3 io 



bids had been received on the Tawas 

 Ranger District, even though the mini- 

 mum stumpage was only 75 cents a 

 standard cord. Prospective bidders 

 stated the timber was too scattered, of 

 poor form, and too difficult to haul be- 

 cause of plantation furrows. Repeated 

 sale offers brought no better response, 

 but the job of disposing of 3,600 cords 

 of jack pine a year remained. 



On the other hand, many men in the 

 intermingled small farming communi- 

 ties in the forest area needed more 

 money. Also, to help them, work in the 

 woods needed to be integrated with the 

 spare time of the farm labor, rather 

 than used at the will of the contractors. 



This need for employment was rec- 

 ognized in the preliminary discussions, 

 and it was thought a cooperative might 

 be the solution: Individuals in a co- 

 operative would not be too interested 

 in the size of blocks of timber as long 

 as a cord or two could be easily ricked 

 together; a marketing agency could 

 overcome the objections of the pulp 

 companies, who would not deal with 

 an operator who might have only 10 or 

 20 cords to sell, and wages would tend 

 to be higher without a trader or con- 

 tractor who would take his commis- 

 sion and profits and reduce unfairly 

 the margin for cutting and stumpage. 

 A marketing cooperative, moreover, 

 would employ local labor; stumpage 

 would be at an appraised rate, and any 

 money remaining after expenses would 

 be returned to the cutters as patronage 

 refunds; and the serious objections of 

 local governing bodies would be elimi- 

 nated. 



Three meetings were held in the 

 communities to explain the workings of 

 a cooperative and to determine the at- 

 titudes on such an organization. The 

 men who attended the meetings ex- 

 pressed themselves in favor. The larger 

 paper companies agreed to buy the out- 

 put of the association. By-laws and arti- 

 cles of incorporation were drafted 

 and approved and recorded by the 

 Michigan Corporation and Securities 

 Commission. The Farm Security Ad- 

 ministration (now the Farmers Home 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



Administration) of the Department of 

 Agriculture approved a $3,000 unse- 

 cured loan. 



Individuals then began cutting on a 

 sale of $500 or less, the amount that 

 is within the ranger's authorization. 

 When one man's output was measured, 

 the cooperative paid him the agreed 

 price with money from the loan. The 

 first year's cut amounted to 400 cords 

 of peeled jack pine, valued at $3,200 

 on the railroad cars. 



The cut in the second year, which 

 amounted to about $15,000, consisted 

 of jack pine pulp and sawbolts and 

 aspen pulpwood. The third year's oper- 

 ation was reduced to about $1,000 

 because exceptionally heavy snow im- 

 peded winter operations. The fourth 

 year, however, 100 participating mem- 

 bers sold timber worth $40,000. 



The first 3 years, the ranger was 

 the elected secretary-treasurer of the 

 cooperative, but when the volume of 

 business reached $40,000, a part-time 

 secretary-treasurer was hired by the 

 board of directors to keep the accounts, 

 bill freight cars, and do the general 

 clerical work. The ranger still admin- 

 istered sales, scaling, and hiring of 

 truckers. In 1946, a full-time secretary- 

 treasurer, experienced in woods work, 

 was hired to handle administration. 



The cooperative now does an annual 

 business of about $100,000, has retired 

 the $3,000 loan, and has $20,000 in 

 working capital of undeclared patron- 

 age dividends. About 25 cutters and 6 

 truckers depend upon the cooperative 

 for most of their livelihood. About 75 

 part-time cutters and truckers earn 

 supplemental income. A comparison of 

 wages indicates the cooperative pays 

 the highest wage rate for comparable 

 jobs in the vicinity, and about 25 per- 

 cent higher rates than pulp contrac- 

 tors. Deep snow, which once stopped 

 work, is now plowed by county em- 

 ployees and paid for by the association 

 at standard wages. Stumpage rates and 

 the value of the product both have in- 

 creased. Bad social conditions in the 

 woods have been eliminated; objec- 

 tions and concern about conditions 



