Distribution of The estimated total stand of timber in the United States is 2,800 billion board feet. Over one-fourth of this is located in the Pacific Northwest, in the States of Washington and Oregon. The ad joining region on the east in Idaho and Mon tana, known as the Inland Empire, contains a little over one-eighth and the State of Cali fornia a little less than one-eighth of the stand ing timber of the country. Altogether, the Pacific and northwestern States contain over half the country's timber. About half the re mainder is to be found in the southern pine States. Smaller portions, approximating one twelfth and one-twenty-fifth of the total stand, are found in the northeastern and Lake States, respectively. The remainder is scattered.
The principal species composing this stand are Douglas fir, found principally in Wash ington and Oregon, constituting a little over one-fourth the total; southern yellow pine (in reality consisting of shortleaf, longleaf, lob lolly, and other pines, but usually sold and spoken of as yellow found principally in the Gulf and South Atlantic States, aggregating about one-seventh of the total; and western yellow pine, found princi pally in the Pacific and southwestern States, about one-eighth of the total. No other soft wood composes such a large proportion of the total stand as any of these, the next largest spruce, which grows principally in the north eastern States and on the high mountain ranges of the West — comprising less than one twentieth of the total stand. Although form ing comparatively small portions of the country's total supply, other species such as redwood and sugar pine in California, western hemlock, western cedar, and spruce in Wash ington and Oregon, white pine in Minnesota and eastern hemlock in the Lake and north eastern States, compose a large portion of the local stands and are of importance in the regions where they are found. The hardwood species grow in the eastern half of the country, principally in the northern part, but constitute also a considerable proportion of the stand in the southern pine States. Altogether, they com prise about one-fifth of the total stand of the country.
The Forests of The' southeast coast forests of Alaska, which occur along the streams and lower slopes of the mountains, are composed of large merchantable trees. The principal species are western hemlock, Sitka spruce, yellow cedar (Chamcecyparis nootka tenth, Lamb., Spach.), and giant arborvitae.
The vast interior forests contain chiefly small trees valuable for mining timbers, and are much injured by severe forest fires. The principal species are white spruce (Picea canadensis, Mill., B. S. P.), black spruce (Picea mariana, Mill., B. S. P.), paper birch (Betula papyrifera, Marsh.), and aspen (Populus tremuloides, Michx.).
Forests of the Philippine The Philippine Islands contain about 49,000,000 acres of wooded land with an estimated stand of 123 billion feet of merchantable timber. There are about 750 species of valuable woods on the islands of which 160 are marketable. The low lands and lower mountain slopes are occupied by the broad leaved trees, of which the banyan tree, and the bamboo, coco, and other palms are characteristic species; and the higher slopes, by the conifers.
The Forests of Hawaii and Porto Rico.— The Hawaiian and Porto Rican forests are both tropical, the large proportion of tropical hardwoods and palm-like trees being their dis tinctive characteristic They are rich in species and are of great importance as a source of wood supply to the local population. Their greatest value, however, is for the protection of the watersheds of the islands.
History of American first forestry legislation in America consisted merely of protective measures designed to preserve a certain kind of wood, such as oak for ship building, or large straight pine trees for masts, or ordinances whose chief purpose was to secure the 'roper use of the timber that was cut. In 1," a royal surveyor of the woods for New England was appointed, but his duties seem to have been merely the protection of the property rights of the different colonists in the timber of the forests. William Penn endeavored to establish a forest policy in Pennsylvania by requiring those who settled on the land to agree to leave one acre in forest for every five acres cleared. This plan, how ever, was apparently not adhered to.
After the Revolution, the forest legisla tion was much the same as it had been in colonial times. In 1799, the Federal govern ment set aside $200,000 to buy standing timber for the navy. The act appropriating this money contained a provision for the protec tion of the timber for future use, and was followed by other acts of the same nature, most of them applying especially to the preservation of the live oak, which was partic ularly valuable for shipbuilding.