National Forest Resources in Transition (World 

 War II to 1970) 



The years before World 

 War II saw establishment of 

 many of the South's national 

 forests. Labor and funds 

 had been directed to 

 organization, land 

 acquisition, fire protection, 

 tree plantings, and timber 

 stand improvement, mostly 

 regeneration release and 

 cull removal work. 



In the policy statements, 

 development plans, and 

 timber management plans 

 from early working circles, 

 the primary objectives were 

 (1) fire protection; (2) 

 removal of cull, defective, 

 and overmature trees; and 

 (3) regeneration of the 

 lands denuded by wildfire 

 and heavy cutting by prior 

 owners. 



The basic purpose of those 

 early management activities 

 was watershed protection, 

 restoration of the productive 

 capability of the land, and 

 establishment of new stands 

 of timber. Sales of timber 

 were largely so-called 

 improvement cuts (removal 

 of residual overstory and 

 defective trees, salvage of 

 overmature trees) and 



sanitation cuts (intended to 

 improve stocking and 

 growth of seedling, sapling, 

 and pole stands). 



Silvicultural systems were 

 modified selection cuts, 

 more aptly termed selective 

 cuts. They were intended 

 to achieve the foregoing 

 stand-improvement 

 objectives and set the stage 

 for future long-term 

 sustained yield of timber 

 and other renewable forest 

 resources. 



Although management 

 before the war had been 

 described as generally 

 custodial, the beneficial 

 results of those efforts were 

 evident following the war in 

 the improved stocking and 

 growth of both softwood 

 and hardwood stands. 

 Attention turned to the 

 need to manage more 

 intensively large areas of 

 pine plantations, many of 

 which already contained 

 pulpwood or small 

 sawtimber-size trees, and 

 extensive second-growth 

 natural stands of softwood 

 and hardwood timber. 



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