stands of virgin timber results in waste averaging 
2,500 cubic feet per acre cut. This is by far the 
greatest accumulation of woods waste suitable for 
lumber or pulp anywhere in the country. 
While the South already has a more diverse in- 
dustry and makes fuller use of its forest crop than 
most of the West, it is significant that the propor- 
tion of all waste incident to lumbering is almost 
as great as in the Pacific Northwest. Because of 
the small size of timber being cut in the South, 
sawmill waste runs high and this tends to balance 
the heavy logging waste in the Pacific Northwest: 
Waste as percent of lumbering 
drain in— 
Logging Milling Both 
Locality: 
SOU Cn oan ne eee oe sane Lee 29 39 68 
Pacific Northwest 37 34 71 
Conditions for waste-using industries are favor- 
able in both the South and the West. Both have 
numerous localities where permanent primary 
manufacturing plants of substantial size can be 
sustained. Both need more industries to strengthen 
the local economy. The South needs new indus- 
tries to absorb part of the labor force being re- 
leased by changes in the acreage and technology of 
cotton production. The West needs them to em- 
ploy part of a rapidly expanding population with- 
out increasing the drain on the resources, and to 
continue to support people in localities where forest 
depletion is forcing curtailment of primary timber 
industries. Because of the volume and concentra- 
tion of both logging and manufacturing waste, the 
Pacific Northwest—the Douglas-fir subregion in par- 
ticular—offers the most favorable opportunity. In 
the South the largest opportunity for industrial 
development based on use of wood waste is in the, 
West Gulf region. 
Possible Reduction and Use of Waste 
It should be apparent from the foregoing discus- 
sion of the nature and distribution of waste that 
economic use of the entire volume disclosed by this 
study is impossible. There will inevitably be sub- 
stantial quantities of small size, poor quality, or 
defective material left in the woods—especially in 
localities farthest from market and on terrain where 
logging is most difficult. Furthermore, it is un- 
likely that we will ever be able to gather up any 
large part of the waste from some 38,000 small 
sawmills; and much of the waste from the larger 
mills—especially those of medium size—will con- 
Forests and National Prosperity 
tinue to be used to stoke the boilers. But this 
does not minimize the importance of developing 
every possible opportunity either to reduce waste 
or to use it. 
Physical recovery.—Part of the waste in logging 
is simply the result of inefficient practices in felling 
and bucking. Waste in high stumps and from 
excessive or inefficient trimming allowance can be 
reduced by proper supervision or instruction and 
constant care. The amount of breakage and waste 
from poor choice of log lengths depends on the 
skill and judgment of the loggers. Waste from 
these sources is likely to be more important in 
farm woodlands and other small operations than 
on large operations where labor may be more 
skilled and supervision better. 
More of the waste in logging may be recovered 
by the introduction of equipment especially de- 
signed to handle it. Great strides are being made 
in this direction in the Douglas-fir subregion. 
Widespread use of trucks and tractors instead of 
yarding engines and railroad transportation has 
given greater flexibility to operations and permitted 
the use of much material formerly left on the 
ground. The huge volume of material that can- 
not be economically handled by the heavy equip- 
ment still needed for logging the virgin timber 
often may be recovered by working over the area 
with light equipment either before or after the 
main logging job. 
Portable sawmills are being successfully used to 
convert waste material on cut-over areas in the 
Douglas-fir subregion into rough lumber for ship- 
ment to finishing plants. Attention is also being 
given to portable chippers to convert material 
left in the woods, including that not suitable for 
lumber, to a form which will permit economic de- 
livery to a pulp mill. 
In the hardwood regions also, waste of material 
that cannot be economically handled in ordinary 
logging challenges our ingenuity to devise equip- 
ment and operating techniques to recover usable 
material in bolts or other form. 
In many localities, integration of pulpwood cut- 
ting with lumber operations would help reduce 
logging waste. 
There are similar possibilities for physical re- 
covery of waste in primary manufacture. Inef- 
ficient practices, especially in the small mills which 
now cut so much of our lumber, cause much waste 
that can be eliminated by technical guidance and 
assistance. For example, inadequate power, poorly 
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