Something has already been said about those forms of association which create the closest bonds between their members; in this section those associations are discussed which tie their members least closely. Cooperatives, which occupy an intermediate position, are mentioned in a later section.
To say that the associations now to be examined are not concerned with looking after their members' financial interests, is not to say that they are of scant importance. On the contrary, they often have a considerable influence on the determination of forest policy.
Perhaps the most effective from this point of view are associations formed for the protection of public interests - usually the conservation of natural resources or, more specifically, of forests. The aims of associations of this kind could not be more clearly expressed than in the few lines which one of them, long active in Connecticut, U.S.A., prints on the cover of its bimonthly bulletin:
"The Connecticut Forest and Park Association is a voluntary organization for conserving forests, scenery, wildlife, and developing natural resources and outdoor recreation. The Association's aim is to make Connecticut a better place in which to live. Accomplishments are limited only by our membership support".
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
The members of associations of this kind do not necessarily have any direct connections with forestry or forest industries. They may be men and women from all walks of life who appreciate the values, economic and aesthetic, of natural resources and who are anxious to develop the same spirit of awareness in their fellow-citizens. Many of these associations include among their members men of letters and of science, especially botanists, ecologists, biologists and geologists, who not only contribute their expert knowledge to the associations, but also find through them a means of making known the practical results of their own research. If it were not for such associations, these results would all too often remain hidden in abstruse literature available only to the eminent expert in the same sciences. The associations, in short, afford a bridge between the scientists and the general public, apprising the public of new knowledge and the results of research affecting the balance of natural resources.
The associations often play a role of even greater value in that they can rouse a strong public opinion on matters of genuine interest and coerce governments into taking action. They have on occasion successfully campaigned against other associations which threatened danger to the conservation of natural resources in general and the achievement of sound forest policy in particular.
It is true that sometimes these associations have tended to adopt a too narrow concept of conservation as an end in itself and not as the natural development and indefinite utilization of resources for the benefit of man. This has at times resulted in some frustration and friction with official services, which is easily avoidable if the associations are well guided in their policies by scientists and experienced administrators. In countries where forestry is still something of a novelty, there is little hope of its strong development without the help of associations of this kind.
METHODS AND ACTIVITIES
There are generally no legal obstacles in the way of forming such non-profit associations. Their activities are largely determined by their income which normally comes entirely from the members' subscriptions, although some associations do receive State grants.
Most associations of this kind publish regular or occasional bulletins, which vary in importance from simple broadsheets to full-scale magazines, carrying articles, usually written by members, on topics of general or specialist interest. Although direct circulation is usually limited, the bulletins provide a quite powerful means for spreading ideas, for the material they contain often reaches a wider public by being reproduced in the local and national press.
Associations frequently organize tours and meetings not solely for the members but also for smallholders, farmers and foresters, to study conservation problems on the practical side. They take an active part in the organization of special flag days for making conservation activities known - like arbor days for example. One valuable effort lies in the encouragement of courses on conservation in the schools or at least in teachers' training colleges. As one example, the New York Conservation Foundation made a grant to the Plymouth High School (New Hampshire) to finance an interesting experiment in linking instruction on conservation with other subjects taught in the school.
Sometimes an association's activities take an essentially practical form. They may, for instance, employ full-time specialists to serve as advisers to small farmers or woodland owners; establish tree nurseries in order to furnish plants of guaranteed strain and quality; set out fire-warning notices, or signpost trails and tracks in mountain areas. Naturally there is liaison with governmental services working in the same fields.
While many associations may have a useful impact on local matters, if they wish to exercise some influence at the national level, they must affiliate.. Similarly, national associations tend to establish local branches throughout the country.
Take, for instance, the Tennessee Conservation League in the United States. This was founded in 1946 by the combination of a number of associations of hunters, fishermen and conservationists in the State of Tennessee. The organizations within the League originally numbered seven. In 1947, they had risen to 26, in 1964 to 84, either through the adherence to the League of already existing clubs or through the formation of new branches. The League set up special committees for dealing with particular problems: its Forestry Committee helped to found the state-wide Keep Tennessee Green Association, while another committee dealing with pollution abatement has greatly influenced the State decision to adopt useful measures against the pollution of water courses.
An example on the international plane is the International Union for the Protection of Nature which now brings together not only individuals and non-governmental national organizations interested in the conservation of natural resources but also governmental agencies that need to keep in close touch with progress in this field. The Union has, and it is to be hoped will increasingly have, an important function, for very many conservation problems override national boundaries. By frequently bringing together eminent persons and giving them a wide international hearing, the Union reinforces the authority of the associations campaigning for conservation in individual countries, and at the same time makes possible a co-ordination of research on some questions which, by their nature, call for a measure of international collaboration.
The associations considered now are somewhat similar to those above in that they seek no profit for their members or for themselves; their aim is to influence public opinion, and sometimes, through public opinion, the national legislative and executive bodies, with a view to making forest policies conform to the best public interests. They are not necessarily concerned primarily with forest conservation, but equally with the economic and social sides of forestry.
They bring together individuals or bodies directly concerned with the forest: professional or amateur foresters, representatives of industry and trade, and forest owners.
These associations, like the preceding ones, may be constituted without long and difficult procedure and similarly they undeniably help the public to understand, and governments to formulate, sound forest policies. But the fact of their bringing together persons from widely differing circles constitutes a potential difficulty. There is some danger that the representatives of certain circles may have a dominating influence in the association, either because of their numbers or because of their wealth or social position. These persons may then be tempted to avail themselves of the prestige of the association to further the particular interests they represent, using the organization as a means of putting pressure upon public opinion, governmental thinking, and legislatures.
Forestry associations are particularly well organized in North America, and two examples chosen are taken from Canada and the United States; the one mainly because of its influence on public opinion, the other chiefly because of its influence on legislative and executive circles. A third example, of a more technical character, is quoted from the British Commonwealth.
QUEBEC FORESTRY ASSOCIATION AND THE FOUR-H CLUBS
The Quebec Forestry Association is still a young organization but it has many brilliant successes to its credit. It was founded in 1939, by foresters, economists and educators. following a formal resolution adopted in 1937 by the General Congress of Forest Engineers of Quebec Province. Its object was to stimulate public awareness of the problems of the conservation of natural and forest resources in the Province. The initial problems to be explored by the Association were public responsibility vis-à-vis forest fires, and inefficient felling practices in private and public forests
The Association considers that it should work mainly through young people. In 1942, the Association founded "4H Clubs," borrowing the name from the United States where 4H Clubs have been officially in existence since 1912. Only the name was borrowed, for the activities, objects, attributes, badge and formula of the Quebec Clubs differ from those of the United States and of the other Canadian Provinces in that they are private clubs, entirely organized and maintained by the Quebec Forestry Association, and their activities are only concerned with forestry matters.
The Quebec Forestry Association is itself a private organization. Its funds come chiefly from the contributions of members, the public, forestry enterprises and various industries.
The extent of the Association's influence may be gauged by the fact that, at the end of 1952, 12 years after its foundation, there were 260 4H clubs in Quebec Province, with more than 9,000 members, one-third being Clubs for girls, two-thirds for youths.
The Association and the Clubs are run in close conjunction. The head office and the eight regional Offices of the Association and of the Clubs work jointly, the Clubs being regarded as the junior section of the Association. Five whole-time and six part-time foresters dedicate their services both-to the Association and the Clubs. They travel around the Province meeting members, they issue publications on the conservation of forests and natural resources, and direct, through radio, newspapers and all other media, a vast program of conservation publicity. The Clubs recruit their members from the countryside or the villages. They are run by adults, among whom are lay or religious teachers, timber merchants, professional foresters, industrialists. The Association's monthly magazine Conservation always contains several pages devoted to the activities of clubs or addressed to their members.
THE AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Created in 1876, the AFA is the oldest national forest conservation organization in America. Membership includes professional foresters, administrators, educators, representatives of the timber industry and the banks, and publicists specializing in questions of conservation or in the timber industry.
The Association is run by a President, a Vice-President, a Treasurer, a Secretary, and a Managing Director who is a forester; and there is a Board of 16 Directors. Among the members of the Board of Directors and the honorary Vice-Presidents are the former Chief of the Federal Forest Service, Presidents of powerful associations like the American Planning and Civic Association, or of special committee of such associations (General Federation of Women's Clubs Conservation Department), University Presidents or Deans, Directors of Forest Research Stations, and many top executives of large industrial companies.
The American Forestry Association issues a monthly magazine, American Forests, which reminds the reader at the beginning of each number that the AFA is a national organization, independent and non-political in character, for the advancement of intelligent management and use of forests and related resources of soil, water, wildlife and outdoor recreation. Its purpose is to create an enlightened public appreciation of these resources and their part in the social and economic life of the nation.
This Association can,. indeed, claim to have been successful, and its contribution to the development of United States forest policy has been considerable. Its influence on public opinion - and perhaps especially on governmental circles - was partly responsible for the creation of National Forests and the organization of the Federal Forest Service.
To give a clearer notion of the way it acts, it might be of interest to indicate its present aims and how it proposes to achieve them;
After much preparation and discussion, a forward program was adopted by a large majority in a referendum among members in 1964. The program has three main points:
1. to meet the essentials of forest protection;
2. to improve the national timber crop in volume and quality to meet all needs;
3. to obtain the maximum of economic and social services from the forest.
In order to achieve these objectives, several lines of action were proposed. The first proposal, and the one which was most hotly debated, was for an overhaul of the system of forest ownership. This point, if it were to be achieved, also called for tactful approaches to State governments and federal legislative bodies; and, since it was liable to rouse considerable feeling and stimulate the greed of private interests heedless of sound forest policy, it required thorough and scrupulous examination.
The Association first of all proposed that the question be examined at the federal level by the formation of a Joint Congressional Committee composed of members of the Senate and House Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs, of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry and of the House Committee on Agriculture. The Association intended to organize a group of experts in the matters raised, the group to report upon the possible objectives and terms of reference of such a Joint Committee, and to draft a bill for the constitution of the Committee to be presented in a session of Congress. The Joint Committee would have available a wealth of material already prepared or being prepared by the Forest Service, the National Parks Service of the Department of the Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Moreover, the Committee would later have at its disposal the reports which the Association hoped to receive from committees set up by the Governments of the States affected by the question. A resolution suggesting the organization of such State committees had already been presented by the Association to a meeting of the Council of State Governments, as well as to the Governments individually, but nothing had come of this approach. In these circumstances the Association proposed first setting up a small national committee to review the results already arrived at by various committees examining forest ownership conditions in several States. It would then prepare a scheme for the thorough examination of the question at State level, suggesting the possible composition of the committees to make the inquiry, the probable sources of information, the estimated cost of the enquiry, etc. It would finally suggest an order of priority, in view of the urgency of the problem in some States, and would prepare a list of State personalities capable of launching a campaign for the enquiry to be set on foot. Then the Association would arrange in the State with highest priority a meeting of those personalities to form a provisory organizing committee to which the scheme of the small national committee would be submitted. On the basis of this scheme, a plan of enquiry specifically devised for the State in question would be placed before the Governor. The same procedure would afterwards be followed in other States.
This account shows the far-reaching action which such an association is capable of taking and the influence it may exert on national forest policy.
THE EMPIRE FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
The third example, from the Commonwealth, is a large body from the point of view of membership but its activities are more strictly technical, so that it belongs less definitely to the previous category, but rather marks a transition to the following one.
The Empire Forestry Association, with its Headquarters in London, was established by Royal Charter in 1921, following upon a resolution of the 1920 Commonwealth Forestry Conference. It is not an official body but a voluntary association of foresters and of those interested in any way in forestry and the products of the forest. Its principal objectives are to:
1. foster public interest in forestry;
2. secure general recognition of the dependence of timber supply upon forest management;
3. collect and circulate information about forestry and the commercial utilization of forest products;
4. form a center for, and provide a means of communication between, all engaged in forestry.
The last two are those with which the Association has most success. It organizes important conferences from time to time and publishes a quarterly review which is one of the finest periodicals in the forestry field. It has an effect, naturally, upon the forest policies of Commonwealth countries and upon the formation of public opinion about forestry. But its influence is exerted rather from within, through the personal standing of its members, rather than through deliberate campaigns as carried on by the two Associations mentioned earlier. The Association's President and Vice-Presidents include some eminent officials, such as the Governors-General of Australia, New Zealand, and of Canada, and the 1,800 or so members include not only private individuals but institutions, corporations and firms. Nevertheless, the great majority of the members are, or have been, serving forest officers.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
A higher degree of specialization is to be found among other associations which are limited in their membership to people of the same professional interests.
This category includes professional associations for forest workers and industrial workers, foresters, forest owners, or lastly, industry and trade associations. They all have one common feature in that they exist to protect the professional interests of their members, but they differ from tile bodies dealt with in the previous section and later, in that their efforts to improve the professional standards of their members are not based upon direct action, but rather on indirect influences.
The organization of such groups is, at least in most countries, unrestricted, but their activities are generally subject to stricter rules than those applied to the associations dealt with at the beginning of this section. The, qualification, generally, is used advisedly because it is often difficult to draw the line between associations whose main interest is with the forest per se and those whose primary concern is the financial or social welfare of the members. There are many associations which were originally created by either professional foresters or by forest owners but which now admit both categories of members, and indeed encourage an even wider scope of membership. On the other hand, there are associations of much more restricted membership whose main interests are only technical, as for instance those formed by foresters from the same forestry school, such as the Oxford University Forestry Society.
THEIR INFLUENCE UPON FOREST POLICY
These associations have on the whole a considerable influence upon the development of forest policies, but, insofar as the restricted membership tends to give each individual association a myopic outlook on affairs, they may give the wrong lead to forest policies if any one of them becomes powerful enough to impose its point of view. It is a good thing, therefore, that there should be a variety of kinds of association, so that the influence of one may be counterbalanced by another, and potentially dangerous lines of thought be mitigated by competitive counsels.
In many countries, the directors of the most representative of such groups are officially called in, in an advisory capacity, to exchange views and consult with the government bodies that are responsible for forest policy. Thus, in 1950, the Federal Republic of Germany set up the Deutscher Forstwirtschaftsrat (Forest Economy Council) on which are represented, on a proportional basis, forest owners (State, company and individual), practicing foresters and officials, as well as subordinate staffs and skilled workers in forest industries. The Council's object is to encourage these diverse elements to collaborate together in developing forest output, ensuring regular and adequate wood supplies, and settling import or export questions. It makes resolutions, passes on enquiries to the technical services concerned, gives advice upon request, and sets in motion the necessary actions to ensure the carrying out of any decisions which it makes within its province. Organized and run in the same way as the Forestry Council, the Deutscher Holzwirtschaftsrat (Timber Council), instituted in 1949, deals with matters relating to timber extraction, utilization, and marketing. The interests of these associations must of necessity usually be consistent with the general national interest. A slump in the timber industry, poor living conditions for forest workers, the impoverishment of private forest owners, inadequate salaries and prospects in the forestry profession - none of these create the right environment for sound forest policy.
ASSOCIATIONS OF PROFESSIONAL FORESTERS
There are associations of this kind is almost all countries where there is any appreciable number of professional foresters, but protection of the members' professional interests is often quite a secondary consideration in their formation. Since very many of the members are State officials, salary claims or other benefits cannot normally be pressed in public. In any case since the profession itself is limited in its numbers, special claims have usually little chance of being noticed unless they are presented through a stronger professional affiliation or union.
In many countries there are strong forest workers' associations whose strength lies in their affiliation with the bigger Trade Unions.
One could name many associations of professional foresters. In Norway, there is the Norwegian Foresters' Association; in Denmark, the Danska Forstkandidaters Forening (Association of Forest Technicians) and the Statssekovrisderforeningen (Association of State Forest Supervisors); the United Kingdom has its Royal Scottish Forestry Society and several others; Burma, its Burma Forest Service Association, and so on.
Most of these associations publish regular bulletins or magazines, some of the latter being the major forestry periodicals in the countries concerned. In these publications, exchange of information and news about members usually occupy little space, the greater part of the contents being allocated to technical articles.
The Society of American Foresters
To show the type of action pursued by such associations, we may consider the largest of them, the Society of American Foresters.
At the time of its fiftieth anniversary in 1950, the Association had about 7,000 members resident in the United States and in Canada, divided into 21 branches: in 1955, the figure was 10,488. Founded in 1900 by Gifford Pinchot, who was its first President, with H.S. Graves as his Vice-President, the aims of the Society were at the outset stated to be:
"to further the cause of forestry in America by fostering a spirit of comradeship among foresters; by creating opportunities for a free interchange of views upon forestry and allied subjects; and by disseminating a knowledge of the purpose and achievements of forestry."
The Society's first task was to create the "spirit of comradeship" among foresters of America - then few in number. This aim was speedily accomplished, above all through the personal influence of the Society's first President. In 1905, the Proceedings of the Society began publication, and by 1911 the second President was able to insist that the Society should "take, as a body of professional foresters, a definite and public position on vital national questions within the field of forestry."
A major contribution to the protection of its members' professional interests undoubtedly lies in the part the Society plays in the training of foresters. In 1909, it set up a committee to work on the standardization of curricula in forestry schools. Since 1929, the Society's supervision of these curricula has been an established practice, and led to the setting up in 1934 of its Education Division, the first of the ten divisions that had come into being by 1950. Today, the Society extends its official patronage only to those forestry schools which conform to its recommendations on curricula.
A similar spirit lies behind the Society's foresters' code of ethics which sets out a number of rules of conduct to be observed by all members of the profession, which is thereby assured of an unequivocal place among accredited professions. The protection of the professional forester's status is a very important matter in countries where a large proportion of foresters - as in America - are not civil servants.
Immediately after the first world war, the Society took a very active part in the controversy between advocates of Federal control over private forest property, and the partisans of unrestricted liberty or of control under the auspices of the individual States. The discussions on this subject which took place within the Society undoubtedly had considerable influence upon the final decision of Congress, a decision formulated in the
Clarke McNary of 1924. This act, laying down the principle that the Federal authorities and the individual States should co-operate in matters concerning the protection of forest assets, forms one of the fundamental canons of United States forestry legislation.
This, however, is only one example of the Society's activity in matters of forest policy; for the Society is called upon to advise on all questions concerning nation-wide forest policy and its prestige lends considerable weight to its judgments.
The Society also keeps in touch with foreign foresters. In 1920, it created the title of corresponding member, first given to a French forester and to a forester in India. The Society is officially represented in international congresses and meetings, and in 1924 established an International Relations Committee.
In the technical field, the Society has been affiliated since 1913 to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and, since 1936, has had two members sitting on its Council. It also keeps in close touch with the country's big scientific organizations, such as the National Research Council and the American Academy of Sciences. The latter organization, following upon a lecture by a member of the Society, set up in 1924 a committee for conducting "a critical enquiry into the status and needs of research in the sciences basic to forestry." In 1926, a special committee of the Washington branch of the Society presented a report entitled: A National Program for Forest Research, which contained a draft for Federal legislation; its publication at that particular time played an important part in the adoption by Congress of the 1928 McNary-McSweeney Forest Research Act, which has been termed the forest research charter of the United States.
In 1927, the Society's publication, Proceedings, was amalgamated with another forestry periodical, the Forestry Quarterly, founded in 1902, and the resultant Journal of Forestry was first published eight times a year and later monthly. In 1955, the Society started publishing Forest Science, a quarterly devoted to research and technical progress. But the publications by the Society or under its auspices are numerous; we may mention, for instance, Forest Cover Types, The Foresters' Field Manual, Forestry and Related Research in North America and the Forestry Handbook, the result of work done by a score of special committees set up by the Society. Special mention must be made of Forestry Terminology, a glossary of 4,500 technical terms used in forestry which, compiled by a committee, was first published in 1943 after four years of work.
WORKERS ASSOCIATIONS
The professional associations-of forest workers and industry workers are aimed essentially at protecting the collective and individual interests of their members. These associations are usually powerful and affiliated on a national scale with other trade unions which include workers in allied industries and trades. Many of such unions are, in their turn, grouped internationally and have representation in the International Labour Organisation, one of the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations.
While workers in the wood-using industries have problems and aspirations very similar to those of workers in any other industry, and can look after their interests by the same methods, the situation of forest workers is somewhat different. Where forestry and forest industries are of minor importance in the national scene, professional forest workers are often few in number. A lot of the work in the forest is generally undertaken by farm-workers in the agricultural off-season. The forest workers therefore form a somewhat unstable group, their numbers varying with the season; hence their special interests are relatively difficult to protect. This is a pity, because the forest worker often operates under hard conditions; he runs risks, he often has to camp out in the forest, and his working hours are apt to be irregular and arduous. All this should ordinarily entitle him to a special claim to attention.
Details of the methods used by workers to protect their interests will not be examined here, but it must be pointed out that any moves by trade unions must have repercussions upon forest policy. And, vice versa, any substantial changes in forest policy may affect the status of the workers.
The workers' unions are perfectly aware that their own interests are closely linked to the well-being of the forest. Proof is afforded, for example, by the interest shown by European trade union delegates in forestry meetings organized by FAO or the Economic Commission for Europe.
Some workers regularly examine their own problems in the light of national forest policies and throw their weight into supporting those policies which best suit their own interests. The International Woodworkers of America, which unites United States and Canadian workers and is affiliated to the powerful Congress of Industrial Organizations and the Canadian Congress of Labor, organizes huge conventions for its members each year; and part of the agenda is always concerned with questions of forest policy.
At one such convention, the delegates stated openly that the current measure of protection against forest fires and the publicity on behalf of reforestation were inadequate for solving national forestry problems; stronger measures were needed to curb the destruction of easily accessible forests by clear-cutting or selective felling of the best trees; a vast program of road-building was needed to open virgin forests choked with decaying trees; more scientific forest management was required. Unfair timber cutting privileges, it was alleged, were granted in various forms to big companies and should be replaced by subsidies to small operators and private owners. It recommended the integration of the various categories of wood-using industries but suggested that such integration should be brought about by genuine collaboration and not by absorption by monopoly-methods favoring only the big companies.
It especially protested against the so-called co-operative sustained yield agreements to which reference has already been made in a previous section. Finally, the delegates objected to the methods used in working the private forests of the West Coast, and to the schemes then current to reserve the Alaskan forests for the exclusive purpose of supplying pulp and paper mills.
All these motions seem, at first sight, to be somewhat remote from any defence of the woodworkers' professional interests. On reflection however, it is realized that they are not; that, in reality, all these proposals are aimed at inducing circumstances which would provide steady employment in the various branches of the timber industries, either because they would tend to obviate those recurrent crises from which the workers are usually the first to suffer, or because they tend to encourage competition between industrial enterprises and so favor workers' claims towards good rates of pay.
INDUSTRY AND TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
There are many professional associations serving the interests of industry and trade. Membership usually comprises the directors of firms and commercial companies, organized locally, regionally and on a country-wide scale. There are usually separate organizations for different sectors of industry, for instance sawmillers and the pulp and paper industries and for separate trade interests, that is exporters separately from importers. Specialized associations become more numerous the further their interests are removed from the primary wood-using industries and lead into the field of such ancillary activities as container-manufacture, furniture-making, and so on. Members of such associations are often members of Chambers of Commerce or other similar bodies with wider interests, or the associations themselves are directly affiliated with such bodies, thus obtaining a better standing.
The foregoing statements must of course be qualified according to the conditions within a country. Specialized associations are most commonly found in countries where the idea of professional associations has been long established. Elsewhere, they are less common and local associations still more of a novelty. There seems, however, a tendency for associations of this nature to spread beyond national frontiers. For instance, since the war many European and some world-wide federations, unions and associations have grown up for particular branches of the timber industry; in 1952, for instance, a European Confederation of Timber Industries was created.
The influence exerted by these groups upon forest policy in general, and even upon the rational development of industries, may be good or not so good, depending on their attitude. The purpose of such associations is the protection of professional interests: if this means a purely defensive attitude, and no effort is made, within the profession itself, to improve processes, marketing and the quality of products, then the result may be bad.
To emphasize this point, a quotation is made from a report by the Secretary of the French Federation of Timber Industries to the Congress of Productivity in the Forest and Timber Industries, arranged by the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) at Stuttgart in 1954. This report declares that the action of professional associations may be:
"exercised in a way which is not always in keeping with the normal canons of a sound productive system. The need to defend certain traditional attitudes has very often led to the retention of unproductive units; this has been done by inducing the public authorities to intervene in price-fixing, by artificial agreements which hinder the reduction of cost-prices, by official legal action aimed at protecting artificially certain sectors from foreign competition. Such a situation can only create uneasiness in the market and hinder the work of technical organizations. It creates, at the same time, a disastrous atmosphere in which prices rise while the best-organized firms find difficulty in selling products of quality. Professional organizations should be aware that the defence and protection of their members does not necessarily consist in a determination to save at all costs those enterprises whose presence in the market is not justifiable..."
ACTIVITIES IN THE TECHNICAL FIELD
The technical activities of industry and trade associations may take many directions; in some countries, Germany for instance, they enter thoroughly into every sphere, which explains their effectiveness and achievements. Activities may broadly be divided into three classes.
First, there is organization of marketing, for buyers or sellers. For instance, associations or specialized bodies appointed by them for the purpose, may agree each felling season with corresponding associations of forest owners upon the basic prices to be charged for the various categories of timber sold at the stump, on the ground, or converted. They can lay down quality standards for goods produced by primary or secondary industries, and award certificates of guarantee to brands of high quality. They may organize publicity for particular commodities, or for wood in general, an important activity these days when so many good competitive materials are being put on the market. Finally, the associations may serve to negotiate wage-levels with the workers' unions. In this field, their action will usually be subject to the social legislation of the country in question.
A second field in which trade associations can - and frequently do - perform useful work is the improvement of output. Many activities are open to them. The associations can finance research to benefit the profession as a whole, such as developing new products or processes of manufacture. Associations unable or unwilling to create their own research institutes may often use existing research-centers (e.g., in North America, certain universities). A research project in which many associations are interested at present is improved felling and extraction methods and equipment. This touches another field in which associations are active: the training of forest workers and trade personnel. In many countries, apprentice schools are financed by industrial associations.
This kind of action is obviously of country-wide value, and close co-operation between industrial associations and government departments is often to be found; for the big forest products research laboratories created by the State are essentially helping progress in the timber industries, and keep in constant touch with them. It is also quite common for research institutions organized by the industries to be subsidized by the State.
Finally, a third field of action is open to these professional associations, a field in which they can have an even more direct influence upon forest policy. That is the aid which they give to forest owners - particularly small owners - in respect of the forests from which the industries draw their supplies, either wholly or in part.
The big forest industries - and especially the pulpmills - are aware of the importance of ensuring that supplies of raw materials shall be available in perpetuity. When these supplies largely depend upon private forests, and the State itself does not help adequately to ensure suitable management of the forests, and the owners are not themselves associated for this purpose, then it is possible for the industry associations themselves to offer assistance.
In Europe, generally speaking, there is everywhere some measure of control exercised by the State, and forest owners' co-operatives are already established. Industrial associations, therefore, rarely come into the picture. But in the United States, on the contrary, such action by trade associations has become quite common, for conditions, although varying from State to State, are often the opposite of those in Europe. The vast nation-wide movements are principally devised by the big industrial organizations and the impact of these movements upon public opinion in general and upon forest owners in particular cannot be underestimated.
For example, the American tree-farm movement was started on its own forests by the Weyerhauser Timber Corporation in 1940, and afterwards received the support of the Executive Committee of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association. The movement is now run by American Forest Products Industries Inc., with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is supported not only by forest industries but also by many private owners. Direction of the movement is decentralized, regions often being controlled by industrial organizations, such as the Northwest Loggers' Association in the Douglas fir region of the States of Washington and Oregon.
The tree-farm movement, in essence, involves public recognition of the forests of owners who guarantee to fulfil certain standards of management of those forests. The owner does not necessarily receive technical aid in the management or treatment of his forests. However, the publicity attending the acknowledgment of his forest as a well-run property is an encouragement to any owner to do his best, and makes good propaganda too, conveying to the general public the need for mutual co-operation, especially in the prevention of forest fires.
The American Forest Products Industries Inc. also co-ordinates on a nationwide scale the sister movement, with the slogan "Keep America Green." This is primarily a program of mass education in matters of protection against forest fires; and the Association has admirably succeeded in getting local schools, clubs, women's organizations, youth groups and sports associations interested in the program.
The effectiveness of these movements may be judged from the way they have spread their influence in recent years.
There are a number of other more localized industrial associations in the United States which exert their influence upon the private forest owner as, for instance, the Industrial Forestry Association of Portland, Oregon, the Southern Pine Association of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Southern Pulpwood Conservation Association of Atlanta, Georgia.
Besides conducting public campaigns, large American industrial organizations, such as the worker's unions, have their own ideas on forest policy and strive for the acceptance of their viewpoints. The National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, for example, has thus outlined its chief aims in The Conservation Yearbook:
"Its forest policy recognizes the vital relation of forest conservation to the permanency of forest-using industries, and the obligation of those industries to maintain forest lands in productive condition... It opposes federal regulation of private management practices and federal control of state forest policies; it advocates a co-operative and educational approach to forest problems, on a basis of three-way collaboration by private forest owners and the State and Federal Governments."
The United States Chamber of Commerce has a Natural Resources Department whose field of interest includes "policies concerning federal lands."
The influences of professional associations in the United States have been considered in detail; but this does not mean that the United States is the only country where such associations have considerable influence. On the contrary, they are effective even in countries which may be called from the forestry angle. In Chile, for instance, where the Corporación Chilena de la Madera (Chilean Wood Corporation), primarily an association of timber manufacturers and the trade, also includes forest owners and planters as well as a few professional foresters, since specialized forestry training is in its infancy in Chile. The Association's activities may have considerable repercussions on the general forest policy of the country. On one occasion, for instance, it declared against the forestry bill then before Parliament, and in favor of another bill which gave more prominence to the prevention of forest fires. It supported the use of material from Pinus radiata plantations for the manufacture of pulp, and empowered its President to work for the creation of Chile's first pulp mill.
Powerful industrial associations may do a great deal of good in countries where forestry is underdeveloped, if they are fully appreciative of the need to preserve the country's forest wealth and to use it efficiently. They can do a great deal to interest governmental circles in the development and conservation of forests; indeed, the existence and growth of forest industries is prerequisite to a proper practice of good forestry. Needless to add that such associations may also be highly dangerous where forest services are weak and ill-organized and where governments have no clearly-defined forest policies.
FOREST OWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS
Finally and chiefly in Europe and North America, there are the professional associations of forest owners, whose object is the protection of members' interests vis-à-vis public authorities; usually these are neither very flourishing nor very powerful, for the simple reason - as has already been pointed out - that it is generally difficult to interest small owners in their forests when these yield irregular and only longterm returns. Associations so constituted are liable to be composed mainly of large owners; and in those countries, especially in Europe, where the mass of private forest is in the hands of small proprietors, such associations tend to be quite unrepresentative. Most associations of forest owners are, however, well aware of this situation and have sought to remedy it by offering certain services to their members, such as technical training courses, expert advisory services, consultations and meetings. In consequence, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish such associations from those classed as forest co-operatives.
They differ to the degree that these associations do not usually act on behalf of their members in carrying out in their name operations such as the marketing of timber, executing improvement works, and devising working plans.
ASSOCIATIONS IN DENMARK
But this distinction is itself not very clear-cut. Among owners' associations which have played, and still play, a prominent part in the development of their country's forestry, is the Danish Forest Society (Dansk Skopforening).
This Society was founded in 1888 with the object of encouraging the development of forestry and related pursuits. Its funds come from the entrance fees of the members, which are based proportionately on the calculated value of their forests. It has an economic-statistical department which collects and analyzes yearly reports on private forests, but also undertakes to review working plans. Its Seed Bureau accords official approval to high-class tree stands, and the seeds harvested from these are sold under guarantee of origin. But the association's major influence is perhaps exerted through its Marketing Committee, which negotiates with the timber users in order to fix the prices for the chief categories of timber supplied by the forest owners. For instance, in order to stabilize the market for beech cask-wood, a number of forest and sawmill owners met under the auspices of the Committee and concluded an agreement for sharing the outturn among the sawmills at fixed prices, the surplus of small roundwood to be sold for other uses. The country is divided into ten districts, the heads of these making up the Marketing Committee.
The Association thus directly assists the business interests of its members, at least in certain fields.
This is even more marked in the case of another big Danish Association, the Danish Heathlands Association, which has contributed much, and still contributes, to the development of the heath land which extends over a considerable area along the Danish coast, especially in Jutland. The interests of this Association, set up in 1866, are not specifically restricted to forestry. Its general purpose is the improvement of methods of working the lands of these regions, whether used for farming, stockraising or forests. Tree planting, however, naturally ranks high in this program. At the beginning, the Association confined itself to giving technical advice on the selection of sites suitable for planting, methods of making plantations, planting of shelterbelts around houses and fields, and so on. It later began to distribute (and still does so) plants free of charge or at low prices. Finally, it started supervising or carrying out tree planting itself, on behalf either of big proprietors or of the joint-stock companies formed by small owners to afforest their lands. Here, under the stimulus of a powerful association, there is a regrouping of parcels of forest lands - or at least of lands to be afforested, in the manner already referred to in the first section.
Moreover, the Association has itself become an owner of plantations, mostly by gift.
The Association is at present managed by a Committee of 51 members and a board of nine directors. There are about 19,000 members. The business activities are directly managed by five services, among them a Research Service, and a Plantations Service which especially concerns us here. This service includes 21 professional foresters and 14 technical officers. Since 1938, the service has had a mobile team working, comprising a number of technicians, trained overseers and workers, carrying out plantation operations and establishing windbreaks wherever its help was required, without the need for supervision by the individual landowners concerned.
The value of the Association's activities may be judged from the fact that the area of heathland in Jutland has shrunk by about three-quarters since 1860. During the same period, the rural population of the districts in question has almost doubled, the total population increase being higher still. Three of the directors are appointed by the State, for large governmental subsidies (about 1.8 million crowns yearly) are granted to the Association. Further State grants (about 4 million crowns in all) are made through the agency of the Association to owners or local societies for the execution of certain works.
INCREASING RESPONSIBILITIES OF ASSOCIATIONS TN SOME COUNTRIES
The last instance shows that an association of forest owners may tend to become almost a kind of State organization, and the final pages of this study will show how marked that tendency is in some countries. Undoubtedly the best way of strengthening the useful activities of such associations, of increasing their authority and helping them to recruit members is to give them a measure of State aid and some responsibility in the implementation of the government's forest policy.
In many European countries, in fact, associations of forest owners have been regularly invited, as have industry and workers' associations, to send representatives to sit on the advisory committees which help the forest service chiefs and the Ministers concerned to formulate forest policy. Obviously, however, there are all kinds of gradations possible between seeking advice from associations and entrusting them with varying executive responsibilities.
The Netherlands seems to have gone further in this direction than any other country. In 1954, a Netherlands Bosschap (Forestry Board) was established by Royal Charter. This is a public institution with legal powers of imposing regulations by order. Its authority extends over all forest enterprises, forests and industries whatever their size or ownership; even the State forests are under its control.
The members of the board are nominated, half by the recognized employers' associations and half by workers' associations. The association accepted as representative of the employers is the Netherlands Association of Forest Owners. The members of the board number 14 at present. Of the seven nominated by the employers, one represents the State forests, one the municipal forests, and five the private forests.
The Board's powers of issuing orders are specified but, in practice, they cover the whole province of forestry. The Board's orders cannot conflict with the law as it stands, of course, and any regulations it makes, other than those for ensuring the Board's own efficient working, must first be approved by the Ministers concerned; but the latter cannot withhold their approval unless the proposed regulations run counter to the law or to the public interest. The powers of the Board are particularly exercised in matters concerning the output of forests and forest products, and include the improvement of forest lands, protection against fire, the improvement of output quality, standards of management for forest properties, the processing and preservation of forest products, the standardization of products, questions of wages, recruitment and dismissal (except as concerns civil servants).
The Board is financed by contributions from employers. The method of calculating contributions has not finally been decided at the time of writing but it is likely to be on a proportional basis according to the area owned by each employer, the quality of the land being taken into account.
The Board will certainly have a considerable influence on the country's forest policy and on forest legislation also: for the Board has been asked to examine the forest legislation now in draft and to discuss it with the Ministry officials concerned.
OTHER EXAMPLES IN SWITZERLAND
To revert once more to Switzerland, although privately-owned forests represent 29 percent of the country's total forested area, the chief forest-owners are the communes. Despite the very high degree of autonomy enjoyed by the communes in the management of their forests, it is well known that their methods, besides being excellent in themselves, conform without conflict to a meticulously planned national forest policy. Moreover, the value placed upon the nation's forests not only by forest owners but by the people as a whole, reaches a level rarely found elsewhere. This may be largely attributed to the work of Swiss forestry associations.
The oldest of them is the Swiss Forestry Association, founded in 1843, a very influential body of the type examined in the first part of this section.
The Swiss Timber Manufacturers' Society and the Professional Association of Swiss Timber Traders are, as their names indicate, associations of industry or trade, also exercising some influence on the national scale.
But the body which more particularly represents the interests of forest owners, although not strictly restricted to them, is the Swiss Forest Economy Association. This was established in 1921, with the object of convincing not only the people generally but also the political authorities and the forest owners, of the great economic importance of intensive forest management to a country such as Switzerland. The Association has never lost sight of its mission of propaganda on behalf of the end-product, wood, as well as the forest. It not only issues its own bulletin in French (La Forêt) and in German (Wald und Holz), but it has an information service which regularly supplies articles and news-items about forestry to more than 400 newspapers and journals. The Association organizes meetings, lectures, and talks on the radio, issues special stamps, distributes pamphlets and posters. It attaches particular importance to the instruction of school children; it adapts its propaganda to the forest policy currently in force. It has been highly successful in securing the widespread use of modern efficient stoves that consume fuelwood economically. During the last world war, it secured the utmost nationwide economy in the use of all forms of wood.
But the action of the Association goes far beyond propaganda. Its statutes require that it should promote the improvement of felling and extraction techniques and the organization of forestry work, and so, since 1928, it has had its own technical service under the control of a special commission. This service tries out, checks and produces improved versions of the tools and equipment used in forest operations, organizes training courses for forest workers, and seeks always the most efficient methods of carrying out and organizing timber extraction.
Working in close collaboration with appropriate scientific institutes, the Association, as indicated above, was responsible for the design and introduction of efficient wood-burning heating apparatus in Switzerland and for mass manufacture being undertaken by industry. It took the lead before the last war in advocating the use of charcoal and wood gas generators for automobiles. Thanks to the Association's efforts, automobile operators could obtain, from 1930 onwards, wood and charcoal standardized in price and quality. Also during the war, the Association undertook the training of charcoal-makers, and it revived the practice of barking spruce to derive tanning materials, a practice which had then almost ceased in Switzerland owing to the competition of imported products.
In 1923, the Association set up a trade commission which has much to its credit. On its advice and in agreement with manufacturers' organizations, uniform standards for sawn wood and industrial timber intended for sale, were worked out and accepted. This not only improved the relations between producers and the wood-using industries but enabled price statistics to be placed on an efficient basis. The Association has always campaigned for price stability; besides publishing statistics and giving advice to private owners or interested authorities - particularly on questions of import policy - it has been instrumental in concluding collective agreements between owners and manufacturers; such agreements do not bind the one party or the other (the Association not being co-operative in character), but the agreements, particularly concerning pulpwood - are generally respected on account of the Association's high repute.
Again the Association, together with organizations representing industry and trade, has played a considerable part in the creation of the "Mutual Benefit Fund for Swiss Forestry and Timber Trades." This fund is used to finance projects of mutual interest, such as the setting up of a training-school for sawmill workers, the encouragement of better timber utilization, or the practical application of the results of research.
The Association owes much of its strength to its local influence. It has Unterverbände (sub-associations) in each of the cantons into which Switzerland is divided; these work in close collaboration with the parent association, although they enjoy a considerable autonomy. It is interesting to note that of these sub-associations the Selva in the Grisons Canton and the Vaudois Forest Association market products on their members' behalf and hence are co-operatives. Their importance may be judged by the fact that Vaudois Forest Association, which includes among its members the Canton authority itself, 116 communes and 34 private owners, had a turnover in 1952 al nearly 36 million Swiss francs.
Another interesting feature is the close co-operation between the Swiss Forest Economy Association and the Swiss Farmworkers' Union, of which certain of the Cantonal branches are members. Co-operation works through a liaison committee established in 1947; and the Union has more than once helped the Association to get its viewpoint accepted on crucial questions, for instance, on customs dues.
