FOREST SERVICE STUMPAGE APPRAISALS 709 



It was about 1912 when the Forest Service recognized the necessity 

 of working out a fair, equitable, and systematic method of determining 

 the stumpage values of various species upon various logging chances, 

 involving different methods of operation, wide differences in operating 

 costs, and logging investments and different degrees of risk. It was 

 generally realized throughout the Service that the fixing of an arbi- 

 trary minimum for any logging chance or for any species as the basis 

 for sale was neither economically sound nor practically reasonable. 

 Each chance must be appraised absolutely on its own merits to obtain 

 the most satisfactory results. 



A number of broad-minded, experienced, and very capable men, both 

 in and out of the Service — men who have been intensely interested — 

 have given the subject of equitable stumpage appraisals careful con- 

 sideration. General investigations and detailed studies have been made 

 both in logging and manufacturing. These studies and investigations 

 have resulted in a large amount of valuable information which has led 

 to certain definite conclusions. As a result an outline has been devel- 

 oped for stumpage appraisals, which clearly sets forth the procedure 

 to be followed, the factors to be considered, and the information re- 

 quired.^ It is uniformly adhered to in all appraisals. 



When detailed, analytical stumpage appraisals were first attempted 

 by the Forest Service, loggers and manufacturers in general were very 

 skeptical of the practicability of such a scheme and largely discredited 

 the results of the examinations. It was generally believed by operators 

 that reliable estimates of logging and manufacturing costs could not be 

 made except by men who had had several years' experience in all of 

 the different branches of logging and manufacturing. This line of 

 reasoning would seem at first sight to be logical, but it will not hold 

 true in all cases. 



A LOGGING ENGINEER IS NOT A LUMBER JACK 



Actual experience is imdoubtedly very helpful, but not indispensable. 

 The author believes that any intelligent man who has keen powers of 

 observation, sound judgment, and a natural aptitude for stumpage ap- 

 praisal work can develop into a capable and highly efficient logging 

 engineer without ever using an axe, saw, canthook, or constructing 

 chutes, sleigh roads, railroads, flumes and camps, or driving teams or 

 operating donkeys, locomotives, and sawmills. To acquire this knowl- 



* "Instructions for the Appraisal of Stumpage on the National Forests," issued 

 by the Forest Service. 



