A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 913 



TABLE 6. Production and consumption of lumber in the Pacific Coast Region in 1928 

 [In thousand feet board measure] 



1 Data from Forest Products, 1928: Lumber, Lath and Shingles. Bureau of the Census, 1930. 



2 Figures based on compiled data in the files of the Forest Service. 



The surplus in production over regional requirements in 1928 was 

 7,723,273 M board feet. 



The exceptionally favorable location of many mills at ocean ship- 

 ping points, and the high quality of the products, facilitate distri- 

 bution to domestic markets and permit distribution throughout the 

 world. The market possibilities shown by these statistics are slight 

 in contrast with the huge volume of the timber in private ownership, 

 if this is conceived of as available for immediate market. Every 

 thousand feet of timber unprofitably marketed displaces a like quan- 

 tity that ought to be marketed. 



Pulp and paper products, veneers, creosoted piling, and other 

 products are shipped out of the region in large quantities. A large 

 volume of these and other forest products is consumed, also, within 

 the region. 



FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF PRIVATE FOREST OWNERSHIP 



Col. W. B. Greeley, secretary-manager of the West Coast Lumber- 

 man's Association, estimates (13) that the 347 billion feet of timber 

 in the Douglas fir region of Washington and Oregon has an invest- 

 ment value of $502,674,500. If the 247 billion board feet of privately 

 owned timber in the pine and redwood types (including also all minor 

 types) of the Pacific Coast States has similar average value, the 

 investment value of all the privately owned timber in the three States 

 approximates $860,000,000. Only in part does this represent actual 

 investment. All the land passed from public into private ownership 

 free or for a few cents per acre with the exception of that disposed 

 of under the Timber and Stone Act, most of which w r as sold at the 

 rate of $2.50 per acre. The transfer occurred principally during the 

 last quarter of the nineteenth century, through railroad land grants, 

 homesteading, and the Timber and Stone Act. The investment of 

 actual money since acquisition consists in payment of local taxes 

 and of fire-protection and administrative costs. If these costs have 

 amounted to as much as 50 cents per M board feet, the actual money 

 investment may still be less than $300,000,000. These costs have 

 been met largely through proceeds from the sale of timber. The 

 amounts that have been paid to local governments in taxes are in 

 most cases many times the price originally paid to the Federal 

 Government. 



Many late comers in the region bought land from the original 

 holders, and these have an actual money investment comparable to 



