A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 585 



The same is true of the Douglas fir type in Arizona and New Mexico, 

 and to a small extent in the ponderosa pine type in extreme south- 

 western Colorado. An even smaller percentage of successful restocking 

 exists on small areas of jack pine cut-over land in Michigan. None 

 of these exceptions, however, constitutes an important situation, but 

 they do challenge foresters to solve the problem. 



Fire, of course, has wiped out the reproduction on some sale areas, 

 but except in the Douglas fir type in the Pacific Northwest and in white- 

 pine areas in Idaho, fires on cut-over areas have been of small con- 

 sequence. In those two regions the protection of cut-over areas, 

 though less troublesome than on outside lands, has not been fully 

 accomplished, owing to the extreme fire danger prevailing in the region 

 in general. Nevertheless the losses on sale areas have not been great. 



In the pine forests of California donkey logging, even with the 

 restrictions in effect on the national forests, caused too much damage 

 to young growth. The substitution of tractors for donkeys on national- 

 forest sales has reduced the damage 25 to 50 percent, so that it is now 

 well within reasonable limits. 



REPLANTING 



This activity is lagging for want of adequate funds. Though the 

 aim of national-forest management and silviculture is to renew the 

 forests by natural restocking to the fullest possible extent, there are 

 approximately 2,100,000 acres of national-forest land chiefly old 

 burns, which require replanting if the area is to be restocked within 

 any reasonable period. At the current rate of between 25,000 and 

 30,000 acres annually it will take at least 70 years to catch up. Only 

 235,000 acres have been planted to date, in the 27 years of active 

 national-forest administration. Though many planting problems are 

 still being studied, the technique of planting has been pretty well 

 developed, the cost in general reduced to reasonable figures, and there 

 is no reason why it should not go ahead. Despite much planting 

 effort to date that must be charged to experimentation, at least two 

 thirds of the planting shows an acceptable degree of survival. Direct 

 seeding has not so far succeeded, and has been temporarily aban- 

 doned, though experiments are still under way. An annual appro- 

 priation for planting of at least $400,000 should be made available 

 as soon as the financial horizon clears, and it should be stepped up 

 each year to reach $1,600,000 in the fourth year and at least that 

 much each year thereafter. Early replanting is particularly impor- 

 tant on the eastern national forests, close to the areas of heavy timber 

 consumption. Some of the land purchased in this region was bought 

 at a low rate for the express purpose of replanting. 



Thus a review of the timber-management situation on the national 

 forests shows a number of handicaps still prevailing for example, 

 the fact that silvicultural and management technique is still in the 

 formative stage; the complication of interspersed private lands; the 

 lack of a road system and market possibilities needed for complete 

 flexibility of management, silviculture and utilization; lack of adequate 

 funds for cultural operations and for replanting denuded areas. 



On the other side of the picture is ample evidence of progress 

 such as the development of management plans which bring all present 

 knowledge to bear on the orderly development and systematic 



