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young growth it bore. Sometimes we had to compete 

 with stockmen who wanted the cut-over tracts for 

 grazing sheep or cattle, a use which would completely 

 disregard the value and potentialities of the young 

 forest growth. Through this exchange program we 

 were able to consolidate considerable areas of the 

 national forests. 



In those days of low stumpage prices, relatively 

 poor utilization in the Douglas fir forests, and 

 lack of aggressive marketing practices by the Doug 

 las fir producers, we had a real problem in obtaining 

 use of hemlock. Operators looked upon it as decidedly 

 inferior to Douglas fir and made little or no effort 

 to adapt it to uses where its less valuable proper 

 ties would make it suitable. This caused us to 

 appraise hemlock stumpage at a nominal value, in 

 effect charging the loss in producing and marketing 

 hemlock against the profit in Douglas fir, thus 

 reducing Douglas fir stumpage values. 



Then a small operator in Washington, recognizing 

 that hemlock, though inferior to Douglas fir, had 

 really positive values, decided that two things were 

 wrong the practice of sloppy manufacture of 

 hemlock lumber by Douglas fir producers and the 



