A National Forestry 

 Research Program 



INTRODUCTION 



The program of forestry research presented herein outlines a bal- 

 anced attack by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the major 

 forest resource problems facing the Nation. The long-range objectives 

 of the research are related to the forest development programs that 

 will be necessary to produce the wealth of renewable forest resources 

 needed by the year 2000. This report outlines a carefully developed 

 research program to be done in an initial 10-year period to provide a 

 firm scientific underpinning and technical support for the rapid and 

 efficient advancement of programs aimed at increased forest resource 

 protection, management, and utilization. The research program, like 

 the "Development Program for the National Forests," is for fiscal 

 years 1963 through 1972. 



This research program has been developed, after much study. The 

 Department of Agriculture completed in 1958 an exhaustive review 

 of the timber situation of the Nation entitled "Timber Resources for 

 America's Future." This, together with a more recent reappraisal of 

 the timber situation as of 1962 and other studies dealing with the var- 

 ious forest resources, has provided a basis for long-range development 

 objectives related to the year 2000. In 1956, the Department of Agri- 

 culture made a searching review of all Department research to clarify 

 objectives, to determine program emphasis for the immediate years 

 ahead, and to provide for improved Department-wide coordination of 

 research. In 1958, the forestry research which related directly to the 

 problems of the National Forests was incorporated in the "Program 

 for tlie National Forests" sent to Congress by the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture in 1959. Subsequently, an intensive field study of all Forest 

 Service research has been completed, project by project and location 

 by location, as a basis for further planning. These and other studies 

 provide much of the background for the program presented here. 



The programs of the non-Federal agencies now engaged in forestry 

 research and their probable contributions in the future were also taken 

 into account in drafting the national program. It is not only the re- 

 sponsibility of the Department of Agriculture but of the State agri- 

 cultural experiment stations, forestry schools, and certain other public 

 institutions, to acquire and disseminate information concerning 

 forestry. These agencies are responsible for research on forestry 

 problems, whether local, State, or national, and have, together with 

 industry, a mutual interest in their solution. 



Private industry performs a valuable and substantial amount of 

 forestry research. Currently about two-thirds of all forestry research 



