A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



933 



committal to sustained-yield practice are reported in the Rocky 

 Mountain region. The measures taken on certain properties in north 

 Idaho are adequate preliminary steps in this direction providing sus- 

 tained yield is decided on without too much delay and mill capacity 

 is adjusted to the producing capacity of the forests. 



Aside from fire-protective effort, which is of great importance and 

 in the northern section is very costly, it is readily observable that pri- 

 vate forestry effort is limited to a very small proportion of the areas 

 in private ownership in this region. 



PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF FOREST PRODUCTS 



Because population is rather sparse in the Rocky Mountain region, 

 the regional market for forest products does not require large volumes. 

 The United States Forest Products Census of 1928 yielded the 

 following statistics on lumber production and consumption in the 

 region : 



TABLE 10. Production and consumption of lumber in the Rocky Mountain region 



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. 



This shows production of only 505,552 thousand board feet in 

 excess of consumption. Much lumber is shipped in from the Pacific 

 coast region and some from the southern pine region, while lumber of 

 other species is shipped out. In the long run the prospects are that 

 production will not exceed consumption. In addition to lumber 

 consumption, large quantities of timbers, poles, and posts are required 

 by industries including mines, public utilities, railroads, grazing, and 

 agriculture. In many localities wood is used as fuel. This creates a 

 possibility of balanced use of forest raw material within the region, 

 whereby large-sized trees are used for saw logs while the tops of such 

 trees and smaller trees from thinnings, of small-size species, and from 

 areas where timber does not develop to saw-log size are available for 

 the uses which require only small sizes. 



. RELATION OF FOREST USE TO REGIONAL ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 



Current economic history has brought sharply to our attention the 



freat advantages held by localities having diversified industries, 

 uch localities, being able to carry on local exchanges of their varied 

 products, suffer far less from dislocation of prices and of other eco- 

 nomic factors than do single-industry regions dependent on exchanging 

 products with distant regions or in foreign trade. The question of 

 diversification has special significance in a region subject, as is the 



