A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 49 



INTENSIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT 



Intensive forest management on 70 million acres is one of the 

 measures needed to meet national timber requirements. 



To bring the area available for timber growing into full productive 

 use that under intensive management should be increased to 100 

 million acres. 



To reach these objectives it will be necessary to expand the area 

 under intensive management at the rate of about 1 or of \% million 

 acres annually for about 70 years. The magnitude of the program 

 is indicated graphically in figure 22. 



The provision for intensive forest management is based on the 

 theory that it is better to concentrate a substantial part of the effort 

 in timber growing on the most favorable areas than to diffuse it over 

 the entire area available. 



PRESENT AREA 



NEEDED TO MEET TIMBER REQUIREMENTS 



FOR FULL FOREST LAND USE 



25 



50 

 MILLION ACRES 



75 



100 



FIGURE 22. The negligible area now under intensive forest management must be increased to 70 million 

 acres to meet national timber needs. A program of full land use would place 100 million acres under 

 intensive management. 



Intensive forestry aims to realize through silvicultural treatment 

 the nearest practical approach to the maximum productivity^ of a 

 given site, or to grow by particular effort some special quality of 

 product. 



If the areas on which it is to be used are properly selected with 

 reference to volume and value of production, accessibility to market, 

 and risk, intensive forestry offers the promise of the highest volume, 

 quality, and money return per unit of effort and cost. It offers the 

 best means for producing the large-size, high-quality material and 

 special products such as clear finish and flooring, which are likely to 

 be scarce in the future and which are not likely to be produced with- 

 out special effort. 



It presupposes fire, insect, and disease control. 



Under different conditions intensive forestry requires a \\ide 

 variation in methods of cutting to insure natural reforestation of the 

 best species. It requires cultural measures such as weeding, girdling, 

 thinning, and pruning to carry young stands to maturity in the 

 shortest possible time with the highest yields of desirable species and 



