440 



CONSERVATION 



American forests are now producing not 

 more than twelve cubic feet per acre ; Ger- 

 man forests are producing forty-eight cubic 

 feet per acre annually. Germany has re- 

 duced waste and consumption and increased 

 production. 



The United States has as rapidly growing 

 trees and as good soil as Germany, and for- 

 esters say it is reasonable to think that this 

 country will be just as successful as the Euro- 

 pean country in high per acre production 

 when every owner of timberland gets down 

 to proper conservation and development of 

 his forest property. It is known that the 

 United States must continue in the future, 

 as in the past, to rely upon its own forests 

 for the great bulk of wood which is used. 

 Despite the introduction of many substitutes, 

 it is not possible to conceive the time when 

 it will be practicable to do without wood 

 for many uses. Granting this, foresters say, 

 it follows that as a Nation and as individ- 

 ual citizens everything possible must be done 

 to put the forest land of this country upon 

 a permanent productive basis. 



The ultimate aim must be to cut no more 

 from forests than they produce each year, 

 and to make their yearly growth equal to 

 the needs of the people. As in Germany, for- 

 est conservation in this country means just 

 two things, first, the fullest possible utiliza- 

 tion of the present supply of timber, which 

 will make it last longer; and second, the 

 handling of forest lands in such a way that 

 succeeding crops of timber will be secured. 

 At present only about one-fifth of our 

 standing timber is in public forests. This 

 term is used to cover the National Forests, 

 state forests, the timber on Indian and mili- 

 tary reservations, and National Parks. 

 These forests are being managed according 

 to the principles of scientific forestry so 

 far as funds available for their administra- 

 tion permit. While the extent of the pub- 

 lic forests will undoubtedly be increased in 

 the future, it is not likely that for a very 

 long time to come they will contain even as 

 much as half of the timber supply. Four- 

 fifths of our forests are now owned by in- 

 dividuals, companies, or corporations. The 

 manner in which these forests are handled 

 is, therefore, of the utmost importance in 

 conservation. 



If the lumber industry in the United States 

 is^to live, it means that large manufacturers 

 will have to protect and develop their forest 

 property. The land must be lumbered with 

 care, fire must be kept out, young growth 

 protected, and every principle of forestry 

 applied to the management of the land so that 

 it will continue permanently productive in- 

 stead of becoming a burned over and barren 

 waste, as has been the case of the forest 

 regions which have passed through periods 

 of excessive destruction as the result of care- 

 less lumbering methods 



Mr, Weyerhaeuser on Forest Taxation 



The Norfolk Virginian and Pilot says edi- 

 torially: 



"It is not difficult to see the force in the 

 argument of Frederick Weyerhaeuser, the 

 western lumber king, that the policy obtain- 

 ing in many of the states of taxing standing 

 timber excessively has contributed and is 

 contributing to forest exhaustion in this coun- 

 try. Such taxation, as Mr. Weyerhaeuser 

 points out, both encourages the conversion of 

 growing timber into lumber and discourages 

 the replanting of denuded areas. This fact 

 has long been recognized in Europe, where, 

 as a general rule, timber is by law exempt 

 from taxation until it has secured its growth 

 and becomes suitable for lumber. It is also 

 beginning to be appreciated here, as is evi- 

 denced by the action of some of the states 

 in placing only a nominal tax on lands de- 

 voted to forest culture. Forest conservation 

 and reforestation mean infinitely more than 

 the preservation of a timber supply. They 

 mean conservation of many other natural re- 

 sources of incalculable value as well. The 

 state's duty is, therefore, not only to encour- 

 age timber growing, but even to compel and 

 supervise it if necessary." 



Taxing a Forest Grant 



An attempt to place on the tax rolls 

 lands in the forest reserves subject to the 

 Government grant to the Northern Pacific 

 Railway Company will be made by the Tax 

 Commission of the state of Washington this 

 year in all probability. 



The condition of the railroad grant in 

 the forest reserves was called to the atten- 

 tion of the commission recently by the filing 

 in Snohomish County of deeds from the rail- 

 way company to individuals for four valuable 

 quarter sections of timber land in the Forest 

 Reserve. These deeds contained indefinite 

 descriptions of the land, in that giving the 

 section, township and range, the numbers 

 were "subject to Government survey." The 

 lands have not yet been surveyed. 



The assessor of that county has been in- 

 structed by the commission to place the four 

 quarter sections on the tax rolls and it is 

 expected a lawsuit will result which will de- 

 termine the taxable character of such timber. 



The grant to the company was of each 

 alternate section of land for twenty miles 

 on both sides of the right of way. 



When the forest reserves were designated 

 the railway company was given the option of 

 accepting scrip for lands in its grant and 

 taking up lands elsewhere. It is declared 

 that for sections of little value the company 

 has taken scrip, but has retained the more 

 valuable timber lands. The foct that the tak- 



