How 
3 
The United States has been slow in facing up 
to the hard fact that to produce timber in ample, 
sustained quantities requires purposeful manage- 
ment—real forestry. 
The job to be done is not so much one of 
establishing new forests (although this, too, has its 
place) as it is of properly treating and utilizing 
those we have. A great deal depends on timber- 
cutting practices; on whether the amount of cut 
is adjusted to the rate of growth; on the quality 
of protection; on the aims and policies of the 
forest owner. 
Many people take it for granted that a reason- 
ably satisfactory brand of forestry is practiced on 
much of our timber-producing land. A Nation- 
wide survey, made by the Forest Service in co- 
operation with other Federal, State, and private 
agencies as part of the Reappraisal,?° shows that 
actually there is good forestry on only a small 
part of it. Limited to commercial forest lands, 
this survey considered publicly owned land and 
private holdings of 50,000 acres or more on a 
100-percent basis. ‘The remaining private land 
was covered by sampling methods; in all, some 
42,000 small and medium-sized holdings, distrib- 
uted to give fair representation by size of property 
and region, were examined. The survey dealt 
with: (1) The character of recent timber-cutting 
practices, (2) the extent to which the larger hold- 
ings are being managed for sustained yield, and 
(3) the quality of fire protection. 
Timber-Cutting Practices Are Far From 
Satisfactory 
The following criteria were used in rating cut- 
ting practice: 
1. High-order cutting requires the best types 
* Results of this survey are more fully covered in Re- 
appraisal Report 3. The Management Status of Forest Lands 
in the United States. U.S. Forest Service. 1946. 
Timberlands Are Being Managed 
Ke 
of harvest cutting which will maintain quality 
and quantity yields consistent with the full pro- 
ductive capacity of the land. Wherever needed, 
it requires cultural practices such as planting, 
timber-stand-improvement cuttings, thinnings, and 
control of grazing. 
2. Good cutting requires good silviculture that 
leaves the land in possession of desirable species 
in condition for vigorous growth in the immediate 
future. It is substantially better than fair cut- 
ting. 
3. Fair cutting marks the beginning of cutting 
practices which will maintain on the land any 
reasonable stock of growing timber in species 
that are desirable and marketable. 
4. Poor cutting leaves the land with a limited 
means for natural reproduction, often in the form 
of remnant seed trees. It often causes deteriora- 
tion of species with consequent reduction in both 
quality and quantity of forest growth. 
Tas_e 17.—Character of timber cutting on com- 
mercial forest land by ownership class, 1945 
Patios, Character of cutting+ 
orest area 
Ownership 
class De- 
Total Ope EUeh: Good | Fair | Poor | struc- 
ating | order i 
ive 
Million | Million 
acres acres \ Percent | Percent | Percent | Percent | Percent 
All lands...... 461 403 3 20 25 
Private ....... 345 302 1 7 28 56 8 
Publica =. 116 101 8 59 19 13 1 
National ; 
forest ._ 74 65 ll 69 19 1 0 
Other 
Federal 15 12 6 37 32 24 1 
State and 
localni 27 24 5) 44 10 4] 2 
1Percents shown refer to the operating acreage in each 
class now being managed under cutting practices that rate 
high-order, good, etc. 
46 Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. 8. Department of Agriculture 
