14 MISC. PUBLICATION 2 4 7, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



mills and cut all the timber quickly. He may, in other words, liquidate 

 by way of the cut-out-and-get-out policy under which there is feverish 

 activity — for a time. A sawmill town is built, everything booms. 

 But in a few years the operation is ended, "the goose plucked." 

 Unless some other activity intervenes, women and children are forced 

 by economic necessity to follow their menfolk along tortuous job- 

 hunting trails. Homes, schools, and churches are left empty and 

 forlorn. Obviously, this way of doing things does not constitute a 

 sustained-yield operation. 



But if this timberland owner first determines the yearly interest- 

 in the form of annual growth which his 200,000-acre forest will 

 yield, then builds sawmills to handle, each year, not more than the 

 amount of timber which this growth represents, both property and 

 town are on an all-time basis. For then annual growth replaces 

 annual harvest; the forest capital is not depleted. Jobs, homes, 

 schools, churches, are permanent. This is a sustained-yield operation. 

 It is the type of management which is standard for all resources on 

 the national forests; it has as a major objective community mainte- 

 nance through production adjusted to growth. 



Sustained-yield forest management can be practiced in every forest 

 region of the United States. It may not be achieved everywhere by 

 exactly the same methods, but the basic idea is the same. It means 

 providing a constant, and a constantly renewed, supply of raw ma- 

 terial. It means stabilization of forest industries; perpetuation of our 

 forests by cutting only as much timber as can be replaced by current 

 growth. It requires adequate protection from fire, bisects, and 

 diseases, of course. It uses such methods of cutting as will damage 

 young growth as little as possible. It insures future crops either by 

 leaving seed trees and young trees or by planting where it is necessary 

 to do so. 



Under sustained yield the timber requirements of the Nation, a 

 particular region, or a local community are figured over a period of 

 years; on a specific area or areas there is set up an annual harvest 

 that will yield raw material without diminishing the future supply; 

 mighty industries that in normal times employed some 1,300,000 

 people may in large measure substitute stability and security for 

 instability and insecurity, both for themselves and their workers. 



Unfortunately, there are as yet comparatively few lumber com- 

 panies which have been successful in prolonging their lives and those 

 of their dependent communities by practicing sustained-yield forest 

 management on forest lands in private ownership. 



WILDLIFE 



A large part of the wildlife in the United States, valuable for food, 

 fur, and hunting, or for aesthetic purposes, is found in our forests. 

 Its management in connection with other resources is an important 

 part of forestry. Wildlife directly interests more than 13,000,000 

 people who hunt and fish. It helps support many more, and adds to 

 the happiness of millions who are eager to catch glimpses of wildlife 

 in its home enviornments. 



Ever since the mythical days of Robin Hood, the welfare of wildlife 

 and forests have been closely linked. The relationship is as close as 

 ever in our own country today. On our forest lands where exploita- 



