F. K. Weyerhoeuser Pictures 'The Forests of Tomorrow'

I Seattle, Wash.-Speaking to alumni observing the fiftieth ;;- anniversary of the University of Washington's College of For$-: estry November 8, the president of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company predicted social and scientific developments that will assure a healthy future for the forest products industries.

Expressing the "utmost confidence" in the continuing need for forests to provide raw material for industry, F. 11. Weyer- discussed the next fifty years of forestry and the for-

Forest Industries Meon I OO,QOO Jobs, 9lOO Million Poyroll

' vest in Washington's and Oregon's Douglas fir region in 1955 est products industries. Observing that 82/o of the forest har- was utilized to manufacture useful products or for fuel, he that the harvest of old-growth timber would be extended .well into the twenty-first century, and that, beginning atlout 1970, the rise in Washington lumber production from second-growth sawtimber would more than offset the decline in use of old-growth timber. il' ' B.."ose of the population explosion that has doubled the world population in 75 years, and that of the United States in 50 years, Weyerhaeuser said that markets for the various forest products will expand in varying degrees, depending on how well they compete with'other products.

The timber company president described research efforts of "forest scientists to grow trees faster, to produce trees that ul'tirnately will yield more and better wood and be resistant to 'insects and disease. "If the demands for wood warrant it, we may some time be able to grow two crops during the period it ':.' :-rrow takes to grow one," he prophesied.

After more than 100 years of timber harvesting for man's use, California has enough standing timber to build 35 million new homes, or enough to fill a train of boxcars that would encircle the earth at the equator four-and-a half times.

Industries in California that depend on the forests for sources of raw material today employ more than 100,000, with a payroll of better than $400,0fi),000 a year.

These are a few of the facts presented in a new booklet, California Forest Facts, prepared by American Forest Products fndustries, Inc., national .sponsor of the Tree Farm System and Keep Green fire-prevention education programs.

The high productive capacity of California's forests gives unusual opportunities for intensive forest management to produce repeated crops of high quality products, acoording to the booklet.

Recent studies show that 14 million acres of California's 17.3 million acres of comrnercial forestlands are of good or superior quality for growing trees. And about 6 million acres, or more than one-third the total, are classed as superior tree growing sites.

A little less than 47 o/6of. the commercial forestland in Calfiornia is privately owned. The other forestland is controlled by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the State of California.

However, the volume of privately owned standing sawtimber is estimated at L66.2 billion board feet, compared with the 193.8 billion board feet controlled by government agencres.

The well-documented booklet declares that "California has a bright forest future."

"fts wealth of wild lands . . represents a basic re- ' source of vast opportunity."

He warned that the continual reduction of forest and farm land acreage for highways, air fields, military reservations and similar uses will necessitate intense use of those crop lands remaining.

"The time may come," he predicted, "Whent we will think twice before we divert good forest land to these uses, important as they may seem."

Weyerhaeuser forecas( that expanding populations will increase the value and use of both private and public forests for recreational and watershed purposes.

"Just as tirnber and game can be twin forest crops, so, too, can trees and water be harvested from the same forest lands. The forester of tomorrow will increasingly have to be expert in managing water and game resources, and people, as well as trees." he said.