THE FOREST EESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 87 



importing country, should be able to export sufficient timber, when 

 the wood industry is developed, to offset the imports. 



TROPICAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



MEXICO, WEST INDIES, AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 



These States now import timber not so much because they have 

 none, but for the reason that it is at present inaccessible. Whether 

 forest exploitation will develop as rapidly as other industries and 

 the amount of imports remain stationary or be reduced or whether 

 they will increase can not be safely predicted. It would seem that 

 there will always be an export of mahogany, cedar, and other valu- 

 able woods, and it is most probable that there will continue to be an 

 import of common woods. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



For many years South America will continue to export hard woods, 

 dyewoods, etc., and import lumber and construction material. 

 Eventually, as the countries develop, the great forests now inacces- 

 sible will be opened up, and should supply home consumption, which 

 will have increased greatly by that time. The imports will no doubt 

 not increase to any serious extent, but are more likely to diminish. 

 At the same time, the exports can not be counted on as a source of 

 supply for this country for the reason above stated — that by the time 

 the forests are accessible the country will have developed so much 

 that home consumption will have greatly increased, and also because 

 the forests are so situated that logging and transportation will be so 

 costly as to prohibit the use of the wood for construction in this 

 country. 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Alaska has approximately 107,000,000 acres of forest land, of 

 which 37,000,000 acres, situated along the south coast and the river 

 valleys, bear relatively heavy forests of valuable species, while the 

 remaining 70,000,000 occupy the interior to the limit of tree growth. 

 The interior forest consists for the most part of scattered stands, and 

 only from 50 to 75 per cent of it can be said to be actually forested. 

 Estimating these stands to run 500 board feet to the acre, the interior 

 forest contains not over 21,000,000,000 feet, board measure. This 

 timber runs small and knotty, and is insufficient to supply the needs 

 of the mining population, largely because much of it is inaccessible 

 with the present means of transportation. With the increasing devel- 

 opment of mines it is safe to assume that this interior forest will 

 continue to be needed for local consumption and may fall short of 

 supplying it. The forests of the south coast and of the river valleys, 

 on the other hand, are often dense and the trees large. Toward the 

 north the trees fall off in size and the forest gradually assumes the 

 character of the northern forest. Estimating the average stand per 

 acre, at 2,000 feet, the total stand for this forest amounts to 

 75,000,000,000 feet, board measure, not quite twice the annual lumber 

 cut of the United States. In this part of Alaska fisheries and oil 



