2 FORESTRY ALMANAC 



timber, then, it is estimated that 42 per cent, of our original resources 

 are left. Furthermore, we are using our remaining resources between 

 four and five times as fast as they are being reproduced. 



In addition to the condition of depletion, there is a serious dislo- 

 cation of our remaining forest assets from the point of view of 

 geography. Three- fourths of the land classed as actual and potential 

 forest land lies to the east of the Great Plains. In this section, where 

 industrial enterprise has been built with a large measure of dependence 

 upon wood, however, is found only 25 per cent, of the virgin timber 

 and 40 per cent, of the merchantable stand. Thus 75 per cent, of the 

 virgin timber and 60 per cent, of all the timber is found in the Rocky 

 Mountains and in the states of the Pacific Coast. 



The bulk of the remaining resource east of the Plains is con- 

 centrated in the South. The industrial states of the northeast and the 

 central and lake states are dependents for their forest resources, in 

 contrast with original forests sufficient to sustain them. In all of these 

 states there are from one to six million acres of denuded, unworking 

 land. These states pay an enormous annual freight bill for their 

 timber, and in no few cases the transportation cost of the lumber is 

 equal to what the timber itself cost delivered 30 years ago. 



We have, then, a problem of dependent states, of dislocated 

 sources of supply, of idle lands and of continued rapid inroads into our 

 remaining assets. It is a situation that has gradually been brought to 

 the attention of the public until there is a fairly widespread and 

 intelligent sentiment concerning the situation. At the same time that 

 the public education has been going forward, the Federal Government 

 and the states have been doing what they can to prepare for the future. 



There have been set aside about 156,000,000 acres as National 

 Forests, administered by the United States Forest Service. They are 

 being judiciously cut, protected from fire and reforested as rapidly as 

 resources permit. The majority of the states have taken action in one 

 way or another to create departments charged with the protection and 

 rebuilding of forest resources. In some cases cities and towns have 

 entered upon active forest policies. 



On the scientific side, both the Federal Government and the states 

 have established stations for research and experiment in the fields of 

 utilization and sylviculture. More than a score of the institutions of 

 higher education have established schools to train technical foresters, 



