A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1461 



trees that are merchantable for any purpose, thus both sacrificing 

 fast-growing trees and robbing logged areas of their only seed supply. 



Recent studies indicate that premature cutting of small trees is 

 very often directly contrary to the self-interest of the lumberman- 

 owner. A more enlightened understanding of the financial aspects of 

 timberland ownership and timber growing should lead private owners 

 to postpone cutting which will yield a relatively small immediate 

 revenue for the sake of getting a much larger return later and thereby 

 realizing a larger interest rate on the forest capital. Too often the 

 urge to get quick returns outweighs the expectation of greater returns 

 in the future. This should not be the case with public and quasi-public 

 agencies, which should never cut young timber prematurely on the 

 lands under their control. 



Another type of premature cutting is wasteful cutting of old-growth 

 timber in some of the western forests. Here gross overcutting has 

 been precipitated by timber speculation, by uncoordinated effort, 

 by employing poorly conceived methods of lumbering, and by the 

 pressure of carrying charges. It is calamitous that the Pacific coast 

 forests should be cut so wastefully now, to the detriment of a saturated 

 market, when a few decades hence the Nation will need this timber 

 so sorely. Wise, farsighted public policy would dictate that much of 

 this timber should not be cut now. How shall it be avoided? It has 

 been proposed that in the three Pacific Coast States there be large- 

 scale public acquisition of private forests, in order to help counteract 

 wasteful exploitation and conserve this virgin timber for the future. 

 This would be in a sense a measure of intensive forestry, for it would 

 attain by indirect means an enlarged sustained production for the 

 whole Nation. 



FOREST PLANTING 



Since intensive forestry proposes that the entire area be well 

 stocked with desirable species, it involves planting of denuded and 

 under-stocked lands. The need for planting of denuded and open 

 lands available for forestry is discussed in a separate section of this 

 report. In addition, planting is sometimes desirable as a method of 

 regeneration after clear cutting and of raising the quality or volume 

 of the production of degenerate stands. In most of the forest regions 

 of this country intensive forestry practice w T ill depend upon natural 

 reproduction to keep the land productive, but this will not always be 

 adequate. Some areas will only partially restock and on some areas 

 there will be fail places. In such instances, natural regeneration 

 should be supplemented by planting. 



In the California redwood region, for example, a region of exceed- 

 ingly high potential production, the sprouts from the redwood stumps 

 restock only about a third or a quarter of the area. If the conven- 

 tional clear cutting is practiced and seed trees are not left, as is now 

 the usual practice, the blank areas should be planted with desirable 

 trees. This has been done on a considerable area of private lands. 

 In the Douglas fir region, likewise of high potential production, plant- 

 ing should sometimes be used on clear-cut areas as an adjunct to 

 natural regeneration to get the maximum out of the land. This is 

 already being done on the national forests and by two private cor- 

 porations on their own high-quality lands. 



In certain portions of the eastern hardwood types the forest has 

 degenerated, as a result of repeated cutting, until the better species 



