GROWTH AND UTILIZATION 



179 



CONCLUSION 



The Situation With Respect to Tim- 

 ber Growth and Utilization Has 

 Improved 



The situation with respect to growtli and util- 

 ization of timber is better than at any previous 

 time. The most encouraging signs are (1) the 

 estimated 9-percent increase in net annual growth 

 of sawtimber, 1952 over 1944, and the 14-percent 

 increase in the growth of growing stock; (2) the 

 20-percent excess of growth over cut of eastern 

 softwood sawtimber, largely due to favorable 

 growth-cut ratios in the southern yellow pines; 

 and (3) improved utilization in both woods and 

 mills, thus making the available timber supplies 

 go further. 



Overall growth-cut relations in themselves are 

 believed to be misleading. For one thing, they 

 tend to camouflage the often quite different hard- 

 wood and softwood comparisons. Likewise, the 

 significance of overall comparisons is distorted bj' 

 the inclusion of the growth-cut situation in the 

 West, where there is still a large volume of old- 

 growth timber. Finally, a balance of overall 

 growth and exit at existing levels has relatively 

 little significance when it is considered that future 

 demands will entail a need for substantially greater 

 growth than at present. In other words, the level 

 at which such balance occurs is more important 

 than whether a balance has been achieved. Never- 

 theless, the 20-percent e.xcess of eastern softwood 

 sawtimber growth over cut in 1952 as contrasted 

 to a 10-percent growth deficit in 1944 should be 

 recognized as an important gain. 



Growth of growing stock in 1952 was 33 percent 

 in excess of cut. This is a natural accompaniment 

 of the near-balance for sawtimber with the present 

 pattern of products cut. So long as most of the 

 cut is taken from trees 12 inches or more in 

 diameter, whereas annual growth is spread rather 

 uniformly among all size classes, an excess of 

 growing-stock growth will appear when sawtimber 

 growth and cut are in balance. 



Sawtimber cut was 2 percent lower in 1952 than 

 in 1944 although the output of lumber, pulpwood, 

 and veneer logs was greater than at any time in 

 25 years. Some of the increased output of lum- 

 ber, pulpwood, and veneer logs was offset by a 

 decline in the timber cut for fuelwood, hewn ties, 

 and other products. But timber cut was also 

 held down by better utilization in both woods and 

 mills. In addition, 15 percent of the total output 

 came from dead and cull trees and other material 

 not in the growing-stock inventory. Half of the 

 fuelwood and 6 percent of the pulpwood output 

 was obtained from plant residues and so did not 

 add to timber cut. 



Since 1944, ratios of growth to cut of both 

 eastern softwoods and hardwoods have shown 



marked improvement — from 0.90 in 1944 for soft- 

 woods to 1.20 in 1952, and for hardwoods 1.19 in 

 1944 as compared to 1.57 in 1952. The favorable 

 growth trends for softwoods in the East must be 

 tempered by the realization that the improvement 

 reflects a decline in timber cut as much as it does 

 an increase in growth. However, the improve- 

 ment is recognized as an encouraging sign and as 

 a reflection of the intensification of forestry effort 

 in recent years. Such progress holds promise for 

 the future. 



In the West, growth-cut relations were less 

 favorable in 1952 than in 1944, reflecting the com- 

 bined effects of a 20-percent rise in cut and a 

 3-percent drop in growth due probably to accel- 

 erated cutting of second-growth softwood stands 

 and abnormally heavy insect losses in the Northern 

 Rocky Mountain Region in 1952. The adverse 

 trend represents a setback inasmuch as growth 

 should increase as the old-growth stands are cut 

 and replaced by more vigorous second growth. 



Distribution of Growth and Cut 

 Is Not Well Balanced 



Although evidence such as has been cited in the 

 preceding paragraphs makes it clear that the 

 overall situation as to growth and utilization of 

 timber has improved, it is important to recognize 

 certain qualifications. 



Proportion of Hardwood and of 

 Inferior Species Increasing 



Most important perhaps is the evidence that 

 composition and quality of annual growth and 

 timber cut are not well balanced. Only 25 percent 

 of the cut is frorh hardwoods, but these species 

 make up 41 percent of the growth. Such an im- 

 balance will almost certainly mean an increasing 

 proportion of hardwoods in our future timber 

 inventory. Accumulation of liardwoods while 

 softwoods have diflficulty holding their own looms 

 as a great challenge to the technology of wood 

 utilization. 



The problem of composition and quality of 

 annual growth and of timber used reaches beyond 

 the general distinction between hardwoods and 

 softwoods. The more favored species of both 

 hardwoods and softwoods are more heavily cut 

 than the less favored species. In the East, for 

 example, such species as white and red pine are 

 more heavily cut than the less desirable hemlock 

 and larch, and yellow-poplar is cut more heavily 

 than other soft hardwoods like sweetgum, tupelo, 

 and blackgum. Hence, the latter are increasing 

 at the expense of the former. 



Heavy Reliance Placed on 

 Small Group of Species 



Five leading species, or species groups, consisting 

 of southern yellow pine, Douglas-fir, ponderosa 



