County Ownership 
The counties of the Douglas-fir region owned 
nearly 630,000 acres of forest land in 1933, all 
acquired by tax foreclosure. Most of this area is 
either deforested or in second growth; however, 
more than 155,000 acres is occupied by stands of 
saw-timber size. In Oregon the area of county- 
owned land has increased greatly since 1933. 
‘Table 10 shows the increase in county-owned land 
in 8 of the 19 western Oregon counties, by forest 
cover type. In Washington, moratoria on tax 
foreclosures have prevented large increases in 
county-owned land. However, these moratoria 
have now expired and foreclosure proceedings are 
under way in a number of counties. 
Tillamook is the one county that has declared a 
policy of retaining at least part of its county-owned 
forest lands. This county received some forest land 
as a gift and plans to retain it as a park. Further- 
more, it has announced its intention to retain for 
forest purposes other lands acquired by foreclosure. 
There is no statutory basis for establishing perma- 
nent county forests in either Oregon or Washington, 
and a change in county administration could result 
in reversal of ‘Tillamook County’s present practices. 
Generally speaking, the Oregon counties have no 
long-term program for handling their lands and 
are trying to pass them back into private ownership 
by sale. 
saw-timber size without selling the land. Some of 
A few have sold stumpage of pole, tie, and 
these stumpage sales have been on a contract basis 
and have brought extremely small returns. Obvi- 
ously it is not probable that tax-reverted lands can 
be successfully reestablished in private ownership, 
except in a few cases, unless economic conditions 
change materially. 
Municipal Ownership 
Approximately 100,000 acres of forest land in the 
Douglas-fir region is owned by municipalities. 
Almost all this land is retained as a protection to 
domestic water supplies. None of it is owned and 
managed primarily for the purpose of timber pro- 
duction. In addition to this municipal land about 
135,000 acres of national-forest land has been set 
aside for the protection of watersheds supplying 
domestic water to municipalities. An example of 
4] 
Tasre 10.—Increase in county-owned forest land through tax 
delinquency during 1933—36 in 8 western Oregon counties 
rr — 
Increase 
Generalized type 1933 19364 | aeateural os 
1933 1936 
Acres | Acres | Acres | Percent 
Conifer saw timber__...-__--________ 76, 480 |219, 019 |142, §39 186 
Conifer second growth_______________ 78, 052 |159, 999 | 81, 947 105 
Cut-overs and burns. _____-________ _| 85, 907 |188, 598 | 102, 691 120 
Noncommercial forests_____....______ 3, 308 3, 842 534 16 
Hardwood'forests=2- .--2 22-2. - 2) 6, 871 | 12, 792 5, 921 86 
AO Calon See) Se what Sd 250,618 |584, 250 |333, 632 133 
this is the Bull Run watershed on the Mount Hood 
National Forest, from which Portland draws its 
supply. 
Indian Ownership 
Indians own approximately 260,000 acres of forest 
land and 4.4 billion feet of saw timber in the 
Douglas-fir region. The region contains one large 
reservation, the Quinault, and a number of smaller 
ones. A small portion of the Indian-owned land 
Timber on the Quin- 
ault and Makah Reservations is being sold and cut 
consists of trust allotments. 
under management of trained foresters employed 
by the Office of Indian Affairs of the Department 
More than half the Indians’ forest 
land supports stands of saw-timber size. 
of the Interior. 
Unusually 
large percentages of their timber are western red- 
cedar, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce. 
Revested Grant Lands 
Most important of all forest-ownership classes 
other than private and national forest are the re- 
vested Oregon & California Railroad and Coos 
Bay Wagon Road grants, all of which are in Ore- 
These include well over 2 million acres of 
forest land and nearly 46 billion board feet of saw 
gon. 
timber. 
The original grant to the Oregon & California 
Railroad, which later became a part of the South- 
ern Pacific Railway system, consisted of the odd- 
numbered sections within a 20-mile-wide strip on 
each side of the right-of-way, and an indemnity 
strip 10 miles wide on each side. ‘This line ran from 
Portland, Oreg., to the California boundary. ‘The 
grant contained specific provisions regarding the 
