— During the 1980's, there was an increase in the number of local regulations 

 affecting management of privately owned forest lands. These regulations were 

 initiated for a variety of purposes, including protection of water quality and roads. 

 For this update, studies were undertaken to enumerate the enactments and 

 estimate their effect on timber supply. Over 600 statutes and ordinances were 

 identified. Combined, these regulations are estimated to reduce current supplies 

 of roundwood products by 1 to 3 percent in the North, South, and Rocky 

 Mountains regions and by 4 to 12 percent in the Pacific Coast region. 



The Character of the Forest and Rangeland Estate Is Changing 



— Forest land area has stabilized between 1987 and 1992; a slight increase of 0.1 

 percent in area reversed a downward trend dating from 1963. (fig. 2) 



— Forest and rangeland health continues to be a concern. Despite progress in 

 restoration, much of the rangeland is in unsatisfactory condition. On forest lands, 

 timber mortality increased substantially between 1987 and 1992 in all regions of 

 the country, on all ownerships for both hardwoods and softwoods. Nationally, 

 the volume of mortality on timberland was up 24.3 percent between 1986 and 



Figure 2 — Forest land area. 

 Million acres 



1630 



1044 



1907 



759 



1920 



732 



1938 



760 



1953 



756 



1963 



762 



1970 



755 



1977 



744 



1987 



736 



1992 



737 



