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Company Forests 



LARGE PRIVATE HOLDINGS IN THE NORTH 



HARDY L. SHIRLEY 



T7ORESTRY on large private prop- 

 JD erties has made gratifying progress 

 in the Northern States during the past 

 two decades. The effect is becoming 

 visible in the woods and mill, in the 

 factory and office. Companies have 

 doubled and trebled the number of 

 foresters they employ; foresters them- 

 selves have risen to positions in which 

 their opinions count on policies govern- 

 ing forest-land acquisitions, cutting 

 practices, sustained-yield operations, 

 wood processing, and the long-term 

 plans for future timber supplies. 



Change is entering the woods in 

 other ways. The old-time lumberjack 

 is slowly giving way to the mechani- 

 cally skilled timber worker who can 

 handle power chain saws, power skid- 

 ders, bulldozers, mechanical loaders, 

 trailer trucks, and new road-building 

 equipment. The trained personnel 

 now have demanded improved logging 



Pictured above: Single tong loading with a 

 mobile crane in the west coast fir region. 



camps and better living standards for 

 woods workers. Officials of companies 

 that follow good practices on their own 

 land have sought to spread good forest 

 practices to all timberlands that fur- 

 nish products to their mills. 



The reasons for the better forestry 

 are many. Outstanding has been the 

 wartime shortages of saw timber, pulp- 

 wood, mine timbers, and other prod- 

 ucts. More important is the growing 

 realization that intelligently applied 

 forestry pays. Pulp companies particu- 

 larly have been quick to react to their 

 changed situation. Canada has placed 

 restrictions on the export of pulpwood 

 to the United States in order to safe- 

 guard supplies for her own mills. In 

 New York State alone from 1917 to 

 1940 a total of 69 pulp- and paper-man- 

 ufacturing plants closed. Twenty-one 

 new high-capacity mills were estab- 

 lished during the period to increase 

 paper capacity from 5,022 to 6,487 tons 

 a day, but pulp capacity declined. A 



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