This is equivalent to nearly one-fourth of the net 
) annual growth. 
NEED BETTER PROTECTION. Although all 
) of Virginia’s forest land is now under organized pro- 
tection, the loss of usable timber due to fire, insects, 
disease, and other causes is still large. Annual losses 
exceed one-half million cords—a volume about three- 
fifths as large as the requirements of the pulp industry. 
CAN PRODUCE LARGER YIELDS OF TIM- 
)BER. The average net annual increment for all com- 
} mercial forest land was only 121 board feet per acre. 
) This is largely a result of poor stocking and rather ex- 
} tensive areas of low-quality sites in the Piedmont and 
mountains. With intensive management on the fair 
I sites and only simple protection on the poorest sites, 
it is estimated that net annual growth could be in- 
creased in three to four decades by at least 25 percent. 
This would increase the net annual growth from 1.7 
| Virginia Forest Resources and Industries 
billion board feet to 2.2 billion board feet. 
HAVE UNREALIZED POTENTIALITIES. 
There is enough commercial forest land in the State 
to produce more than adequate timber supplies for its 
wood-using industries, provided the land is well man- 
aged. A united effort of all organizations and indi- 
viduals—local, State, Federal, and private—will be 
required to improve the forest situation substantially. 
Best oportunities for doing this seem to lie in building 
up the forest-land volume and quality by constructive 
forestry practices, better protection against fire, in- 
sects, and disease, and improved utilization. Aids 
and services to private owners, public purchase of 
lands not suited to private holding, adequate research 
to find methods of improving the growing, harvesting, 
and marketing of the forest crop, and possibly some 
measure of control of cutting on private lands are ways 
of utilizing these opportunities. 
