1142 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



versity centers, so that the technical workers will be most readily 

 available for consultation or cooperation on State problems. The 

 size of the territories covered by the stations necessitates local con- 

 centrations of work at branch stations situated at points which are 

 representative of the different important forest types of the region. 

 This further enlarges the opportunities for contact and cooperation 

 by the regional station personnel. At these branch stations, experi- 

 mental forests are being established which constitute another fruitful 

 source of aid to the States and private owners through the demon- 

 stration of experimental results. Five or ten such experimental forests 

 will probably be required in each forest region. Similar forms of aid 

 are presented in the experimental ranges, for the States in which range 

 grazing of livestock is important ; and in the natural areas which are 

 being set aside on the national forests for research purposes. 



Another effective means by which cooperative relations may be 

 established and research at the regional stations brought more closely 

 in contact with State ^and local agencies, is provided by the station 

 advisory councils appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. Through 

 these councils the stations are brought into contact with representa- 

 tives of State forestry departments, agricultural colleges, universities, 

 industrial leaders, timberland owners, game and wild life organiza- 

 tions, and others. 



In such ways as these the aggregate of assistance available from the 

 regional stations to the State forestry agencies and private timberland 

 owners is large, and not all of it is indirect. Most of the field projects, 

 in fact, are constantly producing data of local value in the conduct 

 of the regional studies, which have a direct bearing upon State forestry 

 problems or those of private owners within the State boundaries. 



RESEARCH AT THE FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY 



Most of the forest-products research of the Forest Service is con- 

 centrated at the Forest Products Laboratory, at Madison, Wis. 

 The laboratory investigations cover a wide variety of problems con- 

 nected with forest-product utilization, from the cutting of the tree to 

 the grading, selection, and conditioning of forest products, the funda- 

 mental study of their properties, their modification to resist decay, 

 fire, or shrinkage, and the study of methods and kinds of wood for 

 use in pulp and paper manufacture. The investigations cover also 

 the design and adaptation of forest products with reference to strength 

 and other properties, and manufacturing processes, such as gluing and 

 painting. The laboratory tests of forest products are supplemented 

 and coordinated with the work of the forest experiment stations in 

 various ways, notably through studies of the relation between growth 

 conditions and wood quality which are being conducted by the labora- 

 tory in cooperation with the regional stations and other agencies. 



The work done at the Forest Products Laboratory is intimately 

 related to many other forest activities. Since it is designed to extend 

 the use of wood to new products, and to accomplish a better and 

 closer utilization of timber, it contributes to forest conservation in 

 general and to various phases of forest management in particular. 

 Its results are of value to the States in numerous ways, as well as to 

 local industries, and a considerable amount of the field work done by 

 the laboratory is in close cooperation with both State and private 

 agencies. 



