50 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



How can we practice forestry locally 

 many ask? The answer is simple. 

 Consult the State forester, if you have 

 one. If not, write the Forest Service 

 at Washington or employ a reliable 

 consulting forester just as you would 

 consult a doctor, a lawyer, or a civil 

 engineer. Ordinarily a forester must 

 see local conditions before prescribing 

 a remedy. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



Practical forest-management^ is ap- 

 plied by the forester in the administra- 

 tion of public or private forests for the 

 same reason that the modern farmer 

 manages his farm under scientific prin- 

 ciples, instead of by the hit-or-miss sys- 

 tem of a century ago. Any stand ought 

 to yield more with forest management 

 than without it. The application of 

 forest management includes much that 

 the lumberman has overlooked. In the 

 first place, the proper rotation or age 

 when the timber crop reaches maturity 

 is determined not by guess-work, but 

 by considering the amount, size and 

 quality, of merchantable material that 

 can be cut after a given number of 

 years, as well as the demands of the 

 community, business, and market. A 

 clear understanding of the silvics and 

 growth of a species enables the mana- 

 ger or owner to weed or thin his stands 

 at the proper time, and to remove the 

 trees that are retarding the develop- 

 ment of the final crop ; to secure a suc- 

 cession of crops by the most suitable 

 system of natural reproduction ; or if 

 adverse local conditions prevent this 

 achievement, to sow or plant the proper 

 species so as to fully utilize the ground 

 for which it is best suited. Frequently, 

 only the crudest methods can be ap- 

 plied, when, because of poor market 

 conditions, the final crop has but little 

 value; to work a forest intensively at 

 the cost of all direct or indirect profit 

 would not be following the correct 

 management principles. It is apparent 

 that without efficient fire protection, no 

 conservative cutting can be successful ; 

 nor should the owner cut conserva- 



tively, no matter whether public or pri- 

 vate property is at stake, without a 

 clear understanding of the ultimate 

 gain which is to be secured by any sac- 

 rifice in today's receipts. The business 

 manager does not change his methods 

 without definite reasons, nor should the 

 owner of a forest. But perhaps the 

 gain cannot be expressed in dollars; it 

 may be protecting the watershed of a 

 navigable stream, safeguarding the 

 water supply of a community, or pro- 

 viding a playground for a common- 

 wealth. Often the forest can be made 

 use of as a breeding-ground for game. 

 Hence it is vitally important that the 

 kind of forest management adbpted 

 should conform to the object to be 

 gained. 



The cultural rules, method of regen- 

 eration, and intensiveness of manage- 

 ment, must necessarily depend on the 

 aims of the owner. The State or Na- 

 tional Forests must be managed on a 

 broader financial policy than the private 

 owner could afford to adopt. The in- 

 dividual must often put the financial 

 returns first, while the State can well 

 afford to raise the material most needed 

 by the local industries or to maintain 

 the cover, merely interrupted by light 

 selection fellings. Moreover, in the 

 case of important rivers, such as the 

 Mississippi, which rises in the Lake 

 States, and wherever forest lands are 

 important for watershed protection, it 

 may be best (even at a sacrifice in 

 yield) to maintain a heavy cover. The 

 individual must cut his torest crop so 

 as to get the best returns, unless the 

 public demands for its protection that 

 the cover be maintained as a measure 

 of public safety. You have seen that in 

 Europe the policy of restraining the 

 private owner from cutting, when it 

 damages others is clearly established 

 in law. 



I hope that I have made it clear that 

 successful agriculture in the long run 

 cannot be attained unless a nation 

 adopts forest management in its broad- 

 est sense. 



^ This definition follows what I have written in a manuscript on "The Red Pine in the 

 Lake States." 



