| OCR Text |
Show production requires the maintenance of the basic productivity of the land. Although the position of the Federal Government as the Nation's major owner of timber and timber-lands leaves it open to the charge that it controls timber markets through the exercise of monopoly power, no evidence was found to indicate that this is actually occurring. Nevertheless, it would be reassuring to the users of public timber to have it well understood, and stated in law, that the Federal Government is not to extract monopoly profits or to use its position to control timber markets. This is particularly important with respect to timber sales to firms dependent on the public lands for their supply of timber. We have found that failure to make needed economic investments in Federal timberlands has resulted in failure of the Federal agencies to meet their share of the Nation's wood requirements today, even though protection of other values was not involved. Of particular note is timber access road construction, which has lagged behind needs in past years. As a result, considerable areas of timber that could be harvested are inaccessible, and salvage and protection programs have been hampered. Our recommended approach to the use of Federal funds in timber production programs, utilizing sound conservation practices, will result in higher receipts from timber sales over the long run, and in greater expenditures per acre than at present for the areas involved, without depleting this natural resource. Average annual timber production on these areas will be increased substantially by directing the land management agencies to maximize the net return to the Federal Treasury. The Commission notes that there are many opportunities on national forest lands for investments that would more than pay for themselves.0 Economic Factors Recommendation 31: Major timber management decisions, including allowable-cut determinations, should include specific consideration of economic factors. Although timber is an economic good, and there are data on the costs and. returns to timber management, the Commission found that the public land agencies do not generally make specific economic analyses as a basis for their management decisions. Allowable-cut determinations, which provide a basis for determining most of the timber programs, are particularly confusing with respect to the use of 6 George Banzhaf & Company, Public Land Timber Policy, Ch. 8. PLLRC Study Report, 1969. economic factors. Those that are used are commonly hidden behind cumbersome definitions and are combined with other assumptions in complicated formulae so that their actual use and effects are completely obscured.7 The Multiple Use and Sustained Yield Act of I9608 confirmed the policy long enforced by the Forest Service that timber harvesting should be accomplished on a sustained yield basis. This has been interpreted by the management agency to require establishing annual allowable cuts that do not vary widely from one year to the next. Biological factors predominate in the methods used to determine allowable cuts. The species mix, growth rate and age classes of the existing timber stands all enter into the resulting calculations. The public lands have large volumes of overmature timber, in part because of the conservative cutting policies that have been followed and in part because these forest lands were more inaccessible than the private lands that were the base for logging in past years. Consequently, mortality rates are high and net annual timber growth is less than in managed forests with a lower average age. For example, the annual growth rate in western national forests is somewhat less than one-half of 1 percent, while managed forests can be expected to grow at several times this rate. To convert an over-mature forest with large volume of timber to a balanced managed forest requires liquidating the old growth timber over a period of time. The public land agencies have generally chosen to do this over a fairly long period of time so that the volume of timber harvested from one period to the next does not vary considerably. On the other hand, commercial forest operators have usually cut old growth faster so that the goal of a balanced managed forest capable of rapid growth is reached sooner. Such a policy includes a larger allowable cut in the earlier stages and a reduction in allowable cut later on as the age classes become balanced and the annual net growth rate becomes stabilized. To an extent, investments in reforestation and thinning can tend to offset this reduction, although the extent of their effect depends on the length of time set for converting old growth to a managed forest. In Federal forests the rotation age, i.e., the time to grow timber from seed until harvest, has been traditionally determined by the log size suitable for 7 Allowable cut is the amount of timber that may be harvested from a timber management unit over a prescribed period of time in accordance with a timber management plan designed to provide a sustained flow of timber over a period of years. A detailed discussion of the methods used in planning the annual cut is contained in George Banzhaf & Company, Public Land Timber Policy, Ch. 6. PLLRC Study Report, 1969. s 16 U.S.C. §§ 528-531 (1964). 97 |
