1040 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



(g) Failure to maintain a suitable mixture of species so as to main- 

 tain the fertility of the site and take full advantage of its productive 

 capacity. 



(h) Culling the best trees, thus leaving inferior and defective 

 individuals as a growing stock. 



(i) Failure to cut old decadent and defective trees which are 

 hindering the growth of valuable individuals. 



(5) Cutting of timber (except where desirable to reduce surplus 

 growing stock) in excess of the annual increment of the unit. 



Desirable standards with regard to these practices cannot be 

 attained through restrictive legislation, unless the owners voluntarily 

 consent to public control. About all that the public can do is to 

 attempt to persuade them to adopt desirable practices. This can be 

 accomplished in part through systematic suggestion, education, and 

 demonstration. In some instances, however, forest owners will 

 readily accept a certain degree of restriction in return for assistance 

 by the public. In view of the public benefit that would result from 

 the better handling of forests in general, it is appropriate for the 

 public to help individual owners or associations of owners in improving 

 their practices, providing the owners will submit to restrictions which 

 will safeguard the public interest. 



PUBLIC AID AS BASIS FOR OPTIONAL REGULATION 



Such assistance may take the following forms, all of which have been 

 tried in foreign countries, and several of them in the United States, 

 as discussed in other sections of this report: 



(1) Management of the forest for the owner, to such extent and 

 with such division of the costs as may be agreed upon. 



(2) Grant of free or low-cost planting stock and other material. 



(3) Tax concessions or adjustments of various sorts intended to 

 lighten the financial burden on the owner. 



(4) Loans or other credits on favorable terms, sponsored by public 

 agencies. 



(5) Concessions in public forests, providing for integrated sustained 

 yield management under some degree of public control. 



(6) Public insurance against fire and other loss, or some form of 

 assistance in establishing a working system of private insurance. 



(7) Outright subsidy, for certain specified operations or practices. 



(8) Assistance in construction of roads and other means of exploiting 

 the forests efficiently on a permanent basis. 



(9) Assistance in preventing and combatting fires and fungus and 

 insect pests. 



Public aid will not be justified merely for the purpose of benefiting 

 individual forest owners. It will be justified only if benefit to the 

 public will result. It should not be regarded as a bonus or gift to 

 forest owners, but as a payment for which value will be received by 

 the public. So far as practicable, grants of public aid should be con- 

 tingent upon acceptance of restrictions which will insure that the 

 value will be received. In short, private forest owners should not be 

 favored with special privileges or services at the expense of the public 

 treasury, unless they assume corresponding obligations with respect 

 to the handling of their forests. 



