980 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



trees prematurely and constructing unnecessary improvements of only 

 temporary value. It will provide for going over the property in an 

 orderly manner within 5 or 10 years to harvest timber that is finan- 

 cially mature and salvaging where possible fungus-infected, insect- 

 killed, windfall, and fire-scarred timber. It will also provide for a 

 systematic gradual development of permanent transportation facilities 

 and other forest improvements and for fire protection. Even on the 

 property with impaired growing stock this systematic procedure 

 accompanied by limitation of the cut will gradually rebuild the grow- 

 ing stock and productivity of the area. The systematic operation 

 and the permanent improvements will also widen the margin of profit 

 on stumpage cut. Above all it is necessary to remember that, as 

 shown in the discussion of management of shortleaf loblolly pine 

 stands in the South, well-stocked stands produce from two to three 

 times as much per acre as poorly stocked stands, although taxes and 

 the costs of fire protection and administration usually amount to no 

 more per acre in the well-stocked stands. The cost of producing 

 stumpage is, therefore, two to three times as great in poorly stocked 

 forests. 



ELIMINATING FROM COMMERCIAL FOREST AREAS PUBLIC SERV- 

 ICES UNNECESSARY TO FOREST USE 



Scattered settlement throughout forest areas creates, according to 

 American standards, the need for schools, roads, and other services 

 scattered through the areas. Such services cannot be supplied 

 economically under these conditions and the result may be tax rates 

 which, in themselves, tend to make forest use unprofitable. Nor- 

 mally, all but a small percentage of the labor required by forest indus- 

 tries is concentrated at manufacturing plants or elsewhere rather than 

 scattered through the forest area. It is only in this manner that 

 permanent living accommodations of the better class can be provided. 

 This concentration is to the advantage of both employer and employee. 

 Such communities can be supplied with public services economically 

 and without imposition of an undue tax. 



RESEARCH AND DEMONSTRATION 



The general subject of forest research is discussed in another section 

 of this report. Since forest ownership and also the manufacture of 

 forest products is mostly in small units, forest research for the most 

 part is carried on by public agencies. Such research has had very 

 marked results in the past few years, but existing facilities for bringing 

 these results to bear on the management of private forests have not 

 proved altogether adequate. To meet this situation there is need to 

 single out in each region a number of enterprises and a number of 

 communities in which research workers, forest owners, and forest 

 industries can cooperatively demonstrate the application of existing 

 knowledge to some of the many problems remaining to be solved. 

 These include : 



1. Forest-growing problems, particularly that of removing the 

 proper trees from the stand to obtain current income and at the same 

 time prepare the stand to increase more rapidly both in volume and 

 in volume. 



