Sawmills like the one shown below were using nearly 50 percent more saw logs in 1962 than in 

 1952. In recent years the number of active mills in Wyoming has declined- -as evidenced 

 by the 29 percent decrease in operational mills from 1957 to 1962. 



Photo: Courtesy of Colorado State University, School of Forestry 



TRENDS SINCE 1952 



Total output from roundwood in 1962 was 31 percent higher than in 1952 and 7 percent 

 greater than in 1957.^ Production of saw logs in 1962 was 49 percent greater than in 1952 and 

 production of pulpwood- -while it represented only a minor volume- -increased fourfold during 

 the same period. The production of all other timber products has declined steadily since 1952. 

 In 1962 the output of products other than saw logs and pulpwood sagged to 19 percent of the 1952 

 volume, paralleling Colorado's diminishing harvest of these products and concurrent 

 accelerating production of saw logs. 



In spite of this marked increase in saw log yield, the number of active sawmills in Wyo- 

 ming fell from 107 in 1957 ^ to 76 in 1962, the only recent years for which this information was 

 available . 



The greatest concentration of sawmills in Wyoming and western South Dakota together is 

 in the Black Hills region straddling the State line. In addition to the mills shown, there were 

 an estimated 20 active mills in Wyoming and 3 active mills in western South Dakota, all small, 

 for which no saw log reports were received in the 1962 products survey. Such mills in Wyoming 

 received about 4.7 percent of that State's saw log output in 1962; in western South Dakota such 

 mills received about 2.2 percent of the total. However, in 1962 the average mill sawed almost 

 1.4 million board feet (lumber tally) or one-third more than its counterpart cut in 1957. 



®U.S. Forest Service. Annual report, 1960, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Expt. 

 Station. 1961. 



^ Miller, Robert L. , and Alvin K. Wilson. Lumber production in Wyoming, 1957. Rocky 

 Mountain Forest and Range Expt. Station Forest Survey Release 2. 9 pp. 1959. 



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