Hungry Horse news., 1955-10-28
Hungry Horse News
Our Timber Future

Of much concern to the whole Flathead is the
outlook for sufficient logs to keep mills and
busy
Blowdowns of late 1949 followed by the spruce
bark infestaton becoming an epidemic saw Flathead
National Forest timber sales double to exceed an
annual cut of 100,O00000 board feet This increased
cut brought salvage of trees that would have other
wise rotted and removed trillions of beetles from
the forests 1t job well done by loggers and the
U. S. Forest Service.
At the same time SOLDERING thought is that the
sustained yield figure for the federal timber lands
is 900 board feet year. Furthermore appears
that state and private timber lands could possibly
equal federal yield, but they will not continually ex-
coed it. At the same time saw capacity in the Flat
head is now about 300, 0OO, 900 board feet year.
Monday afternoon we visited for an hour with
P. D. Hanson, regional forester, in Missoula.
He answered that the Flatheads problem was
one faced by the whole West.
The $4,000 900 board feet sustained yield figure
what cut year after year without reducing the
total RESOURCES not expected to decrease 1t may
possibly increase Furthermore it is timber cut
figure that is to be average period of years
and not the maximum.
Hanson sees the Flathead and the whole western
timber economy as utilizing more species such as
lodgepole. Belgrade, Livingston and White Sulphur
Springs in central Montana have mills entirely depend
ent on OdgepOle that few years ago not consider
ed saw timber.
Improved mechanical equipment is making poss-
IDLE logging further up slopes. With our roads and
better equipment we are opening up areas that pre-
vously were not considered in terms of merchantabe
saw timber. In the whole pattern of thought there
no plans to log in the wilderness areas.
Hanson also remarked that there will be in
creased utilization of chips and material burned. The
pulp industry is bound to come to western Montana,
he felt He remarked about the layers of smoke
western Montana cities these months caused by in
complete use Of the resource.
Timely in answering our questions the speech
of R. E. McArdle chief of the U. S. Forest Service
delivered Oct H. 1855 at the annual meeting Of the
Society Of American Foresters in Portland It was
over half hour long speech.
It was entitled: Timber Resources for Americas
Future"
Here are few key paragraphs that concern the
Flathead and the particular problem we had in mind:
"These potential demand estimates would re-
quire timber cut of 50 o) IS billion board feet of
timber Tin 10000 in contrast to the 1852 cut of 40
billion board feet"
1.-THE United States including Alaska, controls
per cent of the forested area of the world and Is
per cent of the timber under exploitation Although
the is less than that of nations, the timber
volume is greater than of most Canada for example,
has more forest area but less timber than the United
States, including Alaska There are about acres
of forest per capita in the United States, about acres
per capita in the u S. S. r. and about 66 acres per
capita in Canada
Another development and conclusion was that
the Nation is not making effective of the land
now devoted to forest production.
point in the McArdle speech that fits in espec-
tally with the Flathead problem was: "One-third of
the timber cut for lumber was not used, either for
fuel or any other purpose On the other hand only
per cent of the timber cut for pulpwood was not
utilized"
"About rs per cent of the total timber cut is for
saw logs, and the proportion of timber cut which is
utilized is higher for logs than for any other
major product Here where the greatest opportunity
lies for supplementing timber supplies by closer ut
ization," the U. S. Chief Forester said.
We are to hear more about Timber Resources for
Americas Future and related topics in the years
ahead.
In the Flathead there is to expect that
vval and future prosperity of the forest industry will
be associated with further utilization There is already
progress In itself the spruce bark beetle salvage
and control utilized resource that otherwise would
have been wasted We also seeing board feet
of lumber from logs There is awareness that smoke
from those burners is waste, and that utilization should
be made Of countless trees and tops left useless in the
woods. MR.