would, in the long run, result in substantially more 

 income and employment. 



Taking into account the acreage of commercial 

 forest land in Tennessee and other States, the potential 

 rate of growth in the principal types, local accessibility 

 of the timber, ease of management, and position with 

 respect to consumer markets, it is estimated that a 

 reasonable growth goal for Tennessee might be about 

 600 million cubic feet of timber annually, including 2.2 

 billion board-feet of sawtimber. This approximates 

 49 cubic feet of growing stock and 1 78 board-feet of 



sawtimber growth per acre per year. Since growth 

 now averages 23 cubic feet per acre annually for grow- 

 ing stock and 71 board-feet for sawtimber, to achieve 

 this goal would mean more than doubling present 

 average growth. 



Obviously there is a considerable element of judg- 

 ment in formulating any goals for timber products. 

 But whether the suggested goal is several notches high 

 or low does not alter the general character of the action 

 needed to build up the forest resources of Tennessee. 



Tennessee's Timber Economy 



31 



