12 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



Ownership of commercial timberlands, 

 1952-1970 



miscellaneous private 



farmer 



forest industry 



other public 



national forest 



o 



1952 



Figure 4 



of relatively low site quality and located at higher 

 elevations, but these forests nevertheless contain 

 a substantial part of the Nation's timber inven- 

 tory, as pointed out in a later section of this 

 chapter. 



Since 1962 areas in National Forests classed as 

 commercial timberland have been reduced about 

 3 million acres. These reductions were mainly in 

 the Rocky Mountain section, and mainly included 

 lands selected for study as possible inclusions in 

 the wilderness system. Since 1970 some additional 

 areas also have been added to this deferred classifi- 

 cation. 



Some 5 million acres of the National Forest 

 lands included in commercial timberland in 1970 

 were classed as "unregulated," and were not in- 

 cluded in projecting available timber supplies. On 

 these lands the amount and timing of future 

 harvests are uncertain because of economic con- 

 siderations or a lack of acceptable and economic 

 logging systems. 



Other public lands. — Federal lands other than 

 National Forests made up 3 percent of all com- 

 mercial timberlands in 1970. Lands in western 

 Oregon administered by the Bureau of Land 

 Management, and lands administered by the 

 Bureau of Indian Affairs, were of particular im- 

 portance in this group. State, county, and munic- 

 ipal forests made up 6 percent of the total. Many 

 of these latter holdings were located in the Lake 

 States, largely consisting of lands that were cutover 

 and reverted through tax delinquency to public 

 ownership during the depression years of the 

 1930's. 



Forest Type Groups 



Over half of all commercial timberlands in the 

 United States in 1970 was occupied by eastern 



hardwood forest types 2 (table 4). Softwood types 

 made up 42 percent, western hardwoods 3 percent, 

 and nonstocked areas 4 percent, of all commercial 

 timberlands. 



Eastern hardwood forests. — Oak-hickory stands, 

 stretching from southern New England to Texas, 



Table 4. — Area oj commercial timberlands in the 

 United States, by forest type groups, 1970 



Type group 



Total 

 area 



Propor- 

 tion of 

 total 



EASTERN TYPE GROUPS 



Softwood types: 



Loblolly-shortleaf pine . 



Longleaf -slash pine_ _ _ _ 



Thousand 

 acres 



52, 832 

 18, 315 

 18, 913 

 12, 168 



Percent 

 10. 7 

 3. 7 



Spruce-fir ____________ 



3. 8 



White-red-jack pine _ 



2. 5 







Total. __ 



102, 228 



20. 7 







Hardwood types: 

 Oak-hickory 



111,861 

 35, 028 



30, 630 



31, 140 

 24, 728 

 20, 484 



22.6 



Oak-pine 



7. 1 



Oak-gum-cypress 



6.2 



Maple-beech-birch 



6. 3 



Elm-ash-cotton wood 



5.0 



Aspen-birch _ 



4. 1 







Total ___________ . 



253, 871 



51.3 







Nonstocked 



14, 343 



2. 9 







Total East 



370, 442 



74. 9 







WESTERN TYPE GROUPS 



Softwood types: 

 Douglas-fir 



30, 788 



27, 964 



17, 830 



13, 235 



10,819 



2,743 



829 



803 



6. 2 



Ponderosa pine 



5. 6 



Fir-spruce 



3. 6 



Lodgepole pine 



2. 7 



Hemlock-Sitka spruce- 



2.2 



Larch 



. 5 



White pine_ . 



. 2 



Redwood- 



. 2 







Total .-_ 



105, 011 



12, 818 



6, 379 



21. 2 



Hardwood types 



2.6 



Nonstocked 



1. 3 







Total West 



124, 208 



25.1 







All groups 



1 494, 650 



100. 







1 Not including 5 million acres of "unregulated" 

 commercial timberlands on National Forests in the 

 Rocky Mountain States. 



2 Forest types describe assocations of tree species, which 

 in turn reflect factors of site, climate, and stand history. 

 The forest type groups presented in this report are com- 

 binations of more than 80 local forest types traditionally 

 used for forest management purposes. A map showing 

 location of major forest types is for sale ($1.50) by the 

 U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. 20242, as 

 Sheet No. 182. 



