Of all forest lands. Federal ownership represents 63 

 percent in Oregon, 41 percent in Washington, and 47 

 percent in California. In Washington and California, 

 National Forests account for almost all of the Federal 

 forests. In Oregon, however, the Bureau of Land 

 Management manages 25 percent of the Federal 

 forests, and the Forest Service, most of the re- 

 mainder. There are no Federal forest lands in Hawaii. 

 The non-Federal lands are largely privately owned in 

 Oregon, Washington, and California, but in Hawaii, 

 State ownership is important. 



Of over 26 million acres of private forest in the 

 Pacific Coast States that can produce in excess of 20 

 cubic feet of wood annually, 47 percent is owned and 

 managed by forest industries. Industry ownership has 

 increased in recent years through purchase of other 

 nonindustrial, private lands; forest area in the 

 nonindustrial-private category has been decreasing 

 due to industrial acquistion and conversions to other 

 uses. 



Productivity — Two-thirds of the forest acres of 

 the Pacific Coast are in the lowest productivity class; 

 they do not have the capability to produce 20 cubic 

 feet of wood per year. Over three-fourths of these low 

 productivity forests are found in Alaska's harsh 

 interior. Most of the remainder is in the chaparral 

 forest and wooded lowlands of California, and the 

 pinyon-juniper forests in Oregon, Washington, and 

 California. 



This section also has 38 million acres of forests 

 capable of producing from 50 to 120 cubic feet of 

 wood, and almost 1 1 million acres in the class of 20 to 

 50 cubic feet. In addition, about 4 million acres, or 2 

 percent, of the forests are capable of producing in 

 excess of 20 cubic feet, but are reserved from timber 

 production due to inclusion in parks and wilderness 

 areas. The acreage in this latter category is likely to 

 increase somewhat in the future. 



The productivity of the Pacific Coast forests is as 

 variable for other outputs or uses as it is for timber. 

 Recreation, wildlife habitat, water yield, and forage 

 yield all vary with ecosystem; sites less productive for 

 timber can be highly productive in terms of other 

 uses. 



Rangelands 



Over one-third of the Nation's rangelands are in 

 the Pacific Coast section. Altogether, the rangelands 

 (including pinyon-juniper and chaparral-mountain 

 shrub) occupy 318.4 million acres, about 56 percent 



of the five-State area (tables 2.1, 2.8). Almost three- 

 fourths of the rangeland is in Alaska. Minor amounts 

 are in Hawaii. 



The rangeland ecosystems can be broken into three 

 groups, those in California, Oregon and Washington; 

 those in Alaska; and those in Hawaii. 



The rangeland ecosystems of California, Oregon, 

 and Washington are similar to those of the Rocky 

 Mountains region. The grasslands ecosystems in 

 these three States total about 25 million acres. The 

 mountain grasslands of some 10 million acres are 

 found in abundance in all three States (table 2.8). The 

 mountain meadow and alpine grassland ecosystems 

 are found at high elevations in each State, accounting 

 for over 4.5 million acres in total. The wet grassland 

 ecosystem is found in limited areas in California. The 

 central valleys of California were once occupied by 

 highly productive tule marshes of that ecosystem, but 

 most of those marshes have been converted to crop- 

 land and are no longer part of the rangeland base. 



The annual grasslands of California — totaling 10 

 million acres — are unique in that the vegetation is 

 dominated by annual grasses, most of which are not 

 native to the United States. Dominant plants are wild 

 oats, bromes, wild barley, and species of fescue. 

 Forbs are of secondary importance, except during 

 years of abundant rainfall when the California poppy 

 forms a blazing orange blanket over much of the 

 rangelands. Filaree, a member of the geranium fam- 

 ily, is probably the most important forb in the annual 

 grasslands. This ecosystem is found in uncultivated 

 areas of California's Great Central Valley, and in the 

 low foothills surrounding it. 



Oregon and California have a combined total of 

 over 44 million acres of shrub ecosystems and 12.7 

 million acres of the two forest ecosystems often 

 included with range — chaparral and pinyon-juniper. 

 Most of the 23 million acres of desert shrub is found 

 in the desert interior of southern California; about 3.5 

 million acres are located in southeastern Oregon. The 

 sagebrush ecosystem in this section totals 25 million 

 acres, 15 million acres of which are in arid lands of 

 eastern Oregon. In California, the sagebrush eco- 

 system is mostly in the northeastern corner of the 

 State. 



The Alaska rangelands total over 23 1 million acres. 

 The Alaskan tundra ecosystems are dominated by 

 low shrubs, grasses, sedges, and forbs. Cottongrass is 

 the most widespread of all vegetative types in the 

 tundra ecosystems. In the wet sites, cottongrass and 

 other sedges form a dense mat, but in moist sites, it 

 forms a continuous well-developed cover of tussocks. 

 In the drier sites, cottongrass and sedges give way to 



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