there was increasing interest in the international dimensions of forestry. A 

 supporting technical document places U.S. forests in perspective in terms of 

 international trade, deforestation, and other global issues. For example, the 

 U.S. forest land area amounts to about 7 percent of the world total and the 

 United States accounts for 40 percent of expenditures on forest management 

 and 20 percent of expenditures on forestry research. 



— Increased commitment to management of Federal land for protection of 

 watersheds, wildlife habitat, threatened and endangered plants and animals, 

 and ecological diversity has resulted in reduced timber being offered for sale. In 

 this update, timber volume offered from national forests is assumed to remain 

 stable at 0.9 billion cubic feet through 2000 and then increase slowly to 1 .1 

 billion cubic feet per year by 2040. (fig. 1) There continues to be considerable 

 uncertainty about sales volumes, however, and the actual volume offered in the 

 near future could easily fall in a range of 0.8 to 1 .0 billion cubic feet. By contrast, 

 the 1989 RPA Assessment assumed that national forest timber offered would 

 increase to 2.7 billion cubic feet by 2040, up from 2.4 billion cubic feet in 2000. 



Figure 1 — Projected allowable timber sale quantities for National Forests. 



Billion Cubic Feet 



I I 1989 RPA Assesment 



1993 Update 



2000 





2.36 





0.9 













2010 





2.487 





0.95 













2020 





2.554 





1 













2030 





2.619 







1,05 













2040 





2.664 





1.1 



















■Across the 50 States, 23 have voluntary programs for best management 

 practices, 13 have regulatory programs, and 5 use combinations of voluntary 

 and regulatory measures to maintain water quality. Overall, compliance with 

 best management practices is generally high, with at least 40 States monitohng 

 compliance. 



