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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



it. These obstacles arc the insecurity of the timber crop 

 from fire and the existing system of taxing both land 

 and the growing crop annually. There must be a more 

 effective State-wide protection against fire before the 

 individual owner wishes to put a large investment in cut- 

 over land reforestation. In spite of most efficient fire pro- 

 tective associations of timberland owners caring for 

 virgin timber, the private owner cannot be sure that his 

 land will have perfect protection. There are too many 

 hazards from adjacent lands not now covered by asso- 

 ciation, State, or Federal patrol chiefly the private cut- 

 over areas, which are the "no man's land" of fire protec- 

 tion. It then becomes a public function to give each 

 owner security by enforcement of the fire preventive laws 

 and by a radical extension of the public and private co- 

 operative fire protection system which will give reason- 

 able safety to all lands both cut-over and timbered. Tax 

 reform has long been agitated, but slow in coming. It 

 is not the major obstacle to the practice of forestry, but 

 under the present system a long time forest investment 

 could not be very profitable. 



The Pacific Northwest is fortunate in having among 

 the leaders in the lumber industry men who are forward- 

 looking, open-minded, and public-spirited. They know 

 the history of other forest regions and appreciate the 

 problem that lies in this Douglas fir region. They are not 

 unconscious of the responsibility that is theirs to prevent 

 the self-annihilation of the lumber industry and the 

 denudation of great areas of potentially productive land. 



They co-operate well with public agencies and have an 

 open mind for what the forester can tell them. More 

 and more they are realizing that something must be done 

 and are talking about it a good deal, but so far doing little. 



The solution of the cut-over land problem which they 

 almost unanimously propose is public ownership. They 

 claim in effect that long term practice of forestry on 

 extensive forest areas such as those in the western moun- 

 tains is not an enterprise for a lumber company, but that 

 it must be done, and that the public (either Federal or 

 State government) is, therefore, the only agency to do 

 it. It is not that they are shirking their responsibilities 

 in the matter "passing the buck" to the Government 

 but rather that as practical men they cannot see over the 

 obstacles which stand in the way of private capital en- 

 gaging profitably in forestry. Whether these obstacles 

 can be lowered and sentiment changed is the task for the 

 friends of the lumber industry and conservation to find out. 



Undoubtedly the hope of the lumberman will in part 

 be accomplished and some cut-over land added to the 

 existing National Forest and thereby put under forest 

 management, but perhaps too late for the best silvicultural 

 results. It is, probably, wise public policy and good 

 economics that there should be a larger area of publicly 

 owned forests in the western mountains than at present. 

 The boundaries of the National Forests should be extend- 

 ed to round out suitable units for administration. This 

 will be accomplished if Congress listens to the demands 

 of the local public, by exchanges of land for stumpage 



THE RESULT OF "TIMBER MINING" IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION, WHERE NO EFFORT IS MADE TO SECURE A NEW CROP 

 On tuch areas repeated fires, together with the absence of seed trees, mean that the land will remain permanently barren and unproductive. 



