320 



tustber resources for America's future 



Table 182. — Area of commercial forest land and timber volume in State, county, and municipal oumerships, 

 in the continental United States, by section and region, 1953 





Commercial 

 forest land 



Sawti 



mber 



Growin 



g stock 



Section and region 



State 



County 

 and mu- 

 nicipal 



State 



County 

 and mu- 

 nicipal 



State 



County 

 and mu- 

 nicipal 



North: 



New England 



Thousand 

 acres 

 580 

 3,645 



7,747 

 574 



Thousand 



acres 



257 



328 



6, 152 



49 



Million 



bd.-fi. 



677 



5,054 



4,368 



944 



Million 



bd.-ft. 



332 



343 



2,661 



141 



Million 



cu. ft. 



474 



2,539 



2,953 



336 



Million 

 cu. ft. 



204 



Middle Atlantic. . . . . _. 



218 



Lake States 



1, 972 



Central and Plains 



36 







Total 



12, 546 



6,786 



11, 043 



3,477 



6,302 



2,430 







South: 



South Atlantic . - . 



450 



1,017 



390 



82 



535 



9 



917 



1,329 



791 



178 



968 



19 



257 

 469 

 220 



61 



Southeast . - . - 



372 



West Gulf . . - - . . . _ _ 



5 







Total - - - 



1,857 



626 



3,037 



1, 165 



946 



438 







West: 



Pacific Northwest. . . . 



2,636 

 186 



1,564 

 380 



505 



8 



79 



43 



32, 853 



4,547 



11, 832 



832 



6,908 



195 



123 



40 



6, 579 

 827 



2,685 

 275 



1,340 



California 



34 



Northern Rocky Mountain. 



39 



Southern Rocky Mountain. .... 



17 







Total . .. - . 



4,766 



635 



50, 064 



7,266 



10, 366 



1,430 







Total, continental United States 



19, 169 



8,047 



64, 144 



11,908 



17,614 



4,298 







County and municipal holdings make up 1.6 per- 

 cent of the commercial forest area but only 0.6 

 percent of the sawtimber volume. Only 16 per- 

 cent of the State and local public holdings support 

 sawtimber stands, or far less than the average of 

 37 percent for all ownerships (table 167, p. 296). 

 The proportion of nonstocked areas — 16 percent — 

 is about double the proportion for all forest 

 ownerships. 



The forest lands owned by States and counties 

 in the East were largely acquired through tax 

 delinquency and purchase, while in the West the 

 State lands to a large extent represent tbe rem- 

 nants of land grants received from the Federal 

 Government. Considerable portions of the 6 

 million acres of noncommercial forest lands in 

 State and local public ownerships have been 

 reserved by State and local governments for 

 recreational purposes, notably including the New 

 York State Forest Preserve and scattered 

 parks in various other States. 



Management and Protection Efforts 

 Increasing 



About 77 percent of recently cut State lands 

 qualified for the upper productivity class com- 

 pared with 76 percent for county lands and 93 



percent for municipal and other public holdings 

 (table 173). About 5 percent of the State lands 

 and a negligible proportion of other recently cut 

 local public lands were in the lower productivity 

 class. 



Fire protection is relatively good on State and 

 local public holdings. About 76 percent of the 

 total area of commercial and noncommercial 

 forest land is given adequate protection in average 

 years, and only 7 percent of the total area is 

 without organized fire protection. Areas burned 

 in 1952 averaged 0.8 percent of all forest lands 

 owned by the States and local public agencies. 



The tree planting record of State and local 

 public agencies has also been relatively good and 

 these agencies now have a total of 1.2 million 

 acres of plantations. In 1953, about 64,000 acres 

 of land were planted, or roughly 9 percent of the 

 total plantations established. It is estimated 

 that an additional 2.6 million acres are suitable 

 for planting. 



State and Other Public Holdings 

 Important Locally 



Though constituting a relatively small part of 

 the total commercial forest land, State and local 

 public holdings have an important place in the 



