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The first "Working Plans" which Avere laid down for continental forests set 

 out the detailed management of the forests for very long periods, such as one 

 hundred years. But it was found that long before these plans expired conditions 

 altered so much that it was at times absolutely essential to alter portions of the 

 "Working Plan." 



Modern forest "Working Plans" lay down the general lines of working for 

 the average time taken by the main species of tree to reach marketable size, and 

 they only set out in detail the work to be done during a short period, such as five 

 to ten years. At the end of the specified period, the plan is brought up to date, 

 and the detailed working laid down for another period. 



A working plan report is a document embodying working plan proposals in 

 the following order: — 



Chapter I. — General introduction and past history of the forest. 



Chapter II. — Present condition of the forest, giving particulars concerning 



the species of trees and the volume of timber in the existing forest. 

 Chapter III. — Future treatment of the forest, showing how it is proposed 



to give effect to the o'bjec-ts of management. 

 Chapter IV. — Utilisation of the present crop and particulars concerning the 



method of disposing of it. 

 Chapter V. — Forest protection, setting out the steps to be taken to protect 

 the forest from damage by fire, animals, insects, fungoid diseases, and 

 other harmful phenomena. 

 Chapter VI. — Administration, in which is set out the manner in which the 

 proposals which make up the Working Plan are to be carried out. 

 A Working Plan sets out all the operations necessary to make the forest fully 

 productive, and the Forests Act of Western Australia, which became law 7 in 1918, 

 contains a wise provision whereby every Working Plan, after it has received the 

 approval of the Governor, can only be altered on the recommendation of the 

 Conservator of Forests. 



A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE OF FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



When a farmer desires to settle in a new country and buys bush land with 

 th>~ object of converting it into a farm, he must do months and even years of hard 

 work before the first crops are reaped. He must start by clearing, burning, and 

 fencing. Stumps have to be grubbed and the soil broken with a plough. If his 

 efforts are to succeed he must not waste his time digging up a small tree here 

 and a sapling there, but he must settle clown to regular work and clear the land 

 acre by acre, taking the large trees with the small. 



A forester is a farmer of trees on a large scale, and his treatment of the 

 forest may be compared to regular working of a well managed farm. 



Let us take an example and see in simplest terms how a forester would set 

 about converting a "wild" into a "cultivated" forest. 



A forester is placed in charge of an area of fifty thousand acres covered 

 with a forest of jarrah. 



A limited amount of money is provided each year and the forester is in- 

 structed to supply as much jarrah timber annually as the forest is capable of 

 yielding. There is only one stipulation which he must observe, and that is that 

 the amount of timber cut each year must not decrease in volume, although any 

 increase in volume which will mean an increase in revenue owing to improved 

 management will be welcomed. 



The forest of 50,000 acres is a solid block of ironstone country which was 

 lightly cut over some years ago, but still carries a fair crop of marketable jarrah 

 distributed evenlv over the whole area. 



