CHANGES IN BENEWAH COUNTY FOREST STATISTICS 



By 



Paul D. Kemp 

 Foreword 



The McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of May 22, 1928, authorized 

 and directed the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation with state 

 and private agencies, to make a comprehensive nation-wide survey of 

 forest resources. The objective of the survey was to assemble whatever 

 information was considered necessary to provide ways and means of bal- 

 ancing the timber budget of the United States. The Secretary of Agri- 

 culture delegated the authority to the Forest Service, which assigned 

 the task to the several regional forest experiment stations. 



The study was designed to include 5 major phases: (l) an inventory of 

 the extent and condition of forest lands, of timber supplies and of 

 other forest products; (2) a determination of current and potential 

 growth on forest land; (3) a determination of current drain resulting 

 from cutting and other factors; (4) a determination of present consump- 

 tion and estimated future requirements for timber and other forest 

 products; and (5) an analysis of the facts for the purpose of formulat- 

 ing national policies to improve the forest situation. 



In 1932 the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station 

 initiated county-by- county surveys of the forests in North Idaho and 

 northeastern Washington. By 1941, Idaho north of Salmon River, Montana 

 west of the Continental Divide, three northeastern Washington counties, 

 and 3 eastern Montana counties had been covered. The results of these 

 surveys have been published and are available upon request. 



The initial field survey of Benewah County, Idaho, was completed in 

 1932-33. The findings of this study were reported in Forest Survey Re- 

 lease No. 8, Forest Statistics, Benewah County, Idaho, issued by the 

 Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in Septem- 

 ber, 1937. In 1943-44, eleven years after the initial field survey, a 

 resurvey was made to determine what changes had occurred. The follow- 

 ing report summarizes the data obtained in the resurvey. 



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