296 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



inexhaustible, faces the end of her readily accessible timber supply in 

 Europe within 10 to 20 years and in western Siberia within the next 

 35 years. Yet Russia herself is just on the threshold of a vast indus- 

 trial expansion. 7 



Under the pressure of meeting present-day needs, the Russian 

 forests are being cut recklessly, with little or no provision for future 

 regrowth. Fires sweep over the land that has been logged, and also 

 destroy many thousands of acres of uncut timber. The acreage of 

 cut-over land that has not come up to second growth, together with 

 the windfalls and the burns, according to Russian foresters, amounts 

 in the Soviet Union to some 125 million acres. If this is the picture 

 of Russia, the most heavily forested Temperate Zone country in the 

 world, upon which most of the poorly forested countries have to 

 depend for their imports, then the prospects for the future supply of 

 coniferous timber are dark indeed. 



WORLD WILL CONTINUE TO NEED WOOD 



The present relatively low level of wood consumption in many of 

 the industrial countries of Europe does not signify that their wants 

 are completely satisfied, but rather that existing economic conditions 

 are such that they cannot be satisfied. There is a wide field for im- 

 provement in living conditions of the great masses of European 

 people. There is need for better rural and urban housing in nearly 

 all of these countries. As their standards of living improve and it 

 would be unduly pessimistic to assume that living standards will not 

 rise in the long run there will be an increased demand for wood. 



Moreover, the fact should not be overlooked that industrial develop- 

 ment still lies ahead for most of the world excepting Europe and North 

 America. Russia is now in the process of industrialization, and expects 

 to double or treble her wood consumption in the next few years. The 

 continent of Asia is still on the threshold of industrial expansion. A 

 very small increase in the per capita rate of wood consumption in 

 these populous countries will mean a large demand in the aggregate. 

 Industrialization has always been accompanied by increased use of 

 timber. 



For building construction, for pulp, and for many other industrial 

 uses, softwoods are preferred. This preference seems likely to con- 

 tinue if softwood timber is available. The hardwoods of the Tropics 

 can supply many needs and they might even conceivably be utilized 

 for most of the purposes for which softwoods are now employed. 

 Nevertheless, it is not likely that they can ever be supplied cheaply 

 enough to bring about their use, in the countries of the North Tem- 

 perate Zone, on a scale comparable to the present consumption of 

 softwoods. 



Indications are that the accessible softwood forests of the world 

 cannot continue indefinitely to supply the world's present normal 

 demands, to say nothing of an increasing demand. They can do this 

 only if a much larger area than at present is managed definitely for 

 timber production and especially for the production of high-grade 

 material. Such material is likely always to command a premium in 

 world markets. Of all the coniferous forest regions in the world, the 



i Buchholz, E. Die Wald und Holzwirtschaft Sowjet-Russlands. Berlin, 1932. 



