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any, land is physically and biologically well adapted to all uses, and 

 different uses often conflict. No matter what the quality of the land, 

 it cannot produce maximum amounts of everything. If we want more 

 water or more forage, we may have to grow less timber. If we want 

 more timber for commercial utilization, we may have to be content 

 with less extensive parks and wilderness areas. The inspiration af- 

 forded by roadless areas will be experienced by fewer people than if 

 they were made more accessible. 



These considerations make it necessary to decide just what use or 

 combination of uses will be favored on a particular piece of land. 

 Much remains to be learned as to the techniques by which the desired 

 objective can be attained. Research, which provides the tools for trans- 

 lating plans into action, and which received its first substantial recog- 

 nition in the field of wildland management in the McSweeney-McNary 

 Act of 1928, is consequently an essential part of the conservation pro- 

 gram. Its urgency increases as mounting pressures on natural resources 

 necessitate the stepping up of production through more intensive 

 measures of management. Sustained yield which, like multiple use, 

 has become a phrase with which to conjure, attains its greatest use- 

 fulness only as yields are sustained at higher and higher levels — a goal 

 which requires more and more technical and managerial skill. 



A related aspect of conservation which deserves more emphasis 

 than it commonly receives is thrift in consumption. The greatest drain 

 on natural resources comes not so much from the increase in popu- 

 lation as from the constantly rising standard of living. During the last 

 fifty years our consumption of nearly every product of the land has 

 been greater than during all the previous years in our history. No one 

 regrets that what was a luxury for the father has become a necessity 

 for the son; but does that necessity require a prodigality in use that 

 leads to unnecessary waste? Could we not live comfortably without 

 burning so much gasoline in our automobiles, and without consigning 

 so much material to the trash burner and the dump heap? Growing 

 two trees where one grew before is no more effective in meeting our 

 needs than is making one tree do the work of two. Science is helping 

 greatly in this direction by developing new uses, new materials, and 

 new processes which permit the more economical use of natural re- 

 sources, but personal restraint in limiting our consumption to our real 



