6. More than 3 million acres of forest land in the Douglas-fir region was cut over prior to 1920 and in 
1933 had not been put to other use; of this total, in 1933, 28 percent was well stocked with second-growth 
trees, 36 percent was medium stocked, 15 percent was poorly stocked, and 21 percent was nonstocked. In 
the period 1920-33 more than 2 million acres was cut over, of which at the end of the period 12 percent 
was well stocked with reproduction, 17 percent was medium stocked, 29 percent was poorly stocked, and 
42 percent was nonstocked. Of the total area of cut-over land in the region, 50 percent is satisfactorily 
restocked and 50 percent is either nonstocked or only poorly stocked. 
7. The region’s saw-timber stand totals 546 billion board feet, log scale, all but 4 billion of which is 
conifers. Douglas-fir, the leading species, totals 331 billion feet, and is followed by western hemlock with 
105 billion board. feet. Other important species are western redcedar, Sitka spruce, and silver fir. 
8. It was estimated that only a little more than half the saw-timber volume could profitably be logged 
under the conditions that prevailed during the period 1925-29. 
9. The regional total of cubic volume in trees 6 inches and larger in breast-height diameter is 129 
billion cubic feet; species eminently suitable for pulp manufacture make up 39 billion cubic feet, or 30 percent, 
10. More than 53 percent of the commercial forest land and approximately 48 percent of the saw-timber 
volume in the Douglas-fir region are privately owned, and 30 percent of the commercial forest land and 37 
percent of the saw-timber volume are within the national forests. The remaining 17 percent of the land 
and 15 percent of the volume are in other forms of pubiic ownership or owned by Indians. 
11. Current annual depletion of saw timber from all causes is estimated to total about 8.3 billion board 
feet, of which 7.9 billion board feet is cutting depletion. 
12. Sawlog production in the Douglas-fir region during 1925-33 averaged 7.4 billion board feet, of 
which 5.4 billion feet was Douglas-fir, 1 billion feet western hemlock, 0.6 billion feet western redcedar, 0.3 
Sitka spruce, and 0.1 billion other species. 
13. Current losses of saw timber by fire, excluding catastrophes such as the Tillamook fire of 1933, 
amount to a quarter of a billion board feet annually. The area burned over annually averages more than 
250,000 acres, including large areas of second growth. Killing of second growth seriously endangers future 
saw-timber supplies. 
14. Current annual growth in the Douglas-fir region totals approximately 2.4 billion board feet. Poten- 
tial annual growth under intensive forest practice is approximately 8.2 billion board feet. 
15. The supply of old-growth Douglas-fir within economically feasible transportation distance of the 
Puget Sound and Grays Harbor districts will be practicaily exhausted within two decades if the present 
rate of depletion continues. 
16. The supply of pulp timber is sufficient to maintain the existing rate of wood-pulp production indefi- 
nitely if reasonable forest practice is observed and if the volume of pulp species used in lumber manufacture 
is not increased. 
17. In order to stabilize economic life in this region sustained-yield forest management should be 
instituted as soon as possible. The ultimate sustained-yield capacity of the region under reasonably in- 
tensive forest management is estimated at 8 billion board feet per year; during the transition period, under 
optimum conditions, a cut of about 614 billion per year is allowable. 
18. In the Puget Sound, Grays Harbor, and Columbia River districts the annual cuts allowable under 
a sustained-yield budget were exceeded during 1933, a year of comparatively low production. Progressive 
overcutting of the southern districts will bring about conditions similar to those in the north. 
19. Most of the forest land that should be used for continuous production could, through concerted 
action by industry and government, be put under sustained-yield management within 25 to 50 years. 
20. With an enlarging acreage of cut-over land and a growing use of the forests by the public for recrea- 
tion, the Douglas-fir region is facing an increasingly difficult problem of forest-fire protection. 
Se) 
