special authorization by Congress against three in- 
troduced pests. 
Sound silvicultural practice is of itself a means 
of control. However, as in the case of fire, there 
is a need and public responsibility for organized 
detection and for control. ‘The Forest Pest Con- 
trol Act affords a legislative foundation for the 
needed development of such protection. ‘This act 
declares the Federal responsibility in the control of 
forest insects and diseases on a Nation-wide basis 
and on lands in all classes of ownership; it gives 
the Secretary of Agriculture authority, as a condi- 
tion of Federal cooperation in forest pest control, 
to require cooperation from the States or other 
public or private agency as he deems appropriate; 
and to authorize the establishment of adequate 
services and facilities for the detection of incipient 
outbreaks and their prompt suppression. 
10. All phases of forest research should be 
strengthened and expanded as a basic means of 
aiding forestry and improving wood utilization. 
Fundamental to the practice of forestry and to 
rapid progress in forest conservation is adequate 
knowledge of the techniques of forestry, and a 
thorough understanding of the benefits from proper 
use of timber, range, wildlife, recreation, and wa- 
tershed resources. Because forest conditions and 
their economic relations to society are highly varied 
and complex, well-organized comprehensive re- 
search is essential to attain quickly and economic- 
ally the goal of good forest management and use. 
The Federal Government, through the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, has appropriately taken the 
lead in such research. The work, under authority 
of the McSweeney-McNary Act, is conducted mainly 
through the Forest Products Laboratory—a national 
institution—and 12 regional Forest and Range Ex- 
periment Stations, with a larger number of decen- 
tralized and strategically located experimental for- 
ests and ranges. 
In expanding forest research programs of the 
Department of Agriculture and of other public and 
private agencies, special, but not exclusive, attention 
should be given to: . 
(a) Research in wood utilization to find means 
of reducing the enormous current waste of timber 
in the woods and mills, to find ways of utilizing 
the low-grade trees that now occupy valuable forest 
growing space, to improve the use of wood, and to 
develop new wood products and markets, including 
pilot plants to encourage the commercial applica- 
tion of new processes. 
(b) Development of profitable methods for grow- 
ing, protecting, and harvesting forest crops so as 
to build up the Nation’s forest capital, increase 
yields of the more valuable tree species, and enable 
farmers and other owners to realize potential in- 
comes from timber crops. 
(c) Rapid completion and maintenance of the 
Forest Survey on standards that will provide basic 
resource data for sound public policies and private 
forest plans. Other economic studies are needed 
to remove some of the financial obstacles to im- 
proved forest management and utilization, to de- 
termine potential timber requirements, supplies, 
and markets, and to enable the United States to 
keep abreast of forest problems in other parts of 
the world which may affect the timber supply and 
forest-products industries of this country. 
(d) Critical problems of range depletion and 
inadequate forage production on millions of acres 
of western ranges. ‘Their solution requires research 
to find feasible methods for improving range man- 
agement and for correlating range, wildlife, and 
watershed uses. 
(e) Problems of water supply, erosion, and flood 
damage which require development of effective up- 
stream flood control measures and efficient methods 
of managing watershed forests and other vegeta- 
tion. 
II. Public Control of Cutting and Other Forest 
Practices on Private Forest Lands 
1. A system of public regulation of cutting and 
other forest practices should be established that will 
stop forest destruction and keep forest lands reason- 
ably productive. The States should continue to 
have opportunity to enact and administer adequate 
regulatory laws. However, in order to assure a 
consistent pattern—Nation-wide and in a reasonable 
time—a basic Federal law is needed. 
This basic legislation should establish standards 
as a guide for local forest practices and authorize 
Federal financial assistance to States which enact 
and administer regulatory laws consistent with the_ 
Federal requirements. It should also provide for 
Federal administration in States which request it 
or which, after a reasonable period, fail to put 
such regulation into effect. 
The measures of public aid to private owners 
outlined in the preceding section are comprehen- 
sive and far-reaching. ‘They will require substan- 
tial Federal expenditure and are justified by the 
10 Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
