122 FOREST VALUATION 



134. Elements of Damage to Forest Property. Damage 

 may occur to forest property through injury or destruction of 

 timber, soil or permanent and temporary improvements. For 

 permanent improvements, the cost of replacement or repair is a 

 fair basis of valuation. For temporary improvements, the present 

 value would be found by subtracting depreciation from cost, or 

 estimating the future usefulness of the improvements destroyed. 

 The problems discussed in this chapter are those which deal 

 with damage to timber crops and forest soil. 



The separate elements which may constitute damages are 

 itemized as follows: 



Mature timber. 



Young or immature timber. 



Forest soil. 



Watershed protection. 



Reduction in total value of property not otherwise damaged. 



Esthetic values. 



135. Physical Separation of Timber from Soil. Damage 

 to forest property may take many forms, but only those sources 

 of injury traceable to human agencies financially capable of mak- 

 ing good the loss, are of interest in appraisal of damages. All 

 losses involving actual destruction of property are irreparable 

 in the sense that the entire value destroyed is lost to some 

 person. Losses from insects, wind or disease must be appraised 

 for the information of the owner. But when the loss is to be 

 shifted to another, and collected by legal processes, its appraisal 

 must rest upon facts that can be accepted by a jury. 



Timber trespass takes the form of removing forest products 

 from the soil without the consent of the owner and, incidentally, 

 of injury thereby caused to unmerchantable trees. The main 

 element of damage is the value of the timber destroyed or taken. 



Damage by fire results in the destruction, or partial destruc- 

 tion, of the tree growth, or merely in injury and retardation of 

 growth. Except in the most unusual conflagrations, the timber 

 even if completely killed is not consumed or removed in the sense 

 that it is in lumbering. Much of this fire-killed timber, if large 



