A PROGRAM FOR INTENSIVE FOREST. MANAGEMENT 



By THORNTON T. MUNGER, Director, Pacific Northwest Forest 

 Experiment Station 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 1455 



What constitutes intensive forestry? 1456 



Weeding, girdling, thinning, and pruning 1456 



Selective cutting 1459 



Refraining from cutting 1460 



Forest planting 1461 



Protection against in] uries 1462 



Improved utilization 1463 



Developing transportation 1464 



Need for intensive forestry 1465 



Objectives for intensive forestry 1467 



Selection of areas for intensive forestry 1469 



Opportunities for intensive forestry in certain forest regions 1471 



New England and Middle Atlantic States 1472 



Lake States 1475 



Central States 1475 



South 1476 



Northern Rocky Mountains 1479 



Southern Rocky Mountains 1479 



Pacific coast 1 480 



Summary 1481 



INTRODUCTION 



In this section intensive forestry is considered from the standpoint 

 of timber production only. On most of the forest area of the United 

 States timber production will be the principal purpose of forest 

 management. Management for this purpose will in large measure 

 satisfy the requirements of other forest uses; but on some areas, 

 especially in those large portions of the West where watershed protec- 

 tion, grazing, or recreational use is of first importance, intensive 

 management will be governed by requirements other than those of 

 timber production. 



Intensive forestry is that forestry practice which aims to realize 

 through silvicultural treatment the nearest practical approach to 

 the maximum productivity of a given site, building up in the short- 

 est practical time as large an annual cut as is consistent with the 

 productive capacity of the land, or which aims to grow by particular 

 effort some special quality of product. Under intensive forestry the 

 whole of the area managed is in a growing condition and well stocked 

 with desirable species adapted to each site, damage from fire and graz- 

 ing is practically eliminated, and cultural measures are generally 

 practiced both to utilize trees that under existing conditions are lost 

 from decay, suppression, etc., and to improve growing conditions for 

 the remaining trees. The application of intensive forestry is subject 

 to economic limitations making it impractical to try to produce 

 every possible foot of timber that might be produced with an indis- 

 criminate outlay of money. 



1455 



