A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1481 



offers better prospects of profitable returns. The first great need in 

 this region is to stop devastation on private lands by greatly improved 

 protection against fire and by provision for regeneration through 

 selective cutting and otherwise. Where the timber has not already 

 been injured by destructive logging, it might be profitably handled by 

 group selection cuttings instead of the system of clear cutting which 

 is practiced on most existing operations. Still more intensive prac- 

 tice might be applied to areas accessible to pulp mills and farms. 

 Here the small hemlock, spruce, and true fir may be thinned for 

 pulpwpod and the small cedars may be used for fence posts. Such 

 intensive forestry practice requires a more flexible system of trans- 

 portation than the usual expensive logging railroads, and is predi- 

 cated on cheap permanent truck and tractor roads. 



In the ponderosa-pine type and associated types of eastern Cali- 

 fornia, Oregon, and Washington, as in the southern Rocky Mountain 

 region, most of the area is in public ownership and is now receiving 

 good management, although not much of it is under intensive forestry. 

 Prevention of devastation, through selective cutting, wise slash dis- 

 posal, and prevention of fire and insect epidemics, will assure reason- 

 ably good productivity. In contrast with conditions in the more 

 productive and accessible regions, economic conditions in this type 

 will probably not justify much intensive forestry for several decades. 



SUMMARY 



This section deals with the intensive management of forests for 

 timber production. It discusses the various factors which constitute 

 intensive forestry, without considering special adaptations of these 

 practices or other measures which may be involved in intensive 

 management of lands primarily of value for watershed protection, 

 grazing, or recreational use. Intensive timber management aims to 

 realize the nearest practical approach to the maximum productivity 

 of the land and to produce material of large size or high quality. 



Intensive forestry is perhaps primarily distinguished by the use of 

 cultural measures such as weeding, girdling, thinning, and pruning to 

 control the composition, increase the quantity, and improve the 

 quality of forest growth. In the restoration of deteriorated forests 

 and the most advantageous handling of mature forests, in several 

 regions selective cutting is an important element of intensive forestry. 

 " Selective cutting" applies to a variety of cutting practices, referring 

 in some cases to the removal of only those portions of the stand which 

 can be handled most profitably, in other cases to the removal of only 

 those kinds or sizes of trees which yield a maximum profit, and in 

 still other cases to the removal of defective or deformed trees or the 

 least desirable species in order to permit the more desirable elements 

 in the stand to grow to larger size and produce material of higher 

 value. 



Refraining from cutting young stands until the trees have reached 

 a size to yield maximum profit, and refraining from cutting mature 

 stands under economic conditions which do not permit effective utili- 

 zation, also constitute an element of intensive forestry. This is 

 especially important in that realization of the ultimate productive 

 capacity of the land requires that an adequate growing stock of usable 

 timber be maintained in each forest. 



