A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 117 



forestry program on a far greater scale than has been attempted 

 hitherto. 



Private owners generally will not, nor should ^ they be expected to 

 expend their money and efforts for purposes which will benefit them 

 very little. It is logical and reasonable that the costs of such activi- 

 ties should be borne by the public which derives the benefit. These 

 public benefits from forestry will be very large and widely ramified. 

 The immediate costs to the public will also be large, but in the long 

 run the direct and indirect returns to the public will be far greater. 



PUBLIC CANNOT AFFORD TO DELAY ACTION 



The Nation cannot afford to wait longer for existing efforts and the 

 fortuitous play of economic forces to solve the problem. Only con- 

 scious, deliberate, and planned forestry on a large scale can measurably 

 meet the known needs. Accidental or unconscious or unplanned 

 action may, as in the past, leave some forest values on large areas. 

 This something is better than nothing, but is doing only one fourth 

 to one third of the job. 



The total effort to date has not solved the problem, and the de- 

 pression clearly has already had the effect of slowing down the existing 

 rate of both private and public efforts. 



Usable forests simply cannot be produced in a short time. Many 

 decades are required even on the most productive areas, and with the 

 most intensive forestry. The forest resources of the year 1980 depend 

 on what is done now. 



The numerous questions of how much forestry is now being prac- 

 ticed and by whom, the place and value of different means to forestry, 

 the abilities and responsibilities of the different agencies, the costs 

 and returns from forestry, the areas that will and may not be needed, 

 and the program required in a full-scale attack on the problem are 

 all discussed in later sections of this report. 



