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Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 



of local people in greater abundance. 



This, of course, cannot be done in 

 completeness overnight. It is a long- 

 time task that carries over several gen- 

 erations, because recovery of the dam- 

 aged soil and the regrowth of the forest 

 takes time. But there is much that 

 skilled management can do to guide 

 and aid nature in the restoration proc- 

 ess, and even in its depleted condition 

 the forest can contribute useful prod- 

 ucts by the removal of trees which will 

 improve growing conditions for those 

 left to comprise the new forest. The 

 guiding policy in the management of 

 the timber resource on these national 

 forests, then, is one of improvement, 

 of rebuilding the growing stock, of at- 

 taining a maximum production from 

 the soil through wise use. 



When the white man first came to 

 this country, the forest was in virgin 

 condition. Decay and mortality in old 

 trees offset growth. Immense wealth 

 was stored in the old timber, but the 

 forest produced little. A productive 

 forest is a growing forest and one in 

 which the trees should be used as they 

 reach maturity. Now that the country 

 is settled and demands for wood in- 

 crease, the new forest must become a 

 wood-producing factory instead of the 

 immense storehouse of timber first 

 seen by the pioneers. 



Forests are restored by growth. If 

 depletion is to be gradually changed to 

 full production, the drain upon the 

 forest must be less than growth. In 

 this process the national forest ranger 

 is guided by the general concept that 

 the trees that offer the best chance for 

 rapid growth and high value shall be 

 allowed to develop fully by removing 

 those that are defective, of poor form, 

 or with other undesirable qualities. 



Many species of trees grow in the 

 Appalachian national forests, and it is 

 interesting to trace the uses into which 

 some of them are processed. 



The larger pines and hemlocks are 

 turned into lumber that finds its way 

 into farm-building construction and 

 repair nearby. Tops and small trees go 

 into pulpwood. Most of the chestnut 



is cut into cordwood and trucked to 

 nearby mills that produce tanning ex- 

 tract; the spent chips are made into 

 paper. Hemlock and chestnut oak bark 

 is also a tanning agent. Locust is 

 made into fence posts and some is 

 turned into insulator pins for tele- 

 phone and telegraph lines. Choice ash 

 goes into ball bats, snow shoes, tennis 

 rackets, and tool handles. The oaks are 

 widely used for flooring, general con- 

 struction, and furniture. Especially 

 choice logs of the yellow-poplar, oak, 

 beech, birch, and maple are turned 

 for veneer. Dimension stock in great 

 variety is made from most hardwoods. 

 The chief outlet for spruce and fir is in 

 pulpwood. 



The raw materials for some of these 

 products are sometimes shipped long 

 distances, but usually the processing 

 plants are within easy trucking dis- 

 tance of the forest by reason of good 

 highways and the development of the 

 forest road system. Many local indus- 

 tries derive a large part of their raw 

 materials from the forests and, by and 

 large, it is the people who live within 

 them or nearby who furnish these raw 

 materials. 



Because of early indiscriminate cut- 

 ting and fire, the forest is not suited to 

 large-scale harvesting operations today. 

 The volume of timber to the acre is too 

 light to support the heavy investments 

 necessary to large enterprises. Mer- 

 chantable timber is scattered and often 

 composed of remnants inaccessible to 

 the big logging jobs of the past. Much 

 of the area is in young timber in the 

 sapling stage or of pole size. Con- 

 sequently, sales of timber involve 

 relatively small amounts in each 

 transaction and are directed toward 

 utilizing the remnants of overmature, 

 decadent, old growth for sawlogs and 

 veneer stock or into thinning or im- 

 provement-cutting operations in young 

 timber for pulpwood, chemical wood, 

 and other cordwood products. Success- 

 ful management requires the execution 

 of numerous small sales scattered over 

 wide areas. Fortunately, this fits well 

 into the pattern of local population, 



