UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION NO. 11 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



FEBRUARY, 1928 



MANAGEMENT PLANS: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 

 NATIONAL FORESTS 



By Inman" F. Eldbedge, Forest Inspector, Branch of Forest Management, 



Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction. 1 



Management plans in general 2 



What they contain 3 



The period covered 3 



Periodic revision 3 



Must be practicable 3 



Business judgment must enter 4 



When needed 4 



Who should make them 4 



An aid to administration 5 



The preparation of management plans 5 



Division into working circles 5 



Size and boundaries.. 6 



Organization of the working circle 7 



The block 7 



The compartment 8 



Subcompartments. 8 



Designation of units. 9 



Collection of data 9 



Objects of management... 11 



Silvicultural treatment 12 



Page 



Regulation , 13 



Calculation of allowable cut. 14 



Timber-sale policy 15 



The allocation of the cutting budget 16 



The budget period 16 



The areas to be listed 17 



The management-plan report 17 



The three parts of the management-pi an 



report 18 



The control and application of managem snt 



plans.. 19 



Control records 20 



Keeping the plan alive 20 



Appendix 21 



Management plan for Custer workii g cir- 

 cle, Harney National Forest, S. I'ak 21 



Management plan for Meadow Valley 

 working circle, Plmnas National Forest, 



Calif. 39 



Management plan for Woodland working 



circle, Pike National Forest, Colo 52 



Management plan for Rio Pueblo working 



circle, Carson National Forest, N. Mex. 70 



INTRODUCTION 



Forest management in America is gradually acquiring a character 

 and color of its own. For many years foresters in this country were 

 forced, because of lack of American experience, to preach and prac- 

 tice methods transplanted bodily from Europe. But when a back- 

 ground of actual practice and a better understanding of the silvicul- 

 tural and economic factors peculiar to this country had been 

 acquired, there came about a general realization that we could not 

 begin where Europe left off; that we mustj to a certain degree at 

 least, meet American conditions with American measures. 



Basic principles of forest management developed in Europe after 

 centuries of trial hold as true in this country as they do abroad; it 

 is in the application of these principles to our very different circum- 

 stances that the need and the opportunity for adaptation and inven- 

 tion have arisen. The appreciation of this fact has had a stimulating 

 effect; and, freed for the time from the constraint of strict conven- 

 tionality, foresters all over the country have been making marked 



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