In April 1926 a conference of forest service foresters was held in Susanville. It was district forester S.B. Show whose statements caused alarm. Show had been doing extensive studies for a number of years of the nation’s timber resources.
Show noted that the timber resources of the southern states were rapidly being depleted and that, in turn, would put more pressure on the forests on the west coast. When Show was asked how long the forests of Lassen will last, he replied that at the present rate cutting from 25 to 30 years. Show continued that practically nothing is being done to reforest the lands that are being denuded by the timber operations and unless some constructive plan is worked out it is only a question of only a few years when the mountainsides of Lassen County will be bare and the only great natural resources within our boundaries will be depleted.
Show was not all doom and gloom. He stressed the importance of reforestation. He also noted the current tax assessments on timber provide the owners of such lands with little or no incentive to preserve timber for the future. It is interesting to note that later in the year the Lassen County Board of Supervisors reduced the timber assessment tax rate by twenty-five percent.