Forest Resources oj the Pacific Northwest 



Each of these "services" furnished by the forest is 

 important. They vary in rehitive importance from 

 place to phice; but all together they are of high impor- 

 tance. A forest imder sustained-yield management for 

 timber production, automatically and with relatively 

 little special adjustment, provides a sustained yield of 

 the other important services. Tliis is the so-called 

 multiple use forest, continuous^ supplying wood, 

 water, grazing, recreation, soil control, climatic in- 

 fluence, and vvildhfe refuge. Consequentlj' the forest 

 under sustained-yield management, furnishing regularly 

 these many ser%'ices, is doing its utmost in a well- 

 balanced way to supply the needs of man. Even 

 forests for which sustained-yield timber management is 

 not now practicable may be managed for a sustained 

 yield of the other important ser\aces. 



Although sustained-yield forest management is highly 

 important to Region and Nation, comparatively little 

 of the present timber supply is being harvested 

 from forests under such management. In some parts 

 of the Region the supply of merchantable timber is 

 wholly or nearly exhausted with consequent reduction 

 of logging and sawmill operations. In other localities 

 sawmill capacity and operations greatly exceed forest 

 capacity, so that such operations must greatly diminish 

 within a few years. In other places mill capacity does 

 not exceed forest capacity, but the application of sus- 

 tained-yield management is retarded or impeded by 

 serious economic obstacles. Such obstacles, discussed 

 in some detail later, should be removed so that such 

 management may begin promptly where timber re- 

 sources permit. "\Alierc timber resoiuTes are now in- 

 sufficient, there should be adequate provision for forest 

 reproduction and for forest protection so that eventu- 

 ally, even though after manj^ years, there may be 

 established a stable forest industry with production in 

 balance with forest capacity. 



The continued existence of the forests of the region 

 requires forest protection. The restoration of forests 

 damaged by fire, cutting or other cause requires forest 

 reproduction, for which protection is essential. The 

 maintenance of communities and industries dependent 

 upon the use of the forests requires sustained-yield 

 management, for which protection and reproduction 

 are absolutely essential. The reader should keep 

 clearly in mind that protection, reproduction, and sus- 

 tained yield are not themselves objectives, but are 

 merely the means by which certain purposes may be 

 achieved. 



Economic Dependency Upon the Forests 



Nearly every one realizes that the forests play an 

 important part in the economy of the region; but few 

 realize how extremely important that part is. A 

 thorough analysis of the situation should be made in 



order to determine rather accurately the degree of 

 dej)endence of the people of the region upon the various 

 services rendered by the forests. 



The best investigation of tlus kind previously avail- 

 able, for Oregon, is based on the 1929 Census. In it 

 the gainfully employed are divided into two great 

 classes: the "basic industry" class, and the "service 

 industry" class. The "basic industries" are defined 

 as those the products of which are mostly exported 

 from the State. The "service industries" are those 

 which exist upon services rendered to both basic in- 

 dustries and other service industries and to the people. 

 The service industries include retail and wholesale 

 distribution, professional, domestic, and personal serv- 

 ice, all forms of transportation and comnumication, 

 building, public ser\dce utilities, hotels, amusements, 

 banking, etc. The basic industries include agriculture, 

 forest industries, textiles, fishing, mining, etc. It is 

 shown that in Oregon 60 percent of the gainfully em- 

 ployed are in the service industries while 40 percent 

 are in the basic industries. Of those in the basic 

 industries, 53 percent are in agriculture and 34 percent 

 in the forest industries, thus leaving only about 13 

 percent in all other basic industries. It is probable 

 that further analysis will show that the forest indus- 

 tries are "basic" to a higher degree than agricidture, 

 as a result of their sliipping out of the State a higher 

 proportion of their total product. Furthermore, it 

 appears that the forest industries are a better "market" 

 than is agriculture for the services of the service indus- 

 tries and also for the services of other basic industries. 

 This is ])robable because agriculturists are generally 

 much more nearly self-sub.sisting than are the em- 

 ployees of the forest industries, and, also, because the 

 forest industries require unusual service in certain 

 important fields- -fur example, about two-thirtls of both 

 the rail and water-borne tonnage originating in Oregon 

 and Washington consists of forest products. 



The subject of the economic inqiortance of the forest 

 mdustries and of the Region's economic dependence 

 on them is developed further in th(> staff report. 



Based on 1929 protluction of forest products and 

 1930 population, it appears that the forest industries 

 are of about the same relative importance in Wash- 

 ington as in Oregon. In Idaho the forest inilustries 

 are about half as important relatively as in Oregon or 

 Wasliington, and in Montana about one-sixth as im- 

 portant. Nevertheless, even in Idaho and Montana 

 the forest industries are among the most important. 



Forests render many services besides that of timber 

 supply, but no at(cnq)t will be nuide here to express 

 in an}' definite way tlio extent of economic dependency 

 arising from such servicers. However, it will readily 

 be recognized that tlie forests are also of outstanding 

 importance in these other fields. 



