Daily Kennebec journal., 1918-05-27
Maine Forest Lands


Forerst II. Colby of Bingham, the
State land agent and forest commits
sioner, Saturday stated that he esti-
mated that the present area Of forest
land in Maine amounts to about 49,
100000 acres, Of which about Is per
cent. of that type is of land called
woodlots Although q great number
of individual owners are represented
in this large area. it is surprising to
note what a large percentage of it is
gathered into a. few holdings by in
dividuals and corporations. Roughly
stated there are IS holdings of over
100000 acres each, 10 holdings of over
100000 acres each, two holdings of
over 100000 acres each and one hold
ing Of over 100000 acres.
"On so great an area, with so great
diversity of growth" said Commits
sioner Colby today, "it is not possible
to make any very accurate figures on
the amount of merchantable timber
of various kinds now available in
Maine; nevertheless, after a careful
study of conditions on our several
watersheds one may get an approx
mate idea of our present timber sup
ply. My estimate of the merchantable
timber in the State of Maine at the
present time would be as follows:
Spruce. six inches in diameter and
over. including a small percentage of
fir, 25,000,000,o00 feet; pine. 5000
100000 feet; cedar 5000, 900, 900;
hemlock, 1000, 100000 feet.
There are many millions of feet of
the common dwoods--beech. vel
low birch and maple. but a large part
of it is not marketable at present on
account of the lack OF TRANSPORTATION
facilities. OF white birch and poplar
there IS still considerabl BILE supply.
which will be further increased bv
bodies of young growth following old
burns and rapidly approaching ma
turity.
! During the last 10 years the an
rual cut OF timber in Maine probably
has averaged close 10 a billion feet
each wear. ! wish I could state that
billion feet of timber has grown
! each year to offset the billion cut off
! But | regret to say that during that
period it is not probable that the an
/ nual growth in our timberlands has
added to our resources even one
tenth of the amount cut off.
This situation is brought about
not on account of any lack OF ability
/ to grow timber on the part OF our
| lands but rather because we arc not.
by our methods, encouraging growth
! soft wood species. The natural re-
| suit Of annually harvesting about 10
times the amount of timber we grow
on our forest lands will be to reduce
ourselves in the future TO a state of
complete timber exhaustion. It
| might be added that cutting is not
the only agency that reduces our sup
ply and tends to minimize the annual
increase from growth. Forest fires
Keep nibblinc away at our timber re-
sources although we feel that We
have almost checked their ravages:
insects arc responsible for a certain
small loss of timber each year: and
high winds. particularly on cut-ov
lands, take small annual toll by
causing windthrow OF bIowdown.
while the owners of the larger
and remote timberland tracts. the
real wild lands. can hardly under e8
listing conditions put into practice all
the tenets of scientific forestry, | be-
'lieve il is possible for them to make
marked Improvements in the present
methods of numbering and timberland
management. Fire protection has
come TO be regarded as one of the
FIRST essentials Of forestry. andhae
; seems to me that in times of dtnueN
the landowners should themselves
give their holdings a greater measure
Of protection: and that in addition 70
the protective measures put into
practicA bv the state department 4
j ''ufnaer. ordinary conditions the
lockout men at their stations and tnss