240 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



cubic feet of mine timbers, 1,250,000 cords 

 of wood for distillation, and 90,000,000 

 cords of fire wood. One by one the timber 

 states, which have met this enormous 

 drain, are becoming exhausted. Washing- 

 ton nows bears the heaviest burden, but 

 Oregon will soon be called upon. 



But, while Oregon's stock of four hun- 

 dred billion is almost incalculably valu- 

 able in the light of these figures, it is 

 scarcely more so than our immense area 

 of cut and burned over land. Upon our 

 management of this depends whether we 

 shall continue the period of prosperity 

 permanently. Here again accurate figures 

 are lacking, but it is probable that an 

 area quarter as great as that now bear- 

 ing merchantable forest Is capable of equal 

 production in the comparatively, early fu- 

 ture. This fact, practically ignored, is of 

 the utmost importance. 



Nowhere else Is forest reproduction as 

 rapid and certain as in the Pacific North- 

 west. The same natural influences which 

 made our existing forests the most mag- 

 nificent in the world will perpetuate them 

 with equal success if given slight co-opera- 

 tion by man; indeed they ask little help 

 but prevention of fire. Saw timber can 

 be grown in 40 to 60 years; ties, timbers 

 and piles in less. It is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that while the quality may be in- 

 ferior to that of the old forest being used 

 now, timber scarcity will make a second 

 crop equally profitable per acre in 60 years. 

 Our deforested land of today should bring 

 us in a billion dollars within the life- 

 time of our boys and girls, if we do not 

 deliberately destroy its capability to do so. 



RELATION OF FORESTS TO THE AVERAGE 

 CITIZEN. 



The Oregon lumber industry nows brings 

 about 125,000,000 a year into the State; 

 as much as our apples, fish, wool, and 

 wheat together. In a year or two our 

 forest revenue should certainly equal 

 or surpass that of Washington, already 

 over $75,000,000. Eighty per cent of this 

 immense sum goes to pay for labor and 

 supplies. Practically all finds Its way into 

 general circulation. The lumber industry 

 is like any branch of manufacturing in 

 that it creates business, and more than 

 most it consists of labor and so supports 

 every industry of the community. The 

 money brought into Oregon by lumbering 

 is the greatest source of revenue to la- 

 borer, farmer, merchant, and professional 

 man. As the product is mostly sold else- 

 where, this revenue is clear gain to the 

 state. Forest products constitute eighty 

 per cent of the freight shipped out of 

 Oregon. 



The interest of the average citizen in for- 

 est protection and use is affected very 

 little by the passage of title to forest land. 

 The owner gets only the stumpage, which is 



a small part of the value. The people 

 get everything else. Moreover, the people 

 of Oregon are also consumers of forest 

 products. Waste of existing forest, or 

 failure to produce new forests, adds in- 

 evitably to tne price they must pay, besides 

 reducing the per capita wealth with which 

 to pay it. And the price of almost every 

 other commodity we use is affected by the 

 cost of forest material used directly or in- 

 directly in its manufacture and marketing. 



It is unnecessary here to point out the 

 relation of forests to stream flow and the 

 imperative necessity of protecting our agri- 

 culture and water power industries from 

 alternating flood and failure. Less com- 

 monly considered is the intimate relation 

 to every citizen, the farmer especially, of 

 forests as a source of tax revenue. This 

 form of property is one of the chief con- 

 tributors to the support of local and State 

 government. Every acre of timber de- 

 stroyed, or failing to grow where it might 

 grow, adds to the tax burden of the holders 

 of other property. Were all Oregon's tim- 

 ber to be destroyed, this burden would 

 suddenly be augmented. Partial destruc- 

 tion has precisely the same effect in cor- 

 responding degree and so does failure to 

 reforest. 



Oregon's forests are the assests of ^11 its 

 citizens. The lumberman or timber owner 

 is, economically, only their agent in us- 

 ing them. The lumberman can change 

 or move his business, but the people as a 

 whole have a stake in forest preservation 

 that is unalienable and paramount. Their 

 prosperity depends upon it now and always. 

 The question involved is not one of per- 

 sonal property, but one of a community 

 resource. 



PRESENT WASTE. 



Blinded by the fallacy that it is the tim- 

 ber owner who pays, we let nearly one 

 and three-quarters billion feet of timber 

 burn this year without having taken any 

 steps to prevent it. If saved for manu- 

 facture this would have brought at least 

 ?23,000,000 into Oregon, or over $30 for 

 every man, woman and child in the state. 

 This sum would pay the entire cost of state 

 government for nearly ten years. It would 

 pay every dollar of state and county tax 

 together in Oregon with money to spare 

 for improvements. The interest on it at 

 only one per cent for one year, if spent 

 for systematic protection, would have 

 prevented the loss. 



In addition to the loss of merchantable 

 timber six human lives were sacrificed and 

 the destruction of buildings and improve- 

 ments amounted to many thousands of dol- 

 lars. Property losses by citizens, in no way 

 connected with the timber industry, were 

 many times what it would have cost to 

 prevent these fires. Thousands of acres 

 of cutover lands were also burned over. 



