JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Vol. XIX DECEMBER, 1921 No. 8 



The Society is .not responsible, as a body, for the facts and opinions advanced 

 in the papers published by it. 



SUSTAINED ANNUAL YIELD AS A NATIONAL POLICY 

 OF FORESTRY 



A DiscL'ssiox IN Support of Profkssor Roth's Plan of National 



Regulation of Forests, with a Brief Exposition 



of That Plan 



By Russell Watson 



Assistcijit Professor of Forestry, Universitv of Michigan 



The purpose, ostensibly at least, of all present national policies of 

 forestry is to insure to the people and to the industries of the nation 

 a continuous and adequate supply of wood products suitable for their 

 needs, and at fair prices. Since it is certain that severe timber shortage 

 will come in perhaps 50 years, national policies of forestry should have 

 as their objective means of lessening this shortage. 



Other matters of forestry which sometime enter into discussion, 

 such as protection of waterways from floods by means of forests, 

 value of the forest for recreation, use of lands otherwise idle, etc., are 

 comparatively of minor importance here. Furthermore it is certain 

 that proper attention to these matters will result naturally if the prime 

 purpose is accomplished. 



This article is premised upon the belief that the cure for our forest 

 ills lies in Federal control of forests. 



An attempt is made to help find some light on this question : If Fed- 

 eral control of forests should be obtained, what steps should first be 

 taken to secure the end desired, the end desired being a continuous and 

 adequate supply of forest products. To do this, this paper has four 

 major expositions, as follows : 



1. To show that regulation of the amount of the cut of our forests 

 rather than silviculture or protection is the most feasible method of 

 insuring a continuous and adequate supply of wood, and is the best 

 scheme for tiding over the period of timber shortage. 



817 



