582 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



PROGRESS IN TIMBER MANAGEMENT AND SILVICULTURE 



Development of the timber-productive capacity of the national 

 forests would be hastened if cutting could be started at ^o nee in all 

 the mature and overmature stands, thus removing the ripe timber, 

 stagnant as to growth, in favor of new growing stands. Two prin- 

 cipal considerations prevent the immediate accomplishment of this, 

 even if a buyer could be found at once for all mature timber, which is 

 not possible. First, the sale of national-forest timber is held back so 

 as to avoid adding to the overproduction of lumber and other com- 

 modities which has been taking place of late years owing to overliqui- 

 dation of private timber. National-forest sales involving timber 

 values in excess of $500 are limited to supplying existing sawmills 

 dependent on the national forests and pulp mills for the domestic 

 market; to disposing of killed or damaged timber before deterioration; 

 and to cutting on areas where national-forest timber can be most 

 economically logged with the use of transportation facilities con- 

 structed primarily for other timber. Second, American silviculture is 

 still in the developmental stage, and despite great progress there is still 

 much to learn as to methods of cutting to insure the fastest and surest 

 replenishment of the timber stands and their greatest growth in both 

 quantity and quality. Intensive research and practical experience 

 are constantly improving the silvicultural technique, so that there is 

 much to be gained by not rushing the cutting of the public timber. 



Aside from the handicap imposed by the fact that silvicultural 

 practice and forest management in the United States are still neces- 

 sarily in the developmental stage, there have been and still are other 

 major impediments in the way of full attainment of the forest-cultural 

 aims. 



The adverse effect of the interspersion of privately owned timber- 

 lands has already been referred to. Unity of purpose in management 

 is essential to obtaining the maximum benefits from a given working 

 circle. The presence of private timberlands, which are usually cut 

 under a plan of "clean up and get out", offsets in part the benefit of 

 properly handled stands on adjoining national-forest lands. Pro- 

 tective measures against fire, insects, and disease are often ineffective 

 unless prosecuted on all lands in a given unit, regardless of ownership. 

 In some cases the private timber controls both the logical access for 

 logging purposes to the entire unit and the feasibility of developing 

 transportation facilities, thus making harvesting of the public timber 

 await the development of the private tract. Or, conversely, the cutting 

 of national-forest timber may be forced prematurely by the exploi- 

 tation of the intermixed private holdings, in order to avoid depreci- 

 ation in stumpage value of the public timber. 



This handicap operates chiefly in the extensive tracts of large-size 

 timber on the Pacific coast, where until recently expensive logging 

 railroads and heavy machinery have been thought essential for prac- 

 tical logging. To justify the investment and operating expense, it 

 has been necessary to have control of virtually all of the timber in the 

 unit. Of late, however, the possibilities and in many cases the finan- 

 cial advantages, of tractor or light gasoline donkey logging, and truck 

 hauling of logs to the mill or main-line railroad, have become apparent 

 for so many different conditions that a way is seen to give much greater 

 flexibility to national-forest management by the construction of truck 



