50 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



roundwood supplies are much more moderate. For 

 softwood products projected supplies rise from a 

 log harvest of 46.9 billion board feet in 1970 to 

 about 54 billion board feet by 2000 — an increase 

 of 16 percent (table 33 and fig. 22). For hardwoods, 

 the projected increase in available sawtimber size 

 products over the projection period is 67 percent. 



Supplies of softwood sawtimber products in 

 the United States, by section 



pacific coast 



rocky mountains 



south 



1952 1962 1970 



Figure 22 



Problems of timber supply and price have been 

 most critical for products derived from larger 

 sizes of timber. Hence these projections in board 

 feet of available roundwood are considered to be 

 more significant than projections of supply in 

 cubic feet, which include all sizes and species of 

 timber and both low- and high-quality trees. 

 Forest industries typically draw much more 

 heavily on larger and better quality sawtimber 

 trees than on other components of the total timber 

 inventory. Thus of the total roundwood produced 

 in 1970, about 80 percent of the softwood products, 

 and 65 percent of the hardwood products, came 

 from the saw-log portion of sawtimber trees. 



Roundwood supplies by section. — In 1970 the 

 South and the Pacific Coast each supplied about 

 42 percent of all softwood roundwood products, 

 as shown in table 35 and the following tabulation 

 of the distribution in percent of softwood round- 

 wood produced by section: 



Projections 



Section 1952 1962 1970 1980 1990 2000 2020 



North 8 7 6 8 9 10 10 



South 41 37 42 46 49 50 50 



Rocky Mountains 7 10 10 10 10 11 10 



Pacific Coast 44 46 42 36 32 29 30 



Total United States 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 



Table 35. — Supplies of roundwood products from U.S. forests, by section and species group, 1952, 1962, 



and 1970, with projections to 2020 



[Million cubic feet] 



Section and species group 



1952 



1962 



1970 



Projections 





1980 



1990 



2000 



2020 



North: 



Softwoods. 

 Hardwoods 



603 

 1, 378 



513 



1,299 



579 

 1,409 



803 

 2, 428 



942 

 3, 165 



1, 109 

 3,845 



1, 113 

 3, 799 







Total 



1, 981 



1. SI 2 



1,988 



3, 231 



4, 107 



4,954 



4, 912 



South: 

 Softwoods 

 Hardwoods _ 



3,048 

 1,935 



2,677 

 1,606 



3,745 

 1,668 



4,622 

 2,651 



5,217 

 . 3, 009 



5,768 

 3,327 



5,788 

 3, 416 



Total 



4,983 



4, 283 



5,413 



7,273 



8, 226 



9,095 



9, 204 



Rocky Mountains: 



Softwoods ___._.. 

 Hardwoods 



495 



11 



684 

 14 



852 

 11 



1,044 

 46 



1, 139 



65 



1,275 

 89 



1,231 



89 



Total 



506 



698 



863 



1,090 



1, 204 



1, 364 



1, 320 



Pacific Coast: 



Softwoods. _ - - _ 

 Hardwoods 



3, 239 

 35 



3, 324 

 62 



3,805 

 85 



3, 642 



82 



3, 376 

 96 



3,332 

 105 



3,491 

 114 



Total _ 



3, 274 



3, 386 



3, 890 



3,724 



3,472 



3,437 



3,605 







Total United States: 

 Softwoods 



7,387 

 3,358 



7, 199 

 2, 980 



8, 981 

 3, 173 



10, 111 

 5, 207 



10, 675 

 6,334 



11,484 

 7,365 



11,622 



Hardwoods . _ 



7,418 



Total 



10, 745 



10, 179 



12, 154 



15, 318 



17, 009 



18, 849 



19, 040 



