the National Forest 

 Management Act of 1 976. 



The Multiple Use 

 Sustained Yield Act-The 

 decade of the sixties was 

 ushered in by the Multiple 

 Use Sustained Yield Act, 

 which became law on June 

 12, 1960. Although multiple 

 use and sustained yield of 

 renewable resources had 

 been management policy 

 and a criterion for national 

 forest management for 

 years, they now had the 

 legitimacy of congressional 

 policy and mandate. Though 

 defined by law, the two 

 terms remain subject to 

 situational interpretation by 

 professionals and laymen 

 alike. 



Conflicts Between Wildlife 

 and Timber Interests-Even 



as the Multiple Use 

 Sustained Yield Act became 

 law, the Southern Region 

 was acting to resolve the 

 problems encountered 

 where timber management 

 activities conflicted with 

 wildlife interests. Also in 

 June 1960, the 

 Chattahoochee National 

 Forest in Georgia and the 

 Apalachicola and Ocala 

 National Forests in Florida 

 hosted a Servicewide 

 workshop on wildlife-timber 

 management coordination. 

 After that meeting, the 

 Region developed and 

 implemented its 



wildlife-timber coordination 

 guidelines and handbook. 

 That handbook became the 

 model for coordination of 

 wildlife and timber 

 management activities on 

 all of America's national 

 forests. 



Rotations Become 

 Shorter-As mentioned 

 earlier, the Region moved 

 to even-aged management 

 early in the sixties. As area 

 regulation took hold and 

 efforts began to achieve a 

 measure of balance in age 

 classes, the total area 

 scheduled for regeneration 

 cuts in the 10-year period 

 increased. Better inventories 

 of growing stock and better 

 information on growth rates 

 in managed stands 

 indicated that timber yields 

 could be increased with 

 shorter rotations and more 

 intensive stocking controls. 



Rotations that had ranged 

 from 80 to 120 years 

 according to old policy 

 statements and 

 management plans were 

 adjusted downward. Cutting 

 budgets and timber sale 

 plans in the thirties had 

 been based on cutting 

 cycles as long as 40 years 

 for some of the mountain 

 forests. Now the norm was 

 10 years. Rotations were 

 reduced to 60 years for 

 most of the southern pine 

 (yellow pine) types and 89 



40 



