we cut and because so large a part of our forest 
problem is with small owners and operators of 
limited means, the necessary research should be 
led by the Government. There will, however, 
always be room and incentive for research by pri- 
vate industry. Most likely to yield results that will 
lead to immediate reduction of waste is research: 
(1) To devise new equipment and new practices 
for collecting, transporting, and processing logging 
waste; (2) to facilitate manufacture and use of 
small dimension, cut-up stock, and other products 
from mill waste; (3) to enable the pulp and paper 
industry to use more species of wood; (4) to in- 
crease the yield in the chemical pulping processes 
and otherwise recover waste in pulping waste 
liquor; (5) to improve processes for wood hydro- 
lysis and partial hydrolysis and find practical means 
of byproduct recovery. 
To get commercial application of research in 
wood use it is sometimes necessary to go beyond 
the laboratory stage and undertake demonstrations 
on a pilot-plant scale. Only a few individuals or 
timber companies are able to do this on their own 
resources. There is need for public aid and 
financing of pilot-plant operations in all phases of 
wood use involving radical departures from known 
practices, with attendant risks. This is especially 
true when large investments in entirely new plants 
for untried processes are required, as in the case of 
wood hydrolysis. It is also true for new institu- 
tional arrangements involving many people, as in 
the operation of processing facilities by forest co- 
operatives. 
Other aids.—Beyond public action along the lines 
indicated above, use of wood waste will be furthered 
by progress in the integration of wood-using indus- 
tries and in sustained-yield forest management. 
These things help provide a favorable environment 
for industrial application of new or improved 
practices resulting from research. 
Some of our wood waste is due to a traditional 
pattern of specialized industry. As a general rule 
our timber has been exploited to provide raw ma- 
terial for one industry or another without regard 
to future use of material not sought by that in- 
dustry. Bringing in diversified industries and 
gearing the composite wood requirements of the 
industries of any locality to the character and con- 
dition of tributary forests means more effective 
timber use and less waste. This may be accom- 
plished by individual companies diversifying their 
output, by two or more companies with comple- 
Forests and National Prosperity: 
mentary wood requirements pooling their timber 
holdings for joint operation or, in a more general 
way, by over-all planning in a community to achieve 
and maintain good balance between the timber 
industries and local timber supply. 
Lack of good forest management is another aspect 
of excessive wood waste. So long as timber was 
plentiful and cheap there was little incentive for 
close utilization. But as timber becomes scarce 
and prices advance, landowners and operators be- 
come increasingly concerned about waste. And 
when they put their lands under sustained-yield 
management and become conscious of the costs of 
replacing productive growing stock, better use for 
the whole crop may make the difference between 
success or failure. Thus, while ability to make 
full use of what is cut improves the opportunity 
for sustained-yield management, planning for sus- 
tained yield is a powerful incentive for the reduc- 
tion and use of waste. 
Relation of Better Use to the Forest 
Situation 
Current information on the waste problem for 
the country as a whole is so sketchy and so many 
rapidly changing factors are involved that quantita- 
tive estimates of the possible use of material now 
wasted are very difficult to make and would seem 
to have little significance. It is worth while, how- 
ever, to consider the possibilities in general terms 
in relation to the Nation’s needs in forestry. 
When all is said and done, the output of sawn 
products that may come from waste is likely to be 
only a small percent of the total. Everywhere 
except in the Douglas-fir subregion, recovery of 
sawn products from waste will have to be based 
on such refinements as more care in log making, 
better practices in small mills, finding practical 
means of gathering and handling short bolts now 
left uncut, and expanding the recovery of small- 
dimension stock from hardwood sawmill waste. 
Only in the Douglas-fir subregion are there oppor- 
tunities for new or distinct .operations in the re- 
covery of sawn products from logging waste. Even 
here recovery is likely to be confined to a few fav- 
orable localities where large concentrations of 
usable waste are easily accessible. 
Somewhat better opportunity exists to augment 
the pulpwood supply by use of material now wasted. 
This can be achieved by better integration with 
lumber logging and sawmills and by relogging. 
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