The items appearing here are condensed from newsworthy material collected by FAO staff or submitted by correspondents. FAO assumes no responsibility for statements and statistics in items accepted in good faith from contributors.
General
Fundamental science
Silviculture
Forest injuries and protection
Mensuration and surveying
Forest management
Industry and trade
Forest products and their utilization
Forest policy
International Union for the Protection of Nature
Argentina
· The first Forestry School in Argentina was established this year at the Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. The course lasts two years, after students have spent three years on agricultural studies.
The Administración Nacional de Bosques has been assigned the task of establishing 1,000 hectares of shelterbelts in the Central Pampas to fight erosion. These shelterbelts are to be planted on private properties for demonstration purposes and to give impetus to other private owners. A standard contract to be used between the Forest Service and private owners has been worked out.
Cuba
· The Forests of Cuba, a study made possible by the Maria Moors Cabot Foundation in the United States, shows that two-thirds of the area of Cuba is satisfactory for agricultural crops and that one-half of the cultivated land is under sugar cane. The forests, which have been seriously depleted over the past 50 years, have shrunk from an original 60 percent to not over 15 percent of the total land area.
One of the major problems in providing wood for the urban centers is the lack of transportation from the forests to the cities. Often there is a wood shortage in these cities, -despite their location not far from extensive forest reserves.
In 1946, Cuba produced 86 percent of its wood requirements and imported only 14 percent; by 1950, home production had fallen to 67 percent and imports increased to 33 percent.
The tremendous demand for wood for fuel is one of the principal factors in the serious depletion of Cuba's forests. Although more than 200 species of forest trees have some commercial importance, the forest consists for the most part of low grade stands which would require many years of management before they could produce a commercial volume of worthwhile species. Pine covers slightly over 1 million acres (400,000 ha.) but these are being out at an alarming rate. The broadleaved forests, covering over 3 million acres (1.2 million ha.), are in a condition of low productivity.
The study clearly presents the various factors of the environment covering geology, climate and land use. It describes the characteristics of the forests in the various parts of the country and provides information on specific counts from sample plots. The photographs and the lists of species facilitate the understanding of the different forest types. Altogether, the publication provides a useful body of information on the forests of Cuba as a starting point in future planning of the management programs that will be necessary to provide wood supplies for the island.
El Salvador
· The Republic of El Salvador is the most densely populated country of Central America. This is reflected in the pattern of land use, most of the land which can be used for agriculture has already been occupied, and the natural forests have been reduced to the remoter parts of the country or scattered areas which are not worth clearing to produce agricultural crops or for use as pasture.
Although the coffee plantations produce annually fairly large quantities of firewood and charcoal, the many privately owned haciendas outside the coffee belt where the forest areas occur, produce little timber. The country cannot supply its own wood needs and must therefore import.
The pine forests in the northern part of the country, mostly Pinus oocarpa, show much resemblance to the adjacent areas in Honduras standing volumes of over 50 cubic meters per hectare are rare. The various oak species and scattered liquidambar that mix with the pine are usually poorly shaped. At higher altitudes there may exist some better forests of Pinus pseudostrobus, but these could not be big assets to the country.
Ireland
· It is reported that a road, 2.5 kilometers long, built entirely of oak was recently discovered under peat in Ireland at a depth of approximately one meter. The road gives the impression of having been built in the form of a bridge, with the tree trunks placed lengthwise in three layers resting on supports sunk to a depth of two meters. This is an unusual feature, since the ancient wooden roads were nearly always constructed with the trunks placed transversally. According to experts, the road dates back 1,500 to 2,000 years, proof of the remarkable resistance of the wood and the preservative character of the peat.
Japan
· The magnificent Hinoki (Chamecyparis obtusa) national forests originally belonged to the Imperial Household, but after the war were transferred to the national government. Most of the mature trees are about 250-300 years old, and the growing stock per hectare of a very old stand may be as high as 8001,000 cubic meters. The forests are worked on a selection system on a cutting cycle of 25-30 years. Natural regeneration of Sawara (Chamecyparis pisifora), a species less valuable than Hinoki, seems to come up in abundance, so natural regeneration of the latter has to be supplemented by some artificial regeneration for which purpose large nurseries are maintained. Nursery stock about 3-years-old is used for planting. The usual rotation for artificial forests is about 100-120 years. Pruning of selected young trees is systematically carried out. Extraction, by forest railways cum cableways, is mostly carried out by the Forest Department and a very large workshop is maintained for upkeep of the equipment.
Hinoki is perhaps the most expensive wood in the world and all the temples and images in Japan - some 300 to 400 years old - are supposed to be made of this wood.
Northern Rhodesia
· The Government of Northern Rhodesia 1 announced its forest policy in 1949, when, from a 1948 survey, the forest estate was known to comprise some 1,638 square miles (424,242 ha.) or ½ percent of the country excluding Barotseland, which had a larger but ill-defined area of native authority forests.
1 Information on Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the other partners in the new Federation in central Africa, has appeared in previous issues of Unasylva.
In 1949, a Timber Survey Unit was established as a branch of the Forest Department to survey the timber resources of the Territory. It has singe reconnoitered 30,000 square miles (7.77 million ha.). By its efforts and those of the provincial forest staffs, the estate and protected forest areas is as stated in the following Table:
|
Area |
Percentage |
Forest authority |
|
|
sq. miles |
ha. |
||
|
1930 |
539870 |
12 |
Crown land |
|
5094 |
1300000 |
2.9 |
Native Trust land |
|
991 |
256669 |
1.8 |
Native Reserve |
|
3135 |
811965 |
6.8 |
Barotseland |
|
111501 |
2908504 |
3.8 |
Northern Rhodesia |
1 Of these, 4,235 square miles (1 million ha.) or 1.4 percent of the country are purely Protection Forests, while a much larger area serves for protection as well as production.
By the end of 1953, forest management plans covered all the main cutting areas and Barotseland. Two long-term forest working plans had been compiled and put into force, covering the Rhodesian teak forests and the copper belt, both of them very large areas indeed.
Fire protection of the Rhodesian teak forests has been re-organized and mechanized; more than 300 miles (480 km.) of. wide firebreaks have been stumped in the last three years and now are plowed annually. Six 90-foot (24 m.) high steel fire towers have been erected, and interconnected by telephone.
Areas under departmental early burning, were increased between 1948 to 1953 from 260 sq. miles to 1,430 sq. miles (67,300-370,400 ha.).
In 1949, the first full scale pine plantation was started at Chichele. By now, plantations total more than 1,200 acres (485 ha.). Some 500 acres (202 ha.) of test plots and trial plantings have also been established at 19 centers up and down the country.
Cut-over areas of woodland which the department restocks by natural regeneration (through intensive early burning) has risen from 18,000 to 32,000 acres (7,300-13,000 ha.).
A principal scientific officer joined the Department in 1953, and a silviculturist at the end of the year. Apart from test plantings, the Department's research work now includes fire protection plots, plots to measure rates of tree growth, and a wide range of species introduction trials. The assistance of outside specialists has been obtained for certain specific investigations, including: sawing of fire-killed Rhodesian teak (1949), preparation of a check list of trees and shrubs (1952), and possibilities for wood pulp (1953).
The Department extended its nursery at Lusaka to supply the public with ornamental trees and shrubs and by 1953 it was producing 120 kinds of trees and carried a stock of ¾ million plants.
Wood production rose from 690,000 tons in 1948 to 1,181,000 tons in 1962. A new concession designed to make available timber for the copper mines for 17 years was put to public application in 1953, and issued in 1954. The market value of wood produced from forests under the Department's control had risen by 1963 to £2,000,000 for that year being higher than the value of the country's maize crop. However, timber imports for the year also totalled £ 2,000,000.
The mushroom growth of the Forest Department has not been out of line with the economic growth of the country as a whole. It still falls somewhat short of what is needed. Indeed, in securing land on which to grow the country's future supplies of wood, and in the work of reserving the heads of principal river catchments as "protection forests", by 1953 the Department had reached only one-eighth of its target.
Peru
· A journey performed by air between Lima and Cusco, and between Cusco and Arequipa, provides an opportunity of observing the distribution of vegetation, or rather the lack of distribution of vegetation in South Peru.
Art interesting forestry feature of the Cusco region is the cultivation of eucalyptus at high altitudes, 11,00012,500 feet (3,300-3,800 m.). The plantations are raised without irrigation kind are often of open formation, which enables the cultivation of crops such as maize and barley, below the trees. The trees are pruned and are of excellent form and height growth, so that every tree is valuable.
Of interest also in the Cusco region, from the soil and water conservation point of view, is the high standard of conservation obtained with the terraced cultivation on steep mountain sides, a tribute to the engineering skill of the Incas. On the way between Cusco and Machy Picchu, after the commencement of the semitropical vegetation, some old Inca terraces which had been overgrown by vegetation are being cleared and brought into use once again.
An important forestry-colonization project in Peru at present is the Le Tourneau concession of 400,000 hectares of jungle on the Pachitea River, one of the headwaters of the Amazon. The concession holder has brought heavy equipment by water up the Amazon and its tributaries to the concession area, and the project is said to- be making good progress. One item of the project is the construction of a first class road over the Andes Cordillera from the concession area on the east side of the mountains to link up with the road and railway system of central Peru on the west side of the Andes. This new line of communication should have a great effect on stimulating the use of timber from Amazonian Peru,
Canada
· That climate is changing toward moderation in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere was perhaps recognized earlier and more widely in Europe than in North America, but the effects of the changes on life have been noted and studied for some time on both sides of the Atlantic Basin. The increasing temperatures, generally decreasing precipitation including snowfall, and increasing periods of drought have had direct results, such as retreat of the glaciers and an increase of ocean temperatures resulting in northward migration of several kinds of fish of great commercial importance, for example, around Greenland and Iceland.
In Canada, while recognition of the changes has increased, attempts to relate them to the behavior of plants and animals is relatively recent. Some of the changes of the past half century have been to the good such as the advance of the northern tree line, and better growth of older stands near the line. Associated with the change, however, are other detrimental consequences, such as the frequency of major insect attacks such as those caused by the larch sawfly, the larch casebearer, the spruce budworm, spruce sawfly, the balsam woolly aphid, the beech scale the birch leaf skeletonizer, and birch leaf-mining sawfly. Similarly, epidemics of diseases have been prominent, including the white pine blister rust, chestnut blight, oak wilt, Dutch elm disease, and the deterioration of residual stands of birch.
These manifestations have not been specifically related to climatic changes, but speculatively at least they may be. The changes have the general effect of weakening trees and forests, and perhaps man's actions in affecting the forests, important as they are, may be subordinate to the effects produced by widespread changes in climate.
The effects of the changes on wildlife -species, particularly game, have been pronounced. Some of the northern mammals, such as the caribou and moose, have moved out of former southern portions of their ranges, and southern animals, such as the Virginia deer, have moved north and to some degree replaced the northern mammals in portions of their range.
United States of America
· A research note issued by the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station on the characteristics of high-gum-yielding slash pines shows three controlling factors.
1. the size of the radial resin ducts exposed by chipping;
2. the number of resin ducts per square inch streak;
3. how viscous or fluid the gum may be.
There is a possible fourth characteristic, the pressure within a tree which tends to force gum outward, but this has not yet been susceptible to quantitative measurements.
If these factors prove to be inheritable characteristics, then controlled breeding of carefully selected, high-yielding parents may result in multiplying good strains of progeny.
Canada
· Studies of rooting Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) cuttings in British Columbia yielded results which differed from those of other similar experiments in that best success was obtained with cuttings from older trees (82 years old) rather than from younger trees-(16 years old). Use of both a fungicide and a rooting hormone was necessary to induce root growth and, in addition, it appeared desirable to retain a basal bud in making cuttings. Only 14 percent of the trial cutting not treated with fungicide rooted, whereas 51 percent of all treated cuttings were successful.
Morocco
· In an excellent illustrated brochure Forest Vistas issued by the French Residency General in Morocco it is recounted how in 1912, when Morocco became a French protectorate, vestiges of very fine forests were still to be found mainly in the mountains where they had escaped attention. Elsewhere ill treatment had almost exterminated the ancient forest.
The Moroccan Forest Department while trying to save what was left of the existing forests, from the start attacked the problem of afforestation. While, in more fortunate areas, the traditional conservative methods as taught by the French School of Forestry were applied, a team of younger men was busy on the techniques of replanting arid land.
From the sea coast or the fringe of the desert up to the snowy tops of the Atlas Mountains, a complete range of climates is experienced, but everywhere drought occurs in summer. The local vegetation consists of species adapted to the prevailing conditions in each belt of altitude such as local gum-bearing acacia argan, Magrebian thuja, cork-oak, holm oak, pines, junipers, cedars.
These trees, however, grow very slowly, so emphasis was put on quick-growing species of foreign origin, such as eucalyptus and acacia.
Planting programs have received the support of officials, the Moroccans and settlers and have made fairly rapid progress. The Moroccan Forest Fund, copied from a similar fund which has been successful in France, has helped with financing. Now planting is taking place at a rate of some 6¼ million seedlings annually over an area of 14,900 acres (4,600 ha.) With a population of roughly 8 millions, this represents an average of almost one tree a year for each inhabitant. Such a rate has never been attained in any other Mediterranean country.
Canada
· Studies on forest pathology reported in the Journal of Botany deal with yellow laminated root-rot of Douglas fir, decay of western hemlock in the Upper Columbia region of British Columbia, and decay in sugar maple in parts of Ontario.
Yellow laminated root-rot, though occurring in most native conifers throughout the range of Douglas fir in British Columbia, is most prevalent and damaging in this species because the disease commonly effects an entrance through root fusion which is more usual with Douglas fir than with the other species. The disease is caused either by a variety of Poria weirii or another species of Poria, and attacks Douglas fir at any age over six years. Individual trees differ greatly in resistance for reasons not fully understood. The inoculum may remain viable for over half a century but does not spread through the soil nor penetrate healthy bark tissue. The disease can kill the fir, particularly young trees, and thus is particularly dangerous as young stands replace the present mature forests. Economical methods of controlling established infections have not yet been fully worked out.
Sample plot and tree dissection studies show that decay losses in western hemlock stands- can average 52 and 74 percent of the cubic and board foot volumes respectively. No less than 26 decay-producing fungi contribute to this excessive loss. but nearly two-thirds of the total appear due to Echinodontium tinctorium and 25 percent to Fomes pini. Loss due to the first species decreased, and to the second increased, with increasing site quality.
Immature hemlock is susceptible to decay, and an advanced stage of deterioration is reached at an age of about 250 years. A method of estimating stand defect within 7 percent has been developed from the studies.
Decay was found in 74 percent of the sample sugar maple trees, associated with no less than 28 fungi. Armillaria mellea is most serious in causing butt decay and Polyporus glomeratus the most important trunk rotting species. The usual means of entry are frost cracks.
Most maple stands have replaced original white pine forests, and forest management is faced with the problem of whether the costly effort should be made to restore white pine to these sites. On pathological grounds there are doubts whether such a program is sound.
United States of America
· Earlier work in developing a blister rust control policy for the national forests in the northern Rocky Mountain region, showed that the correct approach was to deal with the white pine rather than rust control as such; that management needed to be concentrated on compact working units; and that a wide range of silvicultural measures might be applied to maintain and improve the yield of the desired Pinus monticola while at the same time controlling or reducing the population of ribes bushes.
More recent work and analysis show that excessive ribes becomes established in full sun or on lightly shaded sites after fires, logging or other major disturbances to forest cover and forest soil. In stands of more than 50 percent shade the mortality of ribes seedlings is high and growth is slow.
Since ribes springs up from seed stored in the forest floor, the basic strategy is to exhaust this supply coupled with eradication of existing ribes plants. Light and moderate cuttings aid ribes suppression but tend to favor shade-tolerant and desirable tree species in reproduction. Clear-cutting followed by properly timed broadcast-burning and planting, aids in ribes suppresion and appears to lay the basis for maximum white pine yield. Cleanings, thinnings and pruning improve white pine quality and yield but have little effect on ribes suppression.
· Forest fires at times "blow-up", a violent, erratic and unpredicted behavior surprising even experienced fire fighters. Studies of the specific weather conditions responsible for such phenomena are by no means complete, but it is possible to identify certain weather conditions by their visible characteristics and to relate each condition to its effect on fire behavior. Fire-fighters need to be trained in recognition of these conditions so that they can take appropriate action in fire suppression.
Broadly speaking, an air mass is either stable or unstable. In stable air, vertical motion is suppressed mainly because the underlying air is relatively cooler and heavier whereas overlying air is relatively warmer and lighter. The temperature decreases no more than 5° F. for each 1,000 feet (4.7° C per, 500 m.) increase in elevation. Indicators of stable air include clouds of stratus or stratified type showing no vertical motion; surface wind is steady or calm, smoke tends to lie in layers with visibility poor in the lower layers A special form of stability is inversion, in which temperature increases with height and which is identified by flat tops of clouds or fog layers at the height at which cumulus clouds cease to rise and a rising smoke column levels off. Such conditions tend to weaken the lower layer draughts into and above a fire and thus reduce the fire intensity and "spotting" potential.
Unstable air has greater decrease in temperature with increasing height (5½° F. or more per 1,000 feet or 1° C per 100 m.), vertical motions are accelerated, and upward and downward currents develop. The main indicators are erratic surface winds with gusts and lulls, and variation in direction and turbulence above the surface layers. Clouds are of the cumulus type with pronounced vertical dimension and restricted horizontal dimension. Smoke, dust arid haze are dispersed by air movement and visibility is generally good. Instability affects spreading by gusts, rapidly rising columns of smoke, stronger indraught at the base of the fire, hotter burning fire, and a greater tendency for fires to spot.
More specific phenomena of instability described in Fire Control Notes include:
1. turbulence, marked by irregularity of air motion, bumpy air for aircraft, and gusty wind at the ground;2. gustiness, with surface winds varying rapidly in both vertical and horizontal speed and direction. Fires spread spasmodically in unpredictable directions and fluctuate rapidly in intensity and rate of spread;
3. convection, rapidly rising warm air and descending cool air currents. The more intense and convective circulation, the hotter and faster the fire will burn and the higher burning material will be carried;
4. thundersqualls, that is, sudden winds blowing outward from beneath a thunderstorm and which may extend for a mile or more ahead of the storm's edge before rain arrives.
5. whirlwinds, usually associated with extremely unstable air such as may be due to a fire itself. The lesser type of whirlwind, dust whirls, though small in diameter, can throw small debris for some distance in addition to intensifying the fire and its spread as they pass. The larger fire whirlwind is due to the fire itself and has both horizontal and strong vertical components and is thus very liable to spread a fire to considerable distances;
6. the fire storm, a violent convection caused by a large, continuous area of intense fire comparable to the fire storm created by bombing raids from aircraft. Surface draughts into the base of the fire may be destructive and violent for several hundred yards outside the fire and may lift burning material several miles high.
Venezuela
· Since 1947, the Government has been actively concerned with soil conservation in the basin (watershed) of the river Tacagua, west of Caracas, a valley linking the capital with the coast and constituting its principal route of access. Formerly forested, the area has suffered from shifting cultivation, overcutting (fuelwood and charcoal found a ready market in Caracas) and from goats. By 1946, erosion had reached disastrous proportions and virtually all wildlife, particularly birds, had been exterminated by hunting with a consequent increase of harmful insects. Investigations showed that the population responsible for the deterioration of the area consisted only of 77 families, by this time eking out a precarious livelihood, while the number of goats was estimated to be about 14,850 of which 7,370 were located actually in the Tacagua basin. Vegetation approximated to a desert flora, with only traces of the former dry type forests.
No rehabilitation was possible without strict control of goat grazing which provided virtually the sole livelihood of the indigenous population. The task of control was undertaken by the Forest Service. In July 1948 a regulation was issued forbidding uncontrolled goat grazing in the Federal District on land having a gradient of more than 15°, and permitting its practice elsewhere only under the authorization of a qualified official. The sale of goats was organized by the Forest Service, and by 1950 the goat population had been reduced by 6,521 in the Tacagua basin and by 9,604 in the rest of the Federal District.
Only two families could be persuaded to leave the area for more favorable living conditions elsewhere the rest stayed, most of them to work under the Forest Service. Fuel oil was supplied at a special rate to the families, and the cutting of wood for fuel strictly prohibited.
Research on the best rehabilitation methods was carried out, three experimental areas being established the first for artificial reforestation, the second for natural regeneration and the third for special experimental planting.
Experience on the second area showed that the elimination of goats alone was sufficient to secure a relatively swift recovery of the natural vegetation.
The effects of the measures taken soon began to be felt, and by 1952 water courses were again filled with water throughout the year and were becoming restocked with fish, whilst wildlife, under strict protective measures against hunting, was being re-established.
Germany
· The application of aerial photography to German forestry was discussed at a meeting of foresters at Tubingen in April this year. An interesting demonstration was also given of the projection of aerial photographs by means of polarized light so that the stereopicture may be studied by several persons simultaneously. This method seems to offer excellent possibilities for demonstrations and educational purposes.
The system of survey used in the Länder of Württemberg deserves notice. In 1953, the use of the modern Eagle camera (size 22.5 x 22.5 cm f = 30.5 cm) was introduced; the photograph scale is about 1:10,000. The fairly large focal distance has the advantage that errors due to height differences in the field are less troublesome for the mapping method used.
The number of photographs per Forest Division amounts to an average of 80. More than half of all Divisions in Württemberg are now covered by aerial photographs. The inventory method is to project the photo image on a table top, the height and slope of which may be regulated. The photograph, enlarged four times, is projected on to the existing cadastral map 1:2,500, which is very reliable. By adjusting the table top, the forest boundaries can be made to coincide with the corresponding boundaries on the map. Any differences in scale and errors caused by tilt are sufficiently eliminated, whilst it is further possible that errors due to parallax differences are greatly reduced by continuously adjusting on a certain subdivision boundary, thus covering only a very limited part of the photograph. For areas where differences in altitudinal height are small and for which good detailed maps are available, this method may prove very serviceable.
For the identification of tree species, especially of broadleaved trees, flights in summer are best. Experience has shown that interpretation is easiest when photos are taken at the sun's maximum altitude, i. e. higher than 45°, because then the shadow parts are smallest. This means that the best time for' flights is in midsummer (June-July) between 10-14 hours.
The costs of air survey are about 6 cents per acre, which, in proportion to the total cost of survey work in Württemberg (about $2-$3 per acre or $6-$7 per a.) is practically negligible.
Surinam
· Air survey work in Surinam disclosed a close correlation between vegetation and topography. For the flat and nearly flat country it was impossible to draw a good topographical map from the aerial pictures without a thorough knowledge of the vegetation cover. In hilly and mountainous regions it was in general easier, but even here it was necessary to know something of the vegetation for the proper discernment of topographical detail. Since Surinam is almost entirely covered with tropical forest, it was necessary to make a thorough study of the forest. This work was undertaken between 1949-1953 and entailed extensive traveling, checking the aerial pictures and detailed sampling of the forest, so far as was practicable.
The results of the work are dealt with in a bulletin entitled Vegetation and aerial survey in Surinam by a specialist who is now with the FAO forestry mission to the Amazon.
From studying the vegetation on the ground it was possible to correlate it with six primary regions:
1. salt or brackish water swamps (mangrove forest etc.);2. swamp areas (water-logged the year round);
3. areas temporarily flooded, mostly along rivers and creeks;
4. savannas - divided into sandy and clay savannas;
5. dry country - classified as sandy, clay or stony areas;
6. areas occupied or formerly occupied by man. In some instances former occupation may date back as far as two hundred years. These areas are generally covered by secondary forest.
Some 900,000 hectares of forest were sampled, mostly dryland forest. The important timber-bearing forest types have been segregated into two major associations:
(a) Eschweilera - Dicorynia association;
(b) Eperua - Eschweilera -Dicorynia association.
These are each subdivided into recognizable consociations, each characterized by the identity of the dominants, there being 5 and 7 consociations in the two associations respectively. There are 12 dominant and co-dominant species.
It has been said that tropical rain-forest can change totally in the course of one tree age. If this were so; it is possible that in 100 to 200 years all the valuable species of today could be replaced entirely. This idea is supported by the observation that no regeneration is evident in the vicinity of old dominant trees. The survey endeavored to discover if this was likely to be true over the large areas with which forest management would be concerned. In the course of random sampling, measuring all trees of 10 inch (25 cm.) DBH (diameter at breast height) and up, trees which stood with crowns free above their associates were separately recorded, this in feet automatically dividing the data for the upper horizon of the forest into two stories - an upper and an under-storey. This showed that there were two groups among the dominants and co-dominants, each of which lives in its own milieu. The group Eschweilera longipes, Eschweilera corrugata, Tetragastris sp., Eperua falcata and Schwartzia spp. are from the under-story group, and the other dominants distinctively from the upper-storey group of this kind of forest. These two groups cannot replace each other.
Additional information was gathered relative to the three most valuable species - Dicorynia paraensis Goupia glabra, Ocotea rubra. It was found that, of a total of 2,892 trees of Dicorynia paraensis measured 743 were in the 10 to 14 inch (25-36 cm.) diameter class: in the case of Goupia glabra 334 of the total of 1,935, and for Ocotea rubra 90 of the overall total of 595. These trees are the strong young trees which have a good chance to grow fully in the upper-storey. There was no evidence to establish definitely that these numbers were sufficient to maintain a desirable percentage of these three species in this kind of forest, but it was concluded that this number 3 of young trees is in fact sufficient.
3 Life magazine carried in its issue of 18 October 1954 an interesting Popular and illustrated article, "The Tropical Rain Forest", in its series "The World Around Us".
Canada
· Forest management licenses granted by the Provincial Government to three of the largest operators in British Columbia carry the obligation to build not only logging roads through the sections of State forest land in the southwest area of Vancouver Island covered by the licences, but also modern paved highways fully available to the public and designed to link up with, and form part of, the provincial highways system. This is the first time in the five years that the present system of forest management has been in operation, that a compulsory road building clause has been written into the terms of a forest management licence.
Norway
· It is reported that the Ministry of Agriculture, in co-operation with provincial heads of forest administration and aided by funds from the United States Foreign Operations Administration, is planning 120 demonstration forests throughout the country. Designed to demonstrate the advantages of systematic forest management and mechanized operations, the project is aimed primarily at farmer-owned woodlands covering from 20 to 200 hectares. Norwegian authorities expected some 30 demonstration areas to be started this year.
United States of America
· Tests of a tractor-mounted chipper for slash disposal on the Sierra National Forest are reported to have given good results at a cost comparable to hand methods.
The chipper used has a 11½ - inch (29 cm.) diameter head with four 15-inch (38 cm.) cutters turning at 1,800 to 2,000 rpm. The maximum knife setting is 3/8 inch (1 cm.). The chipper weighs a total of 1000 pounds (450 kg.). Material up to 14½ inches (37 cm.) wide or 6 to 8 inches (1520 cm.) in diameter can be chipped by the unit. It is mounted on the rear of an International TD-14 tractor and driven from the tractor's power take-off by six V-belts, which raise the drive rpm. from 1,400 to 2,200. The tractor has a bulldozer. The chipper is fed from the tractor side by a chute, which is elevated to give a down slope into the chipper of 10 degrees. A rotable deflector on the discharge chute permits the spreading of the chips over a range of 180 degrees behind the tractor.
The work was done on skid trails ridge tops and along roads of a logging operation in mixed coniferous forest between 5,500 and 6,500 feet (1,680 and 1,840 m.) elevation.
Slash disposal, soil stabilization and cross drainage for roads and skid roads were accomplished at one time. Three of the 5-man crew cut material to 6-foot (1.8 m.) lengths in 10-foot (3 m.) strips along each side of the treated area. One man fed the chipper and one operated the tractor. As the tractor went up the skid trail, the material on one side was treated. On the return trip down the road the other side was treated and the bulldozer was used to construct cross drains.
From 6 to 10 percent of the area was given this treatment for slash disposal and erosion control, a layer of chips, from one to two inches (2.5-5 cm.) thick, covers the treated area. The technique has the following advantages:
1. it speeds decay of material and subsequently results in more fertile soil;2. both soil creep and waterborne soil movement are retarded;
3. a higher surface soil moisture content is maintained throughout the summer, and conifer seedlings have improved chance of survival;
4. it is thought that this higher moisture content will lessen the chance of fire;
5. it is hoped greatly to reduce the fire hazard and hindrances to fire control measures which are ordinarily characteristic of cutover lands.
The cost for the slash disposal and soil stabilization on the 41-acre (17 ha.) experimental area amounted to $32.71 per acre ($80.83 per ha.); ditching of the skid trails and roads $0.09 per thousand feet, total cost was $34.93 per acre ($86 per ha.). Costs using hand methods are $32.84 per acre ($81.15).
Liberia
· The Government is reported to have awarded an 80-year concession covering over 100,000 hectares of forest to a German firm. The contract permits use of all available forest products within the concession area. Apparently, among other projects, the firm will build a wood pulp and chipboard mill. Inaccessibility, as reported in Unasylva, Vol. VI, No. 3, has always been a great obstruction to the development of Liberia's forests.
Swaziland
· Over 100,000 acres (400,000 ha.) of forest land in the Usutu area of Swaziland were purchased by the British Colonial Development Corporation in 1949. Around 80 percent of this area was considered suitable for planting with Pinus patula, caribaea, taeda, and pseudostrobus, with a view to pulpwood production in from 10 to 16 years, and saw timber later. By the end of 1963, nearly half the total area available had been planted and, despite rising wages and prices, the program was still within the original cost estimates. Apart from some minor damage by hail, the condition and growth of trees was satisfactory. More than 37 miles (60 km.) of roads were completed in 1963, making 139 miles (264 km.) in all.
Preliminary discussions have been held with commercial interests with a view to participation in management, and in 1964 an expert mission was to draw up detailed plans for the investment required. It is thought that this huge forest, with its good water supply and a promised railway link, could become the site of the first integrated forest industry to be established in Africa, combining low cost pulp and paper manufacture with sawn wood, and at a later date wood chemicals as well.
United Kingdom
· The Minister of Agriculture and the Secretary of State for Scotland have appointed a Departmental Committee with the following terms of reference:
" With the object of promoting confidence and stability, and bearing in mind both the output from Forestry Commission woodlands and the need to develop markets, to consider what measures might be taken within the home timber industry to improve the arrangements for marketing produce from privately owned woodlands; and to report."
Canada
· In 1961, a program of fundamental sawmill research was begun by the Federal Forest Products Laboratories Division, involving establishment of an operational-sized mill equipped with specially designed recording and measuring devices in order to study such matters as:
(a) specific gravity of the wood being sawn and power requirements of the headsaw;
(b) depth of out and power requirements;
(c) bite per tooth and power requirements.
Since 6,000 of the 7,000 odd sawmills in Canada are of the circular headrig type, the initial work dealt with this type of mill. Research in this field in other countries has been mainly on a laboratory scale, and thus the Canadian enterprise was breaking new ground.
Horse-power requirement bears a positive linear relationship to specific gravity both within and between the species tested. The actual values derived are materially greater than those reported from other studies ranging from 66 h.p. at headsaw for a 0.38 gravity to 110 h.p. at 0.66 gravity.
The effect of increasing depth of out is to increase power requirements proportionally, the actual requirements again exceeding those found in other studies and ranging from 21 h.p. at headsaw for 4 inch (10 cm.); depth of cut to 77 h.p. for 12 inch (30 cm.) depth of cut.
Varying the bite within given saw speeds changes power requirements proportionally, the rate of change being much more rapid at faster saw speeds and the effect of specific gravity also being more severe at higher saw speeds. Again power requirements were greater than in other studies.
Future work involves determination of the optimum relationship between saw swage and gauge, the effect of tooth sharpness on power requirements, the effect of tooth hook angle, clearance angle, and gullet capacity on power requirements and the effect of the number of teeth on power requirements. In addition, tests are now under way to compare the operation of a chrome-plated circular saw to that of similar saws of conventional design. A comparison is also being made between three types of teeth - hollow ground, diamond, and flat - and conventional teeth.
Additional equipment, particularly a log turner, utilizing carriage movement as motive power, is being designed for the research sawmill. The long-term aim of the project is to provide a sound basis for improving design and operation of sawmill machinery in the interests of higher recovery of useful material.
Ceylon
· A FAO Technical Assistance Officer writes: "It has been standard practice to use imported teak of random widths as flooring boards. As a result of the efforts of the Forest Department a local timber is now gaining popularity and we have supplied a number of sample quantities of strip flooring, kiln dried to 12 percent, with a "secret nail" joint. The floor of the new saw doctor's shop was laid in this manner and it is mainly as a result of its success that the popularity of strip flooring is gaining. One of the reasons for random width flooring being used was the saving of time in the laying operation i. e. a larger area being covered by each wide board. However, it has now been proved that the yield of strip flooring per log is greatly in excess of wider boards and this easily offsets the extra cost of laying strips. The two further advantages are the absence of shrinking on a strip floor and with secret nailing, the absence of nail holes. There is also a considerable advantage in the appearance of the finish. The timber used is Hora (Dipterocarpus zeylanicus).
Sweden
· A correspondent indicates that the findings of Dr. Paul Lange, of Stockholm University in a doctoral thesis presented recently, are expected to become of great value to research in wood chemistry.
Dr. Lange's subject was the distribution of cellulose; hemi-cellulose and lignin within wood cells. He found that the lignin content of the wood cells, which he likens to small tubes with closed ends having a wall thickness of a few thousandths of a millimeter, is stored principally in the outer portion of the cellular wall. Acting as a glue, binding the cells to each other, it gives the wood part of its typical mechanical properties. The cellulose proper is contained in the inner wall of the small tubes, while the hemi-cellulose, so important for paper making, is concentrated in the outer part of the tube.
This research into the micro-elements of wood has necessitated the use of advanced micro-optical methods, the particles analysed being in certain oases no bigger than a millionth - gamma (gamma in turn being a millionth of a gram). The findings are expected to become of great value to research into the diffusion and penetration processes which take place in the fiber, wall when wood is subjected to chemical processes in pulp making.
United Kingdom
· One of the most important developments in the technique of furniture manufacture during recent years has been the introduction of synthetic resin adhesives. Within a few years, these have been widely adopted, although the traditional animal glues are still popular. Perhaps the main reason for the success of synthetic adhesives has been the feet that, by the application of heat, their setting times can be very considerably reduced.
Of the methods of applying heat some of the more convenient and less expensive methods are based on the use of electrical resistance heating. These methods are the subject of a report published by the Furniture Development Council. Four methods in which the electricity supply is used at the original mains voltage, involve the use of rubber sheets in which resistance wires are embedded, cylindrical heating elements, glass mats into which the heating wires have been woven, and cauls made by the user from resistance wire and resin impregnated paper.
In the other methods the mains current is passed through a transformer, so that only low voltages are applied to the heating elements. These are generally metal strips, but the process has been developed so that larger areas can be heated by means of metal sheets. In the last method described, resistance wires are inserted in the glueline itself.
With the exception of this last method, the heat is applied to the surface of the wood and therefore these techniques are particularly suitable for work where the glueline is fairly close to the surface, such as veneering. In such eases very short setting times can be achieved.
United States of America
· A new $3 million wood products laboratory building at the State University of New York College of Forestry will house the forest utilization wood technology, and forest chemistry departments.
The College envisages the new laboratory as an aid to its three functions of academic education, public education, and research. New semi-commercial and commercial equipment will better prepare students for professional work.
Several new pieces of machinery and apparatus will be installed in the new laboratory. In the veneer and plywood laboratory there will be a lathe with a 54-inch (136 cm.) knife and 36-inch (90 cm.) swing which will handle bolts of a minimum length of 16 inches (40 cm.). It will be possible to produce veneers of 20 different thicknesses. A wet veneer clipper with a knife operating; at 250 strokes a minute will be controlled by push buttons. A new veneer clipper attachment, dryer, and splicer, together with a glue mixer and spreader and a plywood press, will also be included,
A 400,000-pound (174,000 kg). Universal testing machine will be a feature of the mechanics and physics laboratory. The machine is a new development in wood testing and still in the design stage. A stress-strain recorder on the machine will be operated electronically.
The research surfacer in the woodworking laboratory will have a feed of 20 to 60 feet (6-18 m.) per minute. Its cutting speed will be 1,000-20,000 rpm. With mounted tachometers, the research jointer and table saw will be able to handle stock at speeds varying between 1,000 and 20,000 rpm.
A wood preservation laboratory will include five impregnating cylinders, vacuum pumps, five 1,000-gallon (3,800 liter) storage tanks, and a 1,500-gallon (5,000 liter) sump tank. There will be five dry kilns with gas and steam heating. Three rooms will be provided for testing plywood, preservatives, and moisture. There will also be five temperature and humidity control rooms.
The timber preparation laboratory will house a sawmill and associated equipment. Four more rooms will be devoted to the wood finishing processes. They will provide space for the mixing of various finishing materials, for application of the finishes, and for their drying and testing.
Facilities on the first floor will be provided for research and instruction in the fields of plastics and paper coating. The second floor will house a physical and analytical chemistry laboratory, a wood chemistry laboratory, two conference and library rooms, faculty and graduate offices a viscose preparation laboratory, a temperature control room, a cellulose laboratory, an inoculation room, and a laboratory equipped with an X-ray machine and a mass spectrometer.
· The Bell Telephone System has in use about 20 million wood poles to carry its wires and cables, and thus is vitally interested in preservative treatment. Because of size requirements, several western species - western cedar, Douglas fir, lodge-pole pine and western larch - are used extensively to supplement the southern pine poles.
At the laboratories, tests are made by the soil-block method, and these are supplemented by test plot experiments with · inch (1.9 cm.) small stakes, with tests of pole-size specimens and, in the field, test lines have been selected for long-term observation - that is, experience and service tests. A comprehensive analysis of results has been issued, involving not only the company's own work but also analysis and evaluation of the large technical literature existing in the field from both North America and Europe. Comparisons are not easy because there are as yet no generally accepted and fully standardized methods for making the various tests; the publication in question describes the methods and standards used in the company's laboratories.
The major conclusions are:
1. The soil-block technique incorporating a weathering procedure is a practical, rapid method of test, and the results obtained are in general agreement with stake and post tests for identical or similar preservatives. Thus a creosote retention at treatment of 9-10 pounds per cubic foot (160 kg. per m³) is required for permanent preservation in test blocks, in ¾ inch (1.9 cm.) stakes and in the outer one inch of test posts.2. The good reputation of well-creosoted material is confirmed and causes of failure and remedies have been identified.
3. Block tests may be used immediately to establish the required amounts of preservative distribution in the wood.
4. Soil block results with creosote compared to results of European agar-block tests show the latter to be far below the actual requirements in treated wood. An international attempt to study and harmonize the results from the different techniques seems desirable.
5. The laboratories' controlled weathering procedure provides a means of determining effective retentions for both oil-type and salt-type preservatives.
6. The tests explain and confirm the results of actual experience.
Bolivia
· A Forest Service was created by law on 1 February 1954. The new Forest Service under a Director-General is attached to the Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Colonización. It will be responsible for carrying out a national inventory of forests and other renewable resources including grazing lands; for the creation and classification of forest reserves; for the technical and economic control of forest extraction, afforestation and reforestation (particularly on eroded land), for the conservation improvement and economic utilization of the soil; and for the protection of wildlife and the control of hunting.
This law also declares all existing natural forests of economic climatic edaphic, hydrologic or military importance to be "instruments of national defense", and places under the forestry administration all land with forests and natural pastures owned by the State, or by universities, counties, townships, associations and go-operatives, areas glassed primarily as forest, regardless of ownership, and lastly, land unsuited to agriculture for reasons of geographic location or soil characteristics.
Brazil
· A law passed in January in the State of São Paulo represents an interesting experiment in legislation aimed at encouraging the afforestation of uncultivated land and the care of forests under private ownership.
With some exceptions, land tax will be increased from 60 to 100 percent for all landowners from 1966 to 1984. However, landowners will be exempt from this increase if they can prove that their land is satisfactorily maintained under forest either naturally or artificially, or that afforestation measures are being taken effecting '10 percent of the area from 1966 to 1969, 20 percent from 1960 to 1964 and 30 percent from 1964 onwards, and provided that these measures are undertaken without assistance from the State. In the case of properties of less than 60 hectares, all plantations of fruit trees and ornamental trees are to be counted in the forested area, and properties of less than 10 hectares are exempt from the increase on condition that one-fifth of the area is planted with trees, even if only with orchards or row plantations.
The funds derived from this tax increase will be added to the State budget devoted annually to forest protection and research, and to the production of forest seeds and plants for rural landowners.
Costa Rica
· A mission appointed by FAO to study forest development, at the request of the Committee on Economic Co-operation of the Ministers of Economy of the Central American isthmus, reports that forest reservation should be a major concern of the government.
"In a country like Costa Rica, with rapid streams and a heavy rainfall in most sections, the protection of watersheds is necessary for present- or potential waterpower developments, and consequently many headwater areas should be kept permanently under forest even if the soil is suitable for farming. Usually there is strong public pressure for land to be classified as agricultural; it is necessary to look beyond this demand of the moment, weigh future benefits against present gains, and base decisions on the type of use that will in the long run be of most benefit to the country".
This should form the basis of forest policy in Costa Rica. Moreover there is another reason why forest reservation is important. One of the Inter-American Highway's greatest assets will be its scenic and recreation value. The exploitation of the forests along this highway in Costa Rica, as is now going to happen with the magnificent oak forests, will mean a tremendous loss to Costa Rica. Parts of these oak forests should in any case be preserved in their original state for scientific reasons, because Quercus copeyensis is a very rare species and grows to greater dimensions than probably any other oak in the world.
Greece
· The following important amendments were introduced into the Forestry Code of Greece by a law promulgated in August, 1964:
1. The Minister of Agriculture, by agreement with the Technical Forestry Council, has been given the power to compel forest landowners having more than 8,000 hectares, either individuals or collective owners, to employ a trained forester. Suitable foresters can be recommended by the Minister but the choice of appointment is left to the landowners.2. The development of State forests where exploitation was difficult owing to lack of communications, or where there were no local industries capable of absorbing the timber output, was previously almost impossible due to the rules limiting the grant of felling concessions to one year only. The new law provides that concessions in such forests may extend over several years, up to a limit of five years. This limit may even be raised to ten years in the case of certain industries requiring much capital investment.
3. Royalty rates payable on products from the concession will be subject to revision every two years on the basis of the price index published by the Bank of Greece.
4. Where the annual output exceeds 4,000 cubic meters of industrial wood, an operator is obliged to employ a forester to supervise extraction. If necessary, the appointment will be made by the Minister of Agriculture.
Regulations also cover oases where the produce from State forests, worked by State employees, is sold to contractors. Contracts of this nature can be repudiated by the State without compensation to the other party, subject to the approval of the Minister of Agriculture. and the agreement of the Technical Forestry Council in oases, for instance, where:
(a) the estimates on which forest exploitation is based have proved inaccurate.(b) attacks by insects or fungi, damage by fire or other causes necessitate special measures in the forest area concerned.
Jordan
· The Official Gazette of Jordan for 2 May 1963 publishes a law which gives the Ministry of Agriculture. and the Forest Service the task of delimiting land on the territory of at least three villages in every province which shall be compulsorily planted with fruit trees on a third of the area and with forest species on the other two-thirds. Plants will be supplied at half-price by the Ministry of Agriculture. the other half of the cost to be reimbursed by the landowner in five annual instalments. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture. and the Forest Service will give instruction in planting methods and care of the trees, and plantations will be put under the surveillance of village guards, one of whom is to be paid by the Ministry of Agriculture. on a full-time basis.
Awards will be made each year to the most successful planters, but the law also provides for the application of a 1937 law for the protection of agricultural and forest lands in the case of losses - suffered by planters, and for a severe penalty if the damage is proved to be due to the negligence of the owner.
Philippines
· A FAO Technical Assistance Officer writes that a factor contributing heavily to deforestation is the practice of kaiñgin (land clearing and temporary farming) on lands too steep for farming and soils not suitable for growing cultivated crops. This is an ingrained habit of many of the local farmers that cannot be stopped by prohibitory laws and police action where the local population in general is indifferent. The Bureau of Forestry is now conducting an intensive campaign of land classification to determine what lands under its control are suitable for farming and are releasing such lands for that purpose. In this way, some of the land hunger may be appeased legally. At the same time they are indicating the lands that should be retained permanently under forest and are increasing their efforts to remove and prosecute trespassers on such lands. The local forest officers are not. sufficient in number or well enough equipped to cope with their problems adequately but they are doing what they can to educate local populations as to the importance of good forest practice and to bring it about gradually by regulations, persuasion, and prosecution.
At the present time, it appears that the forests being cut faster than they are reproducing and the trend must be stopped as soon as possible if the country is to remain self-sufficient in forest products and have a surplus for export. It appears also that too much of the forest products sent to other countries is exported in the form of high grade logs. The Philippine national economy is thus losing the value of the jobs that would result from manufacturing these logs into finished products in the Philippines. Many factors beyond the field of forestry and forest products research are responsible for this situation but there is in it a challenge to forest products research.
Spain
· As a measure to control excessive planting of fast-growing forest species on private land which could otherwise be given over to agriculture, the Government has decreed that in the provinces of Navarra, Guipuzcoa, Biscaya, Santander and Asturia an authorization must first be obtained before establishing plantations of Pinus pinaster, P. insignis, Eucalyptus, Acacia and poplar on private land. Requests to establish plantations of these species are examined by the provincial forestry and agricultural authorities and, in the event of disagreement, submitted to their respective ministries for a decision. Where a request is refused, the land must be put to cultivation according to the provisions of a law published in 1940. In irrigated areas where it is desired to encourage settlement plantations of fast-growing species may be established on land not suited to agricultural purposes, or on an area not exceeding 5 percent of the total land area of any particular property, or as hedges and shelterbelts.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
· At its session in September 1953 the Central Committee of the Communist Party adopted certain resolutions for a large-scale increase, over the next two or three years, of supplies of materials, including timber, for light industry, the food industry and for the needs of the Kolkhoz (collective farms).
Several million hectares of forest have been given over to the collective farms for their permanent use. Lesnoe Hozjaistvo reports that, although this area was estimated to be capable of producing 43.2 million cubic meters of wood by 1964, actual production in 1952 was only 6 million cubic meters because, while there is certainly overcutting on some collective farms, on others, notably in the east and in Siberia, many over-mature stands are left untouched. Supervision of forest exploitation is therefore imperative.
Rational exploitation of "Category I" forests (those classified for protective, recreational and aesthetic purposes) would increase annual production, and at little cost. In January 1962, the extent of such forests amounted to 36.3 million hectares, with a potential 3,464 million cubic meters of timber, 60 percent composed of mature and over-mature timber. Since 1943 no major cut has been made in these forests, with consequent deterioration of the stands which no longer properly fulfil the protective role for which they were intended. In 1962, regulations were laid down for carrying out regeneration fellings. So far it would seem that cutting has been far too timid and, if it continues at the same rate, anything from 10 to 60 years will be required to clear the mature trees and secure regeneration of the forest. Here again supervision is needed.
Further improvements can also be made by:
1. increasing the quantity of cattle feed produced in State forests;2. planting in State forests to increase the volume of possible annual cut, particularly of small wood which can be used by the collective farms;
3. establishment of protection plantations on the collective farms themselves which could after a decade or so, make an important contribution to timber supplies.
FAO was represented at the recent Copenhagen Congress of the International Union for the Protection of Nature, when a message of support from the Director-General was delivered.
Protection as interpreted by the Union, and utilization as understood by FAO, have both evolved and converged towards a broader meaning of conservation - the use of natural resources in such a way as to ensure the* continuous and, where possible, improved usefulness to man.
Conservation is not just a sentimental desire and an idealistic notion. As said in a recent issue of American Forests, published by the American Forestry Association, conservation is one of the biggest stories today. "Primarily, it is a scientific story of new discovery and it calls for good reporting by good reporters... Writers who really dig into the subject will quickly learn that they have come to grips with one of the most fascinating and many-faceted subjects on earth."
For foresters, one facet is the establishment of national forest parks such as the Banff National Park in Canada, pictured in the illustration. Another is the preservation of representative tracts of virgin forest, where such still exist, for study and scientific observation. A plea that all countries should 80 preserve a portion of their heritage has recently been made by the President of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.
