The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1912-01-01
new PLAN FOR
u. 5. FORESTS

Washington, ID. c., IS l.-The
government is advertising for bids on
a large body OF timber on the Tahoe
national forest, In Colorado, with an.
offer Of terms which inaugurate an i'm
portant departure from the policy Of
the past.
About 100000 board feet of saw
timber is offered for sale, with a ten
year period for the removal Of the TIM
Der. The national forests contain a
vast supply OF merchantable timber, es-
timated at the equivalent of over 500,-
000,OO0,000 feet board measure, great
part Of which is ripe for the ak or al
ready overmature. In many cases
however, the purchaser has to make a
very heavy initial investment In trans
portation facilities. To have this pay,
he must be able to figure on a large
operation, requiring number of years
to carry through.
The timber sale policy of the forest
service recognizes that in view Of the
general upward tendency of stumpage
prices, long contracts based on pres
ent prices would be strong incentive
to speculation. and might turn out to
be highly disadvantageous to the pub
lie. To protect the public, as con-
sumers, against monopoly prices and
also against exhaustion of local sup
plies through overcutting, sales of
timber are carefully proportioned to.
the existing supply and demand, and
sales to small purchasers, who are
vastly in the majority, are to be en-
.couraged. To protect the public, as
owners, against sales at what may
prove too low a price, it has been the
policy in the past to allow no opera
ttons extending over more than FIVE
years. A plan has. however, now been
devised for allowing longer operations,
with periodic revision of the stump
age rates.
At the end of the first five years of
the Tahoe sale the price to be paid for
the timber cut in the following five
years will be determined by the prices
of lumber which have ruled in the To-
cality during the preceding year. Since
1t is recognized that present stumpage
prices are rather high In proportion to
present lumber prices. if lumber prices
do not show an increase of 50 per 1000
feet the stumpage price will not be
changed. On any increase above So
per 1000, three-fourths of the amount
of the increase may be added to the
,stumpage price.
The Tahoe sale will call for the con-
struction Of twenty miles for railroad,
which will be a common carrier and
therefore decidedly beneficial to the
community-another reason for max
ing the sale which is taken into ac-
count. A minimum price Of $3.50 per
1000 feet for yellow pine, the amount
of which is estimated at 100000 feet,
and also for sugar pine, and Of 81 per
1000 feet for all other species, is spec
ified in the advertisement. The inter
est which has been shown by lumber
men in this sale leads the forest officers
to believe that one or more bids Will
undoubtedly be received. The usual
conditions of cutting national forest
timber, to insure a renewal OF the for
est and close utilization Of what is cut,
will be incorporated in the contract of
sale
That national forest timber is in
increasing demand is evidenced by the
fact that over $4,000 900 feet we're sold
during the year which ended on June
80, 1911, as against less than 575,000,-
900 feet in the previous year The cur
rent year is likely to show still high
er total.