7 I The F ore^ Resources of the Far Ea^em Republic Published by The Special Delegation of the Far Eastern Republic to the United States of America Washington, D. C. 1922. -43S^2> 0^ The Forest Resources of the Far Eastern Republic I. The Forest Industry and Prospects . for its Development All the Pacific and other timber markets are open to the immense and high-grade forestry reserves of the Far Eastern Republic and especially, those of its Pacific coast. China alone, for example, is annually importing timber materials far exceed- ing $30,000,000 worth ; British India $3,750,000 ; Australia over $12,000,000; South Africa $250,000. Thus only four markets, not mentioning others, have a capacity of about $50,000,000. The lack of raw materials by the paper factories of nearby Japan and China and their need of match wood, wood rivets, sleepers, construction timber, material, for boxes and furniture, made many of the Japanese and Chinese importers seek trade with the few concerns engaged in the forest industry in the Russian j Far East. Before the war demands for timber from the Maritime and Priamur Provinces were steadily growing. These demands be- sides coming from China and Japan were, also coming from Aus- tralia, India, South Africa, South America and even Europe — Germany, Great Britain, Austria, France, Belgium and the near East. Demands made, were mostly for cedar, aspen, cork, oak and ash. This timber was exported mostly as unfinished logs, beams, boards and veneer. Not long before the war started the following orders were placed: South America 4,000,000 sleepers and 600,000 feet of ash tree Holland - 500,000 cub. feet of cedar Italy and France 2,000,000 sleepers England (London) 200,000 cub. feet of cedar China (Shanghai) 3,000,000 cub. feet of cedar and 5,000,000 cub. feet of ash-tree 3 Germany (Hamburg) was ordering cedar for the manufac- t ire of cigar cases. Through Vladivostok alone from 1,500,000 t 2,000,000 cubic feet of unfinished logs and lum(ber were ex- p^rted yearly. Japan was consuming, pine, fir and especially a spen for matches at the rate of 5,000,000 yen annually. However, because of a lack of capital and modern equipment, t le forest industry in the Russian Far East did not develop su- fliciently even to the extent of satisfying the demands^ made upon it. War and revolution made conditions much worse, great- ly curtailing the industry. The future development of the immense forest resources depends upon the influx of capital and experienced traders. As tiere is not sufficient Russian capital in the Far Eastern Re- p ublic to develop the forest industry which is destined to become t le greatest forest industry in the Pacific, the field is open to f )reign capital. The presence of many rivers (Amur system and others) and protected harbours such as Vladivostok, Nikolaevsk, Gulf of I'eter the Great, Thangon Bay, Bay of St. Valentine, St. Olga, I>e-Kastri Bay, Imperial Harbour and others, makes it possible t ) utilize the forest resources and develop the industry on a very L irge scale. II. Forests — Characteristics and Location The forest area of the Far Eastern Republic is estimated to t e over 300,000,000 acres. These forests contain more than 60 varieties of the leafy and abietic types of timber, useful for tuilding and manufacturing purposes. The Priamur and Mari- fc me Provinces, especially, represent an almost continuous stretch cf woods limited by a narrow strip of marshy land on the ex- t reme north and a similar strip of cultivatid land on the south- ern extremity. < The most important of the leafy type are oak, ash, acacia, c >rk, walnut, birch, aspen, lime, maple, elm and other varieties. To the abietic group belong the cedar, pine, larch and fir. The oak is found in large quantities in the Amur and Mari- 4 time Provinces ; it is used in construction of carriages, furniture, manufacting, building and also in the manufacturing^ of veneer. Its tanning bark is also very valuable. The ash could be put to a great many uses but owing to the insignificant economic development of the country, its use is limited to the manufacturing of veneer and for building pur- poses. It is, howev'^er, mostly consumed as fire wood. The cork, known also as the v'elvet tree, is in diameter from 1 to IV2 feet and in height from 28 to 30 feet. The wood is pale yellow, very light, durable, slightly hydroscopic and polishes well. It also contains 18% of tannin. The walnut, is about 3 feet in diameter and from 55 to 60 feet in height. The wood is strong and flexible and is used most- ly in the furniture and ship building industry. The acacia is v^ery valuable in manufacturing and is to be found, as well as the cork and the walnut, in the Amur Prov- vince, and in the central part of the Maritime Province. The bark of the acacia contains about 11% of tannin. The fir, which is put to practically the same use as the cedar is very good for building and manufacturing purposes. The cedar, is found in large quantities in the Amur and es- pecially in the Maritime Province; it lives from about 700 to 800 years. Its technical quality is very high — it does not crack, shrinks very little, submits to the tools of the carpenter very easily and takes paint and polish very well. It w’as received very favorably on the London market and is undoubtedly bound to be- come a considerable item for export to foreign countries. The pine, abounds in the Zabaikal Province, but mainlv in the western part of. the Amur Province. It represents a very good product for the export trade. The larch, grows on the north of the Amiur and Maritime Provinces ; it reaches a height of about 25 metres, measuring 35 centimeters in diameter. It is very heavy and strong, suitable for building purposes. Large quantities were shipped to Austria for sawing purposes. It makes very good sleepers, piles and telegraph posts. Maritime and Priamur Provinces In the Maritime and Priamur Provinces from 60 to 75% of 5 the territory is covered with forests.. The area under forests equals more than 120,000,000 acres of which 40,000,000 acres of useful timber are located in the northern part of the Priamur Province. According to the nature of the species of trees, the country could be divided into two distinct districts : the North- eastern and the Southwestern. The South and the Southwestern IS distinguished by the great variety of species of the leafy types such as oak, white and dark birch, maple, poplar, walnut, acacia, apple, pear, aspen, lime tree and others. The abietic type consists of the cedar, red and silver fir and larch. In the North and Northeastern part, the abietic type prevails including the cedar, larch, red and silver fir, while the leafy kind abounds with birch, acacia, poplar, aspen and alder. The river Samarta forms the boundry line of the abietic species to- wards the South. In the valley of this river, oak, birch, and other trees of the leafy type may be found. To the north, abietic forests, exclusively, cover the entire regkm beginning from the sea coast and extending over a large area. The allotment permissible for exploitation annually, without exhausting the forests, was estimated to be 2,480,000,000 cubic feet, while the actual quantity used for local purposL did not exceed 8% of the above figures, and thus a surplus of 2,281,600 - OOO cubic feet of timber is available for foreign trade yearly. The Amur Province 1C 8‘eneral forest area in this province equals about 16,000,000 acres, out of which 64,000,000 acres belong to the actual forest area. Extending over the rivers Zea, Selemja, ■ Burea, Arhara, Bira and others, this vast forest area can be divided into three distinct districts: I. Western District— extending from the Zabaikal Province 1 0 the River Zea. Pine, larch and birch are predominant. II. Southeastern District— located between the Maritime ] province and the River Burea. This district is a natural con- tinuation of forests of the Maritime Province. It is of the Man- churian flora type— the fir, cedar, walnut, maple, oak, cork and \ nllow are predominant. III. Northeastern District — bordering the Yakutsk Prov- iice, with the larch, fir and birch predominant. The largest pine tree district in the Amur province is the one along the Amur River from the village Vagonovo to the vil- lage Kumara and along the Amur Railway from the station Magdagachi to the Station Yukhta, also in the sphere of the rivers Rou, Pera, Tigda, Dena and along the Zea to the mouth of the river Golubaya. The area under various species in the Amur Province is 63,736,066 acres, estimated as follows: Name Area in Acres Percentage Cedar 1,669,863 3% Pine 4,568,286 7% Larch 23,108,631 36% Fir and silver fir 4,137,930 6 %. Leafy types (princi- pally birch, oak and aspen) 21,418,356 33% Miscellaneous 8,833,000 15% The forest area of the province can easily supply yearly 1,500,000 cubic feet of timber. The transportation problem is most easily solved in the Amur Province, thanks to its many navigable rivers. The general length of the water route suitable for the floating of timber in the Amur province exceeds 4,000 miles. The Zabaikal and Pribaikal Provinces The area under forests in these provinces equals 78,000,000 acres. The amount of timber alloted for consumption is about 1,125,000,000 cubic feet annually ; the actual consumption, how- ever, does not exceed 17,000,000 cubic feet. The districts mentioned below represent some of the largest sources of timber supplies in these provinces: I. The Barguzinsky District with an area of 42,000,000 acres, bordering the Yakutsk Province on the east, the Lake Baikal on the west and the river Vitim on the south. The leafy type is predominant although pine is also plentiful. The rivers are suitable for floating. The district is in the Pribaikal Prov- inces. 6 7 II. The Shilka-Argun District — bordering these rivers with a forest area of 6,000,000 acres containing birch, larch and other trees. The district is in Zabaikal P)’ovince. III. The Upper Ingoda and Onon Rivers District — extend- ing over a space of 3,000,000 acres, containing pine, larch and birch. The district is in the Zabaikal Province. IV. The Left side of the River Hilok and the* Upper Chikoi District — covering over 6,000,000 acres containing considerable quantity of cedar, but mostly pine and larch. The district is in the Pribaikal Province. Saghalien Island The territory of the Northern (Russian) half of the Island of Saghalien equals 16,280 square miles. The area under forests occupies about 7,000,000 acres most of the trees being of the abietic type. The red fir represents excellent material for con- struction purposes ; the silver fir is very pitchy and is likely to yield considerable turpentine; the larch is very suitable for building and the birch and the ash are very good for manufactur- ing. III. Forest Area Alloted for Exploitation Certain areas have been alloted in every province for ex- ploitation on conditions of long term leases. With regard to the most important area on the Pacific coast and along the Amiur River, there existed two plans. According to the first (See Pro- ject No. I.) there were to be 13 sections, nine of which were to be along the Amur River, three along the coast and one in- land. According to the other project (See Project No. II.) a more recent one, nearly all sections, 15 in number, were to be along the coast .As the plan stands (See Map) sections No. 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 are situated along the Pacific mast and sections No. 2, 3, 4, and 6 are adjacent to the former sections. The general area of the 15 sections equals 13,290,000 acres; the area for actual exploitation equals 7,950,000 acres svith a minimum yearly allotment of 29,150,000 cubic feet of 8 timber, the predominating type being larch, fir and cedar. IV. Saw-Mills and Manufacturing The lumber industry as compared to the forest resources and possibilities is very small. The following table shows the number of sawmills in each province and their total capacity. 11 sawmills in the Amur Province have a capacity of 500,000 logs a year. 6 sawmills in the Zabaikal and Pribaikal Province have a capacity of 400,000 logs. 44 sawmills in the Maritime and Priamur Provinces have a capacity of 2,000,000 logs. Besides that there are in the Republic 2 match factories with a capacity of about 50,000 cases, two veneer factories with a capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet, one box factory consuming 38,000 cubic feet of wood several cooperies and several plants for by-products such as tar and turpentine, also several wagon and furniture factories. The cooperies in the fisheries region in the Amur river, before the occupation by the Japanese, were producing yearly from 70,000 to 100,000 barrels for the export of fish products. 9 PROJECT NO. I. FOREST SECTIONS ALLOTED FOR EXPLOITATION IN THE PROVINCES PRIAMUR AND MARITIME FOR LONG TERM LEASES Name of forest district and section alloted for exploitation Area Alloted in Acres - Approximate supply of logs 1x21 feet and over of Cedar Fir Larch in thousand of pieces Nikolaevsk District (Amur Dist.) Sections 1. Akcha 2. Lakes Kizi and Kadi 3. Sofiisk 870.000 570.000 630.000 800 1,600 1,900 2,000 300 1,300 Lower Amur District (Sofiisk district) Sections 4. Salasu 5. Machtovka and Lake Homi 6. Voznesensky-Innokentievsky 7. Oniusky 8. Gorinsky 9. Bolen-Odjalsky 1 .500.000 1.620.000 2.970.000 2.670.000 3.510.000 1.500.000 1.500 2,400 4,900 3.500 1,200 3,700 3.700 3,000 4.900 2.900 1.700 2,300 2,000 2,000 500 1,800 800 vur-Urmusky District (Khabarovsk District) Section LO. Nemptu-Oborsk-Muhin 2,910,000 2,400 1,400 1,000 Varodni District (Coast district) Section -1. Tumninsk .2. Imperial Harbor 6,600,000 2,370,000 11,000 4,700 11,000 3,200 Jspensky District (Ulahinsk district) Section 3. Senanchinsky-Izvilinsky-Fudzi nsky T.-Fudzinsky IT. 3.540,000 5,300 12,400 Total 31,260,000 21.200,000 53,700,000 28,200,000 10 Total Period of circula- tion (years) Appriximate number of logs alloted Cedar Fir Larch Total in thousands of pieces 2,800 60 10 35 45 1,900 60 25 5 30 3,200 60 30 20 50 7,500 70 20 50 40 110 8,100 70 30 50 30 110 9,900 70 70 40 30 140 8,900 70 50 70 10 130 5,900 70 15 40 30 85 2,500 70 25 10 85 4,800 40 40 20 20 80 50 220 220 440 22,000 50 90 65 155 7,900 17,700 ^50 100 250 350 103,100,000 325,000 920,000 . 515,000 1,760,000 11 OF THE PRIAMUR AMO MARITIME PROVINCES or THE FAR EASTERN REPUBLIC i Inch - 40 VtfisTs