1556 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



that lies before the Nation. The same national responsibilities that 

 gave rise to the present research activities now require even more 

 urgently the development of these activities to keep pace with 

 growing needs. 



FOREST SERVICE RESEARCH 



The progress so far made in research by the Forest Service is dis- 

 cussed in the section "Research in the United States Forest Service: 

 A Study in Objectives." The present forest research program of the 

 service, as of other bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, is 

 embodied in the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of May 

 22, 1928. This act specifies what work may be undertaken in the 

 entire field of forest research , sets up a field organization for systematic 

 coordinated research, and outlines a 10-year financial program with 

 restrictions as to appropriations. 



Five years' systematic advance on the McSweeney-McNary 

 forest-research program has made it clear that even if appropria- 

 tions during the next 5 years reach the full amounts authorized by the 

 act, at the end of that time only a good start will have been made 

 toward covering a research field proportionate with national needs 

 and responsibilities. After the expiration of the 10-year period 

 provided for in the act, i.e., in 1938, funds for further research may be 

 provided either under the clause in the present act which authorizes 

 "such annual appropriations as may thereafter be necessary" or 

 under legislation setting up an entirely new financial plan. The sec- 

 tion previously referred to discusses some modifications needed in the 

 McSweeney-McNary Act even before that time and outlines a 

 financial plan for the decade beginning with 1935, which is about as 

 far in the future as financial planning for research can be carried 

 with much certainty. 



The major objectives of the program proposed for the decade 

 1935-44 are (1) to round out the plan and development of the regional 

 forest experiment stations, this to include establishing one or two new 

 regional stations in the United States proper and one station each in 

 Alaska, Hawaii, and the West Indies and developing a central labora- 

 tory as a part of the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., 

 for intensive research in fundamental silvicultural problems that 

 require laboratory facilities; and (2) to round out the development of 

 the Forest Products Laboratory. 



Attainment of these major objectives involves development of the 

 classes of research listed in the following table. This table shows the 

 expenditures authorized by the McSweeney-McNary Act, and the 

 average annual increases necessary during the four years 1935-38 

 and the six years following in order to attain the objectives set up for 

 that decade. 



