A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1467 



stock is the first essential in maintaining an annual cut commensurate 

 with indicated requirements. Depletion of growing stocks tends to 

 divert cutting into stands of smaller and smaller timber, with an 

 accompanying deterioration of the composition of the stands and a 

 lowering of the quality of the product. Under this process the 

 productive capacity of the land is largely wasted in the growth of 

 brush, which precludes full use of the land by valuable species, or of 

 small stems which die out before reaching merchantable size. The 

 volume of wood which a given area is capable of producing each year 

 will be much more valuable if concentrated in large measure on stems 

 of saw- timber size than if diffused on young growth or brush. Inten- 

 sive forestry accomplishes this by eliminating the less valuable trees 

 early in the development of the stands and by maintaining a sufficient 

 growing stock to convert a large portion of the potential annual growth 

 directly into usable material of large size and high quality. Adequate 

 growing stock is one of the main objectives of intensive forestry, and 

 without it anything approaching full realization of the growing capa- 

 cities of the land cannot be attained. 



OBJECTIVES FOR INTENSIVE FORESTRY 



From the public standpoint the objective of intensive forestry will, 

 of course, be primarily to meet the needs outlined in the preceding 

 paragraphs. In brief, intensive forestry will aim by systematic 

 management, selective cutting or its equivalent, cultural measures, 

 and adequate protection to build up and maintain the growing stocks 

 in order to produce timber in sufficient quantity and of required 

 quality to meet the prospective national needs. 



From the viewpoint of private owners the objective for intensive 

 forestry will be to increase and stabilize the income which may be 

 derived from forest properties. Practices which make fullest use of 

 the productive capacity of the land within the limitations of local 

 economic conditions and under which the growth takes place in 

 timber of large size and high quality will generally prove the most 

 profitable. The possibilities for intensive forestry by private owners 

 are discussed more fully in the section Status and Opportunities of 

 Private Forestry. 



In the section Present and Potential Timber Resources it has been 

 estimated that normal domestic timber requirements for the future 

 may be expected to total about 16.5 billion cubic feet per year, which 

 is almost the same as the total annual drain on the forests for the 

 period 1925-29. In addition it was stated that a margin of safety of 

 at least 1 billion cubic feet should be provided in order to take care 

 of catastrophies which might cut down future production. It is 

 quite probable that a satisfactory export market will be available for 

 a considerable production in excess of these requirements. 



In the section referred to, present annual growth on the entire 

 432 million acres now in commercial timber production was estimated 

 as a little less than 9 billion cubic feet. But since it has been sug- 

 gested in other sections, as summarized in the section The Area which 

 Can and Should be Used for Forestry, that 41 million acres involved 

 in that estimate may be either cleared or reserved for other uses, it 

 appears that the present current growth on lands available for future 

 timber production may be only about 8 billion cubic feet. In that 



