OUR FORESTS 37 



TIMBER, A VITAL NATIONAL RESOURCE 



The forest, unlike many other natural resources, can be renewed 

 after the original supply has been consumed. When given a chance, 

 Nature herself can take care of the renewal. Seed trees or young 

 growth judiciously left after cutting will provide for the restocking 

 of a lumbered area, and if fire is kept out the forest will come 

 back. But when the forest is totally destroyed, the land, which in 

 many cases is not suited to other crops, lies idle. There are millions 

 of acres of such lands in the United States, largely the result of 

 destructive logging, fire, or both. 



The amount of deforested land in the United States has been in- 

 creasing every year. Since 1909 our total volume of standing saw 

 timber has been reduced some forty percent. We still fail to grow 

 timber as fast as we are cutting it. 



Our Nation has made notable strides in forest conservation in the 

 last half century, but we have as yet failed to stop the downward 

 trend in our forest wealth. Much more remains to be done if real 

 forest conservation is to be achieved. 



To protect the public interest, the Department of Agriculture and 

 the Forest Service have recommended a 3-point Nation-wide forest- 

 conservation program : 



1. Expansion of public aid to private forest landowners. Every 

 encouragement should be given to forest landowners to practice 

 scientific forestry and manage their timberlands for maximum, con- 

 tinuing returns. More trained forestry specialists should be em- 

 ployed to help and advise owners on their timber-management and 

 marketing problems. Research work should continue on an intensified 

 scale to work out the best answers to the many problems of timber 

 growing, forest protection, and efficient utilization. Cooperative pro- 

 tection against fire should be extended (only about three-fourths of 

 our total area of forest land is as yet under organized protection, 

 and much of this protection is still inadequate). Cooperative aid 

 should be provided in combating destructive forest insects and 

 diseases. 



2. Public acquisition of a large acreage of forest land now in pri- 

 vate ownership. Large areas of forest land are so low in productivity 

 that they offer little or no attraction for private investment in timber 

 growing, or so depleted that the owners are unwilling to undertake 

 the long-term job of restoration. These include lands that have been 

 reduced to nonproductive condition by erosion, destructive forest 

 practices, fire, and misuse; and other lands plainly submarginal for 

 permanent private ownership. For such lands, many of which are 

 tax delinquent, public ownership seems to be the best solution. Some 

 of them might best be purchased by the Federal Government for 

 addition to the national-forest system; others might best serve as 

 State or community forests. For certain other areas where acute 

 problems of watershed protection, or need for protection or develop- 

 ment of scenic or recreational values or other public interests are 

 paramount, public ownership also may be desirable. 



3. Effective public regulation of timber cutting and other forest 

 practices to stop further destruction and keep forest lands reasonably 



