Abstract
TWENTY years ago, the people of the United States did not trouble themselves much about their forests. It was said othat enormous areas were stocked with an inexhaustible amount of timber and fuel. Since then a great change has taken place. It has gradually been ascertained that, although the total forest area is estimated at about 700 million acres, the average stand does not amount to more than about five tons per acre, which is equivalent to about one-tenth of what it would be in systematically managed forests; in other word, the stand of timber in the United States forests is equal to the stand in about 70 million acres of forests such as are to be found in Germany and a great portion of France. Since it has been ascertained that the actual cuttings of timber in the United States exceed already 100 million tons a year, it follows that the present stand must be used up in about thirty years. Nor is the quantity removed annually from the forests replaced by new growth, as the latter has been estimated to amount to about 75 million tons. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the annual forest fires destroy enormous quantities of material.
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SCHLICH, W. Forestry in the United States of America . Nature 67, 353–354 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/067353a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/067353a0