low production; all things considered, the data are believed 
to be representative. 
The log-production data used were taken from several 
sources but principally from the biennial lumber- and log- 
production censuses of Oregon and Washington for the 
years 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, and 1933 taken by the 
Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station in 
cooperation with the Bureau of the Census. Sawlog pro- 
duction as reported by the independent loggers and logger- 
manufacturers was used in preference to lumber, lath, 
shingle, veneer, and pulpwood production because in this 
way the material could be traced to its sources and classified 
Data for 1926, 1928, 1930, and 1932 
were obtained partly from records of the Portland, Oreg., 
regional office of the Forest Service and partly by inter- 
viewing officials of timber companies and lumber associa- 
tions and other individuals having personal knowledge of 
lumber operations. 
A check of the sawlog data was made by comparing the 
sum of the county totals with a regional total obtained by 
combining census and other official figures. The differ- 
ences found were 3.7 percent for western Washington, 2.1 
percent for western Oregon, and 1.9 percent for the region 
as a whole. The errors for survey-unit totals were esti- 
mated to be well within +5 percent. 
The study of depletion for minor forest products had to be 
based on 1930 production alone, as data for previous or sub- 
sequent years were either missing or too incomplete for satis- 
The basic data were obtained through field in- 
vestigations and by means of questionnaires circulated to 
producers and consumers. 
curacy was obtained by this method for all items except 
round and split fence posts. Since posts are produced in 
small quantities and by many individuals, largely by farmers 
for their own use, it was impossible to canvass the field 
thoroughly. A figure was obtained by adding to the output 
reported by the large-scale commercial operators an estimate 
of annual farm requirements. 
by county and unit. 
factory use. 
Information of satisfactory ac- 
Fire Depletion 
The study of depletion of the forest capital by fire was much 
more complex than the study of depletion by cutting. 
The two sources of information available were Forest Serv- 
ice reports covering burned area on the national forests and 
State foresters’ reports covering burned area on all other 
forest lands. 
those for national forests being treated separately from those 
for all other lands. 
The basic data used for the analysis of depletion by fire on 
the national forests were the reports of all class C fires (fires 
10 acres or more in area) on the national forests of the region 
in the 10-year period 1924-33. Site and type before fire 
were determined by superimposing on the forest-survey site 
and type maps the outlines of the areas reported to have been 
covered by the fires. Each fire was classified and the essen- 
tial data regarding area, location, type, site, and volume 
were separately recorded. These were compiled by county 
The data were summarized by survey unit, 
149 
A field check was made of about 
25 percent of the total area reported to have been covered by 
class C fires, and from the data thus obtained correction fac- 
tors for both area and volume were computed. No blanket 
deduction was made for salvage. 
and summarized by unit. 
In the few cases in which 
material was known to have been salvaged this material was 
deducted from the loss. When the 10-year totals of area 
burned and timber killed had been adjusted, they were con- 
verted to average annual-loss rates. 
Reports made to the State foresters on individual fires in 
the region in the 5-year period 1926-30, which had been 
analyzed in connection with the forest fire insurance study 
(20) recently made by the Pacific Northwest Forest and 
Range Experiment Station, formed the basic data used in 
computing fire-depletion rates for land other than national 
forests. Supplementary reports on nearly all the fires cover- 
ing 50 acres or more were obtained from the fire wardens, 
and checked in the field, for all counties except San Juan and 
Island in Washington and Hood River, Jackson, and Jose- 
phine in Oregon. ‘The areas covered by the supplementary 
fire reports were classified as to site and type by reference to 
the forest-survey site and type maps, and the volume loss 
estimated. ‘These data were recorded by county and the 
totals combined by forest-survey unit. The data were then 
compared with the State foresters’ published reports of total 
area burned in the same period in the same group of coun- 
ties and were adjusted to them. They were next converted 
to an annual loss rate. This procedure automatically in- 
cluded Island, San Juan, and Hood River Counties. Jack- 
son and Josephine Counties were covered by a separate 
analysis of individual fire reports to the State foresters for the 
period 1926-32. Finally, annual loss rates were calculated 
for the entire region by survey unit. Salvage rates for lands 
outside the national forests were computed on the basis of 
data obtained in the forest fire insurance study, and were 
applied to volume-loss totals. 
Future Depletion 
No specific formula could be evolved for making estimates 
of future depletion from cutting. The economic forces that 
‘The 
Douglas-fir region is farther removed than any other forest 
region of the United States from the large markets of the Mid- 
western and Eastern States. What quantities of lumber will 
be shipped from it will depend somewhat on the extent to 
which the other forest regions can fulfill the requirements of 
On the other hand 
this region is favorably situated in relation to Asia, Africa, 
and the antipodes, the world’s largest undeveloped markets 
for softwoods. 
could influence the situation are many and complex. 
the country’s heavily populated sections. 
The depletion estimates are pure assump- 
tions, based on careful analysis of cutting records and of cur- 
rent trends in lumbering, not only regional but national, and 
all other known influences. 
Future depltion from fire, while not subject to so many 
dynamic economic forces as cutting, was equally difficult of 
prediction. 
