190 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



improve their management practices. 

 The activities of members will also 

 favorably influence the management of 

 woodland by nonmembers. 



Cooperatives do not offer much to 

 owners of nonproductive and depleted 

 woodlands. Strong organizations may 

 be able to afford such owners some 

 help, but there is a limit to the amount 

 of help a cooperative can give that 

 does not contribute to keeping the or- 

 ganization financially strong. 



Forest cooperatives have unrealized 

 potentialities for improving forest con- 

 ditions generally. The opportunities 

 for success will increase as landowners 

 and cooperative managers gain ex- 

 perience and as woodlands are made 

 more productive under good manage- 

 ment. Their influence extends beyond 

 their members alone, for a strong mi- 

 nority of owners can set the pace for 



price levels, manufacturing practices, 

 grading and scaling practices, and for 

 forest practices in any area. Hand in 

 hand with such influences go stabilized 

 employment, increased income, and 

 a strengthening of the rural economy. 



ALLEN W. BRATTON received his 

 bachelor's degree in forestry from the 

 University of Maine in 1932 and did 

 graduate work at the University of 

 Massachusetts. He entered the Forest 

 Service in 1933 and served 5 years on 

 the White Mountain and Cumberland 

 National Forests. In 1940 he joined 

 the staff of the Northeastern Forest 

 Experiment Station; from 1942 to 1948 

 he worked on the problems of organi- 

 zation and operation of forest coop- 

 eratives, and was stationed in Coopers- 

 town, N. Y. In 1948 he entered private 

 practice as a consulting forester. 



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