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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