VALUATION OF DAMAGES TO IMMATURE TIMBER 



By W. N. Sparhawk 

 Forest Examiner, Forest Service 



In the not far-distant future our extensive stands of virgin timber 

 will be gone, and outside of parks and inaccessible mountain districts 

 there will be no such thing as a large stock of overripe trees. Forest 

 owners will then be concerned with the business of forest production 

 rather than with that of utilizing a stored-up product. While possibly 

 a large share of this business will be carried on by government agen- 

 cies, either local or national, there will in all likelihood still remain a 

 very large area of true forest land in private ownership. To attract 

 private individuals or corporations, the business of producing timber 

 must be at least as safe as other legitimate operations requiring long- 

 term investment of capital. Not only must the investor be assured that 

 he will not lose his capital, but this capital investment must have nego- 

 tiable value in case he should wish at any time to dispose of the busi- 

 ness, and he must be able to borrow money at reasonable rates on the 

 security of his business as in other forms of investment. In other 

 words, young stands must have as definite value and be considered as 

 good security (or better) as the merchantable stands upon which in a 

 number of instances money is now borrowed by means of timber bonds. 



To bring about such a condition, not only must the values of young 

 timber be generally recognized and efficient systems of protection 

 against fire and other destructive agencies be organized, but there must 

 be insurance against loss which may occur in spite of such organization. 

 Few careful investors would put their money into an ordinary manu- 

 facturing business if there were no fire-protective system for the plant 

 or if the factory could not be insured. To develop fire insurance on a 

 sound scientific basis requires statistics of losses over a long period. 

 With laws and public sentiment in many parts of the country now lined 

 up for forest protection, the only really serious obstacle to organizing 

 a system of forest insurance against fire, at least, is the lack of accurate 

 statistics of fire losses. One of the weakest points in statistics of 

 forest-fire damage in the United States is the valuation of damage to 

 stands below merchantable size. In the great majority of cases such 

 damage has been either left entirely out of consideration or estimated 

 176 



