CALIFORNIA FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



263 



Jeffrey pine replaces yellow pine to a considerable extent. 



The Northern Coast Range forests are distinguished 

 from those of the Sierra Nevada by the larger percent- 

 age of Douglas fir in the mixed stands and by large 

 pure stands of this species. 



The redwood belt is composed of practically pure red- 

 wood, although in some localities the Douglas fir in 

 mixture is of considerable importance. 



These three regions contain at present approximately 

 three hundred million feet of merchantable timber, about 



R PINE BURNED OUT AT BASE. SHOWING FRESH DIRT 

 THROWN IN TO PREVENT FUTURE FIRES FROM REACHING BURN 



one-third govemmentally owned and largely within 

 eighteen National Forests. Of the remaining two-thirds 

 in private ownership about 65 per cent is within the 

 pine belt and the remainder is redwood. There is no 

 redwood, commercially speaking, within the National 

 Forests. It is all privately owned. 



During recent years the annual cut of California mills 

 has ranged around one and a quarter billion feet, less 

 than eight per cent of which has been derived from the 

 National Forests. On this basis it might appear to one 

 unfamiliar with the tendencies in the lumber industry 

 that the virgin timber in this state would not be exhausted 

 for at least two centuries. However, it can readily be 

 shown that such is not the case. 



It has been stated on good authority that the southern 

 pine region, which has for many years supplied a large 

 part of the lumber demand in the central west and in the 

 east, will be exhausted within twelve years and that 



seventy-five per cent of the mills in that region will be 

 cut out within seven years. California has the only other 

 large remaining supply of pine. It is therefore natural 

 to suppose that the pine operators of the south will be 

 attracted toward California forests. Several recent 

 stumpage transactions tend to give color to this belief. 

 In addition, owners of tracts of forest land that have 

 long lain dormant are also indicating activity and estab- 

 lished mill operators are making vigorous efforts to 

 increase their output. It is therefore anticipated that 

 the cut from California forests will double within five 

 years and treble within eight years. One of the largest 

 operators in the state has predicted an even more rapid 

 rate of cutting. It appears probable that the virgin for- 

 ests of the state will be substantially cut over within the 

 next fifty to sixty years. 



Now while sixty years is an ample period for organ- 

 izing and regulating a human community, it is much less 



SHOWING THE AREA AND THE DAMAGE DONE BY THE MARSH 

 FIRE. PLUMAS NATIONAL FOREST, CALIFORNIA 



than a generation in a forest community. Causes follow 

 effects just as inexorably in one as in the other however, 

 and "reform waves" are occasionally necessary and help- 

 ful in both. The civic reformer usually lives to see his 

 theories tested, proven, modified or discarded, while the 

 forest reformer, fortunately or not, rarely has this satis- 

 faction. It seems to follow logically that the forester has 

 the more difficult task and, since they cannot be quickly 

 and effectively modified, should test his theories more 

 carefully before applying them. 



Marked progress in all lines of endeavor appears to 



