1562 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



but relatively small-scale work indefinitely for all forest regions of 

 the United States. It will require annual appropriations possibly in 

 the neighborhood of $200,000. 



FOREST ECONOMICS 



The controlling influence of economic factors upon forest-land use 

 and upon tinber production and utilization gives the utmost impor- 

 tance to forest-economics research. Economic research as a basis 

 for profitable timber growing, for the formulation of policies govern- 

 ing the use of land for forestry, and for solving many problems of the 

 forest industries is being conducted by the Forest Service, but as yet 

 on a scale far too small to meet the needs. 



The McSweeney-McNary Act authorizes a maximum annual ex- 

 penditure of $250,000 for these investigations. The first study under 

 this provision was started in the southern pine region in 1930, and is 

 now in progress. It is an investigation of timber-growing costs and 

 returns or, more broadly, of the financial possibilities of timber grow- 

 ing by private owners. The southern-pine region was selected for 

 the initiation of this study because of the extremely rapid forest 

 growth made possible by soil and climatic conditions in the South, 

 the accessibility of the region to large consuming centers, and a rapidly 

 growing local interest in timber culture. The results of such investi- 

 gations may be expected to stimulate private forestry initiative where- 

 ever they are carried on, and the time is ripe for extension of the work 

 to all the important forest regions of the country. 



Forest Service research in forest economics is designed primarily 

 to supply a more thorough knowledge of the financial considerations 

 and economic factors bearing on continuous forest production. When 

 these investigations reach the full scale of the authorizations contained 

 in the McSweeney-McNary Act, it is hoped that they can be made to 

 cover all the following subjects: 



(1) The conditions under which forestry is now profitable. 



(2) The economic relations of forestry to other industries including 

 agriculture, transportation, and mining. 



(3) Economic and social gains from forest land use and from the 

 availability of ample timber supplies, and the corresponding losses 

 from forest land nonuse and timber shortages. 



(4) Forest-land ownership, including the proper balance between 

 public and private ownership. 



(5) The possibilities of timber growing as a means of productively 

 utilizing submarginal and eroding farm lands. 



(6) Economic aspects of forest uses other than timber growing, 

 such as recreation, hunting and fishing, and watershed protection, and 

 of combinations of such uses. 



(7) In what manner and to what extent the public should contribute 

 to or regulate the handling of private forest lands. 



(8) The basis of sound policies as to the administration of national 

 forests and of lands in other kinds of ownership. 



(9) Economic aspects of rotations, cutting cycles, and cutting 

 budgets, and other subjects relating to forest regulation. 



JLO) The international situation as to timber supplies and markets, 

 other foreign relationships. 

 (11) The distribution of lumber and other forest products. 



