Forest policy in South Africa

A report submitted to FAO by the Government of the Union of South Africa

Forest policy in South Africa, as in most countries, was built up gradually with the development of the country. As the need arose to control exploitation of the country's forest resources, to increase and protect its forest estate and to protect its water supplies and soils, so the necessity also arose for an adequate forest policy and appropriate legislation.

The services of the Count de Vasselot de Regné, a trained French forester, were obtained in 1880 and he was appointed Superintendent of Woods and Forests for the then Cape Colony. Previously, the forestry resources of the country as a whole, their conservation, proper utilization and management had received but scant attention. There was an absence of suitable legislation with regard to forestry matters and furthermore the staff was insufficient to enforce even such legislation as existed.

From 1880 onwards, the foundations were laid of what has developed into the present forestry organization. The administration has been placed on a sound basis, scientific methods of management and exploitation have been introduced, and a comprehensive afforestation program has been initiated.

Conformity with FAO principles

It will be useful to examine to what extent the progress made in South Africa is consistent with Resolution No. 26 regarding "Principles of Forest Policy", adopted by the Sixth Session of the FAO Conference at Rome in 1951.

Each country should determine and set aside areas to be dedicated to forests whether at present afforested or not.

The Union is a comparatively poorly timbered country and, although fairly considerable areas of forest or scrub are known to have disappeared within the last century or two, because of overcutting, overgrazing, native cultivation of the land and fire, there appears to be no reason to believe that it has ever been, as a whole, a heavily timbered country during the present geological period.

The forest-clad areas occupy some 3.7 percent of the total land area, 0.4 percent being under indigenous high forest, 2.7 percent under scrub and savanna forest and 0.6 percent under plantations of exotic species.

Forest policy for the past seventy years has aimed at building up an appropriate forest estate. The area of Crown lands reserved for forestry purposes and controlled by the Department of Forestry as at 31 March 1952, is shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1. - AREA OF CROWN LANDS RESERVED FOR FORESTRY

Crown lands		Acres	Hectares
Indigenous forests		624 234.5	252 628
Plantations (exotic species)		475 252.5	192 335
Open driftsands		32 778.2	13 265
Unafforested areas:
	not suitable or available	2 358 775.8	954 597
	available for afforestation	327 320.0	132 466
Total		3 818 361.0	1 545 291

The small area of indigenous high forest is composed almost entirely of very slow-growing hardwoods which are unsuitable for the main industrial and commercial requirements of the country.

Experimental planting of a very large number of exotic species from 1880 onwards had proved, by the beginning of the twentieth century, that a number of them were well suited to the soils and climate of the Union. The needs of the gold and coal mines for props were met by afforestation with suitable fast-growing eucalypts and exotic acacias. As it was certain that private forestry could and would meet the demand for products of this type, afforestation by the State aimed primarily at the production of softwood sawlogs.

A rapid increase in the rate of afforestation with conifers was inaugurated by the State after the first world war, and by 1939 about 16,000 acres (6,500 ha.) were being planted annually. During the war years, 1939-1945, afforestation was drastically curtailed. During the past five years the average annual rate of afforestation by the State has been approximately 15,000 acres (6,000 ha.). The Forest Department has set down as its goal an annual rate of afforestation of 30-35,000 acres (12-14,000 ha.), but due mainly to the present serious staff shortage it has not yet been possible to achieve this target.

In accordance with the State's policy to make the country self-supporting eventually in regard to timber supplies, the Department plans to extend its afforested area to 1,250,000 acres (506,000 ha.) of which 1,000,000 acres (405,000 ha.) will be conifers.

The critical shortage of timber during recent years and the development of primary wood industries has focussed public attention on the need for an extended afforestation program. There are considerable areas in the regions of high humidity which are of very little use for pasture, of less use for agriculture but suitable for production of timber. These conditions particularly prevail in certain native territories and the part that forestry play in the social and economic rehabilitation of such areas is receiving the attention of the authorities.

In order to encourage the establishment of farm woodlots and shelter belts, the Government introduced a scheme whereby any bona fee farmer can purchase transplants up to a maximum of 12,500 in any one year from the nurseries of the Department of Forestry at a price very much below cost. Although the greater part of the Union has a rainfall which is too low to justify afforestation on a commercial scale, experimental work has shown that shelter belts of hardy species can be established in all but the most arid regions

Table 2 gives a comparative statement of the total area of plantations of exotic species for the years 1946 and 1950, under State, communal and private ownership:

TABLE 2. - TOTAL AREA UNDER EXOTIC SPECIES, 1946 AND 1950 ¹

Ownership	Species		Area in square miles		Percentage of total area
			1946	1950	1940	1950
State	Conifers		457	570	74.3	79.7
	Eucalypts		86	95	14.0	13.3
	Tan wattles		19	18	3.1	2.5
	Poplars		2	3	0.3	0.4
	Other hardwoods		61	29	8.3	4.1
		Total	615	715	100.0	100.0
Communal	Conifers		21	32	17.2	19.6
	Eucalypts		36	45	29.5	27.6
	Tan wattles		54	56	44.3	34.4
	Poplars		3	4	2.5	2.4
	Other hardwoods		8	26	6.5	6.0
		Total	122	163	100.0	100.0
Private	Conifers		166	254	10.2	14.7
	Eucalypts		519	449	31.7	26.0
	Tan wattles		790	895	48.4	51.7
	Poplars		51	43	3.1	2.5
	Other hardwoods		109	88	6.6	5.1
		Total	1 635	1 729	100.0	100.0
Total	Conifers		644	856	27.1	32.8
	Eucalypts		641	589	27.0	22.6
	Tan wattles		863	969	36.4	37.2
	Poplars		56	50	2.4	1.9
	Other hardwoods		168	143	7.1	5.5
		Total	2 372	2 607	100 0	100.0

¹ 1 square mile = 259 hectares.

Each country should apply the best practicable techniques in seeking to derive in perpetuity, for the greatest number of its people, the maximum benefits available from the protective, productive and accessory values of its forests.

Protection

The resources of the Department of Forestry, in terms of both men and money, are generously devoted to activities which are not revenue-producing except in a broad national sense. The conservation of watersheds, erosion control, driftsand reclamation, the patrolling, protection, improving and administration of large areas of indigenous forest may all be regarded as falling legitimately within this category.

The primary protective functions of the Department of Forestry are briefly as follows:

1. The protection and conservation of indigenous forests and their utilization in such a manner as not to impair, but rather to increase, their future productivity. Funds voted for this purpose are mainly spent on protection from fire and on regeneration.

2. The protection of important catchment areas to conserve water supplies. Of the 3,818,361 acres (1,545,290 ha.) of land controlled by the Department of Forestry, 2,358,776 acres (954,600 ha.) are held mainly for the protection of water supplies. Extensive areas on mountain ranges comprising the sources of important rivers are protected as far as possible against fire and grazing. Control is gradually being extended to other areas of importance, Crown land being reserved for the purpose where necessary, and in some cases privately - owned mountain ground constituting catchment areas of importance being acquired by purchase.

3. The prevention and reclamation of drift sands. Along the coast from the Cape to Zululand are forest reserves which are held for the prevention and reclamation of drift sands.

4. The establishment and maintenance of nature reserves within the forest areas the object of which is to maintain in their natural state for all time special features of the flora or of the landscape, in the interests of scientists and nature lovers of the present and future. At present the aggregate area covered by these nature reserves amounts to some 12,800 acres (5,180 ha.).

Production

The technical aim of forest management is to attain a normal distribution of age-classes in each complete forest unit. In the case of State-owned areas, all extensions of afforestation have been regulated by approved surveys and planting plans. As intermediate yields become available, thinning and pruning plans with estimates of yield are prepared. In the oldest plantations these plans are replaced by complete working plans which provide for a systematic regulation of the yield and attainment of a normal series of age-gradations.

Privately-owned hardwood plantations grown on short rotations of six to ten years are intensively manager! even though no working plans in the conventional sense are drawn up for them.

On account of the fact that the indigenous forests of the Union have been largely over-exploited in the past, are small in extent and relatively unimportant as a source of timber requirements, their main contribution is to be sought in directions such as water conservation and popular recreation.

While the present annual yield of softwood timber from State plantations is approximately 19 million cubic feet (538,000 m³), this will progressively increase from year to year up to a future total of some 180200 million cubic feet (5.1-5.7 million m³) per year.

It is estimated that the total output of wood from State, communal and private plantations for the calendar year 1950 was as follows:

TABLE 3. - TOTAL TIMBER OUTPUT, 1950

Class	Estimated volume (1,000 cu.ft. 1,2)	Estimated value (£1,000)
Softwood sawtimber	27 359	1 185
Hardwood sawtimber	6 359
Mining timber and poles	34 157	969
Pulpwood	3 758	30
Firewood	28 319	177
Charcoalwood	582	4
	100 534	2 365

¹ Roundwood equivalent, true measure underbark.
² 1 cu.ft. = 0.02832 m³.

The output of the various classes of wood mentioned in the above Table includes wood from the indigenous forests. In 1950, the total output of all classes of wood from these forests amounted to only 2,918,000 cubic feet (82,640 m³). Values of wood from communal and private plantations have been based on average value figures for State plantations.

The position in regard to the total gross imports and exports (including South African produce) of wood and wood products for the year 1950 is summarized in Table 4.

TABLE 4. - TOTAL GROSS IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF WOOD AND WOOD PRODUCTS, 1950

Class			Estimated volume (1,000 cu.ft. 1,2)	Value f.o.b. (£1,000)
Imports
	Primary products		42 422	8 916
	Derivative products		19 000 (approx.)	10 022
		Total	61 422	18 938
Exports
	Primary products		1 316	301
	Derivative products		not available	1 535
		Total	not available	1 836

¹ Roundwood equivalent, true measure underbark.
² 1 cu.ft. = 0.02832 m³.

The total estimated home consumption of wood and wood products during the year 1950 is given in Table 5:

TABLE: 5. - ESTIMATED HOME CONSUMPTION OF WOOD PRODUCTS, 1950

Class			Estimated volume (1,000 cu. ft.1,2)
			Local output	Net imports	Total
Primary products:
	softwoods		29 281	31 280	60 561
	hardwoods		71 253	9 826	81 079
		Total	100 534	41 106	141 640
Derivative products			-	19 000+	19 000+
		Grand total	100 534	60 106	160 640
Percentage			62.6	37.4	100.0

¹ Roundwood equivalent, true measure underbark.
² 1 cu.ft. = 0.02832 m..

Without going into a detailed analysis of the above Tables, the fact remains that the yield of local plantations is making a significant and increasing contribution to the timber requirements of the Union.

Reference has also to be made to the wattle industry, which is concerned with the production of tanbark and tanning extract from trees of the genus Acacia of Australian origin. This industry is in the possession of a large and well-organized export trade and is also the largest of the local forest industries to be maintained almost exclusively by private enterprise, having a total afforested area of more than half a million acres (200,000 ha.).

The tonnage and value of bark and bark extract exported annually for the period 1946-1950 is summarized in Table 6.

TABLE 6. - ANNUAL EXPORTS OF BARK AND BARK EXTRACT, 1946-1950

Year	Quantity		Value (f.o.b.)		Total value(f.o.b.)
	Bark	Extract	Bark	Extract
	(short tons) 1		(£1,000)
1946	59 114	71 782	548	1 418	1 966
1947	56 117	87 084	635	2 192	2 827
1948	67 716	100 592	1 041	3 359	4 400
1949	69 922	104 756	1 181	3 780	4 961
1950	56 647	90 577	991	3 379	4 370

¹ 1 short ton = 2,000 lb. = 0.9072 metric tons.

Exploitation, conversion and utilization

The sawmilling industry in South Africa made tremendous strides during the war period. A few years before World War II the industry was still confined to some small plants dealing with comparatively insignificant quantities of timber from indigenous forests and in a small way with plantation grown pine timber. The war, however, created an unprecedented demand for locally grown timber. This demand continues and during 1951-52 State plantations alone yielded 20,304,636 cubic feet (575,000 m³), of which 7,369,454 cubic feet (208,700 m³) was sawn at State sawmills and 12,935,182 cubic feet (366,300 m³) was sold in the log to private sawmills. The policy followed in regard to the disposal of softwood sawlogs produced in State plantations is that future yields will be allocated equally between State sawmills and private enterprise.

State preservative plants also play an important part in supplying treated round timber for many purposes, such as chemically impregnated transmission, telephone, building and fencing poles.

Until recently, logging in South Africa had been limited to manual means with the help of animals and trek chains as accessories. During the past 12 years crawler tractors have been used in plantations principally for the purpose of moving thinnings to roadsides. On one or two clearfelling operations, manganese steel skidding pans and wire rope chockers have been employed successfully and 30 h. p. tractors have been equipped with single-drum wire rope winches. Since then "Loggers Dream" units and "Wyssen Skyline Cranes" have been introduced and are operating satisfactorily.

With a demand for sawlogs, smallwood - below 5 inches, (12.7 cm.) down to 3 inches, (7.6 cm.) top diameter - mining timber, pulpwood, poles, posts and fuel, the road to fully integrated utilization is now open, particularly in the Transvaal and Natal Provinces, where the demand for all these items exceeds the supply.

Adequate knowledge of all aspects of forest resources, forestry, and the consumption and utilization of forest products, is indispensable.

The Department of Forestry employs fully qualified professional staff to direct the various operations connected with forest management, development of forest resources and the consumption and utilization of forest products. Forest research is fully organized to keep pace with all developments in the fields concerned.

Public consciousness of forest values should be developed by all means possible.

Forestry education and extension services are facilitated by the Department of Forestry. In this connection forestry exhibits are staged at agricultural shows throughout the Union, lectures on forestry are given at various agricultural colleges and farmers unions. Numerous requests for advice relating to forestry matters are received and dealt with. To deal with the extended interest shown in forestry, the Department recently reinstated the post of Extension and Propaganda Officer.

Implementing forest policy

Forest law

Since 1913, when the Forest Act of 1888 (Cape Colony) was repealed, the administration had been carried out under the Forest Act No. 16 of 1913 as amended by Act No. 14 of 1917 and Act No. 28 of 1930. In 1941, the Forest and Veld Conservation Act (No. 13 of 1941) was passed to amend and consolidate the laws in the Union relating to the tenure, demarcation, protection, management and utilization of forests and the regulation of veld-burning; to regulate trade in, and the use of, trade names and marks in connection with forest produce; to control the exploitation and importation thereof; and to make better provision for veld, soil and water conservation. In 1946, the passing of the separate Soil Conservation Act (No. 46 of 1946) resulted in the title of Act No. 13 of 1941 being shortened to that of The Forest Act. A further brief Act (No. 10 of 1948) was passed to facilitate certain aspects of the administration of land controlled by the Department and also to strengthen the position of owners of land in cases where damage resulted from the kindling of fires.

The Acts referred to above were important factors in promoting forestry and its associated industries in South Africa and also did much to prevent the reckless destruction of the indigenous forests, soil and water resources of the country

A forest service

Until 1876 no central or technical control was exercised over the Crown forests of the Cape Colony, but in that year a Department of Forests and Plantations was constituted, and in 1881 a superintendent of woods and forests was appointed. In 1891 this post was abolished, and the four conservancies into which the Colony had been divided were thereafter administered independently by four conservators, who were responsible to the Secretary for Agriculture. In 1905 a chief conservator of forests was appointed who was responsible to the Minister. The Crown Colony Governments in the Transvaal and Orange Free State established forest departments as divisions of the respective agricultural departments about the year 1903. In Natal, no settled policy was followed, but the post of conservator of forests was created twice and abolished the administration of the forests being in the hands of the Director of Agriculture from 1908 onwards. When the Union of South Africa was established in 1910 the four forest departments were immediately combined under one chief conservator of forests, later named the Director of Forestry. In October, 1934, the Forest Department was combined with the Department of Agriculture under the title of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, and a Division of Forestry was established under the Director of Forestry. This arrangement continued until October 1945, when forestry was divorced from agriculture and reinstated as a separate department.

The Union is divided into seven forest conservancies and in charge of each is a conservator of forests. Each conservancy consists of a number of forestry districts controlled by district forest officers, each of whom has under him a number of foresters in charge of forest patrols.

At headquarters, officers are allotted to the management of the forest estate, utilization of the forest crops, statistics, forest education and extension services.

The activities of research fall into the following categories:

1. Silvicultural research, dealing with problems connected with silviculture.

2. Hydrological research: the 1935 Empire Forestry Conference recommended to the Government of the Union that a series of investigations into the influences of forests on climate, erosion and water conservation should be carried out. Before the end of that year the South African Forestry Department gave effect to that recommendation by establishing the Jonkershoek Forest Influences Research Station in the winter rainfall region of the southwestern Cape. A second research station has also been developed at Cathedral Peak in the Drakensberg, Natal, to serve the regions of summer rainfall.

3. Forest products research, centered at the Forest Products Institute, deals with problems of timber research including matters related to preservation of wood by chemical impregnation, etc.

Training of officers

Officers of the higher professional division are recruited from men who hold a degree of forestry of a recognized university. This degree is obtainable in South Africa at the Stellenbosch University after a four-year course in forestry.

Men desirous of entering the government service as foresters are trained at Saasveld Forest School, near George. The course extends over a period of two years.

Conclusion

Resolution No. 26 of the Sixth Session of the FAO Conference has therefore been noted with appreciation by foresters in the Union of South Africa. The principles embodied in this resolution are in substance identical with those originally formulated at the first British Empire Forestry Conference in 1920 and re-affirmed at subsequent Commonwealth Conferences, and they have been the basis of forest policy in South Africa for many years.

Because it has been formulated with proper regard to the interests of posterity, forest policy in South Africa in all its aspects conforms ethically to the highest national standards and these same standards guarantee that it will be steadfastly pursued in the future.