146 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



I. Orientation 



(a) Location and Size. — The briefest mention suffices. 



(b) History of Forest with Important Changes. — Past and 

 present ownership and administration, boundaries, past object 

 of management, past revenues and expenditures. 



(c) Physiographic Features. — The physiographic features 

 include topography, drainage, geology, soils, and climate. 

 Detailed observations and statistics should be reserved for the 

 appendix, and only the salient characteristics which influence 

 the forest organization stated briefly. 



(d) Social and Industrial Features. — The social- and indus- 

 trial features include population, labor supply, local industries 

 such as lumbering, grazing, mining, agriculture, etc., all in their 

 bearing on the problems of forest organization. For it is evident 

 that without adequate labor no forest resources can be developed, 

 without lumbering facilities no regulation of the cut can be 

 maintained or executed, and the very term " accessible " is 

 modified by the degree of skill exercised in logging and the 

 kinds of appliances used to get the timber. Again, the need 

 of the local population for timber is the root of the theory of 

 sustained yield. These fundamental phases require no detailed 

 discussion, but brief statements of conditions in explanation of 

 the plan proper. 



(e) Digest of Working Plan Conference. — If a conference 

 was had between the forest organizer and the owner or admin- 

 istrator of the forest, as suggested in Chapter I, Section i, this 

 should be digested and added to the working-plan document 

 with the names of the participants. 



(f) Time, Method, and Personnel of Forest Survey and 

 Organization. — These statements should be exceedingly brief — 

 a tabular form is advisable for time and personnel, since they 

 are of purely historical interest. The method used should, 

 however, be set forth in sufficient detail so that there can be 

 no question as to how much weight attaches to the accuracy of 

 maps and estimates. 



