NATIONAL FORK,STS AND PRIVATE LANDS I'i'S 



tented and efficient class of labor and may enable him to realize on 

 property values never created in the shack towns of temporary milling 

 plants. The opportunity to establish a well-balanced, permanent com- 

 munity often possesses a strong appeal for the business man from the 

 altruistic side. There are several examples of this in western Wash- 

 ington, even under the present exploitation system. 



(b) Continuous forest production also is an active conserver of 

 value in the timber and timber land itself. Under the timber mine 

 system depreciation must be written off of capital account as fast as 

 the timber is cut. If to be cut in ten years, the annual depreciation 

 charge on the timber investment is 10 per cent. Cutting regulated to 

 what the forest will produce continuously (assuming reforestation) 

 eliminates the item of depreciation entirely in some cases ; in others it 

 will remain at a reduced percentage for some years while surplus 

 stock is being reduced ; afterward appreciation will set in, due to rising 

 timber prices and growth of young stands. In short, continuous forest 

 production insures the removal of just as high values from the forest 

 at the same time it eliminates depreciation from the forest investment 

 by insuring that productivity will be as great in the future as at the 

 presen, whereas destructive lumbering removes all or nearly all value 

 of the forest investment. In cases where all the cutting under a co- 

 operative agreement falls at first on the private lands, just as great a 

 total sum of the timber investment can be written off as under de- 

 structive lumbering, but the residual value will be many times greater 

 because young stands being conserved where possible, and regeneration 

 being secured elsewhere, sets the investment to increasing in value and 

 preparing for a future cut at once. Should the timber owner later sell 

 these lands in the only market where they have any value (namely, to a 

 purchaser who will use them for continued forest production), the sum 

 received should be much greater because of their productive condition 

 as compared with lands where the forest has been completely 

 destroyed. 



By way of summary, it may be said then that an agreement looking 

 to conservation of producing capacity of forest lands of private 

 owners should be made to appeal because capital is thereby conserved 

 in the timber, in the land, in the mill, and the surrounding community 

 in which the operator is apt to have the chief financial interest. 



These inducements will in many cases be insufficient to induce the 

 private owner to co-operate in this voluntary manner if it involves his 

 holding standing timber materially longer than he had planned. This 



