A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 583 



roads which would give access to timber bodies heretofore held for 

 railroad ^ development. Such a publicly controlled transportation 

 system, installed when and where the conditions are favorable, would 

 permit logging public timber independently, in much smaller lots, 

 when opportune from the standpoint of market and physical condition 

 of the timber, or promptly^ after damage by wind, fire, insects, or 

 disease. It would also permit more to be done in the way of thinning 

 growing stands, utilizing the trees more closely, and partial cutting for 

 special products where desirable. So far, most of the national-forest 

 road construction in this region has had to be primarily for fire pro- 

 tection, calling for locations often not suitable for log hauling. 



The advantages of this system have been proven in the other 

 national-forest regions, where access is much easier, and where small 

 sales can be made much more freely during normal economic periods. 



One means of lessening the handicap of private timber interspersion 

 lies in the possibility of private and public ownership joining hands to 

 manage the combined holdings in logical units under suitable forestry 

 practice and for sustained yield. The allocation of national-forest 

 timber to purchase by an adjoining private owner in return for his 

 commitment to proper management of his own holdings has been 

 advocated by a number of leading private foresters and by the Timber 

 Conservation Board. It has been proposed that Congress authorize 

 the Forest Service to enter into such arrangements where clearly in 

 the public interest. While this would appear to involve some depart- 

 ure from the open competition feature of national-forest sale practice 

 as established by Congress, the actual present situation is such that 

 often only one operator bids. The present provision in law that no 

 national-forest timber shall be sold at less than its appraised value 

 would safeguard the public interest in the financial aspect of the plan. 



Apart from the question of accessibility, the limitations of markets 

 open only to material above a certain minimum size and quality, or of 

 certain species of trees, have prevented intensive silviculture! treat- 

 ment. Thus the lack of market for lumber of so-called inferior species 

 like white fir in California, white fir and larch in Oregon, and the 

 Rocky Mountain type of Douglas fir and of larch in north Idaho, 

 has required leaving uncut many trees of these species intermixed 

 with trees of more valuable species, or avoiding pure stands of these 

 inferior species within units containing better species. This results 

 in materially falling short of putting the timber stands in the most 

 favorable condition for future growth, postponing this possibility 

 until the next cut, many years hence. Studies in California, for 

 example, show a larger net growth in the remaining stands in mixed 

 stands where the white fir was heavily cut compared with those in 

 which it was cut lightly. Likewise market limitations often prevent 

 use of the small trees or smaller parts of the large trees, thus preventing 

 thinnings in young stands to accelerate growth of the remaining stand. 



In New England and Arkansas worthless hardwoods of some species 

 or tree forms often greatly retard the growth of valuable conifers. 

 Though the girdling or cutting of these hardwoods may be accom- 

 plished in timber-sale cuttings, these come infrequently and are in- 

 adequate in extent to cover the ground rapidly, with the result that 

 valuable growth is materially held back over large areas. It would 

 be both silviculturally and financially advantageous if funds were 



168342 33 vol. 1 38 



