Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 108, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1909 — Heavy Drains On Our National Forests. [ARTICLE]

Heavy Drains On Our National Forests.

“The total yearly drain upon our forests, not counting losses from fires, storms and Insects, is about 20,000/000,000 cubic feet,” says R. 8. Kellogg, assistant forester in charge of the office of forest statistics, in a publication just issued by the forest service on “The Timber Supply of the United States." “Our present forest area of 550,000,000 acres may be roughly estimated to consist of 200,000,000 acres of mature forests in which the annua! growth is balanced by death and decay; of 250,000,000 acres partially Cut or burned over, on which, with reasonable care, there, is sufficient young growth to produce in the course of time a merchantable, but not a full crop of timber, and 100,000,000 acres of more severely cut andtburned ever forests, on which there is not sufficient young growth to produce another crop of much value. “Taken as a whole the annual growth of our forests under these conditions does not exceed twelve cubic feet per acre, a total of less than seven million cubic feet. That is, we are cutting our forests three times as fast as they are growing. There Is menace in the continuance of such conditions. While we might never reach absolute timber exhaustion, the unrestricted exploitation of our forests in the past has already had serous. effects, and it will have much worse if it is allowed to continue unchecked.

“White pine, for example, which was once considered Inexhaustible, has fallen off 70 per cent in cut since 1890 and more than 45 per cent since 1900. The cut of oak, our most valuable hardwood timber, has decreased 16 per cent since 1900, and that of yenow popuiar 22 per cent? The same story will be told of other woods if they are not conserved.

“The fact that timber has been cheap and abundant has made us careless of its production and reckless in its use. We take 250 cubic feet of wood per capita annually from our forests, while Germany uses only thirty-seven cubic feet, and France but twenty-five. On the other hand, Germany, which has learned its lesson, makes its state forests produce an average of forty-eight cubic feet of wood per acre. We have as fast growing species as Germany, or faster, and as good or better forest soil if we protect It. “The necessity for more farm land may eventually reduce our total forest area to 100,000,000 acres less than it is at present. It is entirely possible, however, to produce on 450,000,000 acres as much wood as a population much greater than we have now will really need if all the forest Jand Is brought to its highest producing capacity and if the product is economically and completely utilized. But to reach the necessary condition of equilibrium between timber production and consumption will take many years of vigorous effort by individual forest owners, by the states and by the national government.”