1346 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



NOTICE OF CUTTING 



Owners or operators should be required to notify the State enforce- 

 ment authority in advance of any commercial cutting (i.e., except a 

 thinning or improvement cutting) of more than 5 acres. Advance 

 notice might be dispensed with where the operation follows a pre- 

 viously approved plan, but in that case the appropriate authority 

 should be notified on completion of the cutting, in order that the area 

 may be inspected to see that requirements for slash disposal, etc., 

 have been complied with. 



REGULATION OF CUTTING 



Timber cutting far in excess of market requirements is contrary to 

 the interests of the individual timber owners as well as of society as 

 a whole. It tends to depress prices of forest products so low that the 

 owner gets nothing for his stumpage, and in many instances the 

 operator does not even recover the costs of logging, manufacture, 

 and distribution. Industrial chaos results. Much of the timber that 

 is cut is wasted, and the growing stock which is essential for con- 

 tinued timber production is unnecessarily depleted. Owners then 

 have neither the incentive nor the financial resources to keep their 

 land productive, and much of it, after being so badly wrecked that 

 it can produce nothing of value for many decades, sooner or later 

 reverts to public ownership. Consumers reap very little benefit from 

 the lower prices while they last. 



It is obvious that orderly production, adjusted to the growth ca- 

 pacity of the forests as well as to the demand for forest products, 

 would in the long run be best for the timber owners and producers as 

 well as the consumers and the public as a whole. General public con- 

 trol over production is not advocated at this time. However, it may 

 be practicable for States or groups of States, or, preferably, for the 

 Federal Government to cooperate with the industry in working out 

 methods for stabilizing timber production and marketing which will 

 safeguard the interests of producers and consumers and the general 

 public. Cooperation of this character would be especially desirable 

 for the purpose of preventing waste of resources and demoralization 

 of industry in the Pacific northwest and in the South. Such an 

 arrangement should involve a sufficient degree of public control over 

 the allocation and rate of cutting and the management of the forest 

 to insure permanence of the industries in given economic units and 

 also might include public assistance to both operating and non- 

 operating timber owners. 



PROTECTION FORESTS 



Each State should provide for the classification of forests where 

 the maintenance of a continuous forest cover is essential in order to 

 prevent damage to persons or to public or private property. 



The State should require that these forests be handled in such a 

 manner as not to jeopardize their protective value or endanger the 

 property or welfare of others. In general, this would mean merely 

 prohibition of deforestation, guarantee that cut-over areas will be 

 reforested by natural or artificial means, and maintenance of a forest 

 cover. Sustained yield management would not be required, but 

 should be encouraged. 



