University of Idaho School of Forestry - Forester Yearbook (Moscow, ID)

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TI-IE BENEFITS AND SERVICES RENDERED BY TI-IE NATIONAL FORESTS OF THE STATE OF IDAHO M. H. WOLFF Assistant Regional Fo-resteog Lands, Region One, U. S. Forest Servfice PRIMARILY Idaho's welfare is founded on its lands. Its small proportion of manu- facturing activity is essentially involved in the conversion processes of the raw materials from its own forests and mines. The stateis wel- fare depends primarily On the products of the fields, the ranges, the mines, and the forests. Land is the basis of all these-land and its utilization. Of Idaho's gross area of 53,000,000 acres about 23,000,000 are forest lands. The federal government owns about '79 per cent of the tim- bered area, practically all within the national forests, the State of Idaho about 4 per cent, and the private owners the remaining 17 per cent. Just so much as the large forested pro- portion of the state area is a material influ- ence on the social and economic development and welfare of the state, so correspondingly have the national forests, composing virtually three-fourths of the total area of forest lands, a very considerable place in serving local social and economic needs. The helpful influences of the national forests in Idaho on the state's welfare are many and varied. They are the basis of direct financial returns to the local government units and to the people in the form of actual cash payments or equivalents to the counties and the State, and of a source of employment and a market for local trade as the result of the national forest work. INDIRECT BENEFITS VARIED Very appreciable as are these direct finan- cial returns, of far greater importance in the immediate and long-time economics and social welfare, locally, are results of the benefi- cially planned utilization of the national forest resources and their development and pro- tection. These might be termed, for distinc- tion from the direct financial contributions to the state, as indirect benefits, The national forests are a source of raw materials for the timber-using industries, logging and milling of lumber materials and the production of other timber items, such as poles, posts, and pulpvvood. They insure a certain degree of stability in the production of these materials and provide a feasible way for continuing in timber production lands not now government owned, which otherwise threaten in large part to become waste and idle. The national for- est ranges, under constructive management, provide forage for livestock producers and also furnish this pasturage in a manner which promotes the stabilization of the livestock business. The beneficial effect of the forests on erosion and floods and other injurious vari- ations in waterflows is reflected in nothing but good for irrigation interests and water power users. The forests provide an enormous recreation ground for the inspiration, diver- sion, and play, first, of the local population, and secondly, for outside people and through that an additional source of business revenue. Most immediate of the direct financial bene- fits to the state is the federal government's payment to the counties for road and school purposes of 25 per cent of the gross revenue obtained from the payments and fees coming from the use of the forests and their products. This virtually amounts to a 25 per cent non- assessable equity in these lands. The value of any land is in direct relation to the net rentals therefrom. Considering that the rental re- turns cannot be obtained without at least some expenditure, and that the payments to the counties are based on gross, not net receipts, the counties' interest might be considered as even materially in excess of 25 per cent. It is to be noted that these incomes are truly cur- rent rentals and not the removal of principal values, since a fundamental of national forest utilization is use without depreciation. This 25 per cent when applied to timber is really the equivalent of a 25 per cent yield tax 5 this far exceeds the most hopeful yield tax rate ever proposed in this or any other state. ROAD AND SCHOOL REVENUE LARGE ' This 25 per cent contribution in Idaho for the six-year period preceding the fiscal year 1931, when the efects of the depression be- came evident, totaled S979,686, indicating a normal average at this stage of development of about S163,000 per year. This income is based on only a partial utilization of the na- tional forest resourcesg with the more com- plete utilization fully to be anticipated in the future the returns to the counties can be ex- pected to increase. In addition to contributing this 25 per cent of its gross income to the counties, the federal government spends 10 per cent of its gross in- come in any state for road construction within that state. An appreciable part of this re- places an equivalent amount that would other- wise have to be expended for this purpose by the local governments. Hence, that amounts to an additional financial contribution. The 10 per cent road fund apportionment to Idaho has reached an aggregate of close to 31,000,- 000. YVhile the 10 per cent road construction has attained considerable proportions, it has been vastly exceeded by the direct appropriations made by the federal government for f0I'9St highways and forest development projects- These have been separate and apart from POS'C

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THE IDAHO FORESTER 7 in turn may and does innuence the water sup- ply and its usability. Until recent years little attention has been given to reforestation and the protection of our watersheds without the thought in mind of continuing and perpetuat- ing the coverage which is needed to conserve the water supply. The conservation of the plant coverage such as the forest tree and other vegetation is neces- sary that the snow be retained to prevent early runoff of which we have heard much com- plaint in recent years from our irrigation farmers. The Forest Service from its incep- tion has recognized the need for protection of these forest areas from the standpoint of the water supply and its use. GENERAL PUBLIC CONCERNED The writer, in 1929, as a member of the State Land Board, in company with represen- tatives of the Forest Service, Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association, and lumber operators, made a survey of the Boise and Payette Watersheds for the purpose of study- ing plans for protection of the forests and forest vegetation and the conservation of the water supply for irrigation. The same year a group of farmers and irrigators made similar investigations. This all indicates the interest of the public which is very great in the subject of the relation of the forest to irrigation. There is no doubt of the need for study of the use and handling of the forest and forage and other resources on the watershed in such a way that the handling of the same may be compatible with the welfare of irrigation development. These resources supply the basis for range livestock production and the lumber- ing industry, both of which are not only essen- tial to the State, but are also interrelated with irrigation farming in the interchange of commodities and all interested in the general upbuilding of the State. The U. S. Forest Service realizing the im- portance of protecting our watersheds started about 1929 an intensive and continued study of erosion. This is being done because Forest Service olificials recognize the menace of ero- sion to reservoir and canals, as well as the need for preservation of vegetation upon our watersheds. FUTURE GENERATIONS CONSIDERED Methods of cutting timber on our water- sheds, slash disposal and grazing are all being studied that we may preserve and perpetuate forest growth and all vegetation for the bene- fit of ourselves and posterity. Another factor in the relationship between the forest and irrigation is the development of electrical energy which is now being used by the farmers almost all over the irrigated sec- tion. Were it not for the conservation of water upon these forest-covered watersheds which results in stream flow in our rivers be- ing maintained throughout the year, power development could not have been promoted. This utility has come to be a valuable asset to our State and especially to our farmers. Elec- tric power for use in pumping plants for irri- gation and the use of electricity upon Idaho farms has become more or less common. Per- haps no single thing has done so much to re- move drudgery from the farm as the use of electricity. The annual flow of water from our forest- covered watersheds, the development of power upon our rivers, the use of water for our ir- rigated lands, has made Idaho a leader among the intermountain states. Our great diversity of crops, and our large acreage production are not excelled by any state and equalled by few if any. LUMBERING IDAHO'S SECOND INDUSTRY Again our large and extensive forest areas furnish summer range for vast herds of sheep and cattle which in turn, in winter, find feed upon our irrigated farms to the profit of both the farmer and livestock man. Our forests provide a large amount of lumbering which is the second largest industry in the State, agri- culture being the largest. The lumber industry employs a large number of men in normal times and thereby furnishes a market for no small amount of the products of the farm. Our irrigation farmers are interested, along with all our people, in the large State holdings of the largest stand of white pine to be found in the United States. The timber owned by the State was valued at 335,000,000 a few years ago. Though it is not worth that amount now the time will come when it will be worth even more. The writer has endeavored to outline some facts which show the relation existing between our forests and irrigation. The loss of either our forests or our irrigation would ruin our State. It is therefore necessary that we pre- serve both. So as a state we have sought in recent years to protect our forest by legisla- tion which we believe is proving beneficial to the public and to those who are interested pri- vately in the conservation of our forests for the benefit of posterity. Timber protective associations are func- tioning throughout the State, which organiza- tions co-operate with the Federal Government, the State, and private interests to the end that all may receive a maximum benefit in the pro- tection of our forests. The writer desires to express appreciation to Dean Francis Garner Miller for the very fine service he has rendered as Dean of the School of Forestry of University of Idaho and especially for services rendered during the period the writer was Governor of Idaho. The writer desires also to express his ap- preciation to former Commissioner of Recla- mation George N. Carter and Harry C. Shell- worth, President of the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association for data furnished in preparation of this article.

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THE IDAHO FORESTER 9 Road or other Federal Aid projects. The amount of money allocated to the state from these appropriations has been dependent in considerable part on the acreage of federal forest lands in the state. At one time these contributions were figured at three cents per acre per annum based on government-owned lands in the state. In recent years they have been much greater. Up to July 1, 1932, the funds thus expended for direct road construc- tion and road maintenance work by the Fed- eral Government aggregated 259,500,000 for major public roads and 358,900,000 for forest development roads and trails. Since the major roads are of primary importance to communi- ties in or near the national forests, their con- struction by the government replaces an equal cost of construction which would have had to be undertaken by the counties or the state, if not carried on by the government. The forest development projects in part provide develop- ment which otherwise would have had to be undertaken by local agencies. GOVERNMENT SPENDS OTHER MONEY HERE The government's expenditures for admini- stration protection and development of the forests aggregate a very appreciable total. Practically all of the payroll expenditures in the state are put into circulation locally. There are close to 200 year-long forest service employees living in the state, varying from the highly trained, long experienced forest supervisors with heavy responsibilities, to the newcomers among the rangers, all of whom in normal times receive salaries aggregating about S475,000 annually. The recurrent seasonal employment of tem- porary men for prevention and control of fire and forest diseases, for the construction of forest development roads, trails, telephone lines, lookout houses, and other necessary structures, provides a tidy payroll. In the seven national forests in northern Idaho alone this is estimated conservatively to have aver- aged during late years upward of 2000 men for an average of about three months each year. These 6000 man-months represent around S500,000 in wages alone. This employ- ment is in large part made up of local resi- dents, and a very great proportion of their compensation is put into local channels of trade. The temporary occasional crews, spe- cially recruited for suppression of large fires, have aggregated 2000 men yearlyg while many of these have been obtained from outside the state, practically all available and suitable local men have been used first, and a very large proportion has been local, and a large part of their wages has been spent within the state. Large aggregates are spent on such things as subsistence, materials, equipment, transportation, rent, horse feed, and similar items necessary for carrying on this large field enterprise. The state's usual annual in- come from the government's national forest activities is indeed of considerable moment in the prosperity and welfare of the state. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS This year a new enormous expenditure by the federal government is in the way of being made in the national forests of Idaho. The Civilian Conservation Corps, while it will largely be composed of men recruited from other states, will include a great number of Idaho citizens likewise and will liberate large amounts of money into the local channels of trade. Altogether it can safely be said that the direct financial contributions of the federal government, as a result of its national forest enterprise in the eighteen forests in Idaho, far exceed what would have been the tax re- turns to the counties if the land now in na- tional forests had been permitted to lie open to public entry fmining laws are still, of course, unrestrictedly applicablej and had been pri- vately acquired. It is to be noted that after all but a small proportion of the national for- est property would have been privately ac- quired and retained in private ownership as worth while for a private owner to hold, ad- minister, protect, develop, and pay taxes on. Of the indirect benefits of the national for- ests the government's timber production ef- ,forts have been and will prove permanently to yield the greatest return to the state and its people. This is by providing a source of tim- ber conversion activities both present and po- tential. It is not in illing the needs of the state for lumber itself, although it is not at all amiss to have available near at hand at no great cost of transportation virtually an un- limited supply of timber for use by the mines, the farms, and other less prominent activities in the state, and although the government policy is to sell, at cost of making and ad- ministering the timber sales, all material needed by local settlers, and to give away all dead material free of charge. Idaho's output of lumber alone has aver- aged between 800,000,000 and 850,000,000 feet annually. It has been estimated that each thousand board feet of timber logged and manufactured brings between 320 and S25 in labor, supplies, and equipment paid out in the local community. While most of the cut in the past has come from privately owned lands, the end of privately owned timber as a ma- terial quantity exploited annually is not very many years away. In northern Idaho, for in- stance, private timber holdings will at normal cutting rates be cut out generally in from eight to fifteen years, with only a few ex- ceptions running a little longer. Very ob- viously the 322.50 for each thousand feet of timber cut that goes into local circulation will have to depend more and more on the govern- ment timber as time goes on.