1472 A NATIONAL PLAN FOK AMERICAN FORESTRY 



production which are supplementary to the planting of barren areas 

 and to measures needed to stop devastation and to protect against 

 fire, insect enemies, and disease. 



NEW ENGLAND AND MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES 



In the Northeastern States from Maine to Maryland the need for 

 intensive forestry is very clear. The average annual consumption of 

 lumber is six times the local cut of lumber, and the consumption of 

 pulpwood exceeds the cut by more than half. Judged on the basis 

 of current growth the situation is even worse, since total drain on the 

 forests of these States is one and one half times the growth. Of the 

 softwoods alone the saw-timber requirements are almost six times the 

 saw-timber cut, the deficit now being made up largely by import 

 from the Pacific coast and the South. Before local forest supplies 

 can be greatly increased by intensive forestry, cheap Pacific-coast 

 lumber will probably have become less readily available. This points 

 to the great desirability of increasing local production in this region 

 against the day of need. Existing industries like coal mining and 

 paper manufacture are dependent upon a perpetual cheap supply of 

 special classes of forest products. Most of the region is accessible to 

 markets, and it is felt that, even if most of the forests in the region 

 were under intensive management, there would be little likelihood of 

 oversupplying local demands. 



A considerable portion of the commercial forest area in this region 

 could advantageously be put under intensive forest management. 

 Because of the dense population of the region, it may be anticipated 

 that large areas of productive forest land suitable for such manage- 

 ment will be withdrawn from commercial use for recreational pur- 

 poses. Altogether it seems probable that from 11 to 15 million 

 acres, including much of the former agricultural land which is being 

 or may be planted, should eventually be under intensive forestry. 

 Perhaps half this total would be in softwood production. 



In the Northeastern States the northern white pine region pre- 

 sents the best prospects for intensive forestry. Topography is 

 favorable, labor is abundant, potential markets are close at hand, and 

 the principal species reproduce well, make rapid growth, and are 

 easily managed. 



In the white pine forests intensive measures wiU include releasing 

 young pine from competition of gray birch and other species of little 

 or no value, judicious thinning to maintain rapid rate of growth, 

 selective pruning of the most promising trees, special salvaging 

 operations in stands which have been heavily infested with the white- 

 pine weevil, selective cutting of the mature timber whenever natural 

 reproduction can be depended upon, and clear cutting and planting 

 when it cannot. 



The loblolly pine forests of Maryland present a situation similar 

 in many ways to that in the northern white pine belt, and here 

 intensive measures will follow the same lines. 



Second only to these pine forests in prospects for intensive forestry 

 is the oak-chestnut-yellow poplar type. The need for intensive 

 treatment is emphasized by the serious depletion and deterioration 

 of the growing stock at present, but this condition makes intensive 

 management more difficult of application because of the scarcity of 



