farmers could find little use for them 

 other than to maintain woodlots. It was 

 an area of underemployment and low 

 per capita income. 



Late in the 1930' s, Forest Service 

 personnel became concerned over the 

 woodland owners' lack of progress 

 toward more stable marketing and 

 management practices. They sold to 

 commercial logging and sawmilling 

 operators who tended to cut the best 

 timber on private lands and who were 

 uninterested in all products. This 

 practice left many private stands with 

 unmarketable timber of poor quality 

 since market outlets were not avail- 

 able for poorer trees, which should 

 have been cut in a stand improvement 

 program. 



An analysis of these sales suggested 

 that under existing conditions timber 

 resources were not making their maxi- 

 mum contribution to (a) the local popu- 

 lation, (b) the wood-using industries, 

 and (c) good forest management. 



Jackpine pulpwood sold from 

 national forest lands, for example, was 

 not of the size or character needed 

 to satisfy the economic requirements 

 of even a typical small-scale operation 

 in most parts of the country. Merchant- 

 able timber was in small patches 

 scattered over a wide area and a sale 

 seldom exceeded 2,000 cords. 



Consequently, timber operators had 

 difficulty obtaining the volume needed 

 to build a stable, adequately financed 

 business. While large paper companies 



