2. How does our present supply of timber com- 

 pare with that of the past ? 



It has been said that almost as much usable timber is 

 still standing as has been cut for lumber since the birth 

 of the Nation. Such a statement is misleading. The 

 significant fact is the uninterrupted trend of forest de- 

 pletion which has deprived community after community 

 of the benefits of permanent forest industries. 



The amount of wood removed from American forests 

 for lumber is only a fraction of the total taken. Even 

 greater amounts have been removed for nonlumber 

 products such as pulpwood, posts, poles, piling, hewn 

 cross ties, mine props, building logs, and fuel wood. 

 In addition, enormous quantities of timber in earlier 

 years were simply felled and burned in clearing land for 

 cultivation, or were and are still being destroyed by 

 fire, storms, and epidemics. 



It was estimated in 1909 that the total volume of saw 

 timber in the forests of the United States was 2,826 

 billion board feet. 1 In 1938 the estimated total stand of 

 saw timber was* 1,764 billion board feet. 2 Eecognizing 

 that the 1938 estimate included species and stands not 

 considered merchantable in the earlier estimate, it is 

 safe to say that the total volume of standing saw 

 timber in the United States was reduced almost 40 

 percent in 30 years. 



Another important consideration is that the quality 

 of the second-growth timber is generally much inferior 

 to that of the original stands. Most of the available 

 high-quality old-growth timber is confined to relatively 

 small parts of the Pacific Coast States, and can be 

 supplied to consuming centers elsewhere only by long- 

 haul, high-cost transportation. Furthermore, it was 

 estimated in 1938 that possibly one-third of all our saw 

 timber, chiefly in the West, is too inaccessible to be 

 harvested at a reasonable cost. 



1 United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Lumber 

 industry, pt. i. standing timber. Bur. Corp. Commr. Rpt., p. 14. 1911. 



2 United States Congress, Senate, Joint Committee on Forestry, 

 forest lands of the united states. 77th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Doc. 

 32, p. 39. 1941. 



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