40 



National Resources Committee 



appropriations do not permit a wholly adequate fire or 

 blister rust protection, but slash disposal and forest 

 regeneration are reasonably well cared for in timber sale 

 contracts. 



The county ownership of about 1,200,000 acres ap- 

 pears insignificant, but is far more important than the 

 figures imply. It includes the land to which title has 

 been taken by the counties through tax foreclosure. 

 Exact figures on the areas are unobtainable, because 

 foreclosures are constantly changing the situation. 

 County ownership is important and increasing in west- 

 ern Washington and Oregon, in northern Idaho and 

 the adjacent parts of eastern Washington. In 

 a number of counties within these sections, county 

 ownership has more than doubled within the past 5 

 years. Fiu-thermore, there is about sLx times as much 

 tax delinquent land as has already passed into county 

 ownership, and much of this is long delinquent. The 

 comities have no plans for forest management and often 

 inadequate protection is provided. ^Vliere the lumber 

 industry is well developed, the lands which revert to 

 the counties are largely cut-over, with or without a 

 crop of young trees already started thereon, but in some 

 of the more inaccessible sections of southern Oregon 

 large areas of merchantable timber are being abandoned 

 bj' private owners. 



Under "other public ownership" are the moderately 

 large areas of public domain, on which there is little 

 timber of anj^ value and a few small areas of land owned 

 by cities for water supply purposes. The former are 

 comi)letely uncared for, while the latter are managed 

 primarily oi- exclusively for their watershed value. 



That great part of the forest resource which is pri- 

 vately owned is divided between a very great nxunber of 

 corporations and individuals. This industry is handi- 

 capped by a frequent inabihty to take concerted action. 

 Any uniformity in the policies of the various owners of 

 timber must be attributed to the pressure of uniform 

 economic conditions. Lumber Associations represent 

 most of the operators, but a nuich smaller proportion 

 of the standing timber, and their sphere of activity is 

 circumscribed by the Sherman Act. The general policy 

 of the private owners is to liquidate their investments 

 as rapidly as possible, rather than to manage their 

 properties on a sustained-yield basis. Good systems of 

 fire protection have been organized through a number 

 of fire-protective associations, but their objective being 

 primarily to protect mature timber and logging equip- 

 ment, there is a tendency to relax the intensiveness of 

 protective measm-es on cut-over lands where futiu-e 

 timber crops must be raised. 



Some companies have spent much money for the pro- 

 tection of their timber from insects and other enemies, 

 but this type of effort has been less universal than fire 

 protection. Since the days of the Lumber Code, forest 



practice rules which are designed to leave the cut-land 

 in fairly good condition for further growth have been 

 very generally followed. Much of this cut-land, how- 

 ever, seems to be headed back into public ownersliip, 

 through tax delinquency, and into a form of public 

 ownership where it will have no better care than before. 

 Sustained-yield forest management is, therefore, now 

 in effect on only a little over half of the forest area — 

 largely that in public ownership — and this half is the 

 poorest half in density of stand and in quality and 

 accessibility of the timber. The most im])ortant part 

 of the Region's forest resource — largely that in private 

 ownersliip — is being managed under a policy of liquida- 

 tion as rapidly as the market will i)ermit. 



Obstacles to Sustained- Yield Management 



It must not be inferred that the private timber owner 

 is refraining from sustained-yield forest management 

 because he is opposed to the long-time welfare of the 

 region. Could he see his way clear to adopt it, he 

 would naturally be delighted to thus insure the futm-e of 

 his industry. But, in general, the obstacles seem to 

 him to far outweigh the benefits, and in many cases to 

 be insuperable. 



CONVENTIONALIZED REPRESENTATION 

 OF TREND OF STUMPAGE PRICES IN REGION 



-PRICES PAID IN TERMS OF OTHER WHOLESALE " 

 COMMODITIES 



