Large Private Holdings in the North 



271 



worker's efficiency and his safety. The 

 accident rate in logging and lumber- 

 ing is high, but good safety programs 

 and proper training can reduce the 

 rate. Training in safety will pay worker 

 and operator. 



In certain States, notably New York, 

 workmen's compensation insurance is 

 considered a serious deterrent to good 

 forest practices. The rate is about 14 

 percent of the pay roll; for those that 

 have a serious accident, it is 37 per- 

 cent. Obviously, operators who are 

 obliged to pay that big a part of their 

 pay roll in insurance are under an ex- 

 treme handicap in all their work. Re- 

 cently several adjustments have been 

 made to reduce the burden, but cor- 

 rection can come only with accident 

 reduction. 



Poor growing stock is an outstanding 

 difficulty. It takes time to convert a 

 forest that has been repeatedly high- 

 graded into a valuable timber-produc- 

 ing property. Weed species, defective 

 or valueless trees, and worthless shrubs 

 prevent the establishment of good sec- 

 ond-growth timber on many areas. 

 Even where second growth is well es- 

 tablished, the merchantable stands are 

 often too scattered to permit building 

 up a property that can be managed 

 efficiently. Until well-organized timber 

 properties have a value considerably 

 above their liquidation value, few land- 

 owners will make the effort required to 

 build up high-yielding, well-managed 

 forest properties. Only a few people 

 seem to have the necessary vision and 

 patience to invest their capital in build- 

 ing up such valuable forests. 



Perhaps the greatest obstacle facing 

 the private timberland owner in the 

 North is disorganized and fluctuating 

 markets. The statement appears para- 

 doxical, because the North consumes 

 far more wood than it grows. But tim- 

 ber depletion has led to a scarcity of 

 dependable wood processors. Many 

 owners are serviced only by small, in- 

 efficient, portable mill owners. Lack- 

 ing experience and capital, they saw 

 boards varying in thickness, realize 

 a poor-grade outturn, improperly pile 



and season the lumber, and fail to get 

 top prices. They are obliged therefore 

 to buy their logs and stumpage cheaply. 

 Trade channels also are poorly devel- 

 oped. From New York, small-dimen- 

 sion beech is shipped to Wisconsin for 

 processing, and to Massachusetts for 

 furniture squares, wood turnings, and 

 cooperage. Yet New York imports a 

 large amount of wood, and has local 

 use for all that can be grown. Many 

 owners have felt that they must acquire 

 their own processing plants if they are 

 to have a ready market for all prod- 

 ucts of the forest. This is true of at 

 least one of the investment properties 

 in Maine, the Luther forest holding, 

 and others. 



A NUMBER OF COOPERATIVES have 



been organized to improve markets. 

 Outstanding is the Otsego Forest Prod- 

 ucts Cooperative Association, which 

 handles logging, milling, seasoning, fin- 

 ishing, and lumber sales, and thereby 

 gains the advantages that accrue from 

 converting stumpage into more readily 

 marketable commodities. A steady 

 market has been maintained during 

 periods when local sawmills hesitated 

 to purchase timber. Other associations, 

 organized on the cooperative principle 

 but with more restricted fields of op- 

 eration, service timberland owners of 

 the section. Their influence on markets 

 is only local, however, and for the 

 North as a whole is minor. They do 

 indicate one possible means of offset- 

 ting uncertain markets, nevertheless. 



Two other types of associations have 

 been formed to meet the specific 

 marketing difficulties of private tim- 

 berland owners. Gonnwood, with head- 

 quarters in New Haven, Conn., was 

 organized to promote forestry by aid- 

 ing owners in harvesting, marketing, 

 and processing forest products. Any 

 producer of forest products who makes 

 sales through the corporation is a par- 

 ticipating member, and those who 

 have subscribed for stock are voting 

 members. Each voting member has 

 one vote. After setting aside legal re- 

 serves, dividends on stock may be up 



