900 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



would gradually restore the local market and the direct exchange of 

 farm and forest products, and would make the community largely 

 self-supporting from the standpoint of the great essentials of food 

 and shelter. Data from many countries show conclusively that 

 wherever these conditions of local production exist the per capita 

 use of forest products far exceeds the per capita use in regions where 

 these products have to be brought in from a distance at greatly 

 increased costs. 



STABILIZATION OF OWNERSHIP AND BLOCKING UP OF AREAS FOR 

 PERMANENT MANAGEMENT 



Institution of a private forestry enterprise requires a property 

 the parts of which are at least adjacent and are so situated as a 

 whole and with relation to each other that economical transportation 

 facilities either exist or can be established, that existing markets can 

 be economically reached or new markets created, and that all other 

 factors of management can be properly coordinated. It is evident 

 that the 127 million acres of farm woodland are already blocked up 

 and represent ownership stability of the same order as exists for 

 farms. The division of this section dealing with the extent of private 

 forestry shows that possibly as much as 21 million acres of private 

 commercial forest lands have been placed under some type of improved 

 care in addition to fire protection. It is knov/n that other com- 

 mercial forest areas have been consolidated for exploitation purposes 

 in a manner that would meet the requirements of permanent manage- 

 ment. Enormous areas in unstable ownership remain to be redis- 

 tributed among various forms of public and private ownership. 

 The sooner this is done, with adequate precautions against mistakes, 

 the more quickly the process of deterioration on these areas can be 

 arrested. 



ECONOMIC SIZE FOR FOREST PROPERTIES 



Farm-woodland properties vary in size from 5 acres or less to 1,000 

 acres or more. The farm woodland is in a separate category in that it 

 forms part of a unit managed chiefly for the production of crops other 

 than forest crops. Certain industries other than agriculture, of which 

 mining is a prominent example, may be linked in a similar manner 

 with forestry operations on a small or large scale. Kecreational use 

 of land, particularly by country clubs or hunting clubs, is sometimes 

 joined with forest production. Even for areas devoted more exclu- 

 sively to timber production no general rule as to operating size can 

 be laid down, because production of all types of forest raw material 

 can be carried on either on one-man units of a few hundred acres or on 

 very much larger units. Very seldom, however, will any economic 

 advantage accrue from the assemblage of operating units of more than 

 100,000 acres. From the administrative standpoint it is extremely 

 advantageous that the typical forest property remain of small size, 

 subject to the detailed attention of the owner or operator; but this 

 places the industry at some disadvantage from the standpoint of 

 employing technical advisors and carrying on necessary research 

 activities. For this reason it has proved necessary that research, 

 and to a certain degree technical advice, be provided at Federal and 

 State expense in the case of forestry as in that of agriculture. 



