A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



Following the first meeting of the advisory 

 group, a smaller working group was named to 

 collaborate with the Forest Service in preparing its 

 working plans. After a meeting with the working 

 group, preliminary working plans were developed 

 and distributed for review purposes to key indi- 

 viduals throughout the country. Many discus- 

 sions with regional and State groups were held 

 concerning these plans, and there were four general 

 area meetings in Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Fran- 

 cisco, and Philadelphia, at which these preliminary 

 working plans were reviewed in detail. Additional 

 comment was received from many individuals. 

 The preliminary plans were substantially revised 

 as a result of this widespread review and the dis- 

 cussion at a second meeting of the advisory group, 

 held in January 1953. Following this meeting 

 the final working plan was developed, and com- 

 pleted in the summer of 1953. These working 

 plans are available for reference in the Forest 

 Service Washington and regional offices and experi- 

 ment station headquarters. Thus about one and 

 a half years were devoted to the planning phase 

 of the Timber Resource Review. By this pro- 

 cedure, plans for the project were greatly strength- 

 ened and the basis was laid for effective collabora- 

 tion in the field surveys. 



The field surveys and assembly of data occupied 

 about a year and consisted of five principal 

 activities; (a) timber inventory and growth 

 surveys, (b) utilization surveys, (c) productivity 

 survey, (d) assembly of other resource data, and 

 (e) demand and growth projections. 



The inventory and growth sm-veys were con- 

 ducted imder the leadership of the Forest Service 

 regional forest experiment stations and involved 

 three classes of work. First, there were 23 States 

 in which the forest survey had been completed 

 since January 1, 1947. For these the survey find- 

 ings were accepted without additional fieldwork, 

 and were adjusted by simple bookkeeping to 

 January 1, 1953. Second, there were 10 States in 

 which forest survey fieldwork was in progress and 

 which were judged to be sufficiently advanced to 

 furnish a base for extension to the remainder of 

 those States with some supplementary field obser- 

 vations. Third, there were 15 States and Coastal 

 Alaska in which it was necessary to conduct special 

 surveys to obtain reasonably reliable estimates of 

 the current resource situation. 



In the utilization surveys, data were developed 

 by the forest experiment stations usually in 

 cooperation with the States. State cooperation 

 was especially widespread in the Northeast. 

 Although Bureau of Census data on output of 

 lumber, veneer logs and bolts, and pulpwood were 

 used as the overall control, supplementary surveys 

 of varying intensity were made to obtain reliable 

 estimates by States and geographic source of logs 

 and bolts. Field surveys were also made as a 

 basis for estimating the output of other timber 



products and the quantity and use of plant resi- 

 dues. 



Productivity surveys were limited to an exami- 

 nation of recently cut commercial forest lands. 

 These lands were examined according to a pre- 

 determined system and criteria which were de- 

 veloped locally in collaboration with State foresters 

 and others. The statistical control for the pro- 

 ductivity surveys was intended to provide reason- 

 ably reliable data on a regional basis, although in 

 some instances it was intensified as the result of 

 collaboration by State agencies to provide^ reliable 

 data on a State basis. 



There was a great, deal of additional resource 

 information assembled on protection, planting, 

 and ownership. This information was not derived 

 from new and original surveys but from reports 

 available to the Forest Service or to State foresters, 

 and through consultation and other sources. 



The information on factors influencing past 

 consumption of timber products and future 

 demand for timber was based in part on field 

 surveys, such as that conducted by the Forest 

 Service for 1948 on wood used in manufacture, 

 and to a great extent on economic and statistical 

 reports of various Federal and State agencies, 

 particidarly the Departments of Labor and Com- 

 merce. The recent work of the Stanford Research 

 Institute provided helpful guides i?) the field of 

 timber recpurements. 



Inventory estimates for Interior Alaska were 

 developed in collaboration with the Department 

 of the Interior. Those for Canada were based 

 largely on reports of the Dominion and Provincial 

 Governments of Canada. Those for M(>xico were 

 based on a variety of soiu'ces, and those for other 

 nations of tlie world on reports made by the 

 varioiis countries to the Food and Agriculture 

 Organization of the United Nations. 



In October 1955, a preliminary review draft 

 consisting of 9 chapters was issued. This draft 

 was intended originally for in-Service I'eview, and 

 for a key group of advisers, collaborators, public 

 officials, and legislators. After issuance, however, 

 the demand became so great that it soon was 

 apparent that distribution could not be efl"ectively 

 restricted. 



A 5-month review period ending in Alarcli 1956 

 was announced after issuance of the preliminary 

 draft. Careful review was made of the report b^^ 

 all Forest Service regional offices and experiment 

 stations and the Forest Products Laboratory. 

 Comment and suggestions were invited from mem- 

 ber organizations of the advisory group. Federal 

 Departments and States, and all groups and indi- 

 viduals who cared to volunteer suggestions. 



The Forest Industries Council volunteered a 

 detailed review. The Department of the Interior 

 offered constructive comment, as did various con- 

 servation and other groups. In all, some 2,000 

 individual suggestions were received. 



