A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 241 



indefinitely and still permit the world's increasing softwood require- 

 ments to be met. Some students of the situation believe that world 

 markets for softwoods will be such that they could consume several 

 billion cubic feet of United States softwood supplies annually if 

 cheaply and abundantly available. The significance of this is that 

 our requirements for domestic consumption should not be the sole 

 measure of the markets for United States forest products. The possi- 

 bility of greatly increased exports should enter into the considera- 

 tion of a program of constructive use of the Nation's forest lands. 



A PLAN OF FOREST LAND MANAGEMENT CONSISTENT WITH 

 NORMAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TIMBER 



It has been estimated (see section " Forest Land the Basic Kesource ") 

 that after allowing for withdrawals of forest land mainly for recrea- 

 tion, there is available for permanent timber use some 508.6 million 

 acres of land. This includes commercial forest land and open land 

 not needed for agriculture but which, so far as soil and other natural 

 conditions are concerned, would be suited to timber growing. 



How much of this available land, if it were under management for 

 timber production, would afford a sustained yield on saw-timber 

 rotations consistent with normal requirements? This will depend, of 

 course, upon the type, or rather, types of management imposed. It 

 does not seem economically practical to assume that a unified, blanket 

 intensity of management could be spread over all of the land available 

 for timber use. A combination of intensive forestry, extensive 

 forestry, and simple protection, as defined in the preceding discussion 

 of Timber Growth, is believed to be more logical. Such a combination 

 affords a wide range in estimated sustained yield through the 

 possibility of varying the acreages allotted to the several types of 

 management. 



Three examples of theoretical combinations of management will 

 illustrate the wide range of results that may be obtained. (Table 25.) 

 The first is referred to for convenience as plan I. This, although 

 believed to represent a situation somewhat more favorable than that 

 which now exists, may be thought of as involving the minimum in the 

 way of a national program of forestry. It is what might possibly 

 result from putting forest fire protection on a satisfactory basis, mak- 

 ing a large curtailment in the overcutting in the eastern regions, 

 and expanding somewhat the areas now under intensive and extensive 

 forestry. It appears that this plan would develop a sustained yield 

 of between 10.5 and 11 billion cubic feet. This is 20 to 25 percent 

 more than the estimated present current growth, but far less than 

 either the 1925-29 drain rate or our estimate of normal reqirements. 



