A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 899 



trees and from thinning operations. Unfortunately, because of the 

 somewhat localized use of fuel wood and the haphazard location of 

 manufacturing plants which use such material, in many cases no 

 market for material of this class exists within reach of the localities 

 where the material is available. In many cases, however, coordina- 

 tion between saw timber and other uses is feasible but has not been 

 effected, owing to indifference of forest owners, careless buying 

 policies of manufacturers, and other causes. This has led and still is 

 leading to the unnecessary sacrifice of young stands over large areas 

 at the same time that prodigious waste is occurring in the utilization 

 of saw-timber stands in the same localities. Millions of acres of 

 young stands could be improved by thinning operations that would 

 meet these cordwood requirements. 



The outstanding example of woods waste resulting from lack of 

 coordination of saw-timber with other operations is to be found in the 

 Pacific Northwest. In an exhaustive study of logging waste in the 

 Douglas fir region in 1926 and 1927 Hodgson (2) found that the waste 

 averaged 42 cords per acre and totaled 6,448,000 cords annually. 

 Virtually all this waste was of species suitable for one or another of 

 the pulp processes. The volume of waste exceeded the entire quan- 

 tity of pulpwood used in the United States. There is no immediate 

 possibility of developing the pulp industry in that region to the point 

 at which it could use all the waste. The waste could, however, be 

 reduced by properly selecting trees for cutting, by adopting less 

 destructive logging machinery, and by better balanced utilization. 

 These measures are discussed later under the description of the 

 Douglas fir region. Hodgson estimated that with a slight improve- 

 ment in the economic conditions in the lumber industry at the time 

 of his study, one third of the waste in the form of logs could be used 

 for lumber. 



OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING PRIVATE FORESTRY 

 CONDITIONS AND POLICIES 



DEMAND FOR FOREST PRODUCTS 



The demand for forest products is treated fully in the section of this 

 report entitled "Our National Timber Requirements." Here it 

 suffices to point out that careful investigation of market require- 

 ments, while showing changes in the varieties of forest products 

 marketed and shrinkage in the use of some forest products, indicates 

 large continuing requirements. Landowners undertaking to manage 

 forest land for continuous production are unquestionably entering a 

 unique field of endeavor, in which the production of surpluses resulting 

 from new growth is wholly improbable for at least a generation to 

 come. Competition with timber properties that are being liquidated 

 will apparently be the most serious limiting factor for the next few 

 years. 



Many communities in the forest regions of the eastern half of the 

 United States are suffering from a lack of industrial balance resulting 

 from decline in the forest resource. Where agriculture is the chief 

 remaining resource, usually the local market for agricultural products 

 has virtually disappeared and agricultural products must be marketed 

 at a distance in direct competition with products from other agricul- 

 tural areas. Restoration of forest productivity in these regions 



