170 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



On the average, about 13 percent of the growing 

 stock cut or killed in logging is left in the woods 



unused: Bendmsas 



percent of 



Product: timber cut 



Hewn ties 38 



Cooperage logs and bolts 31 



Veneer logs and bolts 20 



Saw logs 15 



Poles 14 



Piling 13 



Round mine timbers 6 



Pulpwood 4 



Fuelwood 4 



Other 12 



Average all products 13 



The production of hewn ties is traditionally the 

 most wasteful of all industries. Residues in rela- 

 tion to timber cut are also high (31 percent) in the 

 Eroduction of cooperage logs and bolts, chiefly 

 ecause only the best quality logs are selected 

 from the scattered trees cut for cooperage. Thus, 

 there is little opportunity for salvage of leftovers 

 for other products. Saw-log and veneer opera- 

 tions likewise leave comparatively large volumes 

 of residues in the woods — 15 and 20 percent, 

 respectively, of the amount of timber cut for these 

 products. ]3ue to less exacting specifications for 

 such products as pulpwood, fuelwood, mine tim- 

 bers, and posts, residue volumes are naturally 

 small compared to volume cut. 



Although more than half of the total volume 

 of residues incident to logging occurs in the South, 

 the proportion relative to timber cut is not much 

 more there than in other sections of the country. 



Section: 



Percentage of 



total logging 



residues 



Residues as 



percent of timber 



cut 



North 



15 



11 



South 



52 



14 



West and Coastal Alaska.. 



33 



12 



Utilization appears to be best in New England, 

 where residues constitute only 9 percent of timber 

 cut (table 96, p. 157). It is apparently poorest in 

 California, in that residues there comprise 18 per- 

 cent of the volume cut — the highest proportion of 

 any region. This is possibly due largely to the 

 high rate of breakage and other difficulties asso- 

 ciated with logging the large old-growth redwood 

 and Douglas-fir in the northwestern part of the 

 State. Furthermore, opportunities for integrated 

 logging and relogging are not as good in California 

 as in the Pacific Northwest because the State 

 lacks pulp mills or other industries that could 

 utilize leftovers from saw-log and veneer operations. 



Logging residues are widely dispersed at thou- 

 sands of small logging sites throughout the North 

 and South, but large concentrations occur at 

 relatively few sites in the West. About 80 pe;r- 

 cent of the logging residues in this section are, in 

 fact, concentrated in the Douglas-fir region and 

 California. 



Woods Utilization Improved 

 Since 1944 



In 1944, estimates of drain due to cutting for 

 commodities included the limbwood volume in 

 hardwoods. Since limbwood was excluded from 

 the estimates of timber cut in 1952, it is necessary 

 to deduct the volume of hardwood limbs from the 

 1944 figures to make valid comparisons with 

 timber cut in 1952. On this basis it appears that 

 logging residues in the North represented the 

 same proportion of commodity drain in 1944 as 

 of timber cut in 1952 — 11 percent. Logging resi- 

 dues in the South were 16 percent of commodity' 

 drain in 1944 as compared to 14 percent of timber 

 cut in 1952. 



Wliile it is reasonable to suppose that there 

 has been some improvement in utilization in the 

 North since 1944, no radical changes are known. 

 The same is true for the South, although in this 

 section increased demands for pulpwood, and 

 improvements in logging equipment and methods, 

 probably advanced the limits of utilization more 

 than in the North. 



The change towards closer utilization in the 

 woods is more pronounced in the West. Here, 

 due to strong demands for lumber, pulp, veneer, 

 and other products, such practices as relogging 

 and integration of logging operations, aided by 

 new and better equipment, have greatly broadened 

 the opportunities for more complete utilization of 

 the timber that is cut. 



The 1952 estimate for the West indicates that 

 logging residues amounted to only about 12 per- 

 cent of the timber cut. The 1944 Reappraisal 

 showed nearly three times this amount, or 34 

 percent. The 1944 figures, however, included 

 most if not all of the sound material left over 

 from logging without full allowance for (1) cull 

 and breakage deductions normally accounted for 

 in estimating timber volume or (2) material that 

 would not otherwise qualify as growing stock in 

 inventory determinations. If, as a result of these 

 qualifications, logging residues in relation to the 

 cut of growing stock were less by as much as 15 

 percent in 1944, the change by 1952 would still 

 signify substantial improvement. 



Plant REsrouEs 



In contrast to logging residues, plant residues 

 include all residues, both coarse and fine, originat- 

 ing in the manufacture of primary forest products, 

 whether used or not, and regardless of whether 

 the logs and bolts were from growing stock or 

 other sources, such as cull and dead trees. Coarse 

 residues consist of slabs, edgings, trimmings, mis- 

 cuts, cull pieces, veneer cores, and other material 

 suitable for remanufacture or chipping. Fines, 



