OPPORTUNITIES FOR INCREASING TIMBER SUPPLIES 



107 



Table 85. — Timber supplies in the Southeast, 

 assuming 1970 level of management 



Species group 



1970 



Projections 





1980 



2000 



2020 



Softwoods. _ 



Million 

 cubic feet 



1,799 

 1,059 



Million 

 cubic feet 



2, 132 

 1,317 



Million 

 cubic feet 



2,774 

 1,736 



Million 

 cubic feet 



2, 788 



Hardwoods 



1, 719 







Total 



2, 858 



3,449 



4,510 



4,507 



Softwoods 



Million 

 board feet 



5,833 

 2,942 



Million 

 board feet 



6,989 

 3,380 



Million 

 board feet 



9,258 

 3,429 



Million 

 board feet 



9, 417 



Hardwoods. 



3,440 



Total 



8,775 



10, 369 



12, 687 



12, 857 



capability, land ownership patterns, and other 

 forest characteristics, opportunities for altering 

 prospective timber supplies vary widely. 



Estimates of possible increases in timber 

 supplies from intensified management were calcu- 

 lated by taking as a base the projections of pro- 

 spective timber supplies assuming 1970 levels of 

 management and the cutting and area assumptions 

 specified in Chapter II. In brief, these projections 

 showed prospective increases in available timber 

 removals amounting to 58 percent by 2000 in the 

 case of growing stock material and about 45 per- 

 cent in the case of sawtimber (table 85) . 



Identifying Areas Suitable for Intensified Manage- 

 ment 



1. The first step in identifying opportunities 

 for intensified management over and above that 

 provided at 1970 levels was to break down the 

 total forest area into meaningful management 

 classes. These involved some 89.8 million acres 



classified as commercial timberland, plus an 

 estimated 2.4 million acres of idle cropland which 

 was included under the presumption that part 

 of these lands would represent an opportunity 

 for increasing future timber supplies. Although 

 a detailed breakdown of these lands by manage- 

 ment condition would be desirable, practicality 

 required focusing on a limited number of "treat- 

 ment opportunity" classes, as shown in table 86. 

 2. The second step involved the elimination 

 from detailed analyses of areas not considered 

 suitable for intensification of management. These 

 included : 



a. Areas of low timber potential because of 

 poor or adverse sites; in this initial effort 

 areas incapable of producing more than 50 

 cubic feet of timber per acre when fully 

 stocked with trees were eliminated. This 

 involved some 26.4 million acres. This 

 procedure reduced National Forest areas to 

 43 percent of the total acreages listed in 

 table 86, compared to 76 percent for forest 

 industries, and 73 percent for farm and 

 miscellaneous private lands. 



b. Areas already in good condition from the 

 standpoint of timber culture. Standards of 

 good condition were based on forest char- 

 acteristics such as type, stand size, stand 

 age, volume, and growth, and available re- 

 sults of management research and experi- 

 ence. This procedure eliminated 19.3 million 

 acres. 



c. Areas occupied by mature stands ready for 

 harvest and regeneration, amounting to 9.2 

 million acres. In some cases production on 

 these areas could be increased by fertiliza- 

 tion or by use of improved genetic stock for 

 regeneration following logging, but these op- 

 portunities were not evaluated. 



The areas remaining after this process included 

 10.7 million acres of young stands judged to be 



Table 86. — Area of commercial timberland in the Southeast, by ownership and treatment class, 1970 



[Million acres] 



Class 



Total 



National 

 Forest 



Other 

 public 



Forest 

 industry 1 



Farm and 

 miscel- 

 laneous 

 private 



Poor sites. _ _ 



26.4 

 19.3 

 9. 2 

 10. 7 

 26.5 



2.6 

 .5 

 . 5 

 . 3 



.7 



1.4 

 .6 

 .3 

 . 4 



. 7 



4.3 

 5.3 

 1.8 

 2. 1 



4. 3 



18. 1 



Stands in good condition. 



12. 9 



Harvesting. 



6. 6 



Intermediate cutting 



7.9 



Conversion or regeneration 



2 20. 8 







Total 



92. 1 



4.6 



3.4 



17. 8 



66.3 







1 Includes lands under long-term lease. 



2 Includes 2.4 million acres of idle cropland. 



