344 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AJMERICA'S FUTURE 



Forest -Product Exports 

 To Decline 



Likely 



E V i d e n c e — apparently trustworthy — indicates 

 that Mexico's forest resources are shi'inking. Re- 

 gardless of this, there are strong indications that, 

 for the immediate future, at least, Mexican ex- 

 ports of wood and wood products will gradually 

 decrease as the nation seeks self-sufficiency in these 

 items. It would therefore appear that the United 

 States cannot count on increases in imports of 

 these items from Mexico. 



THE WORLD TIMBER SITUATION 



To complete the setting in which the timber 

 situation of the United States should be appraised, 

 a very brief look at the world's forest resources 

 and timber trade is in order. However, the polit- 

 ical situation which divides the world has largely 

 cut off timber trade between the Free World and 

 the Soviet Bloc of nations. Consequently the 

 following discussion deals primarily with the 

 forest resources of the Free World, although some 

 reference to total world timber resources, and 

 comparisons between Free World and Soviet Bloc 

 resources are also given. 



The discussion is largely based on the results of 

 the 1953 world forest inventory conducted by 

 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the 



United Nations."" The statistics were obtained 

 from a questionnaire sent to member nations by 

 F. A. O. of which 126 — accounting for 73 percent 

 of the world's forest area — reolied. The essential 

 information for the other countries was obtained 

 from published official statistics, from question- 

 naires submitted in connection with a similar 

 F. A. O. survej^ in 1947, from unofficial reports, 

 and from estimates by F. A. O. personnel. 



Only One -Fourth of Free World's 

 Forests Under Exploitation 



The total forest area of the Free World is esti- 

 mated to be 7.4 billion acres (table 190). Soft- 

 woods predominate on 1.5 billion acres, hardwoods 

 on 5.9 billion. Seventy-six percent of the Free 

 World's softwood forest is in North America. 

 Much of the rest is in free Em-ope. About 84 

 percent of the hardwood forests are in Latin 

 America, Africa, and free Asia. Of the total forest 

 area, some 4.0 billion acres are considered to be 

 inaccessible. These latter forests are naturally 

 found in remote areas, such as the colder zones of 

 Alaska and Canada and the difficult parts of 

 Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The improve- 

 ment in communications that normally accom- 



60 fYorld Forest Resources, Food and Agriculture Organi- 

 zation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, pp. 1-120, 

 illus. 1955. 



Table 190. — Approximate distribution oj the Free World's forests, 1953 





Total 

 land 

 area 



Forested area 



Acces- 

 sible 

 forests ' 



Forests 



under exploitation - 



Region 



Total 



Soft- 

 woods 



Hard- 

 woods 



Total 



Soft- 

 woods 



Hard- 

 woods 



North America ' 



Million 

 acres 

 4, 975 

 5,046 

 935 

 2,393 

 2, 113 

 7,339 



Million 

 acres 



1, 799 



2, 135 

 270 



1,054 



212 



1,980 



Million 



acres 



1, 165 



58 



161 



114 



19 



8 



Million 



acres 



634 



2,077 



109 



940 



193 



1,972 



Million 

 acres 

 917 

 775 

 263 

 661 

 49 

 702 



Million 

 acres 

 710 

 194 

 258 

 485 

 42 

 267 



Million 



acres 



402 



24 



157 



32 



5 



5 



Million 

 acres 

 308 



Latin America * 



170 



Free Europe ' 



101 



Free Asia * . - . _ _ 



453 



Pacific Area ^ 



Africa 



37 

 262 



Total, Free World 



22, 801 



7,450 



1,525 



5,925 



3, 367 



1,956 



625 



1,331 



' All forests now within reach of economic management 

 or exploitation as sources of timber products, including 

 immature forests and managed forests where fellings were 

 prohibited. 



- Forest yielding industrial wood and/or fuelwood. 



' Includes United States, Alaska, Canada (excluding 

 Labrador), and Mexico. 



■• Includes Central and South American countries listed 

 in table 1, page 60, of report cited as source. 



5 Includes European countries listed in table 1, page 60, 

 of cited report except for the following: European USSR, 

 Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Gcrmanj', Hun- 

 gary, Poland, and Rumania. 



^ Includes Asiatic countries listed in table 1, page 66, 

 of cited report except for the following: Asiatic USSR, 

 China, Manchuria, Tibet, North Korea, and Viet Minh. 



^ Includes Australia, British Solomon Islands, Fiji, 

 Hawaii, New Guinea (Australia), New Zealand, Western 

 Samoa, and others as shown in table 1, page 68, of cited 

 report. 



Source: World Forest Resources, Food and Agriculture 

 Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Ital}-, pp. 

 1-120, illus., 1955. Data for North America revised to 

 agree with statistics for individual countries given in 

 other parts of this report. 



