Taste 11.—Estimated allowable annual drain under a system of 
good forest management 
Merchantable trees 
eet Cull 
erlo tree 
Sawlog Cords Total volume 
volume voliime volume 
Million Million 
board cubic 
Jeet M cords feet M cords 
IMU PAVE. a Se ewe 589 1, 183 180. 8 2, 862 
second 20ivearsmee ewe e- sees ae 550 1, 100 170.0 () 
‘Rhird(20yearsecesee- eee 650 1, 300 200. 0 () 
IDpOAEM GY 1, 000 2, 000 300. 0 () 
1 Not estimated. 
timber naturally reduce the yield capacity of the 
forest. 
The old-growth northern hardwoods, which 
comprise about 18 percent of the Upper Peninsula 
forest area, are in what might be called an over- 
stocked condition. Growth on this land would be 
greatly stimulated (probably doubled) if half the 
volume were removed by careful selective logging. 
Such an operation spread over a 20-year period 
would yield about 450 million board feet per year 
as an average. During the second and subsequent 
20-year periods the same area should yield from 
250 to 300 million board feet each year. 
The second-growth saw timber, cordwood, and 
restocking areas are growing at the rate of 223 
million board feet per year. To build up a 
balanced growing stock within a period of 40 
years will require retention of about half of this 
growth in the forest. For the first 20-year period 
this would mean that about 139 million board feet 
in large scattered trees could be logged each year, 
while an equivalent volume should be allowed to 
accumulate on small thrifty trees to improve the 
forest. During the second 20-year period about 
275 million board feet could be logged each year 
and after 40 years approximately 350 to 400 
million board feet per year. 
With good management, therefore, it would be 
possible to cut from all classes of forest land about 
590 million board feet of saw timber (table 11) 
each year while putting the forest in a better 
growing condition. After 40 years, this yield 
would be advanced to 600 to 700 million board 
feet, and eventually 1,000 million board feet or 
more should be available. 
From tops, limbs, and cull sections of the trees 
cut for sawlogs and from thinnings or other 
16 
cuttings on cordwood stands, about 1% million 
cords of sound cordwood can now be obtained each 
year. This yield need be only slightly reduced 
after the first 20 years and would eventually reach 
about 2 million cords. 
The solid cubic volume of allowable drain of 
saw timber and cordwood together during the first 
20 years amounting to 181 million cubic feet would 
be reduced during the second period by 10 or 11 
million feet, but would eventually reach half again 
the present yield. 
Normal Actual Drain 
Saw Timber 
In a normal year, about 688 million board feet 
of saw timber is cut for industrial or domestic use 
or wasted in logging and 70 million more is lost 
through fire or other damaging agencies® (table 
12). Thus the total annual drain is 758 million 
board feet. 
TasLe 12.—Normal annual drain on merchantable timber 
on Saw Cord- Total 
Agency timber wood! | volume 
M board M cubic 
feet Cords feet 
@utting 322 ens es ae ee eee ee 688, 500 /1, 484, 000 219, 900 
MIT Obes ela are eae UCN as = anc ay OO 11, 700 58, 000 6, 200 
Other depleting agencies_______________ 58, 200 | 158, 000 21, 100 
ATO ten. Ax ae ue te er eee os 758, 400 |1, 700, 000 247, 200 
1 All cedar products included. 
2 Includes unutilized merchantable material. 
Cutting for lumber normally accounts for only 
53 percent of the logging depletion (see table 26, 
Appendix). Other major items are cuttings for 
pulpwood, mine timbers, distillation wood, ties, 
fuel wood, veneer logs, container logs, and wooden- 
ware logs. Drain has fluctuated considerably in 
recent years, as indicated by statistics on sawmill 
output (see table 16, Appendix). The best 3-year 
average for the period 1924-33 for Upper Penin- 
sula mills was 630 million board feet. Actual pro- 
duction in 1934, however, was only 217 million 
board feet. In 1936, it rose to 381 million board 
feet and in 1937 was close to 400 million. Pro- 
9 Estimated normal drain from logging is based upon past 
averages for individual mills, modified in some respects by 
the judgment of the operators as to future production. Fire 
losses are estimated from actual losses during the period 
1928-35. Other losses amount to about one-fourth of 1 
percent of the present stand. 
