The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-06-22
u. S. CANNOT DEPEND
UPON TIMBER IMPORTATIONS.

OfON lMbEN INF YIN ~ iSiNS.
Any idea that the United States
can depend upon the forests of
other countries to supply its timber
needs after its own forests have
been mined out must be abandoned,
declares the Forest Service, U. 5.
Department of Agriculture, In It's
new bulletin Timber: Mine or
Crop?" in which the necessity for
regarding the country's forests as
crop lands rather than timber mlnes
is emphasized.
"This country's present imports
and exports of timber and other for
est products nearly balance, says
the bulletin. at may be expected
that as local shortages develop with
in the next few years, as has al
ready been the case with pulp wood
in the Northeast, they will be COW
cred in some part by importations,
particularly from Canada. Our i'm
ports will probably soon exceed our
exports. Any hope, however, that
we may depend upon importatlons
from abroad when our timber re-
abandoned"
The Forest Service points out that
two-thirds of all lumber consumed
in the United States is softwood-
pine, fir, spruce and hemlock. II is
further stated that there are only
three great bodies of coniferous
timber in the world outside of the
United States. One is in Canada,
a second extends from Scandinavia
eastward through Finland and-Eur
opean and Asiatic Russia to the
Pacific Ocean, and the third, of rel
atively minor Importance, is in GEN.
trail and southeastern Europe, chiefly
in pre-war Austria-Hungary.
The new bulletin, which is the
most comprehensive publication on
the timber situation in the United
States ever put out by the Depart
ment of Agriculture states:
although Canada still possesses
a vast softwood forest area, much
is in the Arctic region and will be
Of doubtful availability for export
trade The more accessible forests
are rapidly being developed to their
capacity for the needs of the British
Empire. The greater part of the
Alaskan forests are better adapted
to pulp wood than to lumber.
"In Europe the few countries still
having large coniferous forests can
not supply the needs of the rest of
the European nations. The area
formerly embraced in Austria Hung
airy was over-cutting its forests
prior to the war in order to export
To maintain their exports a. the
former amounts these countries will
have to limit their own consumption
to very low levels or seriously de-
plete their forests. They will prob
ably do both for the next decade or
two in order to rehabilitate their
economic status, with the result that
eventually domestic needs will abb
sorb all that their forests can pro-
duce.
Scandinavia has but a small sur
plus of structural timber. Her ex-
ports consist mainly Of pulp wood
and pulp. Finland and Russia are
therefore the only countries in Eur
ope which can be counted on as i'm
portant sources of structural timber
to meet the large needs of their
nearby neighbors.
"Siberia, with her billion acres of
forest fully developed, could export
large quantities of timber. The
forests of Siberia, however, are still
undeveloped and a great part of
them lie, like those of Canada, with
in the Arctic and interior regions
and may never be available for a
large export trade. The forests ly-
ing close to the Pacific Ocean are
partly surrounded by nations which
will be the first bidders as export
trade increases.
"China, with her hundreds of
millions of people, is likely to de-
velop industrially and much of her
timber needs must be supplied from
the Siberian forests. Japan, al
though still an exporter of certain
species of timber, already imports
large quantities from Siberia. Even
if all the Siberian timber were at
the undisputed call of the United
States and lumber could stand the
cost of transportation from Siberia
to the interior and Eastern States,
the quantity available for annual
export would amount to but small
part of our present consumption.
"The timber needs of the United
States are so enormous, amounting
to nearly half of the consumption
of the world, that it is inconceiv-
able that they can be supplied, ex-
cept in small part or at excessive
prices, by importations from other
countries.
although the hardwood outlook
is more promising, the difficulties in
securing the amounts necessary are
no less serious. The tropical for
ests of South America and Africa
contain vast areas of hardwood
timber, some of which can doubt