NEW FOREST FRONTIERS for: Jobs, Permanent Communities, A Stronger Nation

National-Forest Problems

SO MUCH for the two-thirds of the Nation's forest land in private ownership. That other one-third—mainly the national forests—represents the first large-scale trial in the United States of public ownership and administration of a great natural resource. While it has been sufficiently successful to have received general public approbation, great unfulfilled opportunities for public service lie ahead. F-386384

Blister rust canker on young white pine.

JUST as on private lands, we are in the national forests running a losing race against time to stop the spread of white pine blister rust in valuable and sugar pine stands. E AND PQ-484

Potential lumber turned to snags by the western pine beetle.

WE ARE unprepared to combat the staggering losses caused by tree-killing insects. E AND PQ-8591

A fire fighter practicing descent by parachute to control, before it spreads, a small fire in an inaccessible area.

ORGANIZED fire control has made great advances since the establishment of the national forests in 1905. But since then climate has taken an unfavorable swing, and human use of forested areas has increased enormously. We still have an average of about 13,000 fires a year on the national forests. F-387000

Marking selected tree for cutting on a sales area.

THE PRESENT work load of essential jobs on the national forests is much too heavy for the available manpower, which means that work that ought to be done and services that ought to be performed must be neglected. F-367152

PUBLIC campgrounds on the national forests help provide low-cost vacations for millions of people. Many more could be served, but many of the facilities are already overcrowded. F-370908

MUCH needs to be done to restore sore spots on forest ranges to full productivity. This area was once badly denuded by overgrazing. USDI-4830

WILDLIFE management has lagged and, especially in the West, excess numbers of big game have created serious local problems. A shortage of food will cause a deer to browse as high on the trees as it can reach, standing on its hind legs. Under such circumstances survival of young trees is out of the question. F-395546

Thinning an overcrowded stand of young trees—Hiawatha National Forest, Mich.

MUCH too small an area is under intensive timber management. Timber management has been largely confined to protection, planting, and silvicultural practices on sales areas. Wholesale efforts to make land fully productive have not as yet been attempted. F-384418

Planting is necessary when seed trees are burned.

AT THE present rate it will take about 30 years to complete the planting of national-forest lands now requiring artificial restoration, and more areas in this category are being added each year by fires and by land purchase and exchange. F-349925

An isolated pocket of valuable timber killed by insects. Such values are a total loss unless the trees can be salvaged before deterioration sets in—usually a matter of only a few weeks.

TIMBER values are lost following fire and insect and disease attacks, and opportunities for improving stand conditions are neglected because of inability of the Forest Service to undertake logging operations in areas not adapted or attractive to private enterprise. E AND PQ-8593

An extreme case of intermingled public and private holdings—Wenatchee National Forest, Wash.

IN MANY areas wholly or partly within the national forests, public and private lands are so divided and intermingled that neither owner can do a satisfactory job of management independently and thus insure permanent support for communities. In these situations it is desirable but not now legally possible to pool public and private resources under provisions which would protect both public and private interests.

Forest guard standing by for directions to fire.

LOCAL short-term forest guards—the backbone of the fire-protection organization—a fine type of self-reliant skilled woodsman, are entitled to longer employment than the average 3 months now available to them. They are needed on the forests during the fire season, when the chances of getting an outside job are best, and must then be laid off when outside work is scarce. Meanwhile, forest-improvement work, for which these men are well suited, remains undone. F-270820