PE OBReES Sea RAESSIO,URREGeEis( OOF Tf HE, DO U GLAS =-FITR REGION 
: Survey Findings in Brief 
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HE highest service that forests of the Douglas-fir region can render is in support and stabilization of 
communities dependent on them. Included are, not only the people and investments in forest 
industries, but also those in farms, stores, banks, garages, schools, transportation, and various industries. 
Forests support in one way or another about half the population of the region. ‘To redeem this enormous 
responsibility for service, forests must furnish a permanent annual harvest of material equal at least to 
present production. ‘This will require sustained-yield forest practice, including acceptance of the responsi- 
bilities of permanent ownership. 
The major problem therefore is to bring about promptly the adoption of a system of managing old- 
growth and second-growth forests for the continuous production of high-quality material while there is yet 
sufficient growing stock to do so without calamitous dislocation of people and industry. 
A factual resume of the findings of the Forest Survey, as presented in detail in subsequent pages of this 
publication, is as follows: ' 
1. The forest is an integral part of the farm economy of the Douglas-fir region. Forests furnish fuel, 
fence posts, and other products essential to farm management and rural life. Forest products are important 
crops to many farmers. Forest industries afford part-time employment to many farmers and support, 
directly and indirectly, approximately half the population of the region. 
2. The Douglas-fir region produces 30 percent of the lumber, 90 percent of the shingles, and 23 percent 
of the wood pulp produced in the United States, depending chiefly upon outside markets. 
3. The major forest problem in the Douglas-fir region is the necessity for instituting a system of managing 
old-growth forests for continuous production. ‘This means that clear cutting over vast areas, which has 
resulted in large areas of nonstocked cut-over land, must be halted. 
4. The Douglas-fir region has 29 million acres of forest land, amounting to 82.6 percent of its total land 
area. Of this, 26.1 million acres, or 90 percent, was classified in the forest survey as commercial conifer. 
5. Conifer types of saw-timber size occupy more than 14.5 million acres, of which 11.6 million is old 
growth and 2.9 million second growth. Second-growth conifer types less than saw-timber size occupy 7 
million acres. Deforested burns, old nonrestocked cut-overs, and recent cut-overs total 4.4 million acres. 
1 Forest survey progress releases on the Douglas-fir region issued by the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment 
Station previous to the publication of this major report are: (1) Forest statistics in separate form for Clallam, Clark, 
Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, 
Thurston, Wahkiakum, and Whatcom Counties, Wash., and for Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Curry, Douglas, 
Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Washington, and Yamhill Coun- 
ties, Oregon. 1934. [Mimeographed.] (2) Forest Resources of the Douglas-Fir Region. Forest Res. Notes No. 13. 1934. 
[Mimeographed.] (3) Pulpwood Resources of Western Oregon and Western Washington. Forest Res. Notes No. 17. 
1935. [Mimeographed.] (4) Forest Growth in the Douglas-Fir Region. Forest Res. Notes No. 20. 1936. [Mimeographed. | 
(5) Timber Volume and Type Acreage on the National Forests of the North Pacific Region. Forest Res. Notes No. 22. 
1937. [Mimeographed.] (6) Detailed forest type maps of each of the above listed 38 counties. Scale 1inch equals1 mile. Blue 
line print form. 1934. (7) State type maps—Douglas-fir region covered by four sheets, NW Washington, SW Washing- 
ton, NW Oregon, SW Oregon. Scale 4% inch=1 mile. 1936. [Lithographed.] The Pacific Northwest Station has also 
cooperated with the State of Washington in the following recent publication: Cow in, R. M., and Morets, F. L., FoREsT 
RESOURCES OF WASHINGTON. Wash. Dept. of Conserv. and Development, Olympia. 44 pp., illus. 
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