The Facts In Brief 
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How much of Montana is forest? 
One-fourth of the State, or 22,359,000 acres, is 
classified by the Forest Survey as forest land. The 
total area of the State is 93,642,000 acres. Fifty- 
eight percent of the forest area lies in the one-sixth 
of the State that is west of the Continental Divide. 
How much of the forest is suitable and available for 
timber production? 
Seventy percent of the forest land, or 15,756,000 
acres, is “commercial,” i. e., suitable and available, 
now or prospectively, for the production of timber 
for industrial use. This represents about 314 per- 
cent of the total commercial forest in the United 
States. 
How much saw timber is there? 
Montana’s commercial forest contains 56 billion 
board feet of timber, likewise about 314 percent 
of the national total. Approximately half of the saw 
timber is of two species: larch and Douglas-fir. 
Ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce, and lodgepole 
pine are other important species from a quantity 
standpoint. Seventy-one percent of the saw-timber 
volume is west of the Continental Divide. 
Who owns the forest2 
Seventeen million acres, or 76 percent of the total 
forest area, is publicly owned or managed. The 
national forests alone include 13,923,000 acres of 
forest. Public agencies manage only 69 percent of 
the commercial forest. Seventy percent of the cur- 
rent saw-timber 
managed. 
volume is publicly owned or 
Flow fast is the forest growing? 
For the primary growing stock, that is all trees 
5.0 inches and larger, the annual net growth is 241 
Forest Resources of Montana 
million cubic teet. ‘The net saw-timber growth is 
606 million board feet a year. 
Ts the growth rate satisfactory? 
No, not from a long-time standpoint. ‘The net 
growth on primary growing stock amounts to only 
15 cubic feet per acre a year. It should be possible 
to double this rate. ‘The saw-timber growth 
amounts to only 38 board feet per acre a year, com- 
pared to a potential of 85 board feet. 
Flow can growth be increased? 
Gross growth can be increased by restocking 
deforested areas, improvement cuttings in thick 
young stands, and by replacing the extensive areas 
of old, decadent forests with vigorous rapid-grow- 
ing, well-stocked stands. Net growth can be in- 
creased by reducing the high mortality losses from 
fire, insects, shading, and other natural causes 
which are all debits against gross growth. To illus- 
trate, annual gross growth is 849 million board feet, 
but 245 million of it is offset by mortality. 
Does the high mortality rate indicate inadequate 
protection? 
Progress has been made in curbing fires. Corres- 
ponding effort has not gone into insect control. 
Because of the low vitality associated with advanced 
age, much of Montana’s timber has suffered heavy 
losses from bark beetles. “These losses will diminish 
as the old trees are utilized, but in the meantime 
they can be reduced only by intensifying insect- 
control efforts. 
Is the timber cut too high or too low? 
With some important exceptions, the timber cut 
in the State has been too low. ‘The allowable an- 
nual cut of saw-timber and pole-timber trees and 
the usable portion of cull and dead trees in Mon- 
tana is 129 million cubic feet greater than the cut 
