PROJECTED TIMBER SUPPLIES — 19 70 LEVEL OF MANAGEMENT 



41 



preparation, and a shift from easily planted areas 

 to more difficult planting sites. Further increases 

 in costs are considered likely unless offset by 

 improved technology from research and develop- 

 ment. 



Planting costs vary widely by section and local 

 area, depending on planting conditions and the 

 need for site preparation or drainage operations. 

 Assuming an average planting cost of $50 an acre 

 in 1971 and areas planted as indicated in table 28 

 would point to a total national investment for 

 tree planting in that year of roughly $85 million. 



Timber Stand Improvement 



Stand improvement practices include such 

 measures as deadening inferior hardwoods and 

 precommercial thinning of young stands. For the 

 period 1968-70, estimates indicate about 1.4 

 million acres were treated annually — that is, only 

 one-third of one percent of all commercial timber- 

 lands in the United States. 2 This is estimated to 

 be somewhat less than areas treated in the early 

 sixties and late fifties. 



TSI by section and ownership. — A major part of 

 the reported stand improvement efforts have been 

 concentrated in the South, particularly on lands 

 operated by forest industries. Distribution of this 

 reported TSI work is shown by the following 

 tabulation of average areas treated annually in 

 the period 1968-71: 



By region 



Thousand 

 Region acres 



South 856 



North 202 



Rocky Mountain 99 



Pacific 256 



Total 1, 413 



By ownership 



Thousand 

 Ownership acres 



National Forest 319 



Other public 100 



Forest industry 604 



Farm and miscellaneous 390 



Total 1, 413 



TSI costs. — Timber stand improvement costs 

 per acre on National Forests approximately 

 doubled between 1960 and 1970, due primarily 

 to rising labor costs and more intensive treat- 

 ment. Costs have varied considerably according 

 to method and degree of stand treatment. Assum- 

 ing an average of $18 per acre in 1970, total 

 annual investments in timber stand improve- 

 ment for all ownerships in the United States 

 are estimated to have approximated $25 million. 



2 U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA Forestry 

 Planning Committee Annual Accomplishment Reports. 

 Processed. 



Additional cultural measures not classed as 

 stand improvement include commercial thin- 

 nings or other intermediate cuts that produce 

 merchantable material, improved harvesting prac- 

 tices, and prescribed burning. These measures 

 are being increasingly adopted, especially on 

 industrial and public holdings, but estimates of 

 areas covered are not available. 



Fertilization 



Forest fertilization to date has been quite 

 limited and there is still uncertainty about physi- 

 cal gains that might be realized, environmental 

 impacts, and the costs and financial benefits of 

 fertilization. However, experience to date is highly 

 promising. Forest fertilization by 1969 amounted 

 to an estimated 60,000 acres of forest land on the 

 Pacific Coast treated with nitrogen fertilizers. In 

 the South areas fertilized through 1970 totaled an 

 estimated 180,000 acres. By 1971 forest industries 

 were reported to be applying fertilizer to nearly 

 150,000 acres annually. Good response has been 

 reported in the South from addition of nitrogen in 

 older stands and phosphorous in poorly drained 

 pine flatwoods of the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain. 



Assistance to Forest Landowners 



Forestry accomplishments in on-the-ground 

 measures, including planting, stand improvement, 

 timber harvesting, improved utilization, and other 

 practices can be attributed in considerable part 

 to educational, technical assistance, and cost- 

 sharing programs of public and private forestry 

 agencies. Assumptions as to these programs con- 

 sequently also influence supply projections. 



Technical assistance provided forest landowners 

 and operators by Federal and State agencies in 

 1971 cost $24.1 million. In terms of constant 

 dollars, this program more than doubled between 

 1950 and 1970, as shown in figure 19. Numbers of 

 foresters providing service to forest landowners 

 and timber operators steadily increased over the 

 years to nearly 1,600 in 1970. 



Cost-sharing assistance provided under the 

 Agricultural Conservation Program of the Federal 

 Government amounted to about $6 million in 

 1970. As shown in figure 19, during the 1950's and 

 1960's cost-sharing assistance fluctuated widely 

 from less than $3 million annually during the 

 earlier years to a peak of nearly $23 million during 

 the Soil Bank program of 1957-62. In this period 

 tree planting set new records (fig. 18). Most cost- 

 sharing assistance has been for tree planting, with 

 smaller expenditures for timber stand improve- 

 ment and other practices. 



Forestry Research 



Supporting the action programs of forest man- 

 agement and protection described above is a pro- 

 gram of public and private forestry research that 



