Economics of the Forest Situation 



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-<«- 



Land Use 



ALTHOUGH Louisiana has a long agricultural histor^•, 

 forests at present occupy 56 percent ot its total 

 land area and agricultural land constitutes only -8 

 percent ot the total (table 3). Marshland, and the small 

 areas occupied by cities, towns, roads, railroads, etc., make 

 up the remaining 16 percent of the State's land area. 



The south delta survey unit, which contains nearly all 

 the marshlands, has a considerably smaller percent of its 

 land area in forest than the remainder ot the State (fig 10). 

 Southeast and southwest Louisiana have greater propor- 

 tions of their areas devoted to forests than the other 

 survey units. 



The land area used for growing cotton, by far the leading 

 farm crop, has gradually diminished from 1,945,000 acres 

 in 1929 to 1,089,000 acres in 1939. Although a part of the 

 856,000 acres lost has gone into other forms of agricultural 

 use, much of it is now idle or abandoned. 



Table 3. — Tola/ area classified b\ land use in Louisiana, 

 1Q34-35 ' 



Survey unit 



Total 

 area 



Forest 

 land 



Agricultural 

 land 



Other 

 uses 



North delta 



Million 

 acres 

 3.6 

 11.5 

 6.2 

 7.8 



Percent 

 68 

 33 

 63 

 79 



Percent 

 30 

 32 

 34 

 16 



Percent 



2 



South delta 



35 



North pine 



3 



Southwest pine ' 



5 



All units 



29. 1 



56 



28 



16 







I Data in greater detail are given in table 15, Appendix. 

 ' Includes values for southeast pine unit. 



Comparison of the acreage of idle and abandoned 

 agricultural land with that of recently cleared cropland 

 seems to indicate that the forest area of Louisiana is gradu- 

 ally increasing. Abandonment of farm lands is most 

 prevalent in the "piney woods" of the north pine unit, 

 which contain considerable tracts of relatively low fertil- 

 ity and serious soil erosion. Farm cropping is constantly 

 shifting from such districts to the more fertile, noneroded 



lands on the lower terraces and into bottoms adjacent to 

 streams. Farm use ot the Delta bottom lands is, therefore, 

 increasing somewhat. For the State as a whole, however, 

 the forest area will probably remain at least as great as it 

 now is, or increase slightly. 



Oivnership 



In 1938, the ownership of the forest land was distributed 

 as is indicated in table 4. In that year the Forest Service 

 in cooperation with the State forester of Louisiana, made 

 a canvass of the larger industrial and other private owners 

 ot forest land, not including farmers. The holdings of the 

 128 owners interviewed aggregated 4.4 million acres, of 

 which 3.5 million was held by 59 industrial owners, chiefly 

 lumber companies and pulp mills. The 69 other owners 

 were investment companies, estates, and individuals. Of 

 the total land covered by this inquiry, almost 4.2 million 

 acres was held in 61 individual ownerships of 15,000 acres 

 or more. A forest educational campaign concentrated on 

 these few owners alone would potentially affect at least 25 

 percent ot the forest land in the State. 



Table 4 — Distribution of forest-land ownership, 1938 



Ownership 



Area 



Federal: 



Farm Security Administration 



Acres 

 107. 200 

 492, 000 



12,800 

 8,800 

 52, 100 



1, 319. 900 



2, 937, 400 

 11,281,000 



Percent 



7 



National forests ..-_-- 



3 



State; 



. 1 



State parks and forest parks 



1 



State game refuges and preserves ' 



Adjudicated for nonpayment of taxes * 



Private: > 



Farm woodlands 



.3 



8.1 



18.1 

 69.6 







Total forest land 



10 211 200 



inn n 







1 Net forest land. ' Estimated. 



' From 1935 Census of Agriculture, less estimated area adjudicated to State 

 for nonpayment of taxes. 



The preponderance of industrial and other nonfarm 

 ownership of forest land is rather general throughout the 

 State. The north pine unit is the only one where the 

 economic importance of tarm woodlands approaches that 



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