The Topeka state journal., 1922-10-02
OUR DwINDLING FORESTS.

| woman and child were reduced by
cne-third, the pinch of hunger would
soon be felt and the cry of famine
would undoubtedly be raised.
Yet substitute the word wood" for
food and you have exactly what
has happened in the use of lumber;
| for the per capita consumption has
dropped from 500 board feet in 1906
| to 316 board feet in 1920, says the
forest service, United States depart
ment of agriculture.
This decreasing use of a funda-
mental commodity, according to for
est experts, is not a result of decreas-
ing needs but a result of forest ex-
haustion. 1t is not being accom-
plished without economic hardship or
without curtailment of industrial ex-
pansion. 1t is not a temporary con-
dition that will automatically adjust
itself, for even at this reouced rate of
consumption we are still cutting our
forests more than four times as fast
an they grow. The situation pro-
claims, according to the forest serv-
ice, that If we are to remain a nation
of timber users. we must become a
nation of timber growers.
In 1906, when American lumber
production reached it's highest point,
1.-THE average per capita consumption
of lumber in the United States was
approximately 300 board feet. Since
that time the per capita consumption
has rapidly. and consistently decreased
/
approximately 316< board feet. This
| is reduction of 81 per cent in thir-
teen years, or nearly 3 per cent a
year. Should this decrease continue
at its present rate, by 1910 the DOWN
ward sweep of consumption would
approach zero. This, of course, will
not happen. The average consump-
I-tion will ultimately reach a fairly
stable level, which will depend mainly
upon the extent to which our devas-
tated forests are made again produc-
tive.
| The consumption of lumber is not
evenly distributed over the various re-
gions of the United States. Previous
studies have indicated that the states
of the Pacific northwest, now the last
great stronghold of big numbering
operations, had a much higher per
capita consumption than those of
other regions. but the present figures
are the first which give information
for all states upon the same basis.
Naturally the greatest per capita
consumption occurs where wood is
plentiful and the population is rela-
lively small In Washington and Ore
gon the consumption appears to be
between 900 and 1000 board feet
annually per person.
Next come California, Montana,
Idaho, and Wyoming, where the rate
of consumption is from 500 and 500
feet per person annually. In these
States timber is relatively plentiful as
compared with the density CT the pop
ulation, and a very considerable ex-
ransion has bsen taking place in the
development of farms and other nat
urslN resources.
The group next lower IN per capita
consumption includes the Lake States,
and sweeps southwesterIy across the
prairie states thru Colorado, New
Mexico, and Arizona. In this grour
The annual consumption is between
soc and 500 feet board meausre per
year.
| Practically all the remaining states
fall into a class in which the annual
consumption is 200 to 300 feet per
year. This group extends in a broad
belt from Texas along the southern
and eastern Atlantic coast to Cape
Cod, Mass. 1t also includes North
Dakota, Iowa, Utah. and Nevada
The lowest consumption of all is IN
Rhode Island, the District of Column
bia, South Carolina, and Georgia. in
which the average consumption is
rated between 100 and 200 feet per
year. In the District of Columbia
there is an extreme situation in dens-
ity of population. No lumber is pro-
duced, there is little farming or man
ufacturing, and the entire population
consists of urban dwellers in the cit,
of Washington who live mainly in
houses of brick and stone and require
relatively little lumber. All the 1un,-
ber used in the District of Columbia is
imported from other states, just as 1t
is in some OF the non-timbered prairie
states. r.
In general, the older and mora
densely settled states show the lowest
average consumption. The states
characterized by heavy agricultural
operations come next, and the great
est use per individual is indicated in
those states where there is still con-
siderable timber and where the ex-
tension of home building is proceeding
at a rapid rate, using the abundant
material provided by the forests. The
states are going thru an evolutionary
process. building first of lumber and
later of more costly materials as the
forests recede before fire and axe.
Meanwhile don't forget to plant
your tree in Tree Planting Week