701 



41, 443 



20, 252 

 310, 842 



21, 997 



Total 



136, 709, 834 



129, 627, 591 



421, 166 



5, 306, 677 



959, 866 



394, 534 



Coastal Alaska 



20, 740, 612 



20, 740, 342 





263 





7 



Puerto Rico .. 



33, 068 



12, 384 



14, 065 





5, 157 



1, 462 







.\11 regions 



181, 058, 682 



153, 938, 277 



18, 397,274 



6, 727, 084 



1, 587, 804 



408, 243 



