WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA 



THE SITUATION IN 1962 



The total timber output of western South Dakota^- -principally the Black Hills--was 11.2 

 million cubic feet of roundwood products, a 17 percent increase over the 1952^ output. Aside 

 from an insignificant quantity of ^HH^^I spruce saw logs, the entire output consisted of 

 ponderosa pine. About 84 percent of the-tdtal production came from public lands, chiefly 

 National Forest lands. 



Saw logs, with a volume of nearly 39 million board feet, were the most important product 

 harvested and accounted for 58 percent of the total output. All but 7 million board feet went to 

 sawmills in South Dakota; Wyoming mills received all the saw log exports , and Wyoming was 

 the sole supplier of the 8.5 million board feet of saw logs imported into western South Dakota. 



Pulpwood production totaled 3 million cubic feet and accounted for some 27 percent of the 

 total output, making it the second most important product harvested. All the pulpwood was 

 shipped to mills in the Lake States. 



All other products- -commercial poles, posts, piling, fuelwood, and miscellaneous farm 

 timbers--made up 1.7 million cubic feet or 15 percent of the total output of timber products. 

 No round timbers were received at mines in 1962; however, nearly 11 million board feet 

 (lumber tally) of sawed material was delivered to mines other than coal mines. 



TRENDS SINCE 1952 



Pulpwood production was the only segment of the timber products industry in western 

 South Dakota that showed any growth between 1952 and 1962, increasing from 500 to 34,000 

 standard cords during that period. Saw log production by 1962 had declined slightly (about 3 

 percent) from the 1952 level, suggesting that little growth in the sawmill industry is possible 

 in that portion of the State where mills have long been established and consumed the full allow- 

 able annual cut for many years. Output of all other forest products in 1962 was only about half 

 that of 1952, resembling the situations in Colorado and Wyoming where demand for these 

 products is also diminishing. 



Western South Dakota 

 includes all of Harding, Butte, 

 Lawrence, and Fall River 

 Counties, plus the portions of 

 Meade, Pennington, and Custer 

 Counties that lie west of the 

 103d meridian. 



^ U.S. Forest Service, op. 

 cit . , page 1 . 



These ponderosa pine pulp sticks 

 are awaiting shipment from 

 the Black Hills to a pulpmill in 

 the Lake States. Increased 

 output of pulpwood since 1952 

 has offered opportunities for 

 expanded forest management. 



