timber growing rest. Investigations conducted in all the important forest 

 types in this country and Puerto Rico are directed toward furnishing the 

 owner of timberland, whether farmer or lumberman, State or Federal Gov- 

 ernment, assistance in deriving the highest returns from the forest and, at 

 the same time, maintaining stabilized industrial communities. 



Forest-management research includes a variety of subjects. For example, 

 forest regeneration, artificial or natural, calls for studies of seed production 

 and germination, nursery and planting practice, and sprout and seedling 

 growth. Forest trees are studied for the development of improved quality, 

 better growth rate, or other desirable characters. Intensive investigations are 

 made of thinning practice, the growth rate of trees and stands, and methods 

 of harvesting the forest crop to obtain the best natural reproduction. 



Research also has an important place in forest-fire control, which is aided 

 by studies of forest-fuel inflammability, weather conditions, and the devel- 

 opment of fire-fighting equipment. Apparatus for detecting forest fires 

 under different conditions of visibility is being devised or perfected. Fire 



Figure 12. — Sheep grazing on a summer range 



Nevada national forest. 



damage, the recovery of forests after fire, changes in the growth and quality 

 of forests after recurrent fires, and many related problems are being 

 investigated. 



RANGE INVESTIGATIONS 



Range research furnishes the basis for sound management of forest and 

 other range lands. Its objectives are to obtain and supply Federal, State, 

 and private agencies with basic information needed to perpetuate and 

 improve all range-land values. 



Range research is being carried on at the regional forest and range 

 experiment stations in the West, the South, and the Southeast, and in 

 Washington. Broadly speaking, it is concerned primarily with: 



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