Following is the text of a letter from, the Secretary of the 

 Department of Agriculture to the President of the Senate 

 and the Speaker of the House transmitting a national 

 forestry research program. 



U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D.C., April 15, 1964. 



Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) 



y Enclosed for information of the Congress and appropriate refer- 

 ence is a report entitled "A National Forestry Research Program." 



This report outlines a balanced program of research in the major 

 forest resource problems facing the Xation. The program covers 

 research in the management of timber, forest soil and water, range 

 forage, wildlife and fish habitat, and forest recreation : research in 

 protection of the forest from fire, insects, and disease ; forest products 

 and engineering research: and forest resource economics and market- 

 ing research. 



This is the second report concerning the programs of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture relating to forestry activities. The first one, 

 ••A Development Program for the Xational Forests," was sent to you 

 by the President on September 21, 1961. 



The purpose of this forestry research program is to develop a firm 

 scientific base and technical support for the rapid and efficient ad- 

 vancement of programs aimed at increased forest resource manage- 

 ment, protection, and utilization. It is a cooperative undertaking 

 aimed at forestry problems of all categories of ownership — Federal, 

 State, and private. 



The specific proposals cover an initial 10-year period with long 

 range objectives related to the forest development programs that will 

 be necessary- to produce the wealth of renewable forest resources 

 needed by the year 2000. The proposals have been developed with 

 careful consideration of forestry research to be done by other orga- 

 nizations and institutions and full recognition of the need for a strong 

 cooperative program. 



President Kennedy in his 1961 special messages to Congress on 

 American Agriculture and Xatural Resources called for certain meas- 

 ures needed to insure adequate forest resources in the future by 

 sound, effective programs relating to privately owned woodlands, as 

 well as our Xational Forests and other public lands. Included among 

 these measures, are expansion of forestry research and acceleration 

 and expansion of the Forest Service's long-range program for the 

 development and improvement of our Xational Forests. 



Pursuant to that message, I directed a review of the requirements 

 relating to research in the Department's forest resource program and, 

 where they fall short of the needs, the development of a program to 

 fill the gaps. 



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