PRODUCTIVITY OF RECENTLY CUT LANDS 



233 



Standards Geared to Local 

 Situations 



Forest types differ widely in natural charactei'- 

 istics such as their ability to reproduce aftei- 

 cutting, in species composition, in inherent ca- 

 pacity to produce wood. Within each forest type, 

 variations in soil, climate, and other factors affect 

 productive capacity. For practical use, these 

 variations are recognized by site classifications, 

 physiographic units, or localities. Timber cutting 

 is conducted over the entu-e range of these natural 

 conditions and the productivity of recently cut 

 lands must be appraised against standards appro- 

 priate for the natural conditions. Oidy in this 

 way can the effects of cutting be appraised sepa- 

 i-ately^ from the effects of natural factors. 



The first step in meeting this need for flexibility 

 was local determination of the forest types to be 

 recognized in each region. However, in final re- 

 porting of results, each of these was keyed as a 

 subtype to one of the 20 major type groups 

 adopted by the Forest Survey (appendix section 

 definitions). For each regional type, standards 

 for determination of existing and prospective 

 stocking, effects of felling age, and species com- 

 position were prepared by site classes, physio- 

 graphic units, or localities. In a few cases, broad 

 soil classes or other factors were recognized (ap- 

 pendix section Criteria). Thus, in field examina- 

 tion of recently cut land on a single ownership, 

 several sets of standards might be applied to con- 

 form, with changes in forest type or other natural 

 conditions. 



Only Recent Cuttings Examined 



Only cuttings made between January 1, 1947, 

 and the time of examination in 1953 or 1954 were 

 subject to examination. This choice of a specific 

 recent period provides for a better expression of 

 current conditions on such lands than if all areas 

 w^here cutting had been done were examined with- 

 out regard to the time of cutting. This is partic- 

 ularly important at a time wdien forestry appears 

 to be advancing as rapidly as in the past decade. 



Within this time period, the general rule was 

 adopted to appraise on each ownership examined 

 the most recent cutting made since January 1, 

 1947. Some modifications to this rule were adopt- 

 ed for specific types in a few regions and are ex- 

 plained in appendix section Criteria for Rating 

 Productivity. 



Degree of Survey Coverage 



The general framework of field coverage in- 

 volved sampling sui"veys among the numerous 

 small ownerships, either sampling or full canvass 

 among owners of medimn-sized holdings depend- 

 ing upon their numbers in each State, and full 



coverage of public lands and large private owner- 

 ships. Fiekl examination on individual recently 

 cut areas consisted of specific counts or measure 

 ments on sample plots or at examination points 

 distributed throughout each unit of land ex- 

 amined. The intensity of sampling used on each 

 recently cut unit was based on general guides 

 derived from, preliminary trials conducted in a 

 variety of forest types and on recently cut areas 

 of various sizes. 



Because of limited time and facilities relative 

 to the size of the job, reliability standards were 

 aimed at providing for comparisons between 

 regions, or between ownership classes, forest type 

 groups, or similar classifications on a broad basis. 

 Sampling errors achieved are presented in the 

 appendix section Adequacy of Data. Sampling 

 to provide sound figures on a State basis was 

 accomplislied only where State agencies or private 

 sources supplemented the basic survey sufficiently. 

 For the few States where this was done, the Forest 

 Service agreed to provide the results separately 

 to collaborating groups. However, no results for 

 individual States are presented in this report. 



Sampling Method 



Recently cut lands of the numerous small private 

 ownerships were sampled by two methods: (a) 

 Examination of all ownerships in 2,500-acre 

 sampling areas located within randomly chosen 

 counties in each State of each region, (b) compila- 

 tion of lists of small ownerships in each State 

 of a region and random selection of ownerships 

 from such lists. The first of these methods w^as 

 used primarily in the East and the second in 

 the West. Medium-sized private ownerships 

 were sampled in States with 15 or more such 

 ownerships, but all of them were examined in 

 States with less than 15 ownerships of this size 

 class. All large private ownerships were ex- 

 amined except in Florida, where their number 

 justified sampling procedures. All Federal owner- 

 ships in a State were examined, including those of 

 less than 5,000 acres. State, county, municipal, 

 and other local public forests of 5,000 acres or 

 more were also covered by complete canvass. 

 Public ownerships, other than Federal, of less 

 than 5,000 acres were covered by sampling either 

 on the list or area basis previously outlined for 

 small private ownerships. 



For public ownerships organized on a working 

 circle basis, each such working circle was viewed 

 as a separate holding for individual examination 

 and reporting. Where public lands were not so 

 organized, each separate unit or block of land 

 recognized by the responsible administrative 

 agency was considered to be a separate recording 

 unit and the recently cut lands in each examined 

 and rated. This same procedure was applied to 

 large private ownerships. 



