70 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



Table 57. — Net growth of growing stock per acre in the North, by owner class and 



and 1970, with projections to 2020 



[Cubic feet] 



species group, 1952, 1962, 



Owner class and species group 



1952 



1962 



1970 



Projections 





1980 



1990 



2000 



2020 



National Forests : 

 Softwoods . . 



9.2 

 19. 1 



10.2 

 24 9 



11. 1 

 27. 3 



10.9 

 21. 8 



10. 7 

 18.0 



10.3 

 16.9 



10.3 

 17.0 



Hardwoods _______ 





Total 



28.3 



35. 1 



38. 4 



32. 7 



28. 7 



27.2 



27.3 





Other public : 

 Softwoods __ . _ 



7.3 

 17.6 



7.0 

 19.0 



8. 1 

 25.3 



8.4 

 24. 5 



8.4 

 22.4 



8.2 

 21. 1 



8.2 

 21. 1 



Hardwoods. __ . 





Total 



24. 9 



26. 



33.4 



32. 9 



30.8 



29.3 



29.3 





Forest industry : 

 Softwoods. 



16.4 

 16.8 



20. 1 

 19.4 



22. 4 

 18. 1 



20. 1 

 17. 3 



18.3 

 16.4 



17.7 

 15.9 





Hardwoods. . 



17. 7 





15. 9 



Total 



33.2 



39.5 



40. 5 



37.4 



34. 7 



33.6 



33.6 





Farm and miscellaneous private: 

 Softwoods. 



4. 7 

 18. 



5.4 

 20.9 



5. 5 

 23.4 



5.3 

 25. 2 



4.5 

 26. 



4. 2 

 26.2 





Hardwoods _ 



4. 2 





26. 2 



Total 



22. 7 



26. 3 



28.9 



30. 5 



30. 5 



30.4 







30. 4 



All owners: 

 Softwoods. . . 



6.3 

 17. 9 



7. 1 

 20.8 



7.8 

 23. 3 



7.5 

 24. 1 



6.8 

 24. 1 



6. 5 

 23. 9 





Hardwoods. _ 



6. 7 





23. 7 



Total 



24. 2 



27. 9 



31. 1 



31. 6 



30.9 



30.4 







30. 4 



produced 6 percent of the value added in U.S. 

 production of lumber and wood products. 



Trends in Forest Area 



Classification of forest lands in terms of com- 

 mercial timberland is particularly difficult in this 

 section because of the marginal nature of much of 

 the forest land and timber resource and the in- 

 creasing importance " of nontimber and environ- 

 mental management objectives that limit or 

 preclude commercial timber production. 



Forest areas in the Rocky Mountains that were 

 classed as suitable and available for timber pro- 

 duction in 1970 amounted to 61.6 million acres, or 

 3 million acres less than comparable figures in 

 1962 (table 59). About 0.7 million acres of National 

 Forest land were withdrawn between 1962 and 

 1970 for additions to wilderness, and about 2.3 

 million acreas were placed in a "deferred" cate- 

 gory pending further study of use potentials. 



A further 5 percent decline in National Forest 

 commercial timberland over the next several 

 decades was assumed in developing projections 

 of possible future supplies of timber. As pointed 

 out earlier, it is of course possible that land- 

 use and classification studies currently underway 



could lead to additional reductions in these area 

 figures. 



For other public owners a similar decline in 

 commercial timberland has been projected. The 

 small area under forest industry ownership, 

 2.2 million acres, was assumed to remain constant. 



Commercial timberland in farm and miscel- 

 laneous ownerships remained almost constant 

 in recent years at about 12.5 million acres. How- 

 ever, availability of these lands for commercial 

 timber use is believed to have diminished because 

 of growing use for nontimber purposes. Much 

 of this forest acreage is of low productivity for 

 timber production and much is held by owners 

 whose management goals conflict with timber 

 management. The acreage of farm and miscel- 

 laneous owners available for commercial timber 

 use has therefore been projected to decline 25 

 percent below the figures shown for 1970. 



The total acreage of commercial timberland 

 in the Rocky Mountains is therefore projected 

 to decline about 9 percent by 2020 to a level of 

 56 million acres. This figure includes 5 million 

 acres with marginal possibilities for timber 

 production, as noted in the footnote of table 59. 



