Aided by record lumber prices, Indians in the United States earned $32.7 million -- twice the amount of two years ago -- from the sale of reservation timber in fiscal year 1969, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced.
The $32.7 million represents an increase of $11 million over the previous fiscal year. However, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce said that the same level of income cannot be expected to continue in the face of recent declines in the market value of timber.
The amount of timber cut increased to 974 million board feet, 23 million board feet more than in the preceding fiscal year and 73 million more than two years ago. The most significant increases were in Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington and Oregon.
Indian timber resources are harvested on a sustained-yield basis, to prevent over-cutting and eventual depletion. Bureau officials said that the present annual allowable harvest of 1.04 billion board feet may be reached in this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 1970.
Just as important as the income from timber sales are the job opportunities in lumbering and lumber processing created by the harvest. The present allowable harvest would provide over 7,000 full-time jobs in logging and milling and, more than 4,000 jobs in supporting and service employment, with total annual wages of about $50 million, Commissioner Bruce said.
Commissioner Bruce noted that several tribes are taking an increased role in developing the industrial and business opportunities supported by their timber harvests. At present about 30 percent of the total volume of Indian timber is purchased by Indian loggers and tribal enterprises.
