THE TIMBER SUPPLY - FOREST REGIONS Botanists and foresters subdivide the United States into five great forest "regions" characterized by fairly definite forest types. These are the Northern, Central, Southern, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific regions.
The Northern Forest.
The Northern forest type extends from Maine across New England, New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin, to western Minnesota, with a prolongation down the southern Appalachians to the northern edge of Georgia. Originally the coniferous type predominated in the Northern forests, and by far the most important species was white pine. Next to white pine, ranked hemlock, which was especially abundant in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin; and associated with these species was Norway pine, spruce, cedar, balsam, and a large variety of hardwoods, the most important of which were maple, birch, basswood, beech, ash, and elm.
The Southern Forest.
Starting in New Jersey, and extending to the south and west over practically all of the Atlantic and Gulf States to Texas, 'with a prolongation up from Texas across Arkansas to Southern Missouri, is the Southern type of forest, in which the yellow pines predominate, with longleaf pine the most abundant of any single species. In many localities within the pine belt, hardwoods are plentiful, especially the gums; while in the swampier regions, and particularly in Louisiana and Florida, large quantities of cypress are found.
The Hardwood Forest.
Lying between the Northern and Southern Forest, and reaching from the Atlantic seaboard to the Missouri river, is a great, irregular region in which the hardwoods abound to the exclusion of other species. It was here that the oaks, elms, hickories, walnut, yellow poplar, sycamore and other hardwoods were originally most abundant and attained their finest development. It is here, also, that the clearing of forests for agricultural development has gone the farthest, since hardwoods are generally found upon the richest types of agricultural soils. However, the farm woodlots and many areas of larger size in this region still yield much timber for local use, and considerable for shipment to more distant markets.
The Rocky Mountain Forest.
Passing over the vast forestless area of the prairies and plains, we come to the Rocky Mountain region, with coniferous forests on most of its higher mountain slopes and plateaus. The bulk of the timber in these forests consists of Western yellow pine, with other pines, firs, and spruces, and—in the northern Rocky Mountain region— considerable quantities of larch, Western hemlock, cedar, and Western white pine.
The Pacific Forest. On
the Pacific Coast are found the heaviest stands of timber, and the largest individual trees ever recorded in history or revealed by geological strata. From the summits of the Cascades to the Pacific ocean in Oregon and Washington, and on the Coast range and the Sierras of California, are giant firs, cedars, spruces, redwoods, and pines, which for many years to come will be the most important source of timber supply for a large portion of the United States.
The forest regions are outlined in Plate 37.