taken annually. Fishing facilities are exceptionally 

 good. A fish hatchery is operated by the State in 

 Wayne County, and many streams, both in the State 

 forests and elsewhere, are stocked from this hatchery. 

 The primary purpose of the game-commission 

 forests is to serve as game refuges and hunting grounds. 

 These forests are kept stocked with small game, and 

 much large game is also to be found. Each tract of 

 game-commission land comprises a game refuge sur- 

 rounded with a hunting ground, a system of game 



protection that has been found singularly successful. 

 Some owners of private recreational areas also 

 carry on forest management. Several large tracts are 

 managed on a partial-cutting basis. In general the 

 forests adjacent to lakes and streams are reserved 

 from cutting (fig. 15), but the timber on more remote 

 areas is in many cases sold to sawmill or mine-timber 

 operators and is clear-cut. There is still a great 

 opportunity for improving the beauty and value of the 

 timber stands in recreational areas. 



FOREST INDUSTRIES 



With a background of forest exploitation and small 

 though encouraging efforts to restore productive 

 forests, the forest-products industries cannot be ex- 

 pected to contribute very heavily at present to the 

 region's economy. They accounted for only 4 percent 

 of the region's basic income in 1940 and for a little less 

 than 2 percent of all employment in 1945. 



Value of Products 



The income derived from harvesting, transporting, 

 and manufacturing forest products totaled nearly 

 $17,000,000 in 1943. About 40 percent of this was 

 the value added through manufacture of products 

 from imported raw materials. The remainder came 

 from the production of primary products of local 

 forests : 



Mine lumber $2, 342, 100 



Other lumber 1, 110, 400 



Mine timbers 4, 725, 600 



Fuel wood 740, 900 



Fence posts 63, 000 



Maple syrup and sugar 37, 500 



All products 9, 01 9, 500 



Local lumber used in the mines, together with mine 

 timbers, accounted for 78 percent of the total value of 

 primary forest products. Landowners received nearly 

 $2,000,000 of the total value for trees removed from 

 their properties. 



The region has a number of secondary forest- 

 products industries. The most important of these 

 is furniture manufacture, with about 37 plants scat- 

 tered over eight counties. There are also some 20 

 plants that produce cardboard boxes and similar 

 products. Five planing mills' employ more than 20 

 persons each, and there are about 60 smaller ones. 

 Several spool and bobbin factories in the north- 



eastern section contribute to the needs of the textile 

 industry. Barrels and kegs, wooden heels, coat 

 hangers, tool handles, and wooden truck and auto- 

 mobile bodies are manufactured on a small scale in 

 several localities. 



At present four-fifths of the expenditure for forest 

 raw materials used by manufacturing industries goes 

 outside the region. The planing mills, many of 

 which fabricate lumber into finished building mate- 

 rials, obtain only about one-third of their require- 

 ments locally. The handle plants and barrel and 

 keg factories are largely dependent on local supplies. 

 But the far more important furniture factories rely 

 little on regional raw materials, and the paper-box 

 manufacturers not at all. The value added by manu- 

 facture in 1943 amounted to: 



Planing mills $1, 259, 200 



Furniture manufacture 3, 656, 200 



Other wood manufacture 1, 000, 000 



Paper-box manufacture 1, 769, 000 



All wood-using industries 7, 684, 400 



Local retail lumber yards purchase considerable 

 lumber from other sections. Practically all raw 

 materials used in the region could have been pro- 

 duced there if its forests had been properly managed 

 over past years. The total cost to local industries of 

 forest products brought into the region in 1943 is 

 estimated as follows: 



Mine lumber $\, 050, 000 



Retail yard lumber 1, 500, 000 



Mine timbers 456, 000 



Planing mills 610, 400 



Furniture manufacture 2, 621, 700 



Other wood manufacture 200, 000 



Paper-box manufacture 1, 874, 400 



Total cost 8, 312, 500 



16 



Miscellaneous Publication 648, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



