PROJECTED TIMBER SUPPLIES — 1970 LEVEL OF MANAGEMENT 



39 



also made in prior years for control of blister rust 

 in western white pine stands but these efforts to 

 control tins important disease were not con- 

 sidered sufficiently effective and this program 

 consequently was 'largely phased out during the 

 1960's. 



In the South recent expenditures for pest con- 

 trol have been mostly for locating and controlling 

 bark beetles, the most damaging insect in this area. 

 Some control programs are directed against other 

 bark beetles, tipmoths, sawflies, pales weevil, leaf 

 miners, and other insects. Attention is also being 

 given to control of insects which damage cones 

 and seeds, particularly in seed orchards. Diseases 

 such as fusiform rust on loblolly and slash pine, 

 brown spot, littleleaf disease, and fomes annosus 

 also cause serious mortality. Control methods are 

 available for fomes annosus, and tree breeding for 

 genetic resistance offers a strong possibility for 

 controlling fusiform rust in the future. 



In the North efforts have mainly been concen- 

 trated on control of such destructive agents as 

 white pine blister rust, the gypsy moth, oak wilt, 

 the spruce budworm, and jack-pine budworm. 



Reforestation 



Planting of forest trees increased sharply dur- 

 ing the 1950's from about one-half million acres 

 to a peak of 2.1 million acres during the height 

 of the Soil Bank Program in 1959 (table 28 and 

 fig. 18). Planting declined sharply in the early 

 1960's to about 1.3 million acres then trended 

 upward again. The average area planted during 

 the decade of the 1960's approximated 1.5 million 

 acres — about 50 percent higher than the average 

 for the 1950's. 



Accurate data are not available on survival of 

 trees planted but field estimates suggest an aver- 

 age survival rate of around 85 percent in the South 

 and 70 to 75 percent in the West and the North. 

 Estimates of State Foresters indicate some con- 

 tinuing improvement in current survival rates, 

 particularly where complete site preparation pre- 

 cedes planting or direct seeding. 



In addition to these planting efforts, site prep- 

 aration for natural regeneration covered an esti- 

 mated 250,000 acres annually during the 1968-70 

 period. 



Planting by section and ownership. — Planting in 

 the South has accounted for about 60 percent of 

 the total area recently planted or direct seeded in 

 the United States, or an average of about 0.9 

 million acres annually during the 1960's (table 28 

 and fig. 18). Areas planted in this region declined 

 sharply in the early 1960's but has shown some 

 upward trend in recent years. Planting in the 

 North and Pacific Coast States each accounted 

 for approximately one-fifth of recent plantings. 



Planting on farm and miscellaneous private 

 lands accounted for a major part of the total area 

 planted or seeded during the 1950's, particularly 



Area planted and direct seeded, by ownership class 



national forests- 

 other public ^ 



Area planted and direct seeded, by section 



Figure 18 



during the period of the Soil Bank program when 

 payments were made for cropland retirement. In 

 the 1960's, however, planting on these ownerships 

 declined sharply, while planting on forest industry 

 lands climbed to over half the total reforestation 

 program. 



For the decade of the 1960's industrial and 

 farm and miscellaneous private owners each 

 averaged about 37 percent of the total planting 

 effort. About 15 percent of the area planted in the 

 1960's was in National Forests, and 9 percent in 

 other public ownerships. 



Artificial versus natural regeneration. — Planting 

 and seeding of forest trees, although substantial, 

 has covered a relatively small part of the area 

 harvested annually. Forest owners still rely on 

 natural regeneration to restore most stands after 

 logging, and in a large part of the United States 

 this is an effective and economic method of 

 regenerating forest cover. Exact data are not 

 available on the area of forest land harvested 

 annually in the United States but this might 

 amount to as much as 8 million acres per year, 

 including both partial and complete harvesting of 

 timber. 



Only part of the 1.5 million acres planted 

 annually during the 1960's was on recently logged 



