EXTRA COSTS OF LOGGING NATIONAL FOREST 

 STUM PAGE 



By D. C. Birch 

 Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service 



Eliminating the consideration of carrying charges. National Forest 

 stumpage is usually worth less for immediate cutting than privatel\ 

 owned stumpage of the same quality and accessibility by an amount 

 equal to the extra costs of logging due to the silvicultural cutting re- 

 quirements of the Forest Service. This is true largely because the 

 private timber-owner in the National Forest region, with few exce])- 

 tions, allows his timber to be cut without any restrictions as to the 

 method of cutting or the condition of the area after logging. The 

 amount of this difference in value is not easy to determine exactly. 



The principal factors which make up the extra expense in logging- 

 Forest Service timber are (i) increased construction cost; (2) extra 

 care in felling, bucking, and yarding; (3) felling snags and diseased 

 trees; (4) disposal of snags and brush, and (5) fire-protective require- 

 ments, such as cleaning up at donkey settings, providing fire-fighting 

 equipment, etc. 



EXTRA CONSTRUCTION COSTS 



The extra construction cost is directly the result of a decrease in the 

 available stand of timber to be taken out over a given set of fixed im- 

 provements, such as chutes, railroads, landings, etc. This decrease is 

 the result of the Forest Service silvicultural requirements in leaving a 

 portion of the merchantable stand. Logging Engineer Swift Berry 

 conducted a study for the determination of the difference in volume and 

 quality of timber produced from typical stands of timber in the sugar 

 and yellow pine belt of California. The results of this study indicate 

 that between 15 per cent and 20 per cent less timber is obtained under 

 the Forest Service methods of marking than under the ordinary private 

 method of logging, the difference being princii)ally in tiie volnnu- of 

 sugar pine and yellow j)ine. 



The cost of construction of fixed improvements in the woods spread 

 over the entire stand usually amounts to about $1.50 per thousand feet 

 or less in California ])ine operations. Assuming that 20 j)er cent of the 



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