Development Program for the 

 NATIONAL FORESTS 



There are presented herein long-range objectives and a 10-year con- 

 servation program for the National Forests and associated lands. 

 The long-range objectives are related to the year 2000 and the pro- 

 gram to what needs to be done in the next 10 years toward meeting 

 current needs and attaining long-range objectives. The program is 

 for the period of Fiscal Years 1963 through 1972. 



This program has been developed after much study. The Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture completed in 1958 an exhaustive study of the 

 U.S. timber situation entitled "Timber Resources for America's Fu- 

 ture." The National Forest Kecreation Survey was completed in 

 1960. Timber inventories, management plans, and other resource 

 development plans have been made. The Forest Service has long 

 maintained a project work inventory for the National Forests. These 

 and other studies are the background for the objectives and program 

 herein developed. 



There are general statutory authorities under which substantial 

 portions of the program subsequently outlined could be carried out 

 on the National Forests and associated lands. These include the 

 Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act of June 12, 1960, which declared 

 that "The National Forests are established and shall be administered 

 for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and wildlife and 

 fish purposes" and which directed the Secretary of Agriculture "to 

 develop and administer the renewable surface resources of the Na- 

 tional Forests for multiple use and sustained yield of the several 

 products and services obtained therefrom." Additional legislation 

 to facilitate carrying out the program will be recommended as needed. 



THE NATIONAL-FOREST SYSTEM 



The National Forests and National Grasslands of the United States 

 are invaluable national assets. These Federal properties, consisting 

 of forest and range lands and high mountain watersheds, occur in 41 

 States and Puerto Rico. There are 186 million acres in the National 

 Forest System grouped into 155 National Forests and 18 National 

 Grasslands. Eighty-eight percent of National Forests and Grass- 

 lands occurs in the Western United States. Every citizen owns a 

 share of the National Forest System. It might be said that every 

 man, woman, and child in the United States owns 1 acre of National 

 Forest land. 



The National Forests consist largely of land reserved from the 

 public domain by Presidential proclamation under the act of March 



