One fundamental reason for such lack of balance 
is that the timber industries in general have been 
organized on a liquidation basis. Only recently 
have a significant number of enterprises been 
planned for continuous operation. It was inevita- 
able that competitive exploitation of the original 
timber without regard to the sustained-yield capa- 
city of the forest would lead to an overconcentra- 
tion of plants in locations such as Grays Harbor, 
Puget Sound, and the Columbia River which com- 
bined easy access to a large volume of high-quality 
timber with cheap transportation to major con- 
suming markets. 
Excess plant capacity remains a problem in the 
older regions. In both the North and South, thous- 
ands of small sawmills with far greater capacity 
than the forests can sustain are a constant threat 
to essential forest growing stock and satisfactory 
forest management. Furthermore, New England, 
New York, and the Lake region have more pulp 
mills than their forests can support. Even in the 
South, concentration of pulp and paper mills at 
favorable points along the coast has led to rapid 
depletion of the local timber supply. 
During recent years there has been a significant 
accumulation of forest land by manufacturers con- 
cerned about the future of their operations. ‘Those 
needing more land frequently buy from those going 
out of business. Tax forfeiture of cut-over land 
has subsided. Yet lumber companies and pulp 
and paper manufacturers together own little more 
than one-tenth of all the commercial forest land. 
Obviously, much of their raw-material supply must 
come from other owners. In parts of the West, 
there is much interest in cooperative sustained- 
yield units whereby private forest land may be 
blocked up with adjacent government timber under 
a coordinated cutting plan. Such developments 
tend to strengthen ownership and give stability 
to a larger segment of the industrial timber supply. 
Acquisition of forest land by public agencies also 
works toward these ends. 
Competition for stumpage aggravates timber 
depletion. Manufacturers who own enough land 
can plan on a permanent supply. Those who must 
depend on the purchase of stumpage are often 
forced to compete with one another. In many 
parts of the country the scarcity of stumpage has 
led to premature cutting of young stands. Further- 
more, competition for stumpage has often resulted 
in liquidation of residual growing stock by owners 
who previously had undertaken partial cutting. 
And because of this, operators who may strive to 
keep their own lands productive sometimes disre- 
gard future productivity when cutting purchased 
stumpage. 
The small private holdings, including the farm 
woodlands, are in general suffering most from the 
scramble for stumpage. Yet an active demand for 
timber should be conducive to good forest practices 
on such lands. Farmers need to be shown that 
timber growing can be an integral part of their 
business and small owners, whether farmers or 
others, will often be better able to withstand pres- 
sure for destructive cutting if organized into coop- 
erative associations through which output may be 
more effectively channeled into industrial use. 
The adverse effects of competition for stumpage 
could be reduced in some sections by organizing 
timber-products exchanges. Experience with other 
commodity exchanges indicates that this would tend 
to assure the timber growers fair prices and good 
outlets, while the manufacturers would find a more 
dependable source of raw material. 
Integration of wood requirements for various 
products should lead to more orderly timber use 
and better forestry. To put each cubic foot of 
wood to the highest use it can serve—high-grade 
logs into high-quality products, and low-grade ma- 
terial into pulpwood, fuel wood, or similar products 
—means a continual search for ways to eliminate 
waste and reduce costs. Integration within a single 
company may not always be feasible, but when it 
can be accomplished it usually results in more com- 
plete utilization and lower costs. For example, a 
combination of sawmill, pulp and paper plant, 
veneer mill, and chemical plants using wood and 
pulp-mill wastes may fit operating conditions in 
the Pacific Northwest. An outstanding example 
may be found in the integrated operations of one 
of the large companies at Longview, Wash. 
Where plant integration is not feasible, the raw- 
material supply for independent sawmills, pulp 
mills, and specialty manufacturers may be inte- 
grated, as already suggested, through timber-prod- 
ucts exchanges or by cooperative action among the 
manufacturers, the producers, or both. At any rate 
the presence of diversified timber industries in a 
given locality may afford ample opportunity to sell 
all kinds of timber to advantage. Such situations 
exist, for example, in southern New Hampshire and 
at Cloquet, Minn. They help make good forestry 
practicable. 
In summary, the raw-material problems of the 
60 Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. 8. Department of Agriculture 
