714 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Finally, in the high Alps, the Maritime Alps, and the 

 Pyrenees, the slopes are clothed with forests that have 

 been conserved, partly because of their inaccessibility, 

 partly because they are needed to control the flow of the 

 rivers and prevent disastrous erosion and land slips. 



The French Government owns about twelve per cent 

 of the forests. Forty-three per cent is owned by com- 

 munes and public institutions, and the balance is private. 

 The Government, however, exercises control over the 

 communal forests 

 and in a limited 

 measure over the 

 private forests. 



The foregoing 

 are briefly the es- 

 sential facts neces- 

 sary to appreciate 

 the effect of the 

 war operations in 

 the French forests. 



Except within the 

 fighting zone the 

 forests have not 

 actually been 

 stripped off. But 

 the merchantable 

 timber has been 

 and is being cut ; 

 and this includes 

 both the mature 

 trees and often a 

 large part of the 

 immature trees 

 which are large 

 enough for use. 

 Where these older 

 tiees are mingled 

 with younger trees, 

 the latter are care- 

 fully spared and 

 the cutting is 

 merely selective. 

 \Y hen the mer- 

 chantable trees are 

 of an even age in 

 stands or groups, 

 they are often cut 

 clear. Thus, in the 

 Maritime Pine 

 Belt, the clear cut- 

 ting system has 

 been used, followed by natural reproduction and sup- 

 plemented by sowing and planting. Areas of from 

 ten to fifty acres are the ordinary clearings. These 

 are interspersed with similar areas carrying trees of 

 younger age-classes. In the silver fir forests of the 

 eastern mountains, largely publicly owned, the trees are 

 marked for cutting by the French foresters, and selected 

 in small patches, groups, or by single trees. 



Effect on 

 the Forests 



OUR CHIEF FORESTER 



Henry S. Graves, head of the United States Forest Service, who points out the seriousness 

 of France's forest problems, declaring there is the necessity not only of securing wood supplies 

 for reconstruction and for her current industrial and domestic use, but also for rebuilding 

 her forests. 



The effect on the forest is twofold; 

 first to remove the stock which would 

 otherwise be available in the immediate 

 future, and second, to reduce the actual 

 productive power of the forests. Both will be re- 

 flected in serious economic consequences throughout 

 the country. Before the war the cutting was so 

 regulated that the annual cut and annual growth 

 about balanced. There was a stable output that 



was sustained 

 and was being 

 increased year 

 after year. Under 

 the pressure of 

 war necessity there 

 was removed not 

 only the interest 

 r e p r e s ented by 

 growth, but a deep 

 cut was made in 

 the forest capital. 

 The income pro- 

 ducing power of 

 the forest is cor- 

 respondingly r e- 

 duced. How much, 

 varies from forest 

 to forest. In some 

 cases as much 

 as thirty years 

 production has 

 been removed. 

 That is, when nor- 

 mally only trees 

 over 70 years old 

 are cut, now all 

 those . over forty 

 years have been 

 taken. In other 

 cases, in state for- 

 ests, the cutting 

 has been more 

 conservative and 

 only five years 

 production used 

 ahead of time. On 

 an average it will 

 take from ten to 

 twenty years for 

 the forests of 

 France to recover, 

 thus be unable for a 



Economic 

 Consequences 



France will 

 decade or two to supply from its own 

 forests more than a limited part of 

 the timber needed for reconstruction 

 and for current industrial and domestic uses. Lumber 

 and other wood products must be imported to meet her 

 needs. At first thought it would seem that the effect of 

 the depletion of the timber resources in France would 



