Schematic Illustration of Projected Demands and Supplies for Renewable 

 Resources Products 



Units 



Time 



(4) The Nation has a huge forest 

 and range land and water base 



The widespread and the adverse effects associated 

 with this outlook are not inevitable. There is a huge 

 forest and range land and water base which can be 

 used to meet demands for nearly all products. In 

 1977, 1.7 billion acres, some 71 percent of the 

 Nation's area, was classified as forest and range land 

 and water. A little over half, or some 820 million 

 acres, was classified as rangeland (fig. 3). This land 

 includes natural grasslands, savannas, shrublands, 

 most deserts, tundra, coastal marshes, and wet mea- 

 dows. Another 737 million acres was classified as 

 forest land, i.e., land that is at least 10 percent 

 stocked with forest trees, or formerly had such cover, 

 and not currently developed for other uses. Of this 

 area, about 482 million acres is commercial timber- 

 land, i.e., land capable of producing in excess of 20 

 cubic feet of industrial wood per acre per year in 

 natural stands and not withdrawn for other uses. The 

 remaining area — some 107 million acres — was clas- 

 sified as water and consisted of lakes, reservoirs, 

 ponds, streams, and estuaries. 



Nearly three-tenths of the rangeland, some 231 mil- 

 lion acres, is in Alaska. Most of the remainder is in 



the States stretching westward from the Great Plains 

 to the Pacific Coast. Relatively little is found in the 

 island territories and possessions. 



Forest and commercial timberlands are more 

 widely distributed and, with the exception of the 

 Great Plains and some of the Southwest, compose a 

 significant part of the area of each State. However, 

 nearly three-quarters of the commercial timberland 

 area is in the humid eastern half of the country where 

 it is about equally divided between the North and 

 South. The one-quarter of the commercial timber- 

 land in the West is located in the Rocky Mountain 

 States of Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. The other 

 forest land — 254 million acres — is concentrated in 

 Alaska and the Rocky Mountain States. 



The water area in the United States, including 

 estuaries associated with the contiguous States, is 107 

 million acres, about 5 percent of the Nation's total 

 area. Nearly half of the water area, some 50.9 million 

 acres, is in lakes and ponds at least 40 acres in size or 

 streams 1 / 8 of a mile or more in width. Slightly more 

 than half of this, 27.3 million acres, is in the humid 

 eastern half of the country. Another 12.8 million 

 acres, about a quarter of the total large water area, is 

 in Alaska. Most of the remainder, some 10.8 million 

 acres, is in the West. A substantial part of this area is 

 manmade reservoirs and impoundments constructed 



