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The Prohlem of Forest Utilization 



Editor's Note 



The following article was read by Nelson C. Brow 

 a recent convention in that state. It is not valuable 

 utilization that it might contain as it is tor a summ 

 in the future. 



It has been estimated that in tliis country only about forty per 

 cent of all the wood that is produced is actually consamed in a 

 legitimate way. Contrasted to this it has been estimated that 

 ninety-six per cent of all the wood that is produced in some 

 countries of Europe as in Germany and France is utilized. In 

 Europe, even the twigs and leaves are used for kindling and all 

 the branches and waste material are utilized in some profitable 

 way. It will be some time before we can practice such intensive 

 utilization in this country, yet with the rapid depletion of our 

 forest resources, the rise in stumpage and wood values will even- 

 tually make possible the close utilization that is practiced in 

 Europe. The fact that only forty per cent of all the wood that 

 is produced in this country is used may be attributed to two broad 

 reasons, first of which is the common prevalence of forest fires 

 which are so well known that they hardly need further discussion 

 here. Suffice it to say that forest fires destroy as much timber, 

 valued in dollars and cents, as is ultimatelj' used on the markets. 

 Fire protection is not directly associated with wood utilization but 

 efficient fire protection means closer utilization and therefore bet- 

 ter conservation and profits to the timber owners. The second rea- 

 son for the wide discrepancy between what is grown and actually 

 utilized is the tremendous waste both in the woods and in the mill. 



The practice of forestry in this country will be devoted as much 

 toward securing a closer and more complete utilizatiou of our timber 

 resources as in growing new timber. The subject of forestry may 

 be broadly divided into two branches: — those of production and 

 consumption. Under production we have the planting and growing 

 of new timber; under consumption the utilization of what is already 

 grown. In this country we originally had greater forest resources 

 than in any other country in the world, both in variety and size of 

 timber. One of the greatest problems in forestry therefore will 

 be to utilize these virgin stands in the most complete and profitable 

 manner until it becomes necessary to raise timber on a broad scale. 

 With the rise in stumpage values as a result of the rapid deple- 

 tion of our forest resources the question of utilization has been 

 brought keenly to the front, in fact, many of the profits of our 

 mills are being made from the utilization of the bi-products as well 

 as from the main product. An analogous case is found in the 

 meat packing industry in which it is said that the principle profits 

 are derived from the bi-products of the packing industry rather 

 than from the meat that is dressed and shipped to all parts of the 

 world. Along with the closer utilization that has been forced upon 

 us we have come to see species that were formerly considered of little 

 or no value. Today we are using hemlock, red gum, tupelo and a 

 great variety of other species which were considered hardly of 

 any value except for the rougher classes of timber twenty years 

 ago. In the pulp industry our spruce supplies are becoming so 

 short that we are compelled to use other species. Experiments are 

 now being carried on by the Forest Service which will probably 

 make available for the paper industry nearly every one of our 

 common species, at least, for the rougher forms of paper. 



Opponents of the conservation policy have insisted that substi- 

 tutes are coming in so rapidly for our wood supplies that in a short 

 time we will need but very little timber. The best argument against 

 this is that in spite of the increased use of iron, steel, concrete, 

 brick, etc., the annual consumption per capita of wood is increasing 

 in rapid strides from year to year. We are today using prac- 

 tically twice as much timber per capita as we did fifty years ago. 

 We are using over five times as much timber per capita as is used 

 in Germany. Even in Germany with its continued practice of 

 forestry for over three hundred years, they still have to rely upon 

 outside sources for a portion of their wood supplies, and they are 

 planting up land formerly used for agriculture to supply the great 



— 38— 



n. of the New York State College of Forestry, before 

 so much for any specific recommendations for forest ' 

 ar.^' of the possibilities of utilization in this country 



and increasing demand for timber in the years to come. 



The problem of forest utilization, therefore, is and will be the 

 most important one in forest conservation until the present standing 

 timber is all cut. Up to that time our stumpage values and lumber 

 prices on the market will gradually increase. The question naturally 

 arises how utilization may be increased. In the woods, utilization may 

 be increased by the cutting of low stumps and by the use of small 

 log.s from the tops as well as by taking everything that is mer- 

 chantable out of tlie woods. On the national forests in the West 

 they commonly make a practice of taking everything down to 

 twenty-five per cent of merchantability. That is, a log that con- 

 tains seventy-five per cent of defective or worthless material is 

 hauled to the mill and utilized. 



Waste is also occasioned by leaving good logs scattered here and 

 there in the woods or covered up by brush and carelessly neglected. 

 Other careful methods may be adopted in the woods such as the 

 use of inferior or knotty logs for skids, corduroys, bridges, camps, 

 etc., instead of the better class of material. In the mill, however, 

 is where intensive utilization may be practiced even more than in 

 the woods. It has been estimated that only forty per cent of the 

 wood that is cut in the woods actually finds its way into the hands 

 of the ultimate consumer. We now use the thin band saws instead 

 of the circular saws. The waste in sawdust alone is from two 

 per cent to ten per cent of the total amount of wood in the log 

 depending upon the method of sawing and the kind of saw used. 

 Besides the ordinary productions of the sawmill such as lumber, 

 shingles, and lath, special lines of utilization of bi-products are being 

 developed such as the use of slabs and defective logs for box lumber, 

 crating material, etc. The use of sawdust and other waste for wood- 

 ■ pulji and the use of sawdust and shavings especially that from kiln- 

 dried lumber, for special packing material as well as for use in 

 ice houses, etc., is rapidly being adopted. Wood distillation plants 

 are also being maintained in connection with sawmills. We are 

 now getting products from wood material through processes of dis- 

 tillation that were not heard of thirty years ago. One sawmill in 

 the South is producing sufficient wood gas from the distillation of 

 wood to run its entire lighting system. Some of these problems 

 arc mere suggestions for the future yet they are strong possibilities 

 and may be developed for the further utilization of timber products 

 . with the resultant conservation of timber supplies. 



The first work that has been attempted in New York state to 

 take stock of our timber resources "and to find out how we stand 

 in the matter of w'ood utilization has been undertaken by the New 

 York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University in co-op- 

 eration with the United States Forest Service during the current 

 fall and past summer. There have been from three to five men 

 continually in the field making a close investigation of the amount 

 of wood being consumed in the minor wood using industries of the 

 state. This does not include the amount of lumber produced by 

 the sawmills of the state nor the amount of pulp-wood being con- 

 sumed by our paper mills, as well as the statistics of wood dis- 

 tillation, veneers, cooperage, etc., which are covered by the gov- 

 ernment census bureau. However, the report is intended to be an 

 exhaustive study of the amount of wood being consumed in every 

 wood using industry besides the above mentioned ones. It includes 

 such industries as the box board, carriage, furniture, implement in- 

 dustries and every other woodworking establishment that uses wood, 

 in any form or manner. The report will show the average price per 

 thousand board feet for each species that is being paid in each 

 line of utilization, and it will show how much of each species has 

 been produced in New York or in other parts of the country. The 

 main value of the report is in the fact that owners of timberland 

 may iletprniine just what tliey may expect froni their timber hold- 



