THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOREST RESOURCE 



AND 

 A FOREST PROGRAM 



The Resource 



The Pacific Northwest forest resource includes most 

 of the remainder of the Nation's great virgin forests. 

 Not only is it the greatest national forest resource, 

 but one of the greatest national resources of any kind. 



This Region (for purposes of tliis study the States of 

 Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana) has about 

 93 million acres of forest land, containing about 900 

 billion board feet (limiber tally) of standing saw timber, 

 or about one-half of that remaining in the United States. 

 Forest land comprises over one-third of the area of the 

 four States, heaviest concentrations being in western 

 Montana, northern Idaho, western Oregon, and western 

 Washington. Two-thirds of the Region's timber lies 

 west of the summit of the Cascade Mountains, where 

 about five-sixths of the area is forest land. 



In the past c^uarter century, the national demand 

 upon forests of this region has increased greatly, the 

 percentage of the total national lumber production 

 furnished ha\dng risen from 15 percent to 39 percent in 

 the 25 years prior to 1934. The 1929 production 

 required the removal of nearly 16 billion feet of saw 

 timber from the forests of the region, a rate which, 

 under present forest conditions and practices, would 

 rather rapidly deplete the economically available 

 suppl}'. The average annual cut for the 9 years, 1925- 

 33, was well over 10 billion feet. Threats to the forest 

 resource from fire and disease also have grown with the 

 increased occupancy and use of the region and of the 

 forests. Depletion from these causes alone averaged 

 another 2% billions of board feet per annum during 

 the 9-3'ear period. 



On the other hand, current net annual growth is onty 

 about 4 billion feet. However, the rate of growth is 

 increasing, as the virgin stands, with no current net 

 growth, are progressively converted into second-growth 

 stands. The growth capacity, with good forest man- 

 agement and improved protection, is probably at 

 least 16 billion feet annuallj', but it would be well over 

 a century before any such capacity could be attained. 



The Problem 



In general terms, the problem involved is one of 

 conservation and social and economic utilization of the 

 resources included in the country's greatest remainhig 

 timber reservoir. 



The problem is not only that of avoiding direct losses 

 of existing and potential timber and in capitalized value 

 of continuously productive land, but also one of avoid- 

 ing the auxiliary effects of depletion — dislocation of 

 economic and social life, including great losses in direct 

 and indirect employment, and in industrial, commercial, 

 service, and recreational activities. 



To illustrate, it will be necessary in the Pacific North- 

 west, to avoid consequences similar to those experienced 

 in other areas upon depletion of forest resource. It may 

 be assumed that the depletion of this, the last of the 

 greater timber stands, would be more serious in many 

 ways to the Nation, as well as to the region immediately 

 affected, than in anj^ other instance. In this region 

 there is a liigher rate of dependency upon the resource 

 and less ability to make adjustments to its loss — less 

 ability to replace promptly" the lost productive and 

 business opportunities. 



It is distinctly a public problem. Private ownership 

 and industiy have obligations and opportiuiities in it, 

 but the public, as a whole, will suffer from failiu-e to 

 solve it, and onlj^ the public, through its governmental 

 organization, can reconcile conflicting interests and 

 provide the overall plans, leaderships, pressures, and 

 controls that will make solution possible. 



The general solution is the apphcation of what is 

 generally known as sustained-yield management. 



The Regional Planning Connnission does not think 

 of sustained yield in a narrow or technical sense, nor as 

 a rigid system necessarily always to be applied to every 

 acre, comnuuuty, or district. Rather, it considers it as 

 a broad principle to be applied over sizable areas to pre- 

 vent depletion by cutting, fire, and disease at a greater 

 rate than the land will i)roduce, and which will ])r()vide 

 continuous compensation, in reasonable form, for each 

 use or loss of valuable forest resources, and which will 

 also provide continuous income from tlie forest re- 

 source, therebj- nuiintaining permanent eni])loyment, 

 wages, and purchasing ])ower and stabilizing industrial 

 comnumitics. 



Sustained yield should not be considered as an im- 

 mediately available, specific cure, but as a general 

 remedy which should be ai)i)lied specifically as rajiidly 

 as possible. The lumber industry as a rule has been 

 migratory, moving on to uncut stands whenever one 

 area was cut over, leaving behind abandoiu^d commu- 



50859—38- 



