1238 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



forest management of some sort should actually be applied. Extensive 

 forestry, which simply prevents devastation through adequate fire 

 protection and through cutting practices which insure reproduction 

 adequate for commercial utilization, if applied to this whole area could 

 be expected neither to yield sufficient growth to meet the indicated 

 minimum objective for the country's timber needs on a quantity 

 basis, nor to provide the material of large size and high quality which 

 constitutes the bulk of interregional and export trade and always 

 commands the highest price. 



It is believed that possibly 25 percent of the total growth should be 

 produced under intensive forestry in order to yield some 4% billion 

 cubic feet of saw timber for the more exacting uses. To do this would 

 require about 70 million acres under intensive forestry, of which 

 almost nine-tenths would probably be in the East. In consideration 

 of the desirability of growing as much high-quality material as 

 possible and the ultimate profit which will probably result from such 

 a policy, this seems an entirely reasonable objective. The magnitude 

 of the undertaking, however, may be judged from the fact that 

 probably not over 10 million acres in the entire country are now 

 included in plans calling for intensive management. 



With the indicated area under intensive management, the remaining 

 278.9 million acres, if managed under extensive forestry, will make 

 up the balance of the national requirements. Even this extensive 

 forestry cannot, however, be achieved without widespread effort and 

 a radical departure from the unsatisfactory practices which now prevail 

 so generally. Under extensive forestry it is estimated that present 

 growth rates will increase 50 to 200 percent in the various regions and 

 that the total growth on the area which may be under extensive 

 forestry will be about 11% billion cubic feet. 



A hypothetical distribution of area and growth among the various 

 regions according to the possible future status of forest management 

 suggested in the preceding paragraphs is given in tables 22 and 23 in 

 the section Present and Potential Timber Resources. It will be seen 

 that the growth totals approximately 17.8 billion cubic feet, which is 

 about the minimum safe objective to meet probable future require- 

 ments. The plan suggested represents a reasonable balance between 

 the several means of relieving the shortage of timber growth. Its 

 essential feature is that every possible means must be taken to increase 

 timber growth to meet the needs and practical difficulties of the situ- 

 ation. 



BALANCING FOREST LAND USE OBJECTIVES 



The possible status of forest lands on the basis outlined in the 

 preceding paragraphs is shown in figure 1, B. It appears that if 

 adequate measures to safeguard and develop the resources for the 

 various uses are made effective, the area available for forestry (667.3 

 million acres) is ample to provide for actual needs for all purposes as 

 far as these can be foreseen. In fact, it may be possible to meet these 

 needs without complete utilization of all the forest land now denuded 

 or of all the agricultural land likely to be available for forestry. 

 Presumably, through the operation of the economic factors, the lands 

 which might be left idle will in general be the most difficult to restock 

 or the least productive and least desirable of the open lands available. 



