requirements for forest resources can be met only if production, pro- 

 tection, and utilization programs are developed and accelerated with 

 the full support of a complete and far-sighted research program. 



THE RESEARCH PROGRAM 



The program presented here is geared to meeting the most urgent 

 forestry research needs of the next 10 years. It is designed to keep 

 the National Forests and all other forest and related range lands 

 moving ahead on an efficient, effective, and economical basis to play 

 their proper role in the progress and development of the Nation. 



Resource managers, administrators, owners of small woodland 

 properties, and all others charged with forestry responsibilities need 

 answers to their everyday problems. They also have the additional 

 need for new knowledge, and organized research has a further objec- 

 tive to achieve significant breakthroughs that will show the way 

 to new methods and new horizons in the management, protection, and 

 utilization of forest resources. The short-term research program is 

 needed to yield quick results, applicable during the initial period, 

 and information of high value in attaining long-range objectives. 



The program will be carried out by the Forest Service of the 

 Department of Agriculture in cooperation with other agencies, public 

 and private. 



Forest and Range Management Research 



The basic renewable natural resources of the forest and ranges upon 

 which the Nation will rely to an increasing extent in the years to 

 come are timber, soil and water, forage, wildlife and fish habitat, and 

 recreation. Their greatly intensified development is necessary during 

 the next few years to meet both near- and long-term objectives. This 

 will require a substantial step-up in the research to support and guide 

 the accelerated resource production and management programs. 



Timber. — The overriding objectives of timber management research 

 will be to provide the improved forest trees and the intensive cultural 

 practices needed to double the Nation's production of wood and related 

 tree products by the year 2000. There are more than 130 commer- 

 cially important forest tree species in the United States, each differing 

 in its quality and product value and each varying in the requirements 

 for crop production. Natural forests, moreover, are usually made up 

 of mixtures of species and have strong responses to and interactions 

 with environmental changes. 



Accomplishment of timber management research objectives will re- 

 quire increased emphasis on the fundamentals of genetics, growth, 

 and other vital life processes of the tree itself, areas of study that have 

 heretofore been largely neglected. Also required will be expanded 

 efforts to provide answers to many practical operating problems to 

 increase the efficiency of establishing, growing, and harvesting of 

 timber on a sustained yield basis under a wide variety of conditions. 



The research proposed, emphasizing both basic and applied aspects, 

 will : 



1. Accelerate, through work in forest genetics, the production of 

 trees superior to present ones — in growth rate, wood quality, re- 

 sistance to insects and diseases, and other special qualities — for 

 use in planting programs on public and private forest lands. 



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