18 



PRACTICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



The 



creation 



of the 



Working 



Plan and 



Research 



Circle. 



Present 



managt- 



ment. 



Silviculturist on the provincial cadre was sanctioned. This waa 

 followed in 1920 by the creation of the Working Plans and 

 Kesearch Circle, and the creation of this special branch has had a 

 marked effect on the preparation and revision of working plans 

 and on greater attention to silviculture, with a corresponding 

 favourable effect on the forest revenues of the province. Previous 

 to the creation of the Working Plans branch, i.e., for the first 

 40 years or more of scientific forest management, the preparation 

 of working plans had been somewhat haphazard, at least as 

 regards personnel, and it occasionally happened that an officer was 

 put on to prepare a working plan without any particular aptitude 

 for such work. Also in the earlier years, when the sanctioning of 

 working plans was highly centralised, differences of opinion 

 between the local officers and the higher authorities with the 

 Government of India sometimes resulted in unnecessary friction. 

 The creation of the Working Plans branch, working directly 

 uader the Chief Conservator of Forests, to a great extent did 

 away with the possibility of such anomalies and difficulties. 



The table on the next page summarises by divisions the chief 

 types of forest and the system of management in force. 



The area under the shelterwood system is constantly increasing 

 as this system is found more and more applicable to Indian 

 conditions. It is now the opinion of experienced divisional 

 officers that this system can be carried out satisfactorily, once 

 the staff have been trained to the work, that it is easier and 

 far more satisfactory than the old selection system of the past 

 and is conducive to a far greater interest in professional forestry. 

 Wherever the selection system remains in modern working plans 

 the foundations of management have been entirely reorganised 

 and brought up to date ; a nebulous yield by area has been 

 replaced by a yield calculated in volume and based on a complete 

 enumeration of the growing st6ck. 



The compilation of yield tables for sal has permitted of a more 

 exact determination of the rotation and calculation of the yield. 



