RECONNAISSANCE: ITS RELATION TO FOREST 



WORKING PLANS 



I'.v K. II. I'.OKKKER, Forest Assistant, Lassen National Forest, California. 



TI I E present-day timber recon- 

 naissance is the basis for a 

 working plan embracing all the 

 various phases of national for- 

 est administration. The old idea that 

 reconnaissance is merely a stock-taking 

 or a preparatory step in timber sale 

 work has given way to the broader no- 

 tion that reconnaissance is a preliminary 

 step to the better handling of all forest 

 resources. In short, reconnaissance 

 work reveals to those of us who are 

 working with the National Forests what 

 our resources are, where they are, how 

 much they amount to, and what should 

 be done with them. This paper will at- 

 tempt to show how reconnaisance, as 

 carried on at the present time, fulfills 

 this manifold purpose. For the pur- 

 poses of this paper the results of recon- 

 naissance may be grouped into two gen- 

 eral classes ; namely, the direct and the 

 indirect results. The direct results of 

 the work are : The topographic map, the 

 type map, the estimate of the timber, 

 the forest description and other general 

 information. The indirect results are 

 numerous, and will be taken up under 

 the headings : Silviculture, Protection, 

 i i nixing, and Policy. 



The most important direct result of 

 reconnoissance is undoubtedly the topo- 

 graphic map. It locates things better 

 than they have ever been located before, 

 especially in unsurveyed or poorly sur- 

 veyed country, shows where the forest 

 may be put to special uses, and locates 

 more definitely improvements and ad- 

 ministrative sites. Its most valuable at- 

 tribute is its permanency; the estimate 

 and the description change slightly, but 

 the configuration of the land remains the 

 same. For the purpose of formulating 

 working plans this map is extremrK 

 helpful. As intensive management de- 

 velops, the need for a complete recon- 

 naissance map of the forest will in- 

 crease in proportion. Intensive man- 

 agement come- in disguise. Kvery mile 

 22 



of trail, or telephone, or railroad that 

 is built in the forest is a step toward 

 more intensive management and a 

 greater need for better maps. The pres- 

 ent value of this map lies, therefore, in 

 the more efficient execution of the rough 

 working plans we now have, in the basis 

 which it gives for making sales, and in 



BIG SUGAR PINK AND FIRS. 



RECONNAISSANCE, 1911 



the step it furnishes in preparation for 

 the intensive plans of the future. 



In general, the type map which is dis- 

 cussed more fully under various other 

 heads serves several purposes. It shows 

 the relative amount and acreage of 

 brushland, grassland, timberland, wood- 

 land. barrens in need of a forest cover, 



