EDWARD P. CLIFF
A report presented by the Chief of the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, to the fifth session of the FAO North American Forestry Commission, 15-20 September 1969, at Ottawa.
OUR FOREST ECONOMISTS have recently completed a new compilation of basic forest statistics showing that the United States has 510 million acres (206 million hectares) of commercial forest land, containing 640 000 million cubic feet (18 000 million cubic metres) of timber-about 70 percent softwood and 30 percent hardwoods.
The new resource data show that the timber situation in the United States has continued to improve in response to intensification of timber management programmes and fire protection. Inventories have been rising and growth has been above removals for most species and in most forested regions. As a result, the softwood resource in the south and Rocky Mountains, and the hardwood resource in the east can now support modest increases in timber harvests.
In the longer run, the outlook is not so favourable because projected demands for lumber, plywood, and veneer rise more rapidly than projected supplies, assuming a continuation of the recent trends in management. The prospective narrowing of the timber demand-supply gap means increasing competition for the available timber and continued upward pressure on timber product prices.
However, with intensive management, we believe projected demands could be met at prices fairly close to those prevailing in the 1962-67 period. Timber supplies could be increased through technological improvements in harvesting and processing. In the long run, intensified forest management along with better utilization of the timber cut, greater use of small-sized low-quality timber, and improvements in construction and manufacturing practices could add to the wood supply and bring about major increases in timber growth. The federal forestry agencies and major industrial producers are moving in this direction.
Softwood lumber markets in the United States have been supplied mainly by harvesting old growth forests in the west and new growth timber in the south and north, and by drawing upon imports from Canada. Domestic production of softwood lumber in 1968 was 30 100 million board feet (170 million cubic metres), 2 200 million board feet (12.5 million cubic metres) higher than in 1967. Imports of softwood lumber rose by 700 million board feet (4 million cubic metres).
Throughout 1968 prices of softwood lumber and plywood rose steadily. By March 1969, they had reached record high levels: $130 per thousand board feet ($23 per cubic metre) for lumber and $144 per thousand square feet ($1.55 per square metre) for plywood.
Response in plant output to meet increased demands resulted in approximately a 10 percent jump in softwood lumber and plywood supply during 1968, but this was not enough to match the demands for wood.
Actually the predicted increase in housing construction for 1969 did not materialize, due primarily to high interest rates and " tight " money, and by April 1969 much of the softwood lumber and plywood industry was faced with a sharp drop in demand.
This unprecedented change in the market resulted in stumpage appraisals that first lagged behind the rising market and then remained too high above a falling market. To bring raw material costs closer to actual market conditions, federal agencies in July 1969 reevaluated the data used in appraising prices of timber offered for sale, and reduced the squeeze facing the softwood industry.
Allowable annual timber cut on federally-managed forest lands has shown a steady increase due to construction of access roads, improved inventory data, changes in utilization standards by forest industries, more effective protection of forests from fires, insects, and diseases, and increased reforestation and timber stand improvement.
Exports of softwood logs reached 2 500 million board feet (14 million cubic metres) in 1968, approximately 30 percent above 1967 and about 12 times the level of 1960. These exports represented nearly 7 percent of the total domestic production of softwood saw logs and veneer logs.
In April 1968 the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior by administrative order established regulations requiring domestic primary manufacture of all but 350 million board feet (2 million cubic metres) of timber sold annually for export from federal lands in western Oregon and western Washington. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1968 extended the export limitation through 1971, to all federal lands west of the 100th meridian. However, about two thirds of the unprocessed logs exported in 1968 came from unrestricted nonfederal sources.
In future increased timber production will be needed from all forest owners and will require significantly increased investments. The Forest Service has recently completed The Douglas-fir supply study and the Bureau of Land Management is working on phase two of an Intensive production forestry study, both. of which forecast increased yields of timber through more intensive forest management.
Another important potential for increasing forest yields lies in the more than 3 million small private tracts which make up 59 percent of the nation's commercial forest land. Attaining improved management on these lands is difficult because of the nature of ownership. On the other hand, management on the 13 percent of the commercial forest lands owned by the large forest industries is continually improving under the thrust of the profit motive and we can expect these lands to increase in productivity along with increased demand.
A particularly active programme for increasing timber production is under way in the southern pine region of the southeastern United States. This important region, which produces 17 percent of the nation's plywood, had an estimated timber cut of 5 700 million cubic feet (160 million cubic metres) in 1968 from a little less than 200 million acres (81 million hectares) of forest land; 91 percent is privately owned and 9 percent publicly owned. The operators of these lands have a production goal for the year 2000 of 13 000 million cubic feet (368 million cubic metres) Tile estimated costs for attaining such an increase in production are $100 million.
At the national level, forestry leaders representing private and public organizations have recently formed a national task force for private nonindustrial forest lands. This, too, is expected to put new emphasis on improving the productivity of small private holdings. Also, the Department of Agriculture is thinking seriously about cropland retirement as a means of improving land use and reducing crop surpluses on a long-term basis. This would logically include an accelerated tree planting programme on private nonforest lands.
Much interest is being generated in identifying the place of the tree in the city. Improving and increasing the natural elements of an urban environment are recognized as two ways to help reverse the downward trend in the quality of life in the city. Foresters and forestry have a great potential in this regard and some states and cities are demonstrating this in convincing terms. This may soon become a new arena of productive cooperation in forestry programmes.
Cooperative efforts are increasing with respect to planning for the orderly development and use of forest resources. River basin planning, small watershed development projects, national systems for wild and scenic rivers and recreational trails, and many other activities are bringing forestry expertise to bear. Regional commissions, state planning committees, multicounty planning districts, and even smaller geographic units are becoming deeply involved in coordinated planning as a means of reaching social and economic objectives. In many cases, forest resources and their uses are among the key elements being considered.
It is important to understand that cooperative forestry programmes in the United States combine the efforts of state foresters and their organizations, of industry and other private landowners, of local units of government, and of a great variety of federal and other public agencies. They reach into every corner of the United States to bring better management, better protection, and better use of forests and related resources.
A number of important accomplishments can be reported on the international front.
In August 1969 the United States played host to the Second World Consultation on Forest Tree Breeding, sponsored by FAO and the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO).¹
(¹ The report of this consultation will appear as a special issue of Unasylva in 1970.)
The director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, and the author, along with others, recently returned from the first meeting of a Joint Panel on Forestry, which is a part of a bilateral technical exchange programme under the United States-Japan Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). This first meeting, held in Tokyo, covered reforestation, including genetics. Discussion topics at future meetings will include forest inventory, forest protection, mechanization, and watershed management. The United States has several similar bilateral exchange agreements with other countries and others are being negotiated.
United States scientists participated with British, Canadian, and Australian counterparts in carrying on Project Flambeau, a study of the environment surrounding mass fires. Field tests of mass fire behaviour in the United States were completed in 1968. The remainder of the experimental programme will be conducted in Australia.
During 1968 and 1969, the Forest Service participated in training programmes or study tours for 446 foreign nationals from a wide range of countries. The National Park Service hosted a 40-man foreign group for a course in administration of national parks and equivalent reserves.
Federal forestry personnel served in technical assistance assignments in about 25 countries for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and FAO during the past two years. In addition, foresters in the Peace Corps, International Volunteers Service, and numerous universities have been active in technical assistance and education.
A Spanish-English forestry terminology book, Terminología forestal, which includes local Spanish or Portuguese equivalents used in different countries of Latin America, was prepared and published by the Madrid Forest Research Institute under a research grant from the United States.
The United States is working hard on the fifteenth congress of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations which will be held at the University of Florida in March 1971.
A significant step in forestry was taken in August 1969 at Washington with the holding of the organizing congress of the International union of Societies of Foresters. This proposed union of professional forestry societies throughout the world is aimed toward promoting and achieving high professional training and performance in all countries in the management of the world's forest resources.
On the pest control front, there is increasing action by States to ban the use of DDT and other hard or persistent insecticides because of the possible contamination of the environment. Comparable action at the federal level is intensifying the search for substitute biological or other more acceptable control methods.
The 1969 fire season has been generally less severe than average. Average acreage burned on the national forests has been less than one half of the five-year average. However, the situation has been more critical in Alaska, as by mid-August over 4.25 million acres had burned.
The Interagency Fire Center continues to function effectively as a cooperative effort to pool firefighting expertise and capabilities of United States agencies. The centre is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and Weather Bureau. This year the centre has dispatched over 400 trained overseers to direct suppression of Alaska fires.
Cost-savings innovations in fire suppression include precooked frozen meals and use of large buckets supported from helicopters to drop water on fires. Use of the airborne Infrared Scanner to map fires under darkness or heavy smoke conditions has proved effective. Portable fire training simulators, self-training programmed texts and a helicopter management training film were developed to aid in fire training. A new Forest Service motion picture, Man against fire, was released in 1969. The objective of the film is to create public awareness of the problems and scope of today's fire control job.
Cooperation in fire control was exchanged with Canada, Mexico, Chile and other countries. A proposed United States-Canadian firefighting mutual aid agreement has been forwarded to Canada's Department of External Affairs for review. The agreement which stems from conversations between United States and Canadian foresters in 1966 will establish a 10-mile (16-kilometre) common zone for suppression action on either side of the Alaska-Yukon border. It will permit either government to take prompt initial suppression action within the zone, allowing transfer of fire jurisdiction when feasible at a later date.
Outdoor recreation continues to be one of the fastest growing uses of all forest lands. Lands administered by the several federal agencies offer a wide variety of recreational opportunities that attract people seeking relief from job and population pressures.
The upward trend in recreation use is indicated by the National Park Service report of nearly 69 million visitor days in 1968 compared to 64 million in 1967; the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife had over 7 million visits in each of the two years; and the Bureau of Land Management reports 24 million visits in 1968 and 19 million in 1967. In 1968 the National Forest System accommodated 157 million visitor days of use.
In 1924 a programme of setting aside wilderness and primitive areas was begun by the Forest Service. The programme was formalized by the Wilderness Act of 1964 and a designated National Wilderness Preservation System was established based on the existing wilderness areas and national wilderness policy.
In 1968 the United States Congress created a National System of Wild and Scenic Rivers and also a National Trails System. Eight such rivers have been designated so far, for management by the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture. Studies are currently under way on portions of 27 other rivers for possible inclusion in the system.
The two national trails include the 2 300-mile (8 700-kilometre) Pacific Crest trail stretching from Canada to Mexico along the mountain ranges of the Pacific Coast and the 2 000-mile (3 200-kilometre) Appalachian trail reaching from the State of Maine to Georgia. Both trails traverse private as well as federal lands.
A growing concern has been developing in the United States about the effects of the so-called " hard " pesticides and water pollution on wildlife, especially on birds and fish. Recently, public health officials confiscated quantities of Coho salmon from Lake Michigan because of excessively high concentration of DDT. There is much alarm about the Raptor group of birds, especially the bald eagle and the osprey, that their populations are decreasing, allegedly because of pesticides. Industrial water pollution, both chemical and thermal, is receiving considerable attention and numerous pieces of legislation have been considered. There is need for much more research on this problem.
Habitat management plans or special management emphasis have been directed toward many of the species of wildlife classed as rare or endangered. A specific management and research programme has been under taken to save tile Puerto Rican parrot. Other programmes involve the grizzly bear, timber wolf, Kirtland's warbler, Tule elk, Californian bighorn sheep, the bald eagle, and California condor.
The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management administer about 283 million acres (lib million hectares) of federal land for livestock grazing. This is approximately 97 percent of tire federal grazing lands under jurisdiction of nine agencies. Around 47 000 permits are issued to farmers and ranchers by the two agencies to graze some 14 million head of cattle and sheep, and revenues from charges for grazing use amount to around $8 million annually.
One of the most significant events related to grazing of public lands has been a change in the grazing fee structure.
Over the years it has become clear that fees charged for grazing permits on federal lands, based on a 1931 formula, were consistently lower than lease rates on private lands having comparable grazing values. Over a period of ten years, a series of cooperative economic studies have been made of grazing fee structures related to public lands and in January 1960 the Bureau of the Budget announced a revision in grazing fees for livestock on western federal lands. In order to avoid undue hardship on livestock operators using public lands, schedules call for base grazing fees to increase in 10 annual steps until they reach the 1966 fair market value of $1.23 per animal unit month.
Working agreements are being developed between federal agencies to bring about greater coordination and more efficient management of the range environment of both federal and associated private interests.
We are living in a great age of technological advancement. Some aspects of current technological breakthroughs, for example the present space programme, may seem to have little or no application to forestry. Nothing could be farther from the truth. "Spin offs " in the areas of digital data processing, remote sensing, new engineering materials, use of lasers-an infinite source of new knowledge - have applications to better forestry if we have imagination - the expertise - to apply them to our purposes.
These technological advancements are particularly promising in the fields of forest engineering and transportation planning. For example, in planning an area for timber management, we must first consider the most economical manner of growing, protecting and harvesting the timber crop; the movement of the timber crop from the stump to the mill in an economic manner, and more importantly a manner which will enhance, at least not distract unduly from, the other resource values. Other factors must be considered such as the relative stability of the soil, the value of the residual system (usually roads) to management timber, recreation and wildlife resources, and the general effect of the total operation on the area's appearances and ecology. Many harvest systems from balloon logging to horses are available to us.
One can immediately see that, in the planning process for a transportation system, there is an extremely complex relationship between a large number of variables. With the cooperation of several universities, we are developing a system for storing resource data in digital form and then testing the many alternative means of transportation to aid in planning the overall transportation system. The planning process first considers the needs of the entire area and then proceeds down to the design criteria of the smaller logging spur or location of a skyline spur. The planning system must be flexible to allow for new inputs as newer and better transportation or harvesting techniques are developed.
In equipment development, we have just completed the first full field season of testing a new stream gravel cleaning machine for improving salmon spawning areas. In another area we believe the laser has application in surveying, specifically as a vertical control line to " sight-in " on while running land lines.
We also have a very extensive development project on the handling of solid wastes developed at our recreation sites. We have unique problems in sanitation and solid waste handling due to seasonal use, high peak loads, and in some areas such as wilderness and wild rivers, some severe constraints on " compatible "develop" meet. We hope we can improve our present methods in all these aspects of environmental engineering.
Back in 1915 when the Forest Service Branch of Research was first established, Chief Forester Henry S. Graves felt that a systematic research programme was the way to obtain, in the shortest time and at the lowest cost, the basic knowledge required for optimum management and use of our forests and related resources.
Because we have the technology produced by our research programme, we can face the future with assurance that forest management can provide the necessary water, recreational opportunities, wood, and other goods and services without; destroying our human environment. There is new urgency in discerning the interrelated. activities and natural laws that maintain forest productivity in balance with a healthy, enjoyable, and livable outdoors.
Research has found ways to potentially double the yield, in 60 years, of Douglas fir with genetically superior seedlings. Improved silviculture and genetically superior trees offer the south the opportunity to produce 56 percent of the nation's plywood. Marketing research has shown the food industry ways to save $3 000 million annually when wood pallets are properly used.
Research has found ways to save wood by slicing logs into lumber, rather than sawing. The increase in usable lumber, clue to eliminating sawdust, is thought to be worth $150 million annually. The 1-inch thick slices of lumber do not need planing and are uniformly the same thickness.
Aerial seeding of trees in rows is now feasible. Research has found ways to limit the seed distribution to 4-foot wide beds spaced 12 feet apart in anticipation of easier mechanized harvesting in the future.
Some forest insects may be controlled with sex attractants if research can close a few more knowledge gaps. Recently, the scientists found that mountain pine beetle males are more responsive to female chemicals than are females. We could have guessed this, but it had to be scientifically proven before developing a reliable control system.
The Annosus root rot is a worldwide problem, and our scientists discovered that this disease can survive in heavily resined pine roots for up to 50 years. We are still searching for an effective control.
Lightning strikes can be reduced by more than half with silver iodide seeding.
The cost of infrared fire detection scanners has been reduced with new technology. The new scanner can locate fires too small for usual detection.
Scientists are finding that virgin forests are often products of major disturbances like fire. Recently it was found that 90 percent of the 400 000 acres (162 000 hectares) of the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area date from wildfires during the past 400 years. More and more, we are becoming aware of the need to manage wilderness in order to maintain healthy forest conditions.
Fertilizers are becoming more important in forestry. But before we indiscriminately spread these chemicals over millions of acres of forest, we want reliable information on the consequences. Our scientists are finding that pines, poplars, oaks, walnuts, and other trees grow 60 to 100 percent faster when fertilizers are properly used. They are also finding that improper use of fertilizers can adversely affect water yields and fish habitats.
Reliable knowledge and technological capability are required for rational public and managerial forest policy planning, for professional and public forestry decisions, and for improved productivity of forests which at the same time must provide livable and stimulating outdoor environments.
Public awareness of the far-reaching consequences of land-use decisions and policies as well as the demands on our natural resources is forcing land managers and planners to adjust from an era of management as an art to management and planning as a science. Land management decisions in today's climate requires top professional ability-ability which can accurately predict and control the future productivity and environmental quality of not only individual stands, but also ecosystems and even biomes. A broad forestry research programme of basic, applied and developmental research is essential for public and professional understanding, for mutual development and support of policy by the people, the lawmakers, and professionals. Research must innovate technology if we are to achieve a match between important, if not critical, ends and appropriate means. Special efforts are needed to inform the public of the rationale for land management decisions.
The stakes are too high for disjointed, chance occurrence, and opportunistic research investigations. The well-intentioned technological rush to better the lot of man has the inherent danger of inadvertently disrupting entire ecosystems and irreversibly damaging the environment for man, animals, and plants. At the same time, expanding populations demand more forest products and services. There is new urgency, therefore, in discerning the interrelated activities and natural laws that maintain forest productivity in balance with healthy, enjoyable, and livable outdoor environments, because technology is now available for major intervention and massive change in every landscape. Targets selected on a priority basis orient Forest Service research toward the complex of social, political, economic, and biological issues which man must face in the management, preservation, and use of his natural environments.
