CHAPTER XVIII 

 PRIVATE FORESTRY 



1. RELATIVE IMPORTANCE 



Private individuals, companies, and groups own 79% of all the 

 commercial forest. These are chiefly lumbermen and farmers. Others 

 representing ownership in this class are pulp and paper companies, 

 mining companies (chiefly those owning large tracts of coal-bearing 

 areas) water companies to protect the watersheds of drainage basins, 

 and private estates which may be handled chiefly for aesthetic pur- 

 poses but may also include commercial objectives as well. There are 

 also hunting and fishing clubs and private corporations such as the 

 Singer Sewing Machine Company, the International Harvester Com- 

 pany, the Eastman Kodak Company, the Ford Motor Car Company, 

 and many others which are interested in maintaining adequate re- 

 serves of timber for the production of lumber, wooden parts, or wood 

 products that are used in their manufacturing enterprises. Most of 

 the larger holdings controlled by private companies are found in the 

 Pacific Coast region and in the South. Some of these companies own 

 or control 50,000 to 500,000 acres of timberland or more. 



It is very apparent, therefore, that if forestry is to be widely prac- 

 ticed in this country, the privately owned forests furnish the greatest 

 opportunities, at least in area. 



Some foresters believe that the government and states should own 

 and control a very large share of our commercial forest properties. 

 The high mountain areas, the protection forests at the headwaters of 

 our major streams, and the remote and inaccessible forest areas that 

 probably cannot be profitably managed by private individuals and 

 corporations are largely contained within our National and State For- 

 ests and Parks. The better class of timberlands should be left to 

 private ownership. There is a proper balance between private and 

 public ownership which should be maintained in the future unless it 

 becomes a part of our governmental policy to own, control, or operate 

 many forms of enterprises. This policy, however, does not seem to fit 

 in with our American traditions. 



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