privately owned timber resources and clear cut- 
ting will continue, and it applies only to the period 
ending with 1962, which is as far ahead as most 
timber operators plan. In discussing the prospec- 
tive supplies of raw material for that period and 
particularly for the more remote future, it is neces- 
sary to consider the possible effects of sustained- 
yield forest management. 
In this region the term “‘sustained-yield manage- 
ment” has been used too loosely. Essentially it 
denotes a plan of procedure which, assuming 
adequate stocking, will be applicable to an indi- 
vidual property or to a combination of properties 
under unified control whereby in the long run 
annual cut will equal annual growth. The cuts 
on a specified area may be made annually or at 
intervals of 5, 10, 20, or more years, but over a 
long period cut and growth will balance. At 
present sustained-yield management is in force on 
only a small percentage of the world’stotal com- 
mercial forest land. It is more prevalent in Ger- 
many, the Scandinavian countries, and France 
than elsewhere. In the Douglas-fir region there 
is no sustained-yield practice on large areas except 
on the national forests, and there the annual cut 
to date has been too small to permit any significant 
application of the policy. 
Leading factors in the present situation in this 
region as regards sustained yield are about as 
follows: (1) The forests in any one locality are 
badly out of adjustment, 1. e., in most of them there 
is either too much old growth in proportion to timber 
of younger age classes or too little old-growth area 
in proportion to recently cut-over area, and a 
paucity of the intermediate size and age classes that 
would provide the owner a steady income; (2) there 
is no adequate system of permanent forest-develop- 
ment roads; (3) instead of maintaining a close rela- 
tion with growers, such as is found in European 
countries, many manufacturers in the three leading 
industrial districts depend on open log markets for 
their supply of raw material—a factor that may, 
however, be favorable toward attaining sustained 
yield in the northern part of the region; (4) regional 
distribution of wood-conversion plants in relation to 
supplies of standing timber is uneven, with heavy 
concentration of manufacturing plants in certain 
heavily cut-over districts and a lack of such facilities 
in many districts containing extensive stands of 
virgin timber; (5) vast areas are covered by mature 
and overmature timber; (6) tax laws do not favor 
holding timber, and administration of existing tax 
laws is not uniform; and (7) few private owners are 
interested in holding forest land for continuous 
management. 
The great extent of the timberland tributary to 
Puget Sound, Grays Harbor, and the Columbia 
River and the ease and cheapness of log transpor- 
tation by water have resulted in the installation of 
sawmills whose aggregate capacity is far greater 
than could be supplied by available forests for even 
afew decades. Many of the mills face a shortage of 
raw material in the relatively near future which is 
not only of serious consequence to the companies 
involved but of even greater gravity to the depend- 
ent communities. This shortage is no less real 
for being at present obscured by the fact that 
several communities are counting upon the same 
bodies of privately and publicly owned timber for 
their sawmills. 
Region-wide or large-scale adoption of sustained- 
yield management must begin in the forest rather 
than in the mill; wood-using industries must base 
their operations on what the forest land within 
their range of economical transportation can pro- 
duce under such management—and also on their 
own competitive ability. In a forest region that 
does not have extensive waterways, the timberland 
tributary to individual manufacturing centers is 
usually rather distinctly defined. This is true of 
some inland portions of the Douglas-fir region. 
The availability of water transportation in western 
Washington and northwestern Oregon, however, 
seriously complicates the distribution of logs and 
makes it exceedingly difficult to define tributary 
territories. 
Vast expanses of clear-cut areas threaten forest 
stability. What is needed is a shift from clear 
cutting to a system, whether individual tree selec- 
tion or small area selection, which will allow fre- 
quent cutting over the same general area of high 
returns, leaving areas of low return for longer 
periods. 
In connection with plans to institute sustained- 
yield management on a region-wide basis, decisions 
as to which of the present mill locations should be 
retained and what new locations should be chosen 
would be affected by the facility with which trucks 
