A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1233 



tural area in actual use may be expected. In fact, an increase of some 

 20 to 35 million acres of agricultural land may be needed if techno- 

 logical developments do not keep pace with recent trends. The agri- 

 cultural area probably needed to offset the continuing abandonment 

 of submarginal farm, land in the East will come in part from extension 

 of farming in the central treeless region, in part from development of 

 irrigation projects, and in part from clearing of forest lands on pro- 

 ductive soils. Most of this clearing will probably take place in the 

 hardwood lands of the Mississippi Delta, but some may be in the 

 West, chiefly west of the Cascade Mountains. Such clearing in the 

 West is continually in progress on a limited scale and since it is not 

 offset in any appreciable degree by farm abandonment, it is estimated 

 that a reduction of perhaps 2 million acres should be made from the 

 present forest area in the West. 



Because of these compensating factors and the uncertainty con- 

 cerning the actual balance in the future, the 30 million acres of agri- 

 cultural land which may still become available for forestry are not 

 included in the area definitely available, but may simply be considered 

 as possible reserve. 



When these immediate possibilities are brought together, the net 

 total area now available for forestry in all its phases amounts to 

 669.3 million acres. The present classification of lands with respect 

 to forestry is shown in figure 1, A. 



OBJECTIVES IN FOREST LAND USE 



The earlier sections of this report, particularly the sections Is 

 Forestry Justified? and The Present and Potential Timber Resources, 

 have developed the possibility of two objectives in the use of land for 

 forest. One is concerned wholly with the ills that grow out of per- 

 mitting large tracts of idle and neglected land to accumulate, and 

 envisions converting to some type of forest growth every possible 

 acre that cannot be used to better advantage for other purposes. 

 The other objective is determined by the country's need of forest 

 products and services and involves the determination and develop- 

 ment of a forestry program that will utilize the available forest area 

 to the best advantage in producing a sufficiency of products and 

 services. 



If the available land is not sufficient to satisfy the need for all pur- 

 poses, then the two objectives will be identical. But in a young and 

 not very densely populated country, it is quite possible that the 

 second objective may be met without fully realizing the benefits of 

 the first. If this is the case, an attitude of complacency is likely to 

 appear and the Nation may be blinded to the ultimate economic 

 benefits inherent in full utilization of the basic land resource. 



THE LAND NEEDED FOR FOREST USES 



From the foregoing and because of the great public interest which 

 surrounds the problem, it is desirable to consider how much land will 

 be needed to meet requirements for various purposes. The various 

 uses of the forest will overlap and interlock to a large extent and 

 in general this is a desirable state of affairs. Only on a relatively 

 small portion of the entire area will it be necessary to restrict use to 



