1456 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



With the original stands of virgin timber practically exhausted in 

 all the original eastern regions, the necessity for forest management 

 to make productive use of much of the land area and to meet the 

 Nation's need for timber is becoming increasingly evident. And, 

 as has been the case with agriculture, under many circumstances it 

 will be found that intensive measures to get maximum production per 

 acre will prove more profitable than crude practices which realize 

 only a small fraction of the productive capacity of the land. In 

 Europe the forests yielding the highest returns are in general those on 

 which practice is most intensive and most costly. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES INTENSIVE FORESTRY? 



The intensive forestry measures discussed in this section presuppose 

 a system of fire control, disease control, and insect control that will 

 largely eliminate losses of commercial timber and restocking stands. 

 Such protective measures are discussed in preceding sections of this 

 report. 



Intensive forestry includes a wide variety of measures. Some of 

 these have application in one region, some in another, and some in 

 ah 1 regions. There are many variations of these measures to fit the 

 local requirements of each forest type; these it is not within the scope 

 of this paper to discuss. In some parts of the country, as in the 

 hardwood types, the forests have not been actually devastated so 

 much as they have been deteriorated by repeated cutting operations 

 which removed the better trees, leaving the inferior species and the 

 inferior specimens. Here the problem is to build up the growing 

 stock and improve its quality by judicious selective cutting, thinnings, 

 weedings, and underplan tings. In parts of the South and West the 

 adoption of selective cutting and the avoidance of premature clear 

 cutting of young stands is needed. 



The various elements of intensive forestry may be considered under 

 seven headings : 



WEEDING, GIRDLING, THINNING, AND PRUNING 



Because of the large area of open and denuded land available for 

 forestry, in the past much emphasis has been laid on the need for 

 planting. Sometimes public interest in forest production has been 

 directed almost exclusively to the need for planting, little attention 

 being given to the great possibilities of increasing the quantity and 

 quality of forest growth by cultural treatment of existing stands, 

 especially during the early period of their development. Cultural 

 treatment of young stands, including weeding, girdling, thinning, and 

 pruning, is of double significance because it not only increases the 

 productivity of natural second growth but may be absolutely essential 

 to the successful development of plantations. 



In certain forest types the competition between inferior and valua- 

 ble species during the early stages is such that if the stand is not 

 tended the latter will be suppressed and the stand will eventually 

 consist largely of low-value trees. Such a situation may be prevented 

 or remedied by the skillful removal of the undesired trees at tb^ right 

 time. This usually requires an initial investment, but ultimately 

 yields a return to the forest landowner. It has been found in New 



