National Conference on Forest Products 85
merchantable portion of the tree, the In addition to this drain of 22.4
stump, and the top, all with bark, but billion cubic feet, there is a waste in
excluding limbs and branches. the forest itself, from fire, decay, in-
The total remaining stand of tim- sect attack, and windfall, of about 2.4
ber is, according to this assumption, billion cubic feet. (As to fire, this
estimated as follows: figure does not include the wastage of
Billion reproduction, which can not be meas-
cu. ft. ured in cubic feet.)
Saw timber. oro 0 It is obvious that if the present rate
Cordwool tomar 1 of drain were to continue unrelieved,
otal ner 74a and If: thete were no growth incre-
Fig. 8.—Cutting this log into stovewood at a lumber camp typifies
the low value placed on logs in forests far from consuming
centers and the difficulty of conserving wood for its highest use
TIMBER SHORTAGE WILL BECOME GEN- ment, the Nation's entire stand of tim-
ERAL IN A FEW YEARS ber would be wiped out in a compara-
The present rate of cutting from tively few years—the saw timber in
our forests is about as follows: about 37% years, and the cordwood
Billion in about 22 years.
oa it The rate of drain is not likely to
per annum decrease; in fact, economic studies
oy Hmherd oi tC mee 13 point to the conclusion that, although
ordwood ~~ —-——oceommm————= 10.8 yp per capita consumption of wood is
PO ee mime: Ba Qoclining, cour wood requirements will
1g. 9.—At the same time the big log shown in the upper photo-
graph was being fed into the cookhouse range, the woods all about
the camp were filled with a tangle of broken spruce and hemlock,
part of the 2.3 billion cubic feet of wood wasted yearly in logging