REPORT OF THE FORESTER. 191 



erning bodies as they bear upon administrative work, fire protection, 

 public forests, and taxation. As now prepared, these compilations 

 are practically a codification of the forestry laws of the several 

 States. 



RESEARCH. 



NATIONAL FOREST INVESTIGATIONS. 



The investigative work on the National Forests comprised refores- 

 tation and fire studies, general economic studies, and investigations 

 relating to management and forest growth. It followed in the main 

 plans which have been developed through a number of years. The 

 tendenc}^ has been steadily toward broader study of the basic prob- 

 lems of forestry, which require long-time investigations, though not 

 to the exclusion of studies to meet immediate practical needs. 



Through a two-month detail to the Washington office last winter 

 of the men in charge of National Forest research work the entire 

 research program, its aims, methods, and organization, and particu- 

 larly its relation to the administrative or practical side of forestry, 

 was carefully canvassed. The result was a better correlation of the 

 work of the different research units and a better definition of the 

 main problems and special difficulties presented in each district. 



It was decided to discontinue, temporarily at least, the two Cali- 

 fornia experiment stations — Feather Eiver and Converse — and to 

 concentrate the work at the other stations. With the funds available 

 the Forest Service had to choose between inadequate support for all 

 the stations (though all are needed) and concentration on the more 

 important problems at fewer stations. 



Progress on the comprehensive fire-protection study initiated last 

 year consisted largely in the accumulation and analysis of data, with 

 the outlining of essential principles for further study. The purpose 

 is to obtain a basis for effective distribution of fire-protective funds 

 and the development of intensive protection where the danger is the 

 greatest. Necessarily, this work involves an exhaustive study of both 

 office data and widely scattered field conditions. 



A study of the culled and cut-over hardwood land's in the southern 

 Appalachians produced plans for the management of certain Na- 

 tional Forest areas. 



One of the economic studies made last year concerned the relation 

 of forest utilization to community development in the Pacific North- 

 west and northern Lake States. The lumber " camp " is the natural 

 result of a nomadic lumber industry. As the forests of an}^ region 

 become permanent sources of timber supply they become capable of 

 supporting a more stable population. Where the forest is the main 

 resource the development of permanent industrial communities as 

 sources of labor supply is obviously desirable. In regions where ths 

 land, though originally timbered, will be put to its best use through 

 clearing for agriculture, it is desirable that forest utilization should 

 contribute as largely as it may to the upbuilding of organized agri- 

 cultural communities. To learn both the present actual conditions 

 and the possibility of bringing about improved conditions the study 

 was undertaken. 



Range reconnaissance resulted in the examination and mapping 

 of about 1,100,000 acres, and brought the total area of range thus 



