FOREST 



RESOURCES 



O F 



THE 



NORTH-LOUISIANA 



DELTA 



Action Needed 



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THE total cut of saw timber exceeds the incre- 

 ment of this class of material by more than 

 110 million board feet. Furthermore, the cut 

 of the high-quality commercial-size saw timber nec- 

 essary to maintain the present industries exceeds the 

 increment of such timber to an even greater extent. 

 It is apparent, therefore, that sooner or later the 

 annual cut of saw timber will have to be materially 

 reduced, at least temporarily, because of a lack of 

 timber of the necessary size and quality. But since 

 the present growing stock in its deteriorated con- 

 dition is producing high-quality saw timber at a 

 rate far below its capacity, the problem is to bring 

 the increment of commercial saw timber and the 

 requirements of industry gradually into balance at 

 a level commensurate with the producing power of 

 the forests of the unit. This problem is not as 

 difficult as it may seem, since 20 percent of the 

 forest area, or more than half a million acres, sup- 

 ported in 1934 commercial stands which are 

 readily adaptable to management on a sustained- 

 yield basis. This commercial forest area should be 

 utilized and managed so that its production under 

 a conservative-cutting policy will sustain the de- 

 pendent forest industries at the highest practicable 

 level, while the other 80 percent of the forest area 

 now noncommercial is developing to the point 

 where it can be cut conservatively. 



The line of action to be recommended in the 

 commercial forest, therefore, is largely one of con- 

 servative cutting, designed to make the most of the 

 present growing stock in order to spread its use as 

 far as possible over the time that must elapse until 

 the younger timber has grown up, and to leave the 

 cut-over areas in the best possible condition to 

 produce an early and improved second cut. The 

 line of action to follow in the 80 percent of the 

 area that is noncommercial should be to increase 



and improve the stand and to speed up its rate of 

 growth in order that it may contribute its share to 

 the requirements of industry as soon as possible 

 and with as great and valuable a sustained annual 

 increment as the site will allow. 



Treatment of Commercial Forests 



The objectives of inanagement in commercial 

 forests occupying 20 percent of the forest area are 

 (1) to obtain through cutting the greatest returns 

 per acre, while leaving an adequate basis for the 

 production of early future cuttings; and (2) to 

 build up and impi-ove the residual growing stock 

 so as to increase both the quality and volume of 

 future harvests. These objectives can be reached, 

 or at least approached, through the application of 

 selective cutting and integrated logging. • Selective 

 cutting is a succession of partial cuttings in each of 

 which part of the stand is removed and part is 

 left to produce future cuts. An analysis of the saw- 

 timber growing stock that exists at present on the 

 average acre of commercial forest suggests a system 

 of tree selection that will remove slightly more than 

 3,000 board feet, and leave the remainder (some- 

 what more than 4,000 board feet) for the produc- 

 tion of future cuts to be made at 1 5-year intervals. 

 Under such a cutting program in the present 

 average commercial stand, the first cut would 

 yield about 64 percent of its volume in trees at 

 least 30 inches in diameter, 26 percent in trees 20 

 to 28 inches in diaineter, and 10 percent in trees 

 14 to 18 inches in diameter. In general, the rate 

 of diameter growth, the thrift, and the general tree 

 form are the criteria for selecting trees to be cut. 

 The trees upon which growth has been reduced to 

 a minimum should be cut, if merchantable, re- 

 gardless of size. In the 14- to 18-inch diameter 



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