Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-11
FORESTS IN NO DANGER,
CHIEF FORESTER SAYS
Neither Rapid Cutting Nor
Sales Regarded as Menace
to Conservation.

There is no danger OF cutting of the
national forests too rapidly. nor will sales
strengthen the control Of the numbering
Industry by few powerful companies. is
the statement Of Chief Forester Henry
s. Graves
he declares that in every individual
sale specific provisions are made to safe
guard interest in both these particulars.
he said that not long ago the policy of
conservation. as applied to the national
forests. was supposed to mean that the
governments timber resources were in
definitely tied up.
Now the fear is expressed that we are
cutting too much timber-the other ex-
treme," he says. Because the forest Serv-
Ice Is advertising widely by commercial
methods Its more extensive sales and Sc
curing the utmost possible competition,
some people have apparently jumped to
the conclusion that the forest service
aims to cut OF all the national forest
timber within a few years. Or 1t is as
sumed that We are making sales chiefly
to the larger lumber companies. and
thereby playing into the hands Of the big
lumber interests.
Function Of the Bureau.
1.-THE function Of the forest service is
primarily to avoid just those dangers; the
evils Of unscientific numbering and the
fostering Of monopoly. How these evils
are guarded against is Illustrated in our
recent sales.
The forest service recently advertised
about 245.OOO.OOO feet of timber on the
kaniksu national farest nthe northwest
corner of Idaho. the first large sales In
this locality. The KaniksT forest CON
tains. as a matter of fact. nearly 1.1N.
100000 feet Of merchantable stumpage.
Ten years will be required to. cut the
amount advertised. which is only one
tenth of the total stand on the forest. In
other words. about 1 per cent of the tim
Der on this forest will be cut on annually,
no more than is being produced every
year by growth. The timber advertised
has been awarded to two relatively small
local lumber companies, which have no
Affiliations with large timber corpora
tons. and own but very small quantities
Of timber themselves.
Sales Made in Northeast Oregon.
"A number. of recent sales have beer
made on the Whitman national forest In
the Blue mountains Of northeastern Ore
gon. Within the last three years nearly
282, 100000 feet have been contracted fol
on this forest. From seven to ten years
will be required to cut this timber, which
ID iSSo tIeA S7Z pei SCuI VI NuC dAuOoi'
on the whole forest. The Whitman tim
Der which has been sold is split up into
four separate contracts. of from So OOO,OU(
to 73.OOO.O0O feet each, to four separate
and Independent local companies. This
can hardly be called promoting a mo-
nopoly.
"A number Of smaller sales have been
made in the safne general region to diff
ferent local lumber companies. For ex-
ample we have made one sale Of 5000.
OuO feet on the Lolo- national forest in
western Montana out Of total stand o!
over 2O8O.OOOOOO feet
Another sale Of 65.OOO.OW feet has been
made on the Columbia national forest in
Washington, where We have altogether
nearly $1,000, 100000 feet of merchantable
timber.
Utilizing National Forests.
'"ro utilize the annual growth Of wood
on the national forests the service is en-
deavoring to increase the amount Of its
sales and hopes to soon reach an annual
business of 3.OOO.OO0OOO feet. which is
about half the estimated annual growth
on the. forests. Small sales are always
made wherever possible, and i'll making
large sales the amount disposed Of to q
single purchaser is no greater than will
justify the investment necessary for log
ging improvements. Sales to companies
which have large holdings OF their owr
are not made If there il any other demand
roy. fh..f hoy yyn1yll 20.