OWNERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES, COSTS, AND RETURNS 



By E. I. KOTOK, Director, California Forest Experiment Station; EVAN W. 

 KELLEY, Regional Forester, Northern Rocky Mountain Region; C. F. EVANS, 

 District Forest Inspector, Division of State Cooperation, Branch of Public 

 Relations; and BURT P. KIRKLAND, Principal Forest Economist 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Responsibilities of forest-land ownership 1303 



National-forest costs 1305 



Elements of cost and reasons for needed increase 1308 



Summary of needed increases for present areas 1313 



Segregation of capital-investment and current-charge increases 1314 



Cost of management and protection on new national-forest units 1316 



State forest costs 1318 



Costs of private forest management 1319 



The possible returns from managed forest lands 1320 



Sources of returns from forest properties 1 320 



Returns from Federal forests 1323 



Returns from State and local forests 1326 



Returns from private forestry 1327 



Summary of costs and returns 1328 



RESPONSIBILITIES OF FOREST LAND OWNERSHIP 



Forests, whether in public or private ownership, are a basic resource. 

 Their treatment involves long-time national interests, and ownership 

 must be considered to imply a responsible stewardship. ^ No State or 

 nation can prosper for long if it continues to deplete its forest and 

 agricultural land resources. No matter how rich it may be in man 

 power or mechanical ingenuity, a country which fails to maintain or 

 to increase its output of the organic products from land must inev- 

 itably decline in prosperity or become more and more dependent on 

 other countries for such prime necessities as food, clothing, and 

 shelter. Continued productivity of the land, therefore, is essential 

 to the general welfare. 



Generally speaking, the land, as a source of wealth, must last as 

 long as mankind remains on earth. A so-called owner, whether he 

 be an individual, a corporation, or a public body, is only a temporary 

 tenant. His ownership is on an altogether different basis from the 

 ownership of commodities, which can practically always be replaced 

 at will. His use or misuse of the land affects a wide circle of society, 

 in many ways. It may also profoundly affect the welfare of posterity. 

 Future generations have the same right as our own to receive their 

 land heritage with its productive capacity unimpaired. 



Land ownership, then, must be considered as a trust for the benefit 

 of both the living and those who come after them. An owner may be 

 entitled to make the fullest use of all the varied products of his land, 

 but society may properly expect that its own interests in land pro- 

 ductivity should not be reduced or destroyed. This is as true of forest 

 land which has very little prospect of being used productively for 

 any other purpose than forestry as it is of land producing annual 



168342 33 vol. 2 17 1303 



