1246 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Without public aid, and even with it, remedial measures would be 

 slow of application. Some measure of long-range planning and social 

 control is essential to stimulate prompt adjustment to provide effective 

 coordination of the various uses of land and to insure conservation of 

 the intangible values which are as important to society as the material 

 values. 



The need for such planning is especially urgent in the present 

 situation because the prospects of developing new regions are small, 

 population has spread over most of the productive area, the original 

 forest resources of the older regions have been largely dissipated, and 

 the agricultural resource has suffered from unwise management in 

 many regions. Failure to act wisely now in providing for the future 

 may result in much unnecessary human hardship^ and may create 

 conditions fraught with danger for the entire social and economic 

 structure. 



LAND CLASSIFICATION 



Land classification surveys have been proposed and are becoming 

 accepted as the basis for the best fundamental land-use adjustment. 

 Their objective is systematic land-use planning based upon intensive 

 physical, economic, and social studies of individual regions. They 

 are an attempt, in a systematic way and after intensive study of 

 factors affecting land use and occupancy, to assign each area to that 

 use to which it is best adapted physically, economically, and socially. 

 They are an attempt to bring order out of chaos in the use of lands and 

 to substitute systems based on scientific facts for the hit-and-miss 

 methods of the past. As such, it is hoped that they will avoid many 

 of the pitfalls of a "laissez-faire" system with 'its attendant mistakes, 

 its financial losses, and its human misery. 



As the first step to systematic land-use planning, physical classifica- 

 tion of lands is necessary since without a physical inventory of avail- 

 able lands and classification by possible uses there is no basis upon 

 which to plan. Physical characteristics alone, however, do not deter- 

 mine the best economic use to be made of particular parcels of land 

 or even of large blocks of land or of whole regions. It is necessary 

 also to consider the economic and social aspects of land occupancy 

 and use. Studies of these phases of land use become very complex 

 and they can be made only after the collection of suitable data. Not 

 alone must such studies consider the profitable employment of land 

 for particular uses under present and future economic conditions, but 

 they must consider also social environment and public welfare. 



In dealing with the classification of land for agricultural use, for 

 example, it is necessary to consider whether the situation in any local- 

 ity is such as to make the community successful. The probable 

 returns from the land must be balanced against the costs of maintain- 

 ing schools, roads, and other phases of local government, as well as 

 the feasibility of maintaining churches and other aspects of com- 

 munity life. Classification may prevent many unwise development 

 schemes and point the way to substantial economies in local govern- 

 ment. 



Land classification surveys should indicate with considerable assur- 

 ance which areas should be under public ownership and should make 

 possible the allocation of units for acquisition by State and Federal 

 agencies. But there are many difficult and perplexing problems to be 



