how little we can get along with, we should plan for a liberal 
use of timber in an economy of full employment and 
abundance. 
To meet the reasonably expected future needs, with a safe 
margin for security and a very moderate allowance for 
exports, the Forest Service estimates that we should strive 
to build up the growth rate of our forests to something like 
20 billion cubic feet a year. Of this some 65 to 72 billion 
board feet should be saw timber. To achieve production at 
this level we shall have to increase the annual growth of all 
timber to 50 percent above present levels, and we shall have 
to double the annual growth of saw timber. 
4. Would forest growth equal forest drain if fires were 
stopped? 
Adequate protection from fire, insects, and disease would 
save a very great volume of timber. But 90 percent of the 
total drain is commodity drain—cutting timber for use. So 
even if the 4% billion board feet per year loss from all 
these so-called natural causes were entirely eliminated 
(which is of course not really possible) saw-timber drain 
would still exceed growth by a substantial margin. Also 
the benefits of better protection may be largely offset by 
premature cutting of young growth. 
Although extremely important, fire control and protective 
work against insects and diseases are by no means the sole 
or the main answer to the forest problem. Much more than 
that is needed if forest growth is to be stepped up enough 
to meet our future requirements. 
5. Why worry when only a small percentage of our tim- 
ber is cut annually? 
It has been said that because ordinarily only about 2 
percent of our present stand of saw timber is cut for lumber 
in any one year, there is no need to worry; it should last 
another 50 years, even if no new timber were grown. 
