1502 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



problem. In New England much of the abandoned farm land has 

 become restocked with forest growth, although often, and especially 

 more recently, this has been of inferior quality. In New York and 

 the southern portion of the region abandoned farm lands have not 

 restocked so generally. The heavy demands of the dense population 

 of these regions for potable water supplies justifies reforestation of 

 some of the open land for the protection of watersheds. Large areas 

 of forest land should also be provided to meet the recreational needs 

 of the people in this section and this will call for planting of other 

 portions of the open land. 



Planting in the regions, however, will be primarily justified for 

 timber production. 



The New England and Middle Atlantic regions import more than 

 half of the timber they consume. The better hardwoods, northern 

 white pine, and spruce native to the region, are well adapted to the 

 needs of the principal industries and make very satisfactory growth. 

 Planting of idle lands to enable local communities to supply a larger 

 proportion of the timber requirements of the region will probably 

 prove sound public policy in the long run. It may also prove cheaper 

 and quicker in many instances for local industries to get growth of 

 desirable species on more accessible areas by planting, rather than to 

 work with deteriorated natural forests in which there may be only a 

 small proportion of the species desired. This is especially true in 

 sections tributary to paper and pulp mills much of whose raw mate- 

 rial is now imported from other countries. 



Although erosion is not a critical problem over most of these 

 regions, there are localities where forest planting will be necessary to 

 check destructive erosion or reclaim areas of wind-blown sand. 



Altogether it is estimated that 4,000,000 acres should be planted 

 in the northeastern section. Of the total only 500,000 acres will be 

 hi New England, where open areas are relatively small and natural 

 restocking more aggressive. The remaining 3,500,000 acres will be 

 in the Middle Atlantic region, probably half in New York alone, 

 where a program commensurate with the need is already under way. 



LAKE REGION 



Timber cutting and fire followed by unsuccessful attempts to use 

 the land for agriculture in the Lake States have left idle a large acreage 

 of highly productive timberland. Forest planting on a large scale 

 on these northern white pine and spruce lands is justified for timber 

 production alone. The region is close to heavy lumber consuming 

 centers. It joins the Corn Belt where lumber importation is and will 

 continue to be large. The industrial cities on the Lakes are large 

 users of wood. Demand for small material for novelty, pattern, and 

 shop work already exists and there is a large wood-pulp industry to 

 maintain. 



Transportation facilities are good. This includes water transporta- 

 tion on the Lakes which with the St. Lawrence waterway would 

 permit of direct loading for export. There are ample rail connections 

 to agricultural communities and inland cities. Road development 

 has already made most of the timber section accessible to autotruck 

 transportation. 



The annual growth rate on fully stocked, average or better spruce 

 and white pine lands is estimated to be 250 to 300 board feet per acre. 



