730 



Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 



Without timber, recovery would be 

 ineffective, even if other import needs 

 were met. For example, timber is re- 

 quired as pit props to make possible 

 the restoration of coal mining, as cross 

 ties for the reconstruction of the 

 European railway system, for construc- 

 tion and rebuilding of damaged fac- 

 tories and homes for the agricultural 

 population, for the new hydroelectric 

 plants, and for poles for transmission of 

 communications and power. 



Although immediate timber needs 

 of the participating countries are 40 

 percent greater than their own ex- 

 pected production, the long-term 

 value of forests is so well recognized 

 that the countries are determined, de- 

 spite the immediate need, to maintain 

 their forests on sustained-yield or its 

 approximate equivalent, and to re- 

 habilitate promptly those overcut or 

 otherwise damaged during the war. 



Timber resources of the United 

 States have been so reduced by long- 

 continued overcutting and lack of 

 forestry measures that requirements 

 of another emergency similar to the 

 Second World War could be met only 

 by extraordinary measures, and would 

 greatly reduce growing stock and vir- 

 tually exhaust high-quality material 

 of certain species. 



In terms of economic activity, the 

 timber resource contributes an im- 

 portant share of national income 

 and gross national product. National 

 income is based on an industrial 

 classification permitting comparison 

 between industries, and includes such 

 items as wages and salaries, business 

 profits, interest and rents, dividends, 

 and transfer and miscellaneous income 

 payments. 



Assuming that timber resources are 

 basically responsible for certain seg- 

 ments of economic activity, it is esti- 

 mated that in 1946 the national income 

 attributable to timber resources was 

 5.4 percent of the total national in- 

 come, or 9.6 billion dollars. This esti- 

 mate is crude and subject to challenge 

 because it overlooks the interdepend- 

 ence between different raw materials 



and between materials and human ef- 

 fort. For example, all economic activity 

 in the lumber and timber basic- 

 products industries is ascribed to the 

 timber resource, even though the in- 

 dustries depend upon the mineral 

 resource for machinery and other 

 equipment. The proportions of other 

 economic activities attributable to the 

 timber resource vary widely and are 

 difficult to estimate, but the over-all 

 estimate (5.4 percent) is conservative, 

 and other estimates have approxi- 

 mated 10 percent. Certainly, if other 

 forest resources besides timber were 

 included, the proportion of total na- 

 tional income attributable to all forest 

 resources might exceed 10 percent. 



It is wrong to conclude that national 

 income would drop by 5 or 10 percent 

 if activities based on timber or forest 

 resources were eliminated. Theoreti- 

 cally, alternative activities would 

 partly replace forest activities, but at 

 the cost of a reduction in standards of 

 living. Of far more import, however, 

 and based on considerations of history, 

 biology, and security, which override 

 economics, is the inescapable conclu- 

 sion that without forests this Nation 

 would not long survive. 



EDWARD C. CRAFTS is chief of the 

 Division of Forest Economics in the 

 Forest Service. 



MARTHA A. DIETZ is a forest econo- 

 mist in that Division. 



ESTIMATED PULP PRODUCTION AND PULP- 

 WOOD REQUIRED TO MEET THAT PRO- 

 DUCTION, UNITED STATES, I95O-55 



Required 



pulp 

 produc- Conversion Pulpwood 



Type of pulp 



lion factor required 



Total 15,890 



21,751 



