INVENTORY1

One of the striking attributes of Chile's forest resource is its far-flung geographic distribution, and variability of the forest in form, composition, and in other characteristics is correspondingly great. The most obvious variations in general tree form and utility are delineated by the three broad vegetative zones by which all forest area and wood volume statistics are presented: (1) The natural woodland zone, (2) natural forest land zone, and (3) forest plantation.

These broad vegetative zones are naturally related to the geographical sub-divisions or province groups by which survey data are shown. (See figure 2.) The provinces included in each of the six groups are: GROUP 1: Tarapaca

Group 1 is principally desert. Groups 2, 3, and 6 are characterized by woodland and woodland-plantation vegetative zones, and Groups 4 and 5 by the natural forest.

TYPES AND AREAS

Natural woodland, planted and natural forest type areas are summarized in table 1 and figure 3. (Detailed type definitions are given in the Appendix, page 173.)

This forest inventory is based on original field work, done during January to March 1944, inclusive, for the provinces of Curico to Aysen. Data for Magallanes and for provinces north of Curico are based on best existing estimates adjusted to conform with most recent unpublished information. As described in the methodology section of the Appendix and emphasized elsewhere, this inventory and depletion, growth and related sections are based on work of a reconnaissance character only. It is believed that they offer the best appraisal of the forest resource now available but are of approximate accuracy only, subject to early check and revision as better data become avail. able.

Natural woodland, which is characterized by trees comparatively small in size, poor in form, and suitable primarily for fuelwood covers slightly less than 9 million hectares, or 55 percent of the total forest and woodland area. As shown in table 1, it is classified into three types: 1. Dry-zone woodland, type 2.1, with an area of 1.8 million hectares, occurs as a sparse cover on dry slopes and ridges of the Coast Range and on the lower lower spurs of the Cordillera from Cautin northward to the desert. A high proportion of the component species, such as Espino and Boldo, are esteemed for fuel and charcoal.

2. Subalpine woodland, type 2.2, occurs within the latitudinal range of natural forest, but above the altitudinal limits of commercial tree growth in the Cordillera. Owing to the type's characteristic remoteness, the ruggedness of the terrain on which it occurs, and the poor form, small size and scattered occurrence of its component species, no wood volume was computed for its area, which totals 2.5 million hectares.

3. Lower slope humid zone woodland, type 2.3, which occurs on the islands and on the continent from Llanquihue south. Altitudinally it ranges from sea level to the subalpine, and frequently occurs as patches surrounded by timber forest. Its key components are Luma, Tepu (Tepualia stipularis), Radal (Lomatia obliqua), and Temu (Blepharocalyx divaricatus), species valuable for fuel, and its area totals about 4.6 million hectares.