682 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



has also been done on prices and particularly those of standing timber, 

 which are one measure of returns and hence of the incentive to grow 

 timber. Taxation to the timberland owner is a cost, but to the public 

 it is among other things an important source of revenue. Upon the 

 formulation of equitable methods of taxation may depend in con- 

 siderable degree the extent to which private owners embark upon 

 timber growing. Following some extensive efforts in former years an 

 intensive study of forest taxation for the entire United States has 

 recently been under way. 



A closely related group of investigations deals with various other 

 aspects of private forestry the progress which it has actually made, 

 the determination of the factors which have interfered with its pro- 

 gress, constructive measures for removing obstacles, etc. This work 

 has so far dealt primarily with conditions in the Pacific Northwest, 

 where constructive measures of first importance are being worked out. 

 If they materialize they will revolutionize methods of logging and 

 silviculture and greatly reduce the fire hazard. An intensive investi- 

 gation of forest insurance has also been started as an aid to timber 

 growing by the private owner. Various studies have been made or 

 started on land questions such as the economic effect of forest devas- 

 tation in a limited region, and the extent to which a new public domain 

 is being created through land abandonment, etc., together with 

 the formulation of constructive measures for meeting the resulting 

 situation. 



The field for investigations which should supply the economic foun- 

 dation for forest management and forest land use policies is very 

 broad and of critical importance even under normal conditions, but 

 much more so during periods of economic stress. The results of in- 

 vestigations such as those previously indicated, supplemented by 

 other investigations as necessary, should in general determine the 

 proper place of forestry and of forest land use in our local regional 

 and national economic and social structure. The various kinds of 

 work necessary can merely be illustrated, but among others would 

 include: The economic basis for a classification of lands which should 

 be devoted to forestry in contrast with agriculture or other uses; the 

 basis for a classification of forest lands into those which should be 

 utilized for the production of timber for watershed protection, for 

 recreation, etc., or any combination of such uses; the basis for the best 

 distribution of forest land ownership, Federal, State, or other public, 

 and private; the manner and extent to which the public should con- 

 tribute to or regulate the handling of private forest lands; the best 

 combination of aid and regulation; the basis for sound policies of 

 national forest administration and of lands in other kinds of owner- 

 ship; and the economic aspects of rotations, cutting cycles, and cutting 

 budgets, or broadly forest regulation. In fact, the field is so broad 

 that practically no other line of investigative effort can be regarded 

 as complete or satisfactory until its economic relationships have been 

 covered. 



OBJECTIVES, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 



Whatever progress has been made during recent years in the devel- 

 opment of an organization and the facilities for forest research in the 

 Forest Service as well as in actually doing research and obtaining 

 results, is largely due to two things. The first is the formulation of 



