Adding Beauty to a New Forest 
After the new forest is started, the forester has a number of options 
in its culture which can contribute to natural beauty. 
1. Throughout the life of a forest, there is a fine opportunity to 
apply esthetic principles by controlling stands through thinnings. 
Thinnings control the play of light and shadow in the forest along 
roads. Trees in thinned stands invariably are larger and more 
stately. Thinnings also can control the development of plants on 
the forest floor. Where desirable, the density of the stand can be 
varied to enhance a view or to hide a nuisance. Thinnings can 
provide sprouts and other browse for wildlife, and increase the pro- 
duction of nuts, acorns, and berries. Birds and animals thus attracted 
will be more visible to the public. 
2. Release operations—freeing desirable trees from competition— 
are another major esthetic tool. They should be used to favor not 
only the more valuable trees but other elements in selected locations, 
such as flowering trees and shrubs, species with beautiful foliage, 
berries, or special seasonal interest, and species that have particular 
wildlife or recreational value. 
3. Fire carefully applied can also be a tool for maintaining beauty 
in some forests, as in the longleaf-slash pine forests of the Atlantic 
Coastal Plain, where a long-unburned forest contains a mass of pine 
litter draped on heavy brush. Since such fuel carries the grave risk 
of complete forest destruction by wildfire, controlled burning is a 
form of forest protection. 
4. Judicious pruning can be used for esthetic purposes, particularly 
along roads, trails, and lakeshores. It allows the eye to see more, 
- and brings light to the lower plant layer of the forest. 
Den trees are a valuable forest asset. Here an old maple tree has been left 
standing to provide a home for the raccoon. 
F—501488 
