percent is classed as noncommercial. The national 
forests form 35 percent of the region’s total forest 
land and 30 percent of its commercial forest land. 
They contain 37 percent of its total saw-timber 
volume. In contrast, they contain only about 24 
percent of the timber in availability class I and 
their Douglas-fir percentage is smaller than that 
of the other ownership classes. Approximately 
73 percent of the commercial forest land in the 
national forests supports stands of saw-timber size 
and 19 percent supports conifer second-growth 
stands, almost all of which occur on old burns. 
Only a small percentage of the commercial forest 
land is deforested. 
The national forests, in common with other 
public lands, are not subject to any kind of local 
taxation. By statutory provision, however, 25 
percent of all receipts derived from the sale or use 
of the resources of each national forest are trans- 
ferred to the State or States containing the national 
forest, for expenditure on the public schools and 
public roads of the county or counties in which the 
forest is situated. When any national forest is in 
more than one State or county the distributive share 
to each from the proceeds of such forest shall be 
proportional to its area therein. Also, 10 percent 
of all national-forest receipts are made available for 
expenditure for construction and maintenance of 
roads and trails within the national forests of the 
States in which the funds originated. In addition, 
direct appropriations are made by Congress each 
year for road and trail construction on lands 
within the national forests. Substantial sums are 
spent each year for the protection, administration, 
and improvement of these public forests, whose 
resources of timber, forage, water, recreation, etc., 
are largely used by and are of much benefit to the 
national as well as the local population. 
In this region, up to and including 1935, more 
than $9,000,000 had been realized from the sale of 
national-forest products and approximately 
$2,250,000 of national-forest receipts had been 
paid to the two States for distribution to the 
counties. 
State Ownership 
Forest lands in the Douglas-fir region owned by 
Oregon and Washington total nearly a million 
acres, of which about 16,000 acres is reserved for 
40 
specific purposes such as State parks. The saw- 
timber volume in State ownership totals 23.9 
billion board feet, of which 160 million feet is on 
reserved lands. The lands were granted by the 
Federal Government to the States to finance edu- 
cation and internal improvements. Oregon dis- 
posed of the greater part of her lands years ago, 
but Washington retained most of hers and is now 
profiting thereby. In the Douglas-fir region 
Washington owns 853,293 acres of forest land 
supporting 23.2 billion board feet of standing 
timber, and Oregon owns 113,968 acres supporting 
0.7 billion board feet. 
The common-school lands originally granted to 
the States comprised sections 16 and 36 in each 
township, and thus were badly scattered. This 
dispersion of the State forest lands has been one 
obstacle to their effective management. In western 
Oregon most of the remaining State lands have now 
been consolidated into one block called the Elliott 
State Forest. This was effected by exchanging 
scattered State lands for national-forest and Oregon 
& California Railroad revested grant lands. This 
block is now almost entirely occupied by second- 
growth Douglas-fir stands. Although there are no 
statutory provisions for its management, the State 
Board of Forestry expects to manage it on a sus- 
tained-yield basis. 
In western Washington the State is acquiring 
through exchange of scattered areas for national- 
forest land, two comparatively large blocks of 
mature timber. One of these is on the west side 
of the Olympic Peninsula and the other is in the 
northern Cascade Range. In 1933 the Washing- 
ton Legislature enacted a law reserving from sale 
all State timberland on the Olympic Peninsula 
area with the intention of creating a sustained- 
yield forest. Subsequently the constitutionality of 
certain provisions of the act was challenged by the 
Washington commissioner of public lands. The 
legislature failed to appropriate funds for the opera- 
tion of a sustained-yield forest, and so far no cutting 
has taken place on the area. No corresponding 
law has been enacted concerning areas in the 
Cascade Range. Other large blocks of State forest 
are being established through acquisition of cut- 
over land by donation from counties and by pur- 
chase from private owners. Payment to the private 
owners is made in State utility bonds. 
