The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-01-04
GOVERNMENT OFFERS
LARGE STUMPAGE

The Government is advertising for
bids on a large body Of timber on the
The National Forest, IN California.
with an offer of terms which inaugur-
ate an important departure from the
policy of the past.
About 7S million board feet Of saw
/ timber is offered for sale, with a 10
year period for the removal Of the
timber. The National Forests contain
vast supply of merehautable timber.
estimated at the equivalent of over 500
billion feet board measure, great
1 part of which is ripe for the axe or
already overmature. In many cases.
however, the purchaser has to make a
very initial investment in transporta-
/ tion facilities. To have this paw, he
must be able to figure on a large oper-
alton, requiring a number of years to
carry through.
The timber sale policy of the Forest
Service recognizes that. in view of the
general upward tendency of stumpaee
| prices, long contracts based on present
prices would be strong incentive to
speculation, and might turn out to be
highly disadvantageOus to the public.
To protect the public as consumers
against monopoly prices and also
against exhaustion of local supplies
through over cutting, sales Of timber
are carefully proportional to the exist
ing supply and demand, and sales to
small purchasers, who are vastly in the
majority, are encouraged. To protect
the public, as owners, against sales
at what may prove to be too low
price, it has been the policy in the
past to allow no operations extending
over more than five years. A plan
has, however. now been devised for
allowing longer operations, with per-
iodic revision of the stumpage 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
locality during the preceding year.
Since it is recognized that present
stumpage prices are rather high i'm
proportion to present lumber prices, il
lumber prices do not show an increase
of 81 per thousand feet the stumpage
prices will rot be changed. On any
increase above So pei thousand, 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 20 miles of railroad, which
will be a common carrier and therefore
decidedly beneficial to the community
another reason for making the sale
which is taken into account. A mini
mum of $3.50 per thousand feet for
yellow pine, the amount of which is
estimated at 81 million feet, ard also
for sugar pine, and of 81 per thousand
feet for all other species, is specified
in the advertisement. The interest
which has been shown by lumbermen
in this sale leads the Forest officers to
believe that one or more bids will I'M
doubtedly be received. The usual con-
dtions of cutting National Forest tim
ber, to insure a renewal of the forest
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 $50 million feet were
sold during the year which ended on
June 30, 1911, as against less than 575
million feet in the previous year. The
current year is likely to show a stlll
higher total.