R-U.S.:M. 1/2/31 



The Douglas fir rejion of the ^cst is supposed to contain one-fourth 

 of what is left of our sav/tim'bor supply, Ivlr, Granger sa^^s. northern 

 California, northern Idalio and riorthern Montana have almost another one- 

 fourth. The only other place where there is a:Ty big amovint of sawtimber 

 is in the Southern pine region, Hov/ much of that is left is one of the 

 questions the forest survey is expected to answer, 



T7e 1-cnow that millions of acres of forest land has been cut over and 

 burned over. We know some of it is lying bare and idle. Some of it is 

 growing new forests. We can't say for sxire how much in either case. 

 Neither do we know just how fast o\rr forests are being depleted by fire. 



How far the growth of our yoxmg forests is offsetting the drain by 

 cutting and fire and insects and diseases and v;indthrow, is another of 

 those things our forest survey will find out. 



And not only are our magnificent stretches of v/estem and southern 

 and northern forests involved, but the old fam v/oods itself. 



Since the World War, farmers in most of the originally forested part 

 ©f the United States have left a lot of their land out of crops which they 

 had been cultivating. Part has been used for pasture, and part :ias been 

 let lie idle. 



It lias been estimated that at least half that abandoned fam land 

 has gone back to woods. That brings up the question as to whether that 

 land which it hardly pays to farm can be made to pay by growing timber crops 

 on it. 



We don't really laiow how m.uch timber we have for railroad ties, nor 

 how many ties we will need in the fut-i.u-e. The same can be said about pulp 

 wood for paper making ar^ wood in many forms for all sorts of uses. This 

 great forest survey will have to include studies of some sixty groups of wood 

 using industries. 



Then there are the many problems of finding woods that can be used 

 as substitutes for others. In a good many cases, it seems, ^7ood users have 

 become accustomed to mailing certain things out of certain kinds of '.voods. 

 Where the supply of that kind of timber is getting scarce, maybe we can 

 find other v/oods we can leam to use. 



The ramifications of this big question of o"ax forest resources arc 

 numberless. 



Yes, you say, but how are you going to find out all those things. 

 This forest survey was authorized a couple of years back. It was to cost 

 not more than three million dollars altogether and not more than a quarter 

 of a million any one year. At that rate, it would talce twelve years to 

 complete the survey. 



The size of this job is staggering, when you think of the many different 

 things this survey includes, and what we need to know about our vast forests. 



~3- 



