The Forest Survey 
FFECTIVE rehabilitation and constructive management of this country’s forest 
resources require not only protection against neglect and destruction but, with 
equal urgency, provision for permanent and wise use. Intelligent forest land use 
planning must be based upon reliable facts as to location, area, and condition of existing 
and prospective forest land, supply of timber and other forest products, forest depletion 
and forest growth, and production and consumption of forest products. ‘This necessity for 
dependable and comprehensive data is now being translated into action through the pro- 
visions of the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of 1928, authorizing a Nation- 
wide forest survey. ‘The Forest Service was directed by the Secretary of Agriculture 
to conduct the survey. 
The fivefold purpose of the Forest Survey is: (1) To make an inventory of the extent 
and condition of forest lands and of the present supply of timber and other forest products 
on these lands; (2) to ascertain the rate at which this supply is being increased through 
growth, and the potential growth on forest areas; (3) to determine the extent of depletion 
of the forests through cutting and through loss from fire, insects, disease, wind throw, and 
other causes; (4) to determine the present consumption and the probable future trend in 
requirements for timber and other forest products; and (5) to analyze and correlate these 
findings with other economic data, as an aid in the formulation of private and public 
policies for most effective and rational use of land suitable for forest production. 
These investigations are conducted in each forest region of the United States by the 
regional forest experiment station of the Forest Service. In Oregon and Washington 
they are conducted by the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, with 
headquarters at Portland, Oreg. 
It is planned to publish the results of this investigation, as they become available, in a 
series of reports applying to large forest areas such as districts, regions, and States. It is 
expected that the information presented in these reports for large geographic units will 
facilitate more intensive studies of small areas. 
(IT) 
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