6 MISC. PUBLICATIOX 11, IT. S. DEPT. OF AGEICULTUEE 



not be put into effect. The forest should be broken up into logical 

 units of management in each of which the situation is sufficiently 

 simple to permit a reasonably accurate analysis and appraisal and 

 the drawing up of specific provisions for management. 



The working circle is the management plan unit; it is a major ter- 

 ritorial division of a forest in which the conditions affecting the care 

 and use of the timber crop are so interrelated that the area can and 

 should be managed as a whole and under a single plan, and usually 

 though not invariably under sustained yield. 



SIZE AND BOUNDARIES 



Working circles may vary in size from a few thousand acres to 

 several hundred thousand acres. The area and the location of 

 boundaries will be governed b}^ many factors, among which may 

 be mentioned : The objects and the intensity of management, the 

 quantity and character of output desired, the topography, the lay- 

 out of transx^ortation sj'stems, the sphere of influence of near-by 

 industries or commimities from an utilization or market standpoint, 

 and, to a lesser extent, the composition of the stand as to types, 

 age classes, and sometimes species. 



Since most of these factors in a mountain country are strongly 

 affected by topography, it frequently though not always hapx^ens 

 that a working circle is a natural topographic area, such as the 

 watershed of a river or large stream, or a group of such areas. There 

 is some tendency in the national forests to include too extensive an 

 area in a working circle. While no hard and fast rtile can be cited, 

 it is good practice to keep the area as small as the attainment of the 

 objects of management and the exigencies of practicable logging will 

 permit. The smaller the management-plan unit, the greater the 

 chance for uniformity of conditions, the easier it is to appraise the 

 situation correctly, and the more practicable it is to apply the 

 prescriptions of management. 



It is not necessary that a working circle consist of a consolidated 

 territory- within an tmbroken boundary. It may be made up of 

 several watersheds or blocks of forest land separated from each other 

 by bodies of jDrivate land, land outside of national forest boundaries, 

 or nontimbered lands, but in all such cases there should be something 

 in common that establishes an interdependence between the scattered 

 areas, as for instance, a common shipping or marketing point or a 

 common transportation system. 



Whether or not the boundaries are drawn to exclude bodies of land 

 in other ownerships within the topographic area constituting the 

 working circle will depend u^^on the relative area of su; h lands, upon 

 the degree and stability of cooperation which is in effect or assured, 

 upon whether or not the timber on these lands is to be taken into 

 account in figuring the yield, and, for a national forest working 

 circle, upon the policy of the Government as to acquiring title to 

 them under the general exchange act or otherwise. As a general 

 thing the presence of intermingled alienations in a working circle 

 should not affect the location of its boimdaries. The effort should be 

 to have all owners join in carrying out a common plan. 



The boundaries of working circles should, as far as possible, be 

 well-defined topographic features. They need not coincide with 



