A Brief History of Forestry. / In Europe, the United States and Other Countries

by B. E. Fernow

Here, in Siberia, the first attempt at a management was made in 1897 in the government forests, which are estimated at over 300 million acres; in addition about 400 million acres have been declared reserved forests. Not one-third, however, even of the government forests is well stocked and less than 4 million acres are under some form of management.

In European Russia, the forest area comprises about 465 million acres, or 36% of the land area. The population being now over 120 million (nearly one-half escaped from serfdom only since 1861), the forest area per capita is only about 4 acres, somewhat less than in the United States, half of what is claimed for Sweden and Norway, although seven times as large as that of Germany or France.

It will be seen, therefore, that Russia, although still an exporting country, has reasons for a conservative policy, even if only the needs of the domestic population are considered, which alone probably consumes more than the annual increment of the whole forest area; and the consumption is growing with the growth of civilization as appears from the increase of wood consuming industries, which in 1877 showed a product of 8 million dollars, in 1887, of 12¹⁄₂ million, in 1897, of 50 million dollars.

This assertion, that the era of over-cutting has actually arrived, may be made in spite of the stated fact, that in the northern provinces only two-fifths of what is supposed to be a proper felling budget, is cut and marketed, and that other most uncertain estimates make the cut 17 cubic feet per acre of productive forest area, and the annual growth, on still more uncertain basis, 31 cubic feet.[9] The same reasons that operate in the United States contribute to wasteful practices, namely uneven distribution of forest and population.

[9] An idea of the supposed productive conditions may be gathered from the estimates which have been made, in 1898, for the State forests and the operations in these.

In the two northern provinces, in which the state owns nearly the entire forest area it is estimated that 8 cubic feet per acre would be available felling budget, but only 10 per cent. of this is actually cut and sold. Outside of this territory the available felling budget is calculated at 24 cubic feet per acre, but only 60 per cent. or 14 cubic feet is being cut. Altogether in 1898 there were cut in the State forests (somewhat over 300 million acres), 1,860 million cubic feet, say 6 cubic feet per acre or 40 per cent. of the estimated proper felling budget. The administration claims that three-fifth of the projected felling budget is saleable. In 1906, the budget was placed at 345 million cubic feet, but only 130 million were cut.

An estimate of the cut in the communal forests with 12 cubic feet, in the peasants holdings with 20 cubic feet, and in the private forests with 40 cubic feet per acre, brings the total for the country to round 10 billion cubic feet, worth round 100 million dollars for stumpage. It is assumed that 30 cubic feet should be the annual increment per acre, when it would appear that only 70 per cent. of the increment is cut.

The cut in the State forests was sold for 21 million dollars (1898), or at an average of less than 1c. per cubic foot. The highest price paid in the Vistula district was 2.5 cents, which scales down to 1c. in Siberia and to one-third cent. in the Caucasus. This refers to stumpage, nearly all sales being made on the stump to wood merchants by bids, the trees being marked in some parts, in others the area only being designated. The transportation is almost entirely by river. From 1883 to 1901 the net revenue from the State forests increased from 16 to 47 million dollars, while the expenditures dropped from 29 per cent. of the gross revenue to 18.4 per cent. The gross result is 46 cents per acre. In 1906, the returns were $27 million, and expenses $5 million.

As in the United States the East and West are or were well wooded, with a forestless agricultural region between, so in Russia the North and the South (Caucasus Mountains) are well wooded, with a forestless region, the steppe, between. This leads, as with us, to an uneconomical exploitation of the woods, the inferior materials being wasted because not paying for their transportation in one section, and dearth of timber and fuelwood in the other section.