A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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TABLE 20. Estimated possible areas and volumes of saw timber in 1950 on basis of 

 1925-29 drain continuing in the West and one half 1925-29 drain in the East 



What the effect would be of continuing the 1925-29 rate of saw- 

 timber drain in the West depends upon a number of factors. Chief 

 among these is the extent to which the remaining stands of old growth 

 will prove to be economically available. It also depends upon the 

 extent to which cutting is made in accordance with the dictates of 

 good silvicultural and forest regulation principles. For example, 

 greater recourse to partial or selective cutting would be advantageous. 

 Although something far short of the ideal will be obtained in alloca- 

 tion and method of cutting, it seems reasonable, in the light of in- 

 creasing economic availability, that the 1925-29 drain should continue 

 until at least 1950. The indications are, however, that a marked 

 increase in this rate of drain or even indefinite prolongation of it 

 would reduce the growing stock below the amount required for 

 permanent continuation of such production. 



In brief, it appears that a continuation of the 1925-29 drain is 

 feasible in the West but that it would be disastrous to the welfare of 

 the forests and the forest industries in the East, unless the best data 

 now available prove later to have been greatly in error. A 50 percent 

 reduction in the average drain to 1950 theoretically might stabilize 

 the situation on that level in the New England and Middle Atlantic 

 regions. In the other eastern regions a greater proportionate reduc- 

 tion may be necessary to prevent further impoverishment of the 

 already depleted growing stocks. Additional measures will probably 

 be needed to rehabilitate these growing stocks. 



To look beyond 1950 in the matter of areas of age classes and vol- 

 umes of standing timber amounts to little more than a guess. How- 

 ever, the effort to do so may help to correct some misunderstandings. 

 It is sometimes stated that the increasing shortage of saw-timber 

 stands in the East will be offset in a few decades without any particular 

 human effort by a huge wave of second growth reaching saw-timber 

 size. Such a wave appears to be in prospect in the Lake States after 

 1950, but it is doubtful if the saw-timber growth will rise much above 

 1 billion board feet per year. A similar increase in available saw 

 timber may come to pass in the Central region at a still later date 

 but in the meantime saw-timber production in this region may drop 

 to a very low ebb. 



