NORTH K R N 



IDAHO 



FORES T 



RESOURCES 



A X D 



I N L) L S I R J K S 



Introduction 



j^ (^. 



be increased in the future with proper management. Even 

 so, unless the cut of secondary species is increased, the 

 forest industry which can be supported in the future will 

 be much smaller than the present one. With no other 

 place for the residents of northern Idaho to turn, the real 

 goal is continuation of the industry on the present level. 

 If the markets could absorb all species up to the amount 

 that can be produced, little or no decline would be neces- 

 sary. The average annual cut ot all species (except cedar 

 poles) in northern Idaho has recently been 580 million 

 board feet. The present allowable cut is 518 million board 

 feet; but this could be increased somewhat with proper 



management. The soundest 

 approach to the utilization 

 problem lies in fixing the 

 white pine cut at the highest 

 possible stable level, at the 

 same time attempting to 

 broaden the outlet for the 

 less marketable species. 



These forests are among 

 the most inflammable in the 

 L nited States. Fire losses 

 in both mature and immature 

 stands during the period 

 19.>1-J^7 reduced the sustain- 



Cult and perhaps impossible ^'"^'"'^ 2.-7» northtn, I,M,o 4 acres out of 5 are forest compared rrith ..j,]^ ^^j ^^, ^^^^^ 26 million 

 , . I acre out of J in the United States as a xcholr. . ' . 



Ixtard feet of white pine 

 yearly. .At this rate, in each century a full 18 years of 

 harvest would be reapetl by fire. Even though the recent ' 

 fire record of both private and public protective agencies 



Highlights of the Situation 



NORTHERN IDAHO, separated from southern 

 Idaho by natural barriers, chief of which is the very 

 deep canyon of the Salmon River (fig. 1), is a com- 

 paratively distinct unit of 12.5 million acres making up the 

 "panhandle" of the State. It includes nine complete 

 counties and the greater portion of Idaho County, which 

 lies partly south of the Salmon River. That the forests in 

 this region constitute an outstanding natural resource is 

 well illustrated by a comparison of the proportionate area of 

 forest with that for the United States as a whole (fig. 2). 



The 10.3 million acres of 



forest land in northern Idaho 

 amounts to approximately 

 four-fifths of the total area. 



During the period 1935-38, 

 6,000 workers on the average 

 were employed in the major 

 local timber-products indus- 

 try, kmibering. This is a 

 rather small number in com- 

 parison with the forest acre- 

 age, and yet, because ot the 

 forest situation in this region, 

 it will in the future be diffi- 



to maintain a permanent m- 



dustry ot even this small size. The nature of the forest 

 resource accounts in part for this. .Approximately 3.4 

 million acres of the forest is noncommercial. Ot the re- 

 maining 6.9 niillion acres, only 2.4 million support western 

 white pine stands. Out of 38 billion boarii feet of saw 

 timber in sawlog stands, only onc-tourth, or 10 billion board 

 feet, is western white pine. These figures are significant 

 because 73 percent of the lumber and 56 percent of all the 

 timber cut is of this species. The remaining three-fourths 

 of the timber consists of s|iecies currently considered so low 

 in the utility scale that it is difficult to market them profit- 

 ably in distant consuming centers. 



The present allowable cut of western white pine (i. c., 

 permissible cut under a system of sustaiticd-yield forestry) 

 is 140 million boani feet yearly, as compared to an average 

 cut of 351 niillion board feet in the years l'>35-38. This can 



has been good in general, the losses need to be reviucevi 

 even further on the areas given intensive protection, and 

 such protection must be exteiuled to the still large area now 

 inaileipiately ci>veretl. 



The cost i>f guarding these forests a^mes high, parti- 

 cularly on national forests. If rt>ads anii other impn>vc- 

 ments necessary fi>r fire contrt^l are considerevl, the annual 

 charge against fire protection on the national forests is 

 21 cents an acre. In addition to fire-contrvM wvrk. disease 

 anil insects must be fought. The blister rust viiseasc is 

 particularly a problem, tor unless contrxillcvl it threatens 

 to eliminate the white pine as a commercial crop. It is 

 estimatcvi th.it iiutial control o\ the disea.sc will ultimatrlv 



