110 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



In this initial study it was not possible to ade- 

 quately evaluate opportunities for control of 

 insects and disease nor of opportunities for intensi- 

 fied fire protection. Impact studies will be needed 

 for each major cause of mortality before it will be 

 possible to measure the economic efficiency of 

 adding to prospective timber supplies through 

 more intensified protection. 



In addition to the potential increases in yields 

 through cultural measures as estimated in this 

 study, additonal increases in future timber 

 supplies also might be obtained through more 

 complete utilization of the available timber. 



Recent Survey findings indicate that up to 12 

 percent of the total softwoods and 43 percent 

 of the total hardwoods removed from growing 

 stock are not used for products. If only half this 

 wood fiber could be channelled into use, the 

 annual output of timber products could be in- 

 creased over 5 percent without any increase in 

 timber removals. Additional volumes might be 

 obtained from rough and rotten trees that are now 

 typically left standing in harvesting operations 

 and even from trees in urban areas. 



Other possible actions to improve timber yields 

 beyond the estimates in this analysis include the 

 development of genetically improved planting 

 stock, and application of fertilizer to enhance soil 

 fertility. It is estimated, for example, that genetic 

 gains from first generation stock wall average 15 

 to 20 percent higher volume growth than obtain- 

 able with seed from existing stands. Management 

 to put the right species on the right site also could 

 substantially increase future timber harvests. 



Costs of Forestry Practices 



Average costs of forestry practices assumed in 

 this study for the Southeast are summarized in 

 table 89. On some idle and open areas where 

 extensive site preparation is not required, pine 

 plantations can be established at perhaps half 

 the costs shown in this table. However, a large 

 share of these easy planting opportunities have 

 been exhausted and attention now must be focused 

 largely on those lands that can only be restored 

 through site preparation or type conversion. For 

 most of the area considered in the study it is 

 believed that these costs were fairly representative 

 as of 1970. 



Values of Increased Harvests 



In addition to the estimates of increased yields 

 possible with intensified management practices 

 and estimated costs of such measures, estimates 

 were developed of the values of increased softwood 

 timber output at 1970 prices, as follows: 



Table 89. — Estimated average costs of forestry 

 practices in the Southeast, 1970 



Practice or item 



Tree diameter 



Cents per cubic foot 



6 



7 



8 



11 



10 



12 



14 



15 



18 



18 



Establishment of pine plantation on cutover lands : 



Site preparation per acre_- 



Pine seedlings per thousand.. 



Insecticide treatment of seedlings for 



protection against weevils do 



Planting per seedling. _ 



Total average establishment cost. per acre_. 



Other practices: 



Prescribed burning per acre.- 



Poisoning undesirable trees do 



Girdling undesirable trees do 



Release cutting of young growth do 



Timber cruising (10 percent) do 



Marking trees for harvesting do 



Cost 



Dollars 

 28. 25 

 5.25 



. 50 



.02 



44.75 



2.05 

 11.30 



9.65 



15.50 



.90 



3.60 



Areas Suitable for Treatment 



On farm and miscellaneous private ownerships 

 investment opportunities were identified on some 

 14.5 million acres. Although amounting to only 

 20 percent of all forest lands in this ownership 

 category, this estimate may overstate the area 

 on which landowners would be both able and 

 willing to intensify management. There are over 

 700 thousand private farm and miscellaneous 

 private landowners who collectively own over 70 

 percent of the land included in this study. For 

 the most part these lands are in small tracts. 

 Tenure is generally short in comparison with the 

 period required for forestry investments to pay 

 out. Lands are owned for a variety of reasons, and 

 responses to forestry programs have been limited. 



For such reasons adjustments of "available" 

 areas were made in the national study reported 

 earlier to allow for landowners' indifference to 

 investment opportunities. It is likely that new 

 approaches will have to be devised, and substantial 

 financial incentives made available, before intensi- 

 fied management can be expected on all of the 

 acreage where more intensive forestry practices 

 would yield significant returns. 



On forest industry lands in the Southeast, the 

 backlog of poorly stocked stands for conversion, 

 regeneration, or intermediate cutting is much 

 smaller than for farm and miscellaneous private 

 lands. Nevertheless, more than 6 million acres of 

 industrial lands were in these categories in 1970 

 (table 87). One might assume that management on 

 industrial holdings will be further intensified over 

 time in view of the major progress made to date, 

 but economic considerations may well prevent 

 realization of all investment opportunities. 



National Forests and other publicly owned 

 lands are of much smaller importance in the South- 

 east and areas suitable for intensification are 

 correspondingly limited. Also, the primary objec- 

 tive of management of these lands is not to maxi- 



