10 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



The better stands of timber in the interior of 

 Alaska include cottonwood along major streams and 

 areas of spruce and white birch. For the most part 

 timber growth is limited by permafrost, poor 

 drainage, and short growing seasons. Because of a 

 history of frequent forest fires, most interior 

 forests are also relatively young and occur in a 

 patchwork of mixed age classes and types. Quaking 

 aspen and paper birch usually seed in promptly 

 after fires, but both are short-lived species and in 

 time are usually succeeded by spruce. 



White spruce is the most important softwood 

 species, accounting for 81 percent of the total 

 sawtimber volume in interior forests and a major 

 part of the volume of smaller pulpwood size timber. 

 Total timber inventory volumes on the 22.5 

 million acres of the more productive forest lands 

 was estimated at 14.3 billion cubic feet — roughly 

 equivalent to 2.2 percent of timber inventories on 

 commercial timberland in the United States. 



Development of forest industries in interior 

 Alaska has been limited by lack of access, low 

 timber volumes per acre, small size of trees, low 

 product values, and difficult logging conditions. 

 Divided ownership among the Federal Govern- 

 ment, State of Alaska, natives, and other private 

 individuals may be a constraint in some areas. 

 Environmental factors and ecological stability 

 also will represent highly important factors in the 

 development of forests in interior Alaska. In the 

 coastal portion of Alaska much of the allowable 

 harvest on commercial timberlaDds has been 



committed for the support of pulp and lumber 

 production. 



Trends in Areas of Commercial Timberland 



The 500 million acres of land classed as commer- 

 cial timberland in 1970 was 8.4 million acres less 

 than estimated for 1962 (table 2). These and other 

 data suggest that the long rise in commercial 

 timberland areas resulting from agricultural land 

 abandonment in the eastern United States has now 

 been reversed. 



Recent declines in commercial timberland were 

 largely in the South and Rocky Mountains. Much 

 of the reduction in the West, especially in the 

 Rocky Mountains, reflected shifts of public lands 

 in National Forests to reserved or deferred status 

 in response to growing demands for public rec- 

 reational uses. Some was the result of increased 

 use of forest land for roads and urban expansion. 



In the South, much clearing of commercial 

 timberland for soybean and other crop produc- 

 tion took place in recent years, particularly in 

 hardwood forest areas of the Mississippi River 

 floodplain. In addition, extensive areas of forested 

 uplands were converted to pasture for the South's 

 growing cattle industry. In all regions, sizable 

 areas of forest land also have been taken over for 

 suburban development, highways, reservoirs, 

 and other nontimber uses. 



The estimates of net changes in timberland 

 area such as shown in table 2 do not measure 

 directly impacts of land-use shifts on timber 



Table 2. — Area of commercial timberland, by region, 1952, 1962, and 1970 



[Thousand acres] 



Region 



1952 



1962 



1970 



Change 

 1962-1970 



New England _ 



30, 935 

 42, 098 

 52, 604 

 44, 559 



31, 878 

 46, 737 

 51, 530 

 44, 942 



32, 367 



49, 685 



50, 841 

 45, 008 



+ 488 



Middle Atlantic .. ... 



+ 2,947 



Lake States ... ______ ... 



-690 



Central __ __ 



+ 66 







Total North _ __ 



170, 198 



175, 089 



177, 901 



+ 2, 812 







South Atlantic __ __ ___ 



46, 962 

 42, 104 

 49, 497 

 53, 518 



47,911 

 43, 128 

 53, 361 

 55, 504 



48, 463 

 41, 334 

 51, 454 

 51, 291 



+ 551 



East Gulf __ ___ _ ... 



- 1, 794 



Central Gulf __ ___ __ 



-1,907 



West Gulf 



-4, 214 







Total South ___ 



192, 082 



199, 905 



192, 542 



-7, 364 







Pacific Northwest __ _ 



50, 589 

 18, 216 

 38, 337 

 25, 554 



50, 407 

 18, 132 

 38, 792 

 25, 810 



49, 713 

 17, 909 

 36, 669 

 24, 963 



-694 



Pacific Southwest __ __ 



-223 



Northern Rocky Mountain __ 



-2, 124 



Southern Rocky Mountain 



-848 







Total West___ ___ . ._ _. ... . 



132, 696 



133, 141 



129, 254 



-3,888 







All regions _ . 



494, 978 



508, 137 



499, 697 



-8,440 



Note: Data for 1952 and 1962 as published in early reports have been revised to insure comparability with 1970 

 definitions and local specifications of commercial timberland. 



