Large Private Holdings in the North 



265 



many years to come. Lack of complete 

 information on the company's forest 

 capital and particularly on growth rate 

 has precluded certainty as to sustained 

 yield. 



A special feature of the program is 

 the Phillips Brook management area in 

 northern New Hampshire a 23,000- 

 acre tract in a single-stream valley, on 

 which an intensive forestry pilot oper- 

 ation is under way. From the demon- 

 stration area, on which every effort is 

 being made to employ the best for- 

 estry practices, company officials hope 

 to glean information to guide their 

 own work and other forestry work in 

 the Northeast. 



Of special interest are the companies 

 that make pulp for roofing felt, floor 

 coverings, and wall boards. They be- 

 came important users of wood pulp 

 only after the other pulp and paper 

 companies were well established. Be- 

 cause they can pulp small-sized wood 

 with the bark on, they have a competi- 

 tive advantage over companies that re- 

 quire peeled wood. Nevertheless, some 

 of them have started a land-acquisition 

 program. Their activities increase the 

 opportunities for integrated utilization 

 in the territory tributary to their mills. 



Forestry programs are also under 

 way on lands controlled by the Kim- 

 berley-Clark Corporation, Tomahawk 

 Kraft Company, Mosinee Paper Com- 

 pany, Minnesota and Ontario Paper 

 Company, Northwest Paper Company, 

 the Mead Corporation, St. Regis Pa- 

 per Company, Penobscot Development 

 Company, and others. In fact, interest 

 in management for continuous pro- 

 duction is characteristic of most pulp 

 and paper companies, regardless of 

 whether they own and operate their 

 own land or purchase timber from 

 other owners. 



PROFESSIONAL FORESTERS own and 

 operate a few fair-sized forest proper- 

 ties. The Luther forest in New York 

 State and the Watson forest property 

 in Michigan are examples. 



The Luther property was acquired 

 some 50 years ago by retaining lands 



after lumbering and by buying and 

 planting abandoned farm land. Grad- 

 ually, more than 6,000 acres were ac- 

 quired. Bare land that made up half 

 the area has been planted to pine, 

 spruce, and other species. Some of the 

 original lots have been logged three 

 times, and the plantations have come 

 into yield. The operation is probably 

 the most intensive to be found on any 

 medium- to large-sized forest property 

 in the United States. Present opera- 

 tions are confined entirely to thinning 

 plantations; some plantations have 

 been thinned twice, and several have 

 already returned in income far more 

 than their original costs. A few show 

 handsome profits above original costs, 

 yet are just now entering the period 

 of most rapid growth. All timber har- 

 vesting has paid its way. Some trees 

 have been cut for fuel wood, some for 

 pulpwood, some for lumber that has 

 been sawed on the property, and a sub- 

 stantial amount has been sold in ran- 

 dom lengths for cooperage. 



The present owner, the son of the 

 original owner, feels that he could not 

 manage his property successfully with- 

 out carrying on his own logging and 

 marketing operations. Most of the tim- 

 ber he sells now and most of what he 

 has sold in the past would have no 

 stumpage value. It gains in value only 

 as he finds an outlet for wood that will 

 bring him a return above harvesting 

 costs. The work is well organized, 

 properly mechanized, and provides 

 year-round employment for about 10 

 men. The property is a successful ex- 

 ample of a profitable private forest 

 that was started on bare land. The 

 owner has kept a careful record of ex- 

 penses and knows that the property is 

 yielding him a fair interest on his in- 

 vestment above all expenditures and is 

 accumulating forest capital that will 

 make his future harvests progressively 

 more valuable. 



The Watson property, of 26,000 

 acres in upper Michigan, has been 

 gradually built up over 25 years. 

 Started originally as a partnership, it 

 is now in the hands of one owner. 



