may be cut, where sale 

 areas may be located, 

 which areas should be 

 cut first, etc. In preparing 

 these plans, the needs 

 of local industries 

 dependent on the 

 forests are always kept 

 in mind, and it is the 

 aim, as far as possible, 

 consistent with the 

 annual growth of a 

 forest, to assure 

 industries an annual 

 supply of timber with a 

 view to their permanent 

 operation. 



. . . The majority of the 

 lands have been 

 acquired in a cutover 

 condition, or else have 

 been culled of the 

 choicest timber. It, 

 therefore, becomes 

 necessary to dispose 

 of a large amount of 

 comparatively 

 low-grade low-growth 

 timber in order to 

 liberate the young 

 timber and replacement 

 already established 

 and permit its rapid 

 development. 



... As a result of the 

 policy followed, the 

 condition of the 

 purchased lands is 

 continuously improving 

 both following cuttings 

 designed to remove 

 defective, mature and 

 overmature timber, 



thereby releasing thrifty 

 young timber, or in 

 creating conditions 

 favorable for restocking. 

 As a result of preventing 

 fires the acquired lands 

 are rapidly being 

 stocked with seedlings, 

 assuring not only a 

 second crop of timber 

 but a much more even 

 run-off of water and 

 reduced erosion (U.S. 

 Congress, Senate 

 1923). 



Public attitudes, the 

 generally understocked 

 and abused condition of 

 the forests, and the 

 watershed protection and 

 other management 

 objectives for the new 

 national forests combined 

 to produce a situation that 

 called for a variety of cutting 

 practices: sanitation and 

 salvage, economic selection 

 (high grading), and cull 

 removal and release 

 cuttings. These hardly fit 

 any of the classic silvicultural 

 systems. But, perhaps for 

 lack of a better name, they 

 were called "selective 

 cutting." This term has 

 been described as "cutting 

 the obviously defective and 

 leaving the apparently 

 sound." 



Selective cutting gained a 

 prominence during the 

 period that would haunt 

 forest managers 40 years 



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