Figure 16. — Oak forests cling 

 lo some of the poorer farmlands 

 in the southeastern division and 

 extend irregularly into the west- 

 ern division. Alost of the oak 

 timber is short and limby, usable 

 mainly for low-grade lumber 

 and railroad ties. [Photo cour- 

 tesy Minnesota Conservation 

 Department.) 



Smaller Timber Finds Many Uses 



In Minnesota, much more timber is harvested for 

 pulpwood than for Imnber (fig. 17). Additional large 

 volumes are cut for fuelwood, posts, mine timbers, 

 etc. Thus the size of timber is not of limiting im- 

 portance. 



Pulpwood Volume Large 



The volume of the principal pulping species ' totals 

 about 46,940,000 cords, mostly in the northeastern 

 division (table 11). 



Jack pine pulpwood aggregates 9,640,000 cords with 

 5,430,000 cords in 3 of the counties (Cook, Lake, and 

 St. Louis Counties) in the extreme northeast corner 

 of the State. 



Spruce pulpwood volume is 9,140,000 cords and 

 balsam fir 5,510,000 cords. Forty-seven percent of 

 this spruce-fir volume is in the Superior District while 

 an additional 29 percent is in the adjoining Rainy 

 River District to the West. 



Aspen pulpwood totals 22,650,000 cords, nearly all 

 well distributed over the northern part of the State. 



Federal Forests Include Much Softwood Timber 



The Chippewa and Superior National Forests, with 

 a combined area of 2,195,000 forested acres, have 1,367 

 million cubic feet of growing stock (table 12). Be- 

 cause the area includes many very young stands and 

 some bog and rock outcrop, the overall average stock- 

 ing is only 623 cubic feet (about 7.8 cords) per acre. 

 More than 60 percent of this is softwood timber in- 

 cluding 1% inillion cords of pulpwood (table 13). 

 Extensive areas of plantations and natural stands of 

 seedlings and saplings are intermingled, and the \vhole 

 is being managed for sustained yield. 



Table 1 1 . — Location of pulpwood volume, by species, Minnesota, 1953 



' Species included are jack pine, black spruce, white spruce, 

 balsam fir, and aspen. \'olumes include both poletimbtr and 

 sawtimber of these species. 



Species 



Total 



North- 

 eastern 

 division 



South- 

 eastern 

 division 



Western 

 di\-ision 



Softwoods: 



Jack pine . _ _ .- 



Thousand 



cords 



9,640 



9,140 



5,510 



Thousand 



cords 



9,300 



8,890 



5,450 



Thousand 



cords 



50 



50 



20 



Thousand 

 cords 

 290 





200 



Balsam fir 



40 



Total 



Aspen 



24,290 

 22,650 



23,640 

 20,160 



120 

 1,360 



530 

 1,130 







All pulp species 



46,'»40 



4.5.800 



1,480 



1,660 



Minnesota's Forest Resources 



15 



