PRIVATE FORESTRY

By
HENRY S. GRAVES

Forester, Forest Service

Address before the New England Forestry
Conference, Boston, February 24, 1919

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

CIRCULAR 129
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

Washington.D. C.

March. 1919

WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE IBII

f*f

Agric. -Forest Maim

PRIVATE FORESTRY.

[Address by Henry S. Graves before the New England Forestry Conference,
Boston, February 24, 1919.]

IMPORTANCE OF PRIVATE FORESTS.

THE emphasis placed on the public forests in recent years has
tended to throw into the background the problems of our pri-
vate forests. The very magnitude of the National Forest enterprise
has created in the minds of many people the impression that the
problem of forestry in this country is already on the way to definite
solution. In point of fact only certain initial steps have been taken ;
the most difficult problem, that of the protection and right handling
of forests privately owned, is still before us. The importance of
the private forests to our country is evident when one considers that
97 per cent of the timber and other wood products used in the United
States is obtained from them. Less than 2 per cent of the saw-
mills of the country are operating on public forests. Private owners
hold four-fifths of the standing timber of the country, and it is the
best and most accessible timber. Nearly the entire supply of cer-
tain important commercial species is in private ownership, such as
eastern white pine and spruce, southern pine, cypress, redwood, and
most of the hardwoods.

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN MEETING WAR DEMANDS FOR

TIMBER.

The experience of the war called sharp attention to the condition
of our remaining timber supplies. The bulk of the material for gen-
eral construction was obtained from a few large centers of original
forest, often involving long rail hauls and high cost. Extreme dif-
ficulties were encountered in obtaining promptly an adequate supply
of specialized products, like some of the high-grade hardwoods. If
the emergency had come 15 years from now we would have had
very great embarrassment in obtaining even the lumber needed for
general construction, except at great sacrifice in time, cost, and

108109°— 10 3

ORESTRY.

crowding of the railroads. Most of the lumber would have come
from the Pacific Coast. We may not expect a repetition of such a
grave emergency as we have just passed through, but we would be
unwise indeed if we failed to recognize "that the sources of timber
supply upon which we have relied are being greatly Depleted, with
far-reaching economic and industrial consequences.

WANING SUPPLIES OF VIRGIN TIMBER.

Many people are deluding themselves with the idea that we do not
need to concern ourselves with regard to forests because of large
virgin supplies which still exist in the Pacific Northwest, the Inland
Empire, and California. I have even heard it suggested that if we
should use up or destroy all of the forests in the United States, there
are very considerable quantities of wood supplies in the great river
valleys of Brazil and other South American countries.

Leaders of the southern pine manufacturers state that the bulk of
the original supplies of yellow pine in the South will be exhausted
in 10 years and that within the next five to seven years more than
3,000 manufacturing plants will go out of existence. This is an ex-
ceedingly significant statement, because it means that the center of
lumber production of the United States will within no long time
move to the Pacific Coast. While it does not mean that there will
be an actual exhaustion of all of the timber in the South, it does
mean that the competitive influence of southern pine in many mar-
kets will be withdrawn and that there will be the increase of prices
that inevitably must follow such an important economic occurrence
as the shift of the center of supply of a raw material one to three
thousand miles. N

One of the most acute problems of forest supplies is that of wood
pulp, particularly the material suitable for news print. Already
paper manufacturers are embarrassed for supplies. Some of our
principal paper concerns have fortified themselves by purchasing
large blocks of timber in Canada. Many of you are familiar with
the progressive diminution of supplies in the regions like the White
Mountains, where private owners are rapidly working back on the
high slopes, even stripping off areas which for the general public
benefit should be kept substantially intact for all time. It is my hope
that we may secure sufficient public support to enable us to accelerate
the acquisition by the Government of the more important remaining
areas before it is too late. The claim is made that the Adirondack
State Preserve should be opened to cutting because of the urgent
need of supplies for the paper mills in the near future. The question
of supplying the paper mills in Michigan and Wisconsin is even more
acute, and it is only a question of time when those mills will have to

PKIVATE FORESTRY. 5

import their pulp wood from a long distance or liquidate investments
of great value in water power and plant and move to new sources
of supplies. Partly owing to the rapid exhaustion of the old sources
of wood-pulp supply and partly owing to the tariff laws of Canada,
American capital is going into that country to build mills to supply
this country with wood pulp and paper. Within the last 10 years
new mill development for news-print manufacture in this country
has almost wholly ceased, while in Canada during that time no less
than 28 mills have been built, largely with American capital. It
would be possible for me to describe the acute situation confronting
many of the other industries that use special classes of forest prod-
ucts, due to the uncertainty in regard to supplies in the future. I
refer to industries that use oak, hickory, cherry, yellow poplar,
walnut, and ash.

Douglas fir from the Pacific coast is already coming into the New
England market. This means that because of the diminishing sup-
plies in the East the prices have risen to a point where it is possible
to ship lumber 3,000 miles in competition with that produced locally.
With the further reduction of home spruce supplies, the approach-
ing exhaustion of white pine in the Lake States, and the withdrawal
within a few years of southern pine as a competitive factor, the
East will be turning more and more to the Pacific coast. It is esti-
mated that the Lake States, which a few years ago were the greatest
producers of timber, are to-day paying a freight bill of about
$6,000,000 a year to bring in lumber and other products from out-
side sources.

NEW ENGLAND NO LONGER SELF-SUPPORTING IN TIMBER

RESOURCES.

About 30 years ago New England was not only self-supporting in
her timber resources, but exported large quantities to other parts of
the country and abroad. Within the last 15 years New England
has become an importing region and looks more and more for timber
supplies to the South, to the Lake States, and even to the Pacific
coast. It is estimated that fully 30 per cent of all the lumber used
in New England now comes from outside the region. This is in
addition to the importations of large quantities of pulp wood. New
England is one of the important centers for wood-using industries.
Heretofore many of these industries have drawn upon local sup-
plies. It is estimated that the annual growth in New England of
forest materials that will be suitable for lumber or other higher
uses is less than half of what is being cut. These are facts of vital
interest to a region that has about $300,000,000 invested in the wood
and forest industries and employs in this connection over 90,000 wage
earners.

6 'PRIVATE FORESTRY.

CONSTRUCTIVE FOREST POLICIES OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

It happens that the area of forest land in New England is about
25,000,000 acres. This is almost the same as the forest area of France,
and in many respects the character of the forest has marked points
of similarity. France is producing by growth each year 50 per cent
more than New England. She has for years been improving her for-
ests and approaching a point where she can furnish most of her do-
mestic needs. New England by progressive diminution of capital
stock and failure adequately to produce forests is going in exactly
the other direction, losing ground every year. Before the war France
was building up her forest resources; New England has been pro-
gressively destroying hers. Before the war France was importing
about 80,000,000 cubic feet of lumber. New England's imports ex-
ceed this amount. The forest and wood-using industries of France
furnished employment to over 700,000 persons, and because the forests
were handled in a way to keep up production by growth this employ-
ment was permanent. It was the small industries supported from
local forests that furnished employment to so many people.

England before the war felt herself quite independent in forest
matters. Her large merchant marine made it possible to import from
many competing countries. She did not have to practice forestry.
During 1915 and 1916 the excess cost over previous years of import-
ing forest materials was $185,000,000. The next year she had to
stop importing almost entirely. She then cut down her meager for-
ests and park timber, and finally had to rely on France, which was
supplying the needs of all the armies on the west front. England
now plans a great program of reforestation. She proposes to plant
up over a million acres in the next 40 years, spending during the first
decade over $17,000,000. England does not intend again to be caught
without home supplies.

NEGLIGENT FOREST POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES.

New England represents in many ways the most favorable condi-
tions for forestry in this country. The region is naturally endowed
with excellent types of forest, with valuable species, and a climate
favorable for tree growth. There is a large amount of land suited
only to growing trees. On account of the large number of wood-
using industries, markets for forest products are excellent. Trans-
portation for moving these products is well developed. The public
sentiment regarding forestry is in advance of most other parts of the
country. Yet even under these favorable conditions New England is
not overcoming the destructive influences that are depleting her forest
resources.

PRIVATE FORESTRY. 7

The situation is much more serious in other sections of the country.
We are still drawing upon original timber for our chief national
needs. We are not providing for a proper replacement of the old
stock by new forest growth. Most of the private timber is cut with-
out any regard whatever for replacement. Destructive processes are
permitted that retard or actually prevent the succession of a good
forest growth. Region after region is exhausted of old supplies.
Remnants of culled forests and patches of second growth are for the
most part not being protected. We are failing to produce by
growth the materials that will be needed for local industries, needed
to make a large part of our land useful to the State and community,
needed to prevent one part of the country becoming dependent on
another far-distant part, with the inevitabe burden of high prices.

Nature is so prolific that some vegetation usually follows the
initial stages of forest destruction. Occasionally, by a combination
of adventitious circumstances and in spite of current methods em-
ployed, reproduction follows unrestricted cutting or even a fire of
moderate proportions. More often the succeeding growth is inferior.
Repeated fires and other abuse cause further deterioration, so that
millions of acres of cut-over land are covered with worthless species
or brush or with trees that are so crooked, slow growing, or defec-
tive that they will never yield products of value. The fact that there
is some woody growth on cut-over lands gives a false impression.
Very commonly it is but a screen of valueless vegetation that conceals
the effects of forest abuse. Pennsylvania has its great forests of
low scrub oak that, through repeated fires, have replaced a growth
of valuable trees. Southern New England has thousands of acres of
slow-growing, crooked sprouts of hardwoods replacing pine or
thrifty hardwoods. Minnesota has hundreds of square miles of bird
cherry and fire weed in place of her former wonderful white and red
pine. The South has its worthless black jack oak replacing the yel-
low pine. The Middle West has her heavily grazed woodlots that are
almost bare of young growth. California has its chaparral or brush,
the effect of a destructive system of annual or periodic burning of
pine forests.

Sometimes forests are wiped out by a great conflagration like that
in Minnesota last fall that killed several hundred people and de-
stroyed many million dollars' worth of property. Generally the
process is slower and less spectacular, but the consequences are just
as serious. Already the general effect of depleting our forest re-
sources is being felt by wood-using industries and the consumers of
lumber. Hundreds of communities are suffering because the resource
supporting their chief industry has been exhausted. Sawmills and

8 PRIVATE FORESTRY.

wood-working establishments close, subsidiary industries can no
longer exist, the population moves away, farms are abandoned, roads
and other public improvements deteriorate, and whole townships and
even counties are impoverished. A few individuals may have real-
ized handsomely from the speculative enterprise. The community
has beengutted of its principal capital. It has lost the basis for in-
dustry and has now only unproductive land that for many years will
be a burden rather than a source of prosperity. This is not an occa-
sional occurrence. It is the history of millions of acres of land un-
productive and now an economic desert.

PRIVATE FORESTRY MUST SUPPLEMENT PUBLIC FORESTRY.

I am advocating a large program of public forests widely dis-
tributed throughout the country ; but the solution of the forest prob-
lem will not come from public forests alone. Even with the most
liberal policy of acquiring additional public forests, the Nation's
needs with respect to forests in the future will have to be met in con-
siderable part from private lands. We point to the forests of France
as having met a great crisis in the war. Do you know that 60 per
cent of the American supplies obtained in France came from private
forests ?

You may ask if the increasing interest in forestry of private owners
and the operation of State forest laws are not likely to bring greatly
changed conditions in the near future. Unfortunately this will not
be the case unless a much more comprehensive and effective program
is adopted by the public and there is a radical change in point of
view and methods on the part of most timberland owners. We should
give credit to those individual owners and groups who are endeavor-
ing to handle their timberlands constructively. Great credit, too,
is due to the State foresters and their supporters for what they have
achieved in the face of public indifference and even hostility. But
when we consider our forests as a whole we have hardly begun to
stem the tide of forest destruction. Even in the matter of organized
fire protection the effort on private lands is confined chiefly to the
protection of the merchantable timber. Cut-over lands and young
tree growth ate usually not protected except as may be necessary to
safeguard the mature timber; and over a great part of the country
there is practically no effort whatever to keep out fires.

Timberland owners feel that they can not change their present
methods. They have purchased the land to exploit the timber and not
to grow a new crop of trees. For an owner who intends to hold his
lands, forestry is just as essential as is agriculture to a farmer. But
most timberland owners do not intend to hold their lands after cut-
ting the timber ; and they see no reason why they should expend money

PRIVATE FORESTRY. 9

or effort on the land to secure public benefits or to avoid injury to the
community. It is the speculative character of ownership that ex-
plains the lack of incentive to timberland owners to handle their
lands constructively. And we may not expect that such owners will
take any different view or action on their own initiative. The profits
of forestry, though very real, do not furnish in themselves a sufficient
incentive to cause the change.

A CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAM FOR PRIVATE FORESTRY.

I

In seeking a solution for the forestry problem on private lands, it
should be recognized that its very character is such as to require
public participation, assistance, and direction. There are certain
things that the public should do, and in a liberal spirit, to make
forestry by private timberland owners possible and effective. At the
same time the public should insist by adequate legislation that the
destructive processes be stopped, and that methods be adopted which
will leave the forests in a productive condition. To secure these ends
there is necessary a broad program that is practicable and equitable,
based on consideration of existing economic conditions. Its forma-
tion calls for the most careful constructive thought, with no point of
view neglected.

The limits of this paper do not permit the discussion of all the
problems that must be considered in an effective program of for-
estry on private lands. Some principles may, however, be briefly
indicated. A program of forestry should include, first of all, com-
pulsory fire protection ; and this should apply to second growth and
cut-over lands as well as to old timber. State laws should be un-
equivocal, with adequate penalties, in their requirements upon tim-
berland owners for protective measures, including the prevention
of dangerous accumulations of slashings. Fire protection should be
organized and under State supervision. The States should provide
an effective organization to enforce the fire laws and to administer
the organized protective work. Liberal funds should be made avail-
able for patrol, improvements, supervision, and inspection. In most
of the States the laws are not drastic enough ; there is not sufficient
direct responsibility on the owner, and there are not provided ade-
quate means to execute the laws and administer the protective work.
The damage by forest fires can be stopped. Its continuance is due to
a combined failure on the part of the public and the owners.

The methods of cutting determine whether for one or perhaps sev-
eral tree generations the lands will be productive or not. The pub-
lic in its own protection should prohibit destructive methods of cut-
ting that injure the community and the public at large. With the
cooperation of the public, constructive measures of forestry are
feasible. They should be mandatory.

10 PRIVATE FORESTRY.

The States should adopt a policy of taxation of forests that would
encourage rather than hinder the practice of forestry. Present tax
policies tend to force early cutting and add to the burden of hold-
ing young forests.

Other factors also cause premature and wasteful cutting in most
timberland regions. The speculative character of ownership, the
burdens of carrying stumpage, the necessity to meet the interest on
borrowed capital and other fixed charges, and the uncertainties re-
garding markets, labor, and other conditions are among the causes
of the haste to cut. The result is frequent overproduction, demorali-
zation of the market, and industrial instability. Lumbermen are al-
ready appealing to the public to aid them to bring about a more
stable condition of the industry. They have requested tax reforms,
the naming by the Government of " fair prices," based on cost of
production, and the modification of the Sherman act to permit agree-
ments, in restraint of trade, for the curtailment of production.

The industrial situation is one that demands the consideration of
the public, because of the many- public interests involved, including
the danger to our remaining forests. I do not Concur in the pro-
posals that have been made for Federal legislation relative to agree-
ments in restraint of trade, but I believe that public participation is
necessary to meet the' difficulties. The solution of this problem in-
volves many features that can be taken care of by improvements
within the industry itself ; others require public cooperation to bring
about a sounder basis of ownership and financing of timberlands.
In any case, aid extended by the public should carry with it an in-
sistence that the forest lands be handled constructively, from the
standpoint both of protection and of forest growth. In fact, the
very measures that would be necessary to secure a right handling of
forest lands would go far in solving the problem of instability that
constantly menaces the lumber industry and all the interests de-
pendent upon it.

A program of forestry should include, further, cooperation in
problems of labor, in land classification looking to the development
of agricultural portions of cut-over lands, cooperation in colonization,
public activities in technical and economic research, cooperation in
the methods of forestry, and so on.

The farm woodlot offers a special problem. The public should
lend liberal assistance to the farmer and the small owners, not only
in demonstrating the best methods of forestry and in reforestation
but also in matters which pertain to marketing the products of the
woodlot.

Finally, a program of private forestry is intimately related to that
of public forests. We should greatly extend our public forests.
Forests on critical watersheds should be owned by the public for their

PRIVATE FORESTRY. 11

*

protective value. Public forests serve also as centers of cooperation
with private owners and as demonstration areas for the practice of
forestry as well as furnishing direct benefits in producing wood mate-
rials, as recreation grounds, etc.

NEED OF ACTION.

We have been discussing these problems for many years, but we
have made little progress in securing the right handling of private
lands. The need of the general public to have the forest lands of
the country productive and the need of wood-consuming industries
alike call for the initiation of a broad program of forestry that in-
cludes private as well as public forests. I have presented some of
the issues as I see them. I urge that those interested in the forest
problem join in bringing about some definite and conclusive action.

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