SUSTAINED ANNUAI, YIELD 831 



RESUME OF NEED OE REGULATION 



It has been shown in the previous pages that neither satisfactory 

 fire protection, silviculture, nor a system of taxation of private lands 

 can w^ell be established until the forest properties of the United States, 

 private as w^ell as Federal or State, are brought under a form of con- 

 tinuous forest production. It is believed that some form of forest 

 regulation is needed. Indeed it is felt that this regulation is needed so 

 strongly, that it may v^ell be enforced by the Federal Government in a 

 mandatory fashion. 



It is well known that the cut of timber of the Nation is several times 

 greater than the growth of timber in the forests. Evidently then, if 

 sustained annual yield were put into effect immediately, the cut which 

 would result necessarily would be lower than the cut of the present time. 

 Unless, therefore, timber were obtained from foreign sources the adop- 

 tion of sustained annual yield would force the people to use less timber 

 than is used at present. 



How much would be the cut per year under sustained annual yield ? 



Figured in its simplest way, and assuming that adequate fire protec- 

 tion is available, we get this : 



Stand of virgin timber, where growth equals decay = 1,500 bil- 

 lion feet, b. m 1,500,000.000,000 



Cut Ys in 20 years, or 1/60 in one year = 25 billion feet, b. m. . . 25,000,000,000 



Growth of second growth timber per year 14,000,000,000 



Total possible cut per year during first period 39,000,000,000 



(This 39 billion feet must cover not only the cut, but also timber destroyed 

 by fire, etc.) 



The growth of second-growth timber oer year, now estimated at 

 14 billion feet, board measure, should, ijfider adequate fire protection, 

 be considerably more, toward the end* of the period, probably more 

 nearly 20 billion, giving the possible yearly cut as (1920-1950), 

 45,000,000,000. 



The total amount of saw timber "consumed or destroyed" now is 

 about 56,000,000,000 feet, board measure, per year. 



How this figure of 56 billion "consumed or destroyed" stands exactly 

 to the amount cut in the United States per year, it is impossible to 

 determine from the Capper Report. It is certain however, that this 

 45 billion feet of possible cut, if translated into cubic feet, will not be 

 more than about 15 billion. This is about three-fifths of the amount 

 used in the United States. 



