48 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



Net growth and removals of growing stock in 

 the United States 



Figure 20 



rise a further 26 percent by 2000 to 12.1 billion 

 cubic feet. This increase in removals is associated 

 with a slight increase in inventories of growing 

 stock. b 



Recent removals of hardwood gi owing stock 

 rose slowly from 1952 to 1970 but available re- 

 movals in the future are projected to increase at a 

 much more rapid rate than softwoods, that is, 

 from 4.4 billion cubic feet in 1970 to 8.2 billion 

 cubic feet in 2000— an increase of 86 percent. 



Sawtimber removals.— Removals of softwood 

 sawtimber rose some 22 percent between 1952 and 

 1970 to about 47.7 billion board feet (table 33 and 

 fig. 21). Projected removals increase a further 14 

 percent by 2000 to 54.2 billion board feet. The 

 smaller increase in projected supplies of available 

 softwood sawtimber in contrast to the projected 

 increase for softwood growing stock removals 



Net growth and removals of sawtimber in 

 the United States 



1952 "« "70 1960 1990 2000 2010 



Figure 21 



reflects prospective changes in the distribution of 

 timber harvesting by size class resulting in part 

 from continuing depletion of western old-growth 

 timber. These increases in removals reflect the 

 cutting and other assumptions outlined earlier and 

 differ from projections related to price shown in a 

 later section of this chapter. 



Annual removals of hardwood sawtimber in- 

 creased about 13 percent between 1952 and 1970 

 (table 33). As in the case of softwoods, the pro- 

 jection of a 42 percent increase in available re- 

 movals of hardwood sawtimber is much less than 

 the projected gain for growing stock. 



Components of removals.— Roundwood products 

 such as saw logs and pulpwood comprised some 87 

 percent of all softwood removals in 1970, but only 

 63 percent of total hardwood removals (table 34). 



Logging residues made up 10 percent of the 

 softwood removals and other removals for land 

 clearmg, withdrawals, etc., accounted for 3 per- 

 cent. For hardwoods, on the other hand, logging 

 residues made up 15 percent of the total and other 

 removals 22 percent. 



In the base projection assuming 1970 manage- 

 ment levels it was assumed that residues from 

 logging operations, as a percent of total removals, 

 will decline in the years ahead for several reasons. 

 Improvements in equipment for handling, trans- 

 porting, and converting timber, for example, along 

 with expanding markets makes possible various 

 improvements in timber utilization. Technological 

 developments stemming from current research 

 and development efforts are expected to continue, 

 along with growth in markets for fiber products! 

 Also, environmental considerations appear likely 

 to require closer utilization of timber on areas 

 harvested, particularly on public lands. A further 

 factor favoring closer utilization is the continuing 

 increase in numbers of large integrated firms in the 

 forest industries which have multiproduct options 

 and facilities to utilize entire trees for optimum 

 combinations of lumber, pulp, particleboard, or 

 other products. 



Logging residues from softwood growing stock 

 consequently are projected to drop from about 9 

 percent of total removals in 1970 to 6 percent by 

 the year 2000, with roundwood products output 

 increasing correspondingly (table 34). Complete 

 use of logging residues is not considered economi- 

 cally feasible even with higher prices because of 

 the scattered location and poor quality of much 

 of the material left after logging. 



Net Growth and Mortality 



Trends in net growth, which have a major 

 bearing on the availability of timber removals, 

 rose substantially in the 1952-70 period, and 

 projections indicate further moderate increases. 

 Net growth of softwood growing stock increased 

 37 percent between 1952 and 1970 to 10.7 billion 

 cubic feet, and is projected to increase a further 8 



