Area of 21 common forest types for the East and West , because different forest types have different value as habitat and for commercial harvest. Total forest area in the Western states and Alaska remained stable from 1977 to 1992. Forty-two percent of U.S. forests are publicly owned and 58 percent are privately owned.
Private ownership is dominant in the East and federal ownership in the West.
It is estimated that this distribution has changed little since 1977 due to low rates of human disturbance. All data on this page are from a continuing monitoring program, the Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis Program. These have not been reconciled for this report. This page presents information on major forest types, using a classification system employed by the Forest Service. Consideration will be given to incorporating this distinction into future reports.