A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



875 



No class of rural land, as shown by table 3, is exempt from delin- 

 quency and all classes show a sharp increase for the 1930 rolls. The 

 amount of commercial timberland delinquent more than 1 year is 

 small in comparison to that delinquent only 1 year. 



Land delinquent 2 and 3 years has a high prospect of passing from 

 private to public ownership. The very large amount of the 1930 levy 

 delinquent for 1 year is due to three causes the lowering in 1931 of 

 the interest on delinquent taxes to 8 percent, the current shortage of 

 cash in owners' pockets, and a "tax strike" or remonstrance against 

 the port district taxes which are in litigation in Clatsop County. 



The indications are, as a result of uncompleted local studies, that if 

 present trends continue for the next 15 years private forest land 

 abandonment will grow to the amount of 1,000,000 acres in 5 north- 

 western Oregon counties (Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, and 

 Tillamook). This is 43.5 percent of the forested part of these counties, 

 the urban and major agricultural belt not being studied. 



IDAHO 



Northern Idaho was an almost continuous forest 35 years ago. 

 Lumbering operations have now stripped off much of the commercial 

 timber and large areas of cleanly cut-over land have been burned 

 over. Some 300,000 acres, more or less, have gone into agriculture; 

 but little more is destined to this use inasmuch as the rougher lands 

 which typify the cut-over area have no such prospective use. Tax 

 delinquency and reversion have been increasing at an alarming rate, 

 a striking, clear illustration of the breakdown in private forest-land 

 ownership, despite tax relief legislation for immature stands enacted 

 nearly 4 years ago. A statistical picture of the situation in the five 

 North Idaho counties (Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai, and 

 Shoshone) is presented in table 4. 



TABLE 4. Tax foreclosure and delinquency in five North Idaho counties 1927 ', 



1930, and 1932 



[In thousands of acres] 



Other than urban and national forest. 



8 County-owned. 



Here in 5 years the tax-foreclosed, county-owned area has increased 

 from 3,000 to 123,000 acres, out of a little more than 2,000,000 acres 

 of rural land. The 3- and 4-year delinquent acreage has likewise grown 

 from 46,000 to 131,000 acres. 



WASHINGTON 



A study of Pend Oreille County in northeastern Washington, con- 

 tiguous to the North Idaho counties just described, gives a striking 

 illustration of the process that is taking place in the once heavily 

 timbered regions of private ownership, now largely cut over and for 



