233 REPORT OI" THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



The plan as outlined would call for the employment of an expert on forest 

 matters, to assume general charge of the work, and would personally prepare 

 as much of the data as time permitted. 



Much valuable data and assistance could be secured from the National and 

 the various State forest departments, officers of lumber and forest protective 

 associations, and other organizations interested in forest work. 



The expert would require, at least from time to time, the assistance of 

 technical men to secure data in the field and to prepare portions of the report. 

 This is especially true where the services of experts on some particular subject 

 were available. This would assure the most authoritative data on the subject. 

 It is essential that a sufficient fund be available to meet these requirements. An 

 estimate of the sum required has not been made. 



The first line of work to be taken up would be the collection of all available 

 •data on the subjects under investigation. The historical data and the features 

 called for under Part I, while requiring careful and expert work, could be 

 compiled at a reasonable expenditure of time and money. 



The committee well appreciates the labor, expense and time which would be 

 required to make an original estimate of the standing timber in a given region 

 and it is proposed that so far as possible all existing data on the subject shall 

 be first collected and studied. In case the available data is insufficient, it is 

 believed that an impartial body could secure valuable information from timber- 

 land owners in regard to their holdings, to better advantage than could the Federal 

 or State forest departments. It might be necessary to supplement the material 

 secured in this way by that obtained by a limited amount of field work, but it is 

 believed that the purposes of the report could be met without an extensive cruise 

 of the timberlands of the region. 



Forest management and forest protection have been in force among some 

 operators in certain sections for considerable periods, although the application of 

 the methods used and the results attained have never been treated concisely and 

 comprehensively for the region. Many operators are not familiar even with the 

 practise of their own region and an impartial treatise on the subject would be of 

 great interest and value to them. 



Forest taxation, a much mooted question among timber owners in every 

 forest region, is a subject on which much enlightenment is needed before a 

 satisfactory adjustment of the problem can be made. It is believed that a careful 

 review of past and present methods of taxation and the development of approved 

 methods, based on regional conditions, would greatly hasten the satisfactory 

 solution of this perplexing problem. 



A factor of vital importance to every seller or buyer of timberland is the 

 determination of the value of the standing timber. Valuations of stumpage 

 have largely been approximations, the chief interest of the buyer being to satisfy 

 himself that the purchase was "safe,"' rather than to find what was the true 

 value of the timber. The high stumpage values of the future will demand greater 

 care in the determination of the selling price, since if this is not done either the 

 buyer or seller will suffer a heavy financial loss. The preparation of a standard 



