12 MISC. PUBLICATION 11, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



what the plan is designed to accomplish. When the aims of manage- 

 ment are clearly understood, the making of a plan is greatly 

 simplified. 



The statement of purposes should include : 



1. The chief products to be grown, such as saw logs, ties, mine 

 timbers, pulp wood, or naval stores. 



2. What markets are to be supplied — general, local, or both. 



3. The part which the output of the working circle will play in 

 local economics ; the size and kinds of permanent industries that can 

 be supplied; the communities that will be stabilized; and the need 

 for securing new industrial undertakings to use the allowable cut 

 and to enlarge the existing communities, or the necessity for a reduc- 

 tion in the local industries to a scale that will make it possible to 

 supply them with timber permanently — in general, the responsibility 

 of the management so to handle the timber resources as to give the 

 greatest permanent local industrial benefits. 



4. Whether conditions now permit the adoption of sustained yield 

 or of only a continuous yield fluctuating in volume. In some unusual 

 cases plans can now be made for nothing better than a periodic yield. 



5. The changes in the proportion of age classes or in the composi- 

 tion of forest types which are desired and w^hich are or may become 

 practicable. 



6. The indirect forest benefits to be maintained or bettered, such 

 as watershed protection or recreational attractiveness. 



7. The permanent transportation facilities which can be brought 

 in or maintained by the wise handling of the timber resource. 



SILVICULTURAL TREATMENT 



The aim of silvicultural treatment in the national forests is to 

 leave each cut-over acre in the best possible condition for the pro- 

 duction of a succession of crops of timber, each crop approaching as 

 near as professional skill can bring it to the full productive capacity 

 of the site and type. The silvicultural treatment to be prescribed for 

 each of the forest tj^pes will, of course, be chosen to fit in with and 

 carry out' the objectives of management. As a rule, satisfactory 

 silvicultural methods have been worked out for each of the major 

 commercial types in the national forests. For such types it is usually 

 necessary only to decide which of the conventional methods will best 

 fit the situation, but often the marking policy and instructions will 

 need modification in order to meet the needs of the particular 

 situation. 



Management plans should not be made or construed so as to limit 

 the continuous development and refinement of silvicultural practice. 

 The forester often has serious limitations imposed upon him in his 

 prescriptions for silvicultural treatment by the prevailing utilization 

 practices based on local economics and therefore beyond his control. 

 The situation may for the time being force a compromise between 

 the desirable and the attainable. Such a situation, however, should 

 not be accepted with complacency nor with the conviction that it will 

 last forever. The last 20 years has witnessed remarkable advances 

 in utilization ; nearly every region has seen some or all of its " in- 

 ferior" species come into active demand and its unmerchantable 



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