MAITAGEMENT PLANS THE NATIONAL FORESTS 5 



maps, collecting growth and yield data, and arriving at an appraisal 

 of the economic situation, the supervisor, himself, must bring his 

 judgment into play in drawing up the plan of action to which he is 

 to commit the working circle. A plan of action that is the child of 

 his brain will naturally receive a much more enthusiastic support 

 from the supervisor than any plan that is handed to him from above. 

 By the same token the interest of that " ultimate producer," the dis- 

 trict ranger, is enlisted largely in proportion to his participation in 

 the making of a plan which involves part or all of his district. It 

 may be expedient at times to have a district office man or a subordi- 

 nate on the supervisor's staff draw up a plan without participation 

 on the part of the supervisor, but it must be recognized that in so 

 doing an element of weakness is introduced that may seriously cripple 

 the plan. 



AN AID TO ADMINISTRATION 



Though the managing forester is definitely committed under a 

 management plan to certain outstanding objectives and policies, and. 

 for a shorter period, to certain definite lines of action, the general 

 effect of the plan is not cramping or restrictive. On the contrary, it 

 leaves Eim free to exercise all the initiative, all the business ability, 

 and all the professional skill at his command. In his administration 

 it gives him the security that comes of traveling a charted course 

 and the confidence and strength that springs from a knowledge that 

 the action proposed has been approved in advance by those officers 

 above him to whom he must look for support. 



THE PREPARATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS 



In preparing a management plan for a working circle the problem 

 is attacked somewhat in this order : 



1. Divide the forest into working circles. 



2. For the working circle concerned obtain and assemble all perti- 

 nent data and maps for study and analysis from every angle. 



3. Decide on the objects of management. 



4. Determine the silvicultural system or systems to be used. 



5. Calculate the yield. 



6. Formulate the policy to govern the timber-sale business. 



7. Choose the areas from which the timber is to be cut during the 

 first cutting period and list them in budget form. 



8. Present the plan in the form of a concise report accompanied by 

 maps and pertinent data. 



DIVISION INTO WORKING CIRCLES 



The average national forest, including as it does about a million 

 acres, does not lend itself readily to timber management under a 

 single plan. The diversity of topographic, silvicultural, and economic 

 conditions, and the number and complexity of the various influences 

 that affect the growth and the utilization of the timber in such a 

 large area, are almost certain to defeat all attempts to visualize the 

 situation and reduce the problem to its fundamentals. A plan covering 

 a whole forest would be either so vagTie and generalized in its provi- 

 sions as to be valueless or so complex and formidable that it could 



