A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 485 



which timber may be neither "sold, removed, nor destroyed", the 

 fact remains that if the need for timber becomes sufficiently acute 

 the protected lands will be opened for exploitation. Men in general 

 have always attended to their physical needs ahead of their aesthetic 

 and recreational ones. Consequently, if our physical forest needs 

 cannot be met on the areas devoted to commodity production, it is 

 almost certain that the aesthetic and inspirational forest values will 

 be sacrificed. But if the commodity forests are managed on a sus- 

 tained-yield basis there will be no need to call on the recreational 

 forests for wood products, and people may still continue to enjoy 

 the adventure, the beauty, the inspiration, and the opportunity of 

 communion with nature which the forest alone can supply. 



AREA TO BE SET ASIDE FOR RECREATION 



It will be impossible to make any precise calculations as to the 

 area necessary to meet the country's forest recreational needs until 

 some survey, much more thorough than anything yet attempted, has 

 been made. However, the following estimates may have some 

 validity as rough approximations. 



SUPERLATIVE AREAS 



It is generally agreed that all forest areas of superlative scenic 

 value should be set aside exclusively for recreational use. The total 

 of such areas in the United States probably does not amount to more 

 than 3 million acres, of which over 2% million acres have already 

 been reserved for exclusive recreational use. 



PRIMEVAL AREAS 



An average of 150,000 acres of overmature forest would seem like a 

 conservative estimate of the acreage to be set aside as primeval area 

 in each of the 20 major forest types. The departures from this 

 average in individual types will be wide, for much will depend on the 

 availability of satisfactory stands. In addition to the 3 million acres 

 of overmature forest which it is important to reserve immediately, 

 it will eventually be desirable in all except a few uniformly uneven- 

 aged types to set aside an equal area in both the mature and immature 

 forest in order to have that succession of age classes wiiich alone 

 will insure the perpetuation of primeval areas. Furthermore, about 

 500,000 acres in minor forest types should be reserved, making prime- 

 val areas total about 9}<> million acres. 



WILDERNESS AREAS 



Of the 20 million acres of forested land included in wilderness areas 

 that have already been established or might be established, about 

 5 million acres in Maine are in private ownership. This land has 

 practically all been cut over, and will no doubt continue to be handled 

 for both commodity and recreational use. About 4 million acres of 

 national forest wilderness will also be subjected to logging according 

 to present plans. Approximately 1 million acres of the forested 

 wilderness total is also superlative area. With these deductions 



