TIMBER VOLUME 



The coniferous forests so typical of 

 Montana decrease as they extend east- 

 ward. In the Northern Montana unit 

 hardwoods in stringer type make up a 

 major part of the forest area and vol- 

 ume. Six hardwood species occur: 

 cottonwood, aspen, elm, willow, green 

 ash, and boxelder. Cottonwood is by 

 far the most common, both from the 

 standpoint of distribution and volume. 

 Aspen occurs throughout the unit but 

 the largest concentration is in 

 Glacier, Blaine, and Hill Counties. 

 Only small volumes of the other specie 

 are found. 



Nine species of conifers grow here: 

 ponderosa pine, spruce, lodgepole 

 pine, Douglas-fir, white bark pine, 

 limber pine, alpine fir, juniper, and 

 alpine larch. However, only the first 

 four listed above are important from 

 a volume standpoint . 



Altogether there are nearly 600 

 million board feet of saw timber on 

 commercial forest land in Northern 

 Montana. Forty-two percent of the 

 volume is cottonwood, 18 percent 

 spruce, 18 percent Douglas-fir, 9 

 percent lodgepole pine, and 13 per- 

 cent miscellaneous species. About 

 one third of the saw-timber board- 

 foot volume is in trees 20 inches and 

 larger, whereas on a cubic-foot basis 

 such trees make up only about 14 per- 

 cent of the total volume. Because of 

 the poor growing conditions — short 

 season and low rainfall — the board- 

 foot volume per acre of forest land 

 is comparatively low throughout the 

 unit. However, because of the general 

 scarcity of all timber in these 

 counties, utilization of existing 

 timber supplies is good except in re- 

 mote mountainous areas. Approximate 

 timber volumes by counties are shown 

 in table 2. 



s 



SOFTWOOD SPECIES MAKE UP 





57%, OF THE Bd. F+. Vol. 





/ BOARD FEET \. 





/ ^nrT\A/rinriQ \ 

 / our i wuuuo \ 





\ HARDWOODS / 



%'s 



OF THE C<j. F+. Vol. IS SOFTWOOD 





/ CUBIC FEET \^ 





/ SOFTWOODS \ 





\ / HARDWOODS \^ / 



COTTONWOOD IS THE PRINCIPAL 





SAWTIMBER SPECIES 





/ OTHER SPECIES \ 





V/ COTTONWOOD >>/ 



-7- 



