This section presents data on the area, ownership, production, trade, reserves, and disposition of natural resources. Natural resources is defined here as including forestry, fisheries, and mining and mineral products.
Forestry-Presents data on the area, ownership, and timber resource of commercial timberland; forestry statistics covering the National Forests and Forest Service cooperative programs; product data for lumber, pulpwood, woodpulp, paper and paperboard, and similar data.
The principal sources of data relating to forests and forest products areForest Resources of the United States, 1992; Timber Demand and Technology Assessment, 1996; U.S. Timber Production,Trade, Consumption, and Price Statistics;Land Areas of the National ForestSystem, issued annually by the ForestService of the Department ofAgriculture;Agricultural Statistics issued by the Department of Agriculture; andreports of the census of manufactures (taken every 5 years, see Table 1149) and the annual Current Industrial Reports, issued by the Census Bureau issued on the Internet,and in print in the annualManufacturingProfiles.Additionalinformation is published in the monthly Survey of Current Business of the Bureau of EconomicAnalysis; and the annual WoodPulp and Fiber Statistics and The Statistics of Paper, Paperboard, and Wood Pulpof the American Forest and Paper Association, Washington, DC.
The completeness and reliability of statistics on forests and forest products vary considerably. The data for forest land area and stand volumes are much more reliable for areas which have been recently surveyed than for those for which only estimates are available. In general, more data are available for lumber and other manufactured products such as particle board and softwood panels, etc., than for the primary forest products such as poles and piling and fuelwood.
Fisheries-The principal source of data relating to fisheries is Fisheries of the United States, issued annually by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NMFS collects and disseminates data on commercial landings of fish and shellfish. Annual reports include quantity and value of commercial landings of fish and shellfish disposition of landings and number and kinds of fishing vessels and fishing gear. Reports for the fish-processing industry include annual output for the wholesaling and fish processing establishments, annual and seasonal employment. The principal source for these data is the annual Fisheriesof the United States
Mining and mineral products-Presentsdata relating to mineral industries and their products, general summary measures of production and employment, and more detailed data on production, prices, imports and exports, consumption, and distribution for specific industries and products. Data on mining andmineral products may also be found in Sections 26 and 30 of this Abstract; data on mining employment may be found in Section 13.
Mining comprises the extraction of minerals occurring naturally (coal, ores, crude petroleum, natural gas) and quarrying, well operation, milling, refining and processing, and other preparation customarily done at the mine or well site or as a part of extraction activity. (Mineral preparation plants are usually operated together with mines or quarries.) Exploration for minerals is included as is the development of mineral properties.
The principal governmental sources of these data are theMinerals Yearbookand Mineral Commodity Summaries, publishedby the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, and various monthly and annual publications of the Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy. See text, Section 19, for a list of Department of Energy publications. In addition, the Census Bureau conducts a census of mineral industries every 5 years (for 1997 results, see Table 1162).
Nongovernment sources include the Annual Statistical Report of the AmericanIron and Steel Institute, Washington, DC;Metals Week and the monthly Engineeringand Mining Journal, issued by the McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York, NY; The Iron Age, issued weekly by the Chilton Co., Philadelphia, PA; and the Joint Association Survey of the U.S. Oil and Gas Industry, conducted jointly by the AmericanPetroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.
Mineral statistics, with principal emphasis on commodity detail, have been collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and the former Bureau of Mines since 1880. Current data in U.S. Geological Survey publications include quantity and value of nonfuel minerals produced, sold or used by producers, or shipped; quantity of minerals stocked; crude materials treated and prepared minerals recovered; and consumption of mineral raw materials.
Censuses of mineral industries have been conducted by the Census Bureau at various intervals since 1840. Beginning with the 1967 census, legislation provides for acensus to be conducted every 5 years for years ending in "2" and "7." The censuses provide, for the various types of mineral establishments, information on operating costs, capital expenditures, labor, equipment, and energy requirements in relation to their value of shipments and other receipts. Commodity statistics on many manufactured mineral products are also collected by the Census Bureau at monthly, quarterly, or annual intervals and issued initsCurrent Industrial Report series.
In general, figures shown in the individual commodity tables include data for outlying areas and may therefore not agree with summary tables. Except for crude petroleum and refined products, the export and import figures include foreign trade passing through the customs districts of United States and Puerto Rico but exclude shipments between U.S. territories and the customs districts.