Summary and Recommendations 
377 
The Setting for American Forestry 
America needs productive forests. The evidence 
is on every hand. Wood shortages, which plagued 
this country in wartime, have hampered efforts to 
build the millions of new homes so badly needed, 
and constitute one of the dangers that may throw 
our economy out of gear. 
In World War I, as never before, lavish use of 
all resources was the key to survival. ‘The war pro- 
foundly affected American forestry. It taught how 
essential forests are to self-preservation, to national 
strength. It focused the spotlight on the inade- 
quacy of timber supplies, long foreseen though 
masked by lagging consumption in the depression 
thirties, and put a premium on accessibility and 
quality. Ihe war also stimulated more efficient 
and diversified use of wood. Yet it further mort- 
gaged our future by impairing timber growing 
stock, and by piling up a huge volume of unsatisi- 
fied consumer needs to be levied against our forests 
in the coming years. 
Our people have always been prodigal users of 
wood. The United States consumes more wood 
than any other country—probably as much as all 
others combined. Wood is, indeed, a highly useful 
and adaptable material. It has literally thousands 
of commonplace uses which permeate and leaven 
our whole economy. Moreover, through the alche- 
my of science wood in a variety of amazing new 
forms—plastics, textiles, chemicals—is contributing 
increasingly to our way of life. 
Timber, like steel and coal, is a basic raw ma- 
terial, and the Nation needs a huge amount of it 
for industrial use. The timber-products industries 
are themselves an important segment of America’s 
great industrial strength. Each year they pour into 
trade channels several billions of dollars’ worth of 
lumber and other commodities. The timber busi- 
ness as a whole—including harvesting, manufacture, 
transportation, and use of wood products—is a 
<< 
source of livelihood for millions of people. In 1946 
it afforded work equivalent to 3.3 million full-time 
jobs and wages totaling 6.3 billion dollars. 
Rural America has perhaps the most direct stake 
in productive forests. Countless small towns and 
communities are supported wholly or in large part 
by forest-based enterprises. Millions of rural peo- 
ple, including farmers, look to the forests for regu- 
lar or part-time work and for simple. products 
essential to their mode of living. To them, and 
to many people everywhere, well-managed forests 
mean steady jobs and permanent communities. 
Productive forests are needed for much besides 
their timber. ‘Today, more than ever, the Nation 
needs to protect its priceless soils and watersheds— 
to guard against floods, erosion, and damage to 
water supplies. It needs the livestock products 
from forest range, and it needs to utilize fully the 
great recreational and wildlife values of forest lands. 
Yet our forests, for the most part, are not in good 
shape to meet these varied and compelling demands. 
Years of poor and destructive cutting, of fires, and 
lack of management have steadily reduced timber 
capital and impaired other products and services. 
Years of exploitation and a long concurrent history 
of rising prices to consumers spell timber scarcity, 
not abundance, today. 
The need for better forestry is heightened by 
economic circumstances and new concepts growing 
out of the war and the reconversion. Wartime ex- 
perience in production has given the Nation new 
and higher aims for peace. Foremost among these 
is the emphasis on achieving a stable, high-level 
economy and full employment as a matter of vital 
national policy. Maintenance of high national in- 
come, with jobs for all, is of the utmost importance 
if we are to avoid recurring cycles of “boom and 
bust.” 
A prosperous well-integrated economy implies, 
for one thing, productive forests capable of supply- 
