A World Geography of Forest Resources. The American Geographical Society-Editors Haden-Guest, J. K. Wright, E. M. Teclaff, with 35 contributors. 736 pp. The Ronald Press Co. New York. 1956. $12.50.
This impressive volume helps to fill a long-felt need. It will for a long time constitute a necessary work of reference "providing essential information for professional workers and students in the fields of forestry, geography, conservation, and ecology". The style used, at least in the general chapters, will have special appeal to the "layman who feels concern for the present and future of the world's natural resources". Certainly the list of contributors, including as it does the names of leaders in conservation thought and in forest administration and research, will impress all readers.
The first five general chapters deal with the importance, the history, the influence of forests, the principles and practices of forestry, and the forest products industries of the world. These, with the final chapter on the outlook for the world's forests and their chief products, provide a stimulating summary of the basic elements necessary to an understanding of forest geography.
The remaining 25 chapters deal with the forest resources of the major regions of the world and the major forest countries, bringing up to date, in most eases, much of the data of Zon and Sparhawk's two-volume Forest Resources of the World, which has been a basic reference since its publication in 1923. Many of the contributors of regional and country material have documented their statistical data by citations from publications of FAO, including Unasylva, World Forest Resources, the Yearbook of Forest Products Statistical, World Pulp and Paper Resources and Prospects, and European Timber Trends and Prospects.
Critical readers may regret a certain lack of balance in the space given to various regions and countries. For instance, Ceylon gets 9 pages and Korea 12 pages, against 28 pages for the U.S.S.R. and 30 pages for the whole of South America. Nevertheless, even these critical readers will be more than favorably impressed by the outstanding chapters on Canada, the United States, Northern Europe, tropical Africa, the Philippines, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The American Geographical Society, the editors, and the authors are to be congratulated on this milestone toward greater general appreciation of the world's forestry problems. It is encouraging to see the presentation of the progress being made by foresters all over the world in meeting their responsibilities and obligations, and in making the forests under their charge contribute to an ever-increasing extent towards the needs of the people of the world.
Dendroclimatic Changes in Semiarid America. Edmund Schulman. pp. 142. University of Arizona Press. Tucson 1956. $3.00.
The research described in this interesting publication sought to discover and develop the longest possible chronologies of year-by-year rainfall and river flow variations as revealed by the annual growth-rings of the oldest suitable trees. The scientific basis of this was established by A. E. Douglas of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1919 and 1928.
Over 300,000 annual rings in selected, drought-sensitive trees from semiarid sites were analyzed to provide a basis for regional indices of fluctuations in rainfall in the upper basins of all the major streams of western United States. In most areas these indices threw light on water run-off also. Comparisons of growth fluctuations in recent decades with those of past centuries helped to identify drought periods and variations in climate.
Among the trees studied were Pinus flexilis, 2,000 years; Pinus aristata, 4,100 years; Pinus edulis, 980 years; Pinus ponderosa, 860 years; Pseudotsuga menziesii, 890 years.
Appended to the study are details of the results obtained for some 13 river basins in western North America, and in the Patagonian Andes. A most interesting description is given of a study of Pinus aristata trees in the 4,000-year age-class (older than the 3,200 + years of Sequoia gigantea, heretofore recognized as the oldest dated tree).
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FAO MEETINGS Because of unforeseen circumstances, the sessions of the Near East Forestry Commission and the Latin-American Forestry Commission, due to have been held in 1957, have had to be deferred until 1958. The fourth session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission is now scheduled to take place at Bandung, Indonesia, from 8-21 June 1957, preceded by a meeting of the Teak Subcommision, and the ninth session of the European Forestry Commission from 7-18 May at Rome. |
FAO forestry division
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OFFICE OF DIRECTOR | |
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DIRECTOR: |
Marcel Leloup |
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DEPUTY DIRECTOR: |
Egon Glesinger |
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Program Co-ordination Service |
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CHIEF: |
L. J. Vernell |
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N. de Felsovanyi |
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O. Fugalli |
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H. Recart |
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Miss G. Sporer |
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Miss B. Lindblom |
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Regional Forestry Officers | |
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ASIA AND PACIFIC (BANGKOK): |
C. S. Purkayastha |
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LATIN AMERICA (SANTIAGO): |
J. Moser |
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NEAR EAST (CAIRO): |
S. von der Recke |
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FOREST POLICY BRANCH |
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CHIEF: |
T. François |
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M. Andersen |
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R. G. Fontaine |
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L. Gimenez-Quintana |
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C. E. Holscher |
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G. G. Watterson |
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FOREST TECHNOLOGY BRANCH |
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CHIEF: |
I. T. Haig |
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Aung Din |
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P. Cochin |
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C. M. Flinta |
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E. Garnum |
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M. A. Huberman |
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J. Vinzant |
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G. S. Welsh |
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J. M. Yavorsky |
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FOREST ECONOMICS BRANCH |
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CHIEF: |
H. Tromp |
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R. C. Fortunescu |
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E. Kalkinnen |
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J. T. B. Kingston |
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J. O. Lammi |
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H. J. Reichardt |
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P. Sartorius (also Chief, FAO Forestry Working Group, Geneva) |
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J. Turbang |
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J. Westoby |
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Former Headquarters Staff Members
D. R. Cameron
W. R. Chapline
B. Clarke
A. Gordon
J. D. B. Harrison
A. Huber
J. P. Kagan
D. Y. Lin
E. Moräth
H. Scavenius
S. B. Show
T. Streyffert
T. Tarkiainen
P. Terver
S. A Vahid
