Timber Supply and Industrial Development 
NDUSTRIAL use of Montana’s timber has been 
| slow to reach the present level and even today 
is considerably below the productive capacity 
of the forest. No doubt the brightest fact in the 
forestry situation is that timber is available to sus- 
tain a larger forest industry. However, there are 
some qualifications that must be understood and 
taken into consideration. The opportunity for 
expanding the timber cut is contingent upon mak- 
ing more effective use of the forest. There are, in 
other words, four requirements that must be met if 
production of timber products is to be sustained at 
the level made possible by the growth capacity of 
the forest. 
1. Better distribution of the timber cut so far as 
Species, size, and kind of trees are concerned. A 
large part of the logging has been concentrated 
upon the more desirable timber, whereas use of 
the rest has lagged. 
2. Better distribution of the timber cut so far 
as area 1s concerned. Many stands classed as com- 
mercial by the Forest Survey are not yet operable 
primarily because of a lack of roads. Unless the 
entire commercial forest area is utilized, the maxi- 
mum timber cut cannot be sustained. 
3. More complete utilization of the trees logged. 
In most logging operations the tops of the saw- 
timber trees are not utilized. These tops represent 
about 10 percent of the usable wood volume of 
the trees. Yield estimates in this report are based 
on the assumption that such material will be used 
in the future. - 
4. Intensification of forest management and pro- 
lection. Much needs to be done to put the forest 
in a productive condition and to minimize losses. 
As in farming, forestry yields have a direct rela- 
tionship to the amount of effort expended on crop 
culture. 
The difficulties in attaining full forest produc- 
tivity in Montana are by no means insurmountable. 
As a matter of fact, forest-management practices 
Forest Resources of Montana 
and protection are steadily improving, and there 
are hopeful signs that the economic handicaps 
which have held up development will lessen. Never- 
theless, for a realistic view of the situation one 
should bear in mind that the allowable-cut™ esti- 
mates in this report can only be justified if the 
four requirements mentioned above are met. ‘There 
is a time element involved too. It is quite obvious 
that the improvements in management, protection, 
and development cannot be permitted to lag. If 
we drift along for several decades without making 
these advances, the allowable cut will be lower 
than indicated here. 
Conditional Allowable Cut 
The total conditional allowable timber cut in 
Montana is 250 million cubic feet a year, or 129 
million cubic feet greater than the 1948 timber cut. 
As emphasized by the following tabulation and 
figure 30, two-thirds of the opportunity for ex- 
panding the cut is in types of wood only lightly 
utilized at present, namely, pole, dead, and cull 
trees and the tops of saw-timber trees. 
Conditional 
1948 cut allowable cut 
(million (million 
cu. ft.) cu. ft.) 
Sawlog portion of saw-timber trees...... 100 148 
Pole-timber trees... 2.0 00..¢ Sse bc ee. 9 55 
Dead and cull timber and tops of saw- 
timber: ‘trees#: 5. Sh ie Sy 12 47 
A ROY ta ete pt creter ne Hed Sarecon ON 121 250 
Saw Timber 
The cut of saw timber reached an all-time high 
in 1948 but it was still below the allowable cut 
“The desirable level of cut is called “allowable cut.” In 
stands in a depleted condition, the allowable cut should be 
less than the annual-growth rate to permit a build-up of 
growing stock. In stands where the volume of older timber 
is greater than necessary for sustained production, the 
allowable cut may be greater than the annual growth. 
