WHY FORESTRY IS NEEDED SUMMARY OF OBJECTIVES 9 



levels, and much wood must be imported at great expense to the 

 people. 



2. WHY FORESTRY IS NEEDED SUMMARY OF OBJECTIVES 



Approximately one-fourth of the land area of the United States, 

 or approximately 500,000,000 acres, is forest land, and a still larger 

 area, perhaps 600,000,000 acres, is potential forest land. This latter 

 area is greater than the entire land surface east of the Mississippi 



FIG. 6. The heavily timbered shores of the irregularly indented coast line of 

 southeastern Alaska generally contain from 25,000 to 150,000 b.f. per acre. It 

 consists largely of western hemlock with smaller quantities of Sitka spruce, 

 western red cedar and Alaska cedar. Photo taken on the north arm of Hood Bay. 



River. It is vitally important that some national plan be devised 

 for the management and care of this vast domain in order best to 

 serve the needs of the nation. 



In normal times we have been using our forests more rapidly than 

 they have been growing. It is vitally important that a permanent 

 timber supply be assured for the future generations of the country. 

 Forests may serve many purposes in the life of the nation. The ob- 

 jectives sought are closely related. They may be summed up as fol- 

 lows. They are not listed in the order of their importance because 

 in some regions one objective may be far more important than another. 



