A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1487 



TABLE 1. Estimates of present nonproductive land available for forestry, by regions 



1 Data furnished by Bureau of Agricultural Economics, for forest counties east of Great Plains only. 

 Nonrestocking and abandoned land here represented is the nonproductive portion of a total of 31,500,000 

 acres abandoned by 1930. Idle or fallow cropland and for pasture represent one half of the total amount 

 of these classes of lands for 1930. The average rate of abandonment for the past 2 decades indicates the 

 further abandonment of 15 million acres by 1940 and 30 million acres by 1950. 



2 Barren less than 10 percent, unsatisfactorily stocked 10 to 39 percent, of full stocking. 



FACTORS AFFECTING THE APPLICATION OF 

 FORESTATION 



NATURAL REFORESTATION 



Where adequate natural reforestation will take place in a reason- 

 able time on areas now denuded or understocked there may be no 

 need for planting. The extent of natural reforestation and the need 

 will depend upon circumstances. 



Critically eroded areas which might ultimately restock naturally 

 but where reforestation is not taking place rapidly enough to afford 

 timely protection, should be planted. Erosion on critical areas is 

 now going on at such an accentuated rate that immediate action is 

 justified to stop the sluicing of soil into the stream channels. In 

 such cases we cannot afford to wait for the forest to become estab- 

 lished naturally. This is particularly true in the Piedmont region, 

 in parts of the Ohio River drainage and on the lower Mississippi 

 drainages. 



Further, there is the question of what should be the gage of satis- 

 factory reforestation. Scattered trees, together with herbaceous 

 and brush cover, may furnish adequate temporary protection of the 

 land. One quarter stocked areas of Douglas fir reproduction in the 

 Northwest may produce half of a full crop at commercial maturity, 

 but the timber will be of poor quality since wide spacing does not 

 promote early natural pruning. Certainly those agencies operating 

 on a sustained yield basis should, in such instances, carefully consider 

 the advisability of partial planting to insure full crops. For the pur- 

 poses of classifying natural regeneration, 40 percent ^of full stocking 

 has been selected as a satisfactory minimum. This is applied with- 

 out regard to species, types, or individual circumstances. Although 

 such a minimum is not satisfactory from the timber-production 

 standpoint, the presence of this much young growth on an area does 

 give reasonable protection against erosion and, with fire protection, 

 does remove the land from an unproductive status. It should be 



