future Requirements for Timber 



741 



made by destructive distillation of 

 hardwood. 



It is estimated that the potential 

 requirements for hardwood for the 

 purpose in 1950-55 will not exceed 

 500,000 cords annually, and that 50 

 years hence the requirement will be ap- 

 proximately the same. Because distilla- 

 tion wood can be got from trees of small 

 size and below saw-timber quality, 

 such a requirement can easily be met 

 without difficulty under conditions of 

 good forest management. 



LOGS AND BOLTS also are used for 

 many other products, among them 

 spools, dowels, and wood novelties 

 made by the wood-turnery industry; 

 shoe lasts, picker sticks, bobbins, and 

 shuttles; shingles; baseball bats, and 

 other athletic equipment made from 

 bolts rather than lumber. In many 

 cases, high-quality wood is required 

 wood that is not only free from visible 

 defects but also is straight-grained and 

 tough- textured. Among the species 

 that can be used are white ash, hick- 

 ory, western redcedar, paper birch, 

 dogwood, persimmon, hard maple, 

 yellow birch, and the other woods that 

 have special technical properties rather 

 than pleasing appearance. 



For all such uses, the potential an- 

 nual requirement in 1950-55 is esti- 

 mated at 1 billion board feet (log 

 scale), with an increase to 1.5 billion 

 50 years hence. 



OTHER USES OF GORDWOOD include 

 a wide variety of products, such as ex- 

 celsior, wood for tannin extraction, 

 composition roofing, wood poles used 

 in raising shade-grown tobacco, rough 

 wood used as dunnage in the storage 

 of ship cargo, and round and slit ma- 

 terial for rustic construction. 



Potential annual requirements in 

 1950-55 have been estimated at 5 mil- 

 lion cords, with an increase to 7 mil- 

 lion cords 50 years from now. This is 

 not an exacting requirement with re- 

 spect to wood quality and could be met 

 under conditions of good forest man- 

 agement with little drain on the saw- 



timber growing stock of the forests. 



The total annual needs for saw 

 timber in 1950-55, for the production 

 of commodities for domestic consump- 

 tion, is estimated at 61 billion board 

 feet. Fifty years from now the require- 

 ments may be even higher, despite a 

 continuing per capita decline in the 

 use of lumber and certain other wood 

 products. However, the figure of 61 

 billion will be used as the estimated 

 future requirement. To this must be 

 added allowances for ( 1 ) unavoidable 

 losses caused by forest fires, insects and 

 diseases, and other natural forces, (2) 

 a margin of safety in times of emer- 

 gency, when extraordinary demands 

 are made on the forests, ( 3 ) the export 

 of United States timber products to 

 foreign countries, and (4) a margin 

 for the discovery of new uses for wood 

 as a basic material, requiring addi- 

 tional quantities of timber. 



Future losses from destructive agen- 

 cies (the so-called noncommodity 

 drain on the forest) are estimated to 

 be 3.2 billion board feet annually, and 

 the margins for national security, ex- 

 ports, new uses, and other contingen- 

 cies at 7.8 billion board feet, making 

 a grand total of 72 billion board feet 

 of saw timber required annually. 



This quantity should be our annual 

 growth goal. The forests of the United 

 States should be built up to a level that 

 would permit a drain of 72 billion 

 board feet each year in perpetuity 

 without depleting the saw-timber 

 growing stock. 



A. G. CLINE is foreign forestry spe- 

 cialist for the Forest Service. Formerly 

 he was in charge of the industry-re- 

 source analysis section in the Division 

 of Forest Economics in the Forest 

 Service and was responsible for esti- 

 mating the Nation's future timber re- 

 quirements. During the Second World 

 War he was vice chairman of the re- 

 quirements committee of the Lumber 

 and Lumber Products Division of the 

 War Production Board. Before that, he 

 was director of the Harvard Forest, 

 Petersham, Mass 



