PREFACE 



"One of our most important natural resources, and one of our most 

 neglected is our forest land." With these words, President Kennedy 

 in March 1961 introduced his comments on Forest Resources in his 

 special message to the Congress on American Agriculture. He called 

 for rejuvenation, expansion, and new emphasis on all forestry pro- 

 grams to insure adequate forest resources in the future. He observed 

 that forestry research should be expanded to meet the needs of ac- 

 celerated forest development programs. 



As presented here, the National Forestry Research Program out- 

 lines the research needed to adequately support forestry activities, 

 whether on the National Forests and other public lands or on private 

 lands, including especially the farms and other small private wood- 

 lands. It will supply the knowledge required to put the forestry pro- 

 grams on a sound technological basis in a period when natural resource 

 production, protection, and utilization must move forward rapidly. 



This forestry research program is a revision of the research outlined 

 in the "Program for the National Forests" submitted to the Congress 

 in March 1959. The new program includes the research required on 

 forestry problems of all categories of ownership — Federal, State, and 

 private. The earlier report was confined to research needed on Na- 

 tional Forest problems. Several major problems that were not pre- 

 viously recognized in full are included in this report. The latter were 

 revealed by recent problem analyses which pointed to the accelerated 

 progress required in the protection and management of forests and 

 the fuller utilization of their resources. The major changes are: 



1. Inclusion of the research required on problems of private lands, especially 

 those concerned with increasing the productivity of farm and other small owner- 

 ships and with increasing the utilization outlets and markets for poor-quality and 

 little-used species of timber. 



2. Extension and strengthening of the support given to cooperative programs 

 with colleges and universities to stimulate forestry research by these institutions. 



3. Increasing estimates to update the program in keeping with recent trends in 

 forest resource use that introduce new problems or require greater emphasis or 

 speed in solving older ones. 



4. Adjustment of all other cost estimates to 1062 levels. 



This program includes the research for which the Forest Service of 

 the U.S. Department of Agriculture has responsibility. It embraces 

 most aspects of all major problems of forests and associated range 

 lands but does not include the related research that is the assigned re- 

 sponsibility of other Federal agencies. The program will be carried 

 out as rapidly as possible within the overall budgetary requirements 

 and financial resources of the Federal Government. 



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