Table 4. — Commercial forest land, hy ownership and stand-size clast, 

 Minnesota, 1Q53 





Allland 





Commercial forest land 





Ownership class 



Total 



Saw- 

 timber 

 stands 



Pole- 

 timber 

 stands 



Seed- 

 ling 

 and 

 sapling 

 stands 



Non- 

 stocked 

 and 

 other 

 areas ' 



Federally owned or man- 

 aged: 

 National forest 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acres 

 2. 652 

 866 



93 

 201 



7*011- 

 sand 

 acrts 

 2,195 

 717 



49 

 94 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acrts 

 314 

 60 



2 

 13 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acrts 

 865 

 255 



13 

 29 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acrts 

 785 

 190 



15 

 28 



Thou- 

 sand 

 acrts 

 231 

 212 



Bureau of Land Man- 

 agement - 



19 



Other 



24 







Total 



3.812 



3,055 



389 



1,162 



1.018 



486 







State-- 



5,028 

 4,799 



3,484 

 3,619 



202 

 146 



967 

 985 



1,178 

 1,585 



1,137 



County and municipal 



903 



Private: 



Farm 



32.883 

 4,684 



4,881 

 3,059 



983 

 297 



1,268 

 899 



1,379 

 1.157 



1,251 



Industrial and other 



706 



Total 



37, 567 



7,940 



1,280 



2.167 



2,536 



1.957 







All ownerships 



5I.20r, 



1S.09S 



2,017 



5. 2S1 



h. M7 



4, 4S.1 







' Includes areas not classiticd elsewhere. 



Table 5. — Commercial Jorest land by ownership and geographic 

 division, .\finnesnta, 7053 





Total 





D.MH.;. 





Ownership class 



North- 

 eastern 



South- 

 eastern 



Western 



Federally owned or managed: 

 National forest 



Thousand 



acrts 



2,195 



717 



49 



94 



Thousand 



acrts 



2,195 



673 



46 



44 



Thousand 

 acrt: 



Thousand 

 acrts 





1 



43 



Bureau of Land Managemenc- 

 Other 



3 



39 



It 







Total. 



3,055 



2.958 



40 



57 







State 



3,484 

 3,619 



3.251 

 3.293 



48 

 244 



185 



County and municipal 



82 



Private: 



Farm...... ... _ ... 



4,881 

 3,059 



2,123 

 2,801 



1,676 

 158 



1,082 



Industrial and other 



100 



Total 



7,940 



4,924 



1,834 



1,182 







All ownerships. 



18,09S 



14, 42'- 



:.!' 



1 ,M16 



Privately owned forests, other than farm woodlots, 

 total 3,059,000 acres. Only about one-sixth of this 

 total is owned by forest industries, but this portion 

 includes some of the better stands of original and 

 second-growth timber as well as promising young 

 growth (fig. 11). 



I I D.jtMiciy owned forest lond 

 I I Pnvotely owned forest lond 



Figure 11. — Forest land ownership in Minnesota, by geographic 

 division. 



Forests Now in Transition 



-Mthough the survey completed in 1936 was ba.scd 

 on slightly different standards of merchantability and 

 used a different method of forest sampling than the 

 current survey, the overall pattern of changes in the 

 forests is discernible. In some aspects the forests 

 have changed for the better, while in others they have 

 retrogressed. 



Estimates of total commercial forest area when ad- 

 justed to a common basis show little change between 

 surveys (table 6). Some clearing of forest land for 

 agriculture and other uses has been balanced by 

 reversion of submarginal farms to forest. 



Softwood Area Still Shrinking 



Although total forest area has not changed much 

 since 1936, its composition has been altered (fig. 12). 

 Softwood types declined from approximately 5,171,000 

 acres in 1936 to 4,445,000 acres in 1953. This decline 

 was caused primarily by cutting during World War 

 II when demand was extremely strong for the val- 

 uable pines and long-fibered pulp species. A small 

 part of the decline may be the result of changes in 

 type definitions wherein some swamplands previously 

 classified as spruce or tamarack were given a non- 

 forest status because of poor stocking and inherent 



I 



10 



Forest Resource Report No. 13, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



