336 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



acres of reproducing forest lands that 

 supported young trees from 1 to 70 

 years old. The annual log requirements 

 of Simpson's manufacturing facilities 

 amounted to about 100 million board 

 feet. About 7,400 persons depended for 

 their livelihood on the continuation of 

 the company's operations at that level 

 of production. The national forest re- 

 source in the area tributary to the com- 

 pany's operations consisted of 110,000 

 acres of forest land, 89,000 acres of 

 which were old-growth timber stands 

 having a total volume of 4 5/3 billion 

 board feet. 



Under sustained-yield harvesting, 

 the cut from the national forest lands 

 alone would have been 48 million 

 board feet a year. Simpson's holdings 

 could not practically have been sub- 

 jected to sustained-yield management 

 if anything approximating the current 

 plant requirements were to be sup- 

 plied. The company did not own 

 enough mature timber. The 100 mil- 

 lion board feet per year rate of cutting 

 would have forced the company to 

 liquidate its timber in 10 years; after 

 that, production from company lands 

 would have dropped to next to nothing 

 for 30 years or so until the trees on the 

 reproducing lands reached cutting size. 

 During that period, production would 

 have fallen to a level measured by the 

 company's competitive purchases of 

 national forest timber. It could not 

 have exceeded 48 million a year. It 

 might have been a great deal less. An 

 extremely severe curtailment of indus- 

 trial activity and a consequent econom- 

 ic crisis would have been inevitable 

 in Shelton and McGleary. 



THE SUSTAINED- YIELD UNIT ACT 



permitted the Forest Service to join its 

 timber resource with that of the com- 

 pany for unified management. The 

 large reservoir of old-growth timber in 

 national forest ownership thus could 

 be used to bridge the production gap, 

 pending the economic maturity of the 

 company's young stands, and assurance 

 could be given that the company's 

 wood-using facilities in Shelton and 



McCleary would be maintained at ap- 

 proximately current levels. Within the 

 limits of sustained-yield forest man- 

 agement, comparable stability for these 

 communities could not otherwise be 

 achieved. A combination like that for 

 management purposes would guaran- 

 tee that good forest practices and sus- 

 tained yield would be applied to 

 268,000 acres of forest lands rather 

 than to the 110,000 acres of national 

 forest ownership alone. In consequence 

 of these obvious public benefits, the 

 Simpson Logging Co. and the Forest 

 Service reached a sustained-yield 

 agreement, effective January 1, 1947. 



Advantages became apparent almost 

 at once. 



In the first year of operation under 

 the agreement, the employment in the 

 Simpson Logging Co. industries grew 

 from 1,350 to 1,800 persons. 



An insulation-board plant has been 

 opened in Shelton. It employs 200 men 

 on 3 shifts. Its raw material comes 

 from wood formerly wasted or used as 

 fuel for the generation of power at 

 Shelton. It furnishes an outlet also 

 for the small stuff from thinnings and 

 the stand-improvement cuttings, which 

 will be available in quantity from the 

 reproducing stands within the unit. 



A new and very modern community, 

 Grisdale, was established as the seat of 

 the company's logging operations at the 

 railhead 48 miles west of Shelton. It 

 provides houses for more than 400 per- 

 sons and has recreational facilities, a 

 school, and a community center. 



The community of McCleary, which 

 for a decade had been on the decline, 

 has been revitalized. It is no longer a 

 company town. The homes and busi- 

 ness places have been sold to their oc- 

 cupants, civic improvements have been 

 made, and a corporate form of govern- 

 ment has been established. The com- 

 pany has modernized the plywood 

 plant as well as the door factory. Em- 

 ployment and the production of fin- 

 ished products have increased. Other 

 company plants have been modernized 

 to some extent and the logging railroad 

 and machine shops have been moved 



