Business: New Trees for Old

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Only ten years ago, the U.S. was cutting its timber much faster than it was growing. But now, Forest Service Chief Richard E. McArdle told the Society of American Foresters last week, the growth of new sawtimber at last almost matches the amount cut down. A comprehensive survey just completed by the Forest Service shows that in 1952 the cut was only 1.03 times growth v. 1.5 times in 1944 and more than five times in 1929. McArdle had a pat on the back for the logging industry: the best-cared-for timberland is that owned by industry (13% of the nation's commercial forest) and Government (27%); the other 60%, held by some 4,500,000 private owners, represents the Forest Service's biggest problem in teaching conservation.

But McArdle also had admonitions and warnings for the foresters. He pointed out that much of the increased sawtimber growth ratio comes from less important hardwoods, while softwoods, in huge demand for construction and papermaking, were cut down in 1952 almost one-third faster than they grew. The quality of timber, he said, is declining. Control of insect pests, which in 1952 killed 5 billion board feet of sawtimber (seven times the toll of fire), has not gone far enough. Nor have the growth ratios increased enough; by the year 2000, the Forest Service guesses, U.S. demand for non-fuel timber will be from 70% to 100% bigger than in 1952.