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News of the world


Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Burma
Canada
Federal Republic of Germany
Finland
Japan
Mexico
Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Union of South Africa
United States of America

Argentina

· Repoblación Forestal con Pinos y Eucalyptus en Misiones describes the results obtained by the Cellulosa Argentine Company in planting the native Araucaria angustifolia and introduced Eucalyptus and Pinus species for pulpwood in the northeastern section of Argentina.

Misiones is a subtropical territory at latitude 24°-28° S.; rains average 1,600-2,000 mm. (63-79 in.), predominant in winter; average temperature 20°C. (69°F.), with average for summer of 25°C. (73.5°F.) and winter of 15°C. (59.5°F.). The elevation ranges from 400 m. (1,300 ft.) to 1,000 m. (3,280 ft.) approximately. Eighty percent of the territory is covered by natural broadleaved forest associated with Araucaria in the northern corner as an extension of its Brazilian range. The main species planted by the Company are Araucaria angustifolia, Pinus elliottii, P. teddy, P. caribaea, P. hondurensis, P. oocarpa, P. patula, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Eucalyptus saligna and E. grandis.

The paper describes planting techniques, treatments and growth of these species. Araucaria, mostly direct seeded, produces from 16 to 26 m³ per hectare per year (230-360 cubic feet per acre per year) on a 20- to 26- year rotation. With thinnings at 8 years and every fourth year thereafter, a seven-year plantation of Eucalyptus saligna clearcut is estimated to give 170 to 210 metric tons per hectare (70 to 85 metric tons per acre); a final cut can be expected 16 to 17 years after the original plantation.

Thinnings of Araucaria plantations pay in 10 years all capitalized costs; for Eucalyptus saligna, total costs (from planting to factory pulpwood yard) are 65 percent of selling price.

The report aims at encouraging farmers to plant trees not only for pulpwood, but for other uses, such as resin. It is printed on paper containing 25 percent of pulp of Araucaria angustifolia and 35 percent of Eucalyptus, both from plantations in Misiones.

Australia

· Planting programs developed over the past 30 years have had no great concern about the wood quality of the crop. In planning far the future the opportunity exists for the growing of wood with predetermined properties, as a result of recent developments in tree-breeding research. This is the theme of an article "Desirable Trees for Paper" by two members of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, in a recent issue of Pulp and Paper International. The editor of this magazine, Mr. Wilson, on a recent visit to FAO Headquarters, drew attention to this article since FAO aims to give increasing emphasis to the whole field of forest tree breeding work.

The authors give the desired qualities of trees for paper as:

Softwoods

1. higher than average fibre length for the species;
2. in plantation-grown exotics late wood forming more than 15 percent of the growth ring, but not more than 50 percent;
3. higher than average cellulose content for the species;
4. low extractive content;
5. provided 1, 2 and 3 are satisfactory, a growth rate as rapid as the economics of plantation management will allow.

Hardwoods

1. higher than average fibre length for the species;
2. cell wall thickness such that 2w/1 < 1;
3. basic density lower than average for the species (this to be correlated with cell wall thickness);
4. high ratio of fibres to vessels, rays, and parenchyma (also associated with density);
5. low extractive content;
6. higher than average cellulose content for the species;
7. suitable hemicellulose content

The extent to which these features can be controlled genetically is still being investigated. One of the great problems is how to obtain answers in a reasonable period of time. Geneticists working with annuals have a definite chance of obtaining results quickly. With trees it is much harder and, if one had to wait until they reached maturity, progress in this line of research would be slow. However, it has been found possible to get ideas of wood quality by the examination of wood from young stems. From the data obtained a suggested order of priority can be provided on the basis of wood properties. Trees chosen as desired parents will provide material for vegetative propagation or grafting, and so progeny can be developed quickly for planting out in a seed orchard.

Brazil

· The most modern capital city of any nation in the world, built on revolutionary architectural lines, is developing in the heart of Brazil. The location was first selected around 60 years ago, the result of reasoning. Until three years ago nothing very concrete was done about it. Now the construction of Brasilia is so far advanced that there is no doubt that it will really be Brazil's new capital. With it, it is claimed, a new era in forestry in Brazil has started.

Experiments are under way to find the most successful types of trees for city avenues and parks. Many thousands of trees are ready for transplantation, mostly flamboyants, eucalyptus and various species of pines. A forest belt will be established over the catchment area of the 40 square mile (103 square kilometers) artificial lake that will almost surround the new capital: no factory, industry or any air- or water-pollution will be permitted. On the central plateau on which Brasilia is located a great afforestation program is planned in six districts. Within 30 years the entire softwood needs of the capital will be served.

In January 1959 the head of the FAO forestry mission in the Amazon region attended a ceremony when the President of Brazil supervised the felling of the last tree on the new road alignment for a federal highway between Brasilia and Belem at the mouth of the Amazon basin. The ceremony took place some 360 kilometers south of Belem. The whole road will be 2,276 kilometers in length and eventually will continue a similar distance to Porto Alegre in the far south of Brazil. Brasilia will be the point where the two roads, one from the pampas and the other from the virgin forest, meet in the hinterland. The northern road is expected to give a tremendous impulse to the development of the Amazon region.

Burma

· With the arrival of more equipment, expansion of mechanical extraction is under way to make good the deficiency in haulage power due to depleted elephant herds. The degree of mechanization recommended by FAO missions has proved its feasibility and merits, and has been justified by greater outturn and considerable reduction of the time which teak logs take in transit from stump to mills.

Along with mechanized extraction, another almost revolutionary step has been taken with the green felling of teak in middle Burma. The conventional practice is to kill the teak trees by girdling, after which they are left standing for three years to dry out and become floatable before being felled and logged. Milling of green teak is easier with less blunting effects on saws, while seasoning of the converted timber takes less time than drying out in the forest. This method of working is likely gradually to spread to all parts of Burma except in very rugged terrain with sparse stocking of teak.

Canada

· All the provincial forestry associations supported by the public have been welded into one national federation. Under the federation the provincial associations retain their autonomy, but they will direct the national association and speak with a united voice through it. The separate provincial forestry associations had grown up because of different needs; the French language in Quebec; the differing forests in British Columbia; the need for windbreaks and tree planting projects on the Prairies; and special regional needs elsewhere, including youth education.

CANADA: An impressive feature of an Electric Power Development project in Quebec is the largest woodstave pipeline in the world. Built of Douglas fir, pressure-creosoted, it is supported by steel cradles placed on concrete sills. Some 1,000 tons of steel strapping are used to bind the wood. The pipe is 5,609 feet (1,709 meters) long, has an inside diameter of 18 feet (5.49 meters) and will pass a normal flow of 2,500 cubic feet of water (71 cubic meters) per second and a maximum of 3,200 cubic feet (90 cubic meters). - Courtesy, Edmund T. Nesbitt

The Canadian Forestry Association had recognized for some time that a regrouping of the provincial forestry associations was essential if funds contributed by the public were to be employed with increasing effectiveness to educate the public about the importance of the forests. Canada is a new country and has enormous natural resources but they are not inexhaustible. The association was launched in the spring of 1900 by a small group of devoted leaders in Ottawa who were concerned primarily with prevention of the tremendous forest fires which devastated the country at that time. But public opinion on the need for preserving, improving, and managing the forests was lacking, or at best, apathetic. As the association grew in stature, it gained in financial support from individuals, business men, industry, and from the provincial and federal government departments concerned with the forests.

The association now provides information on Canada's resources through every known medium, including press, radio, magazines, bulletins, posters, lecture tours, and public addresses. It uses television and other modern means of communication. The small cash budget of the association is enormously supplemented by the amounts of contributed time, services, and materials freely given by many organizations.

Federal Republic of Germany

· Genetics and forest tree breeding are again in the news with the publication of Genetik und Zühtung der Waldbäume1 in Germany. Described as a hybrid between an introduction and a handbook, the book attempts to extract from the literature already published those elements that have an important bearing on research and application.

1 ROHMEDER, E. and SCHÖNBACH E. Genetik und Züchtung der Waldbäume, 338 pp. illus., Hamburg, Paul Parey, 1959. 38 DM.

The basis of forest genetics is presented in terms of natural variation, propagation mechanism, heredity, chromosomes, and races. Techniques of tree breeding are discussed and brief descriptions given of the status of genetics work with various genera of conifers and broadleaved trees.

The book contains valuable reference lists, general and specific, and useful author and subject indexes.

Another useful book recently published in Germany is Die Pappel: Anbau, Pflege, Verwertung,2 a practical guide to the care and management of poplars. It presents in condensed form the elements of establishing, maintaining, protecting, and utilizing poplars for local conditions in Germany.

2 Die Pappel: Anbau, Pflege, Verwertung, edited by Prof. Dr. H. Zycha with contributions by Dr. E. Röhrig, B. Rettlebach, Dr. W. Knigge. 121 pp. illus., Hamburg, Paul Parey, 1959. 14 DM.

Finland

· A major event in the forestry world was the celebration on 15 May 1959 of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Finnish State Board of Forestry. Festivities were held in several localities to mark the centenary but the most important occasion was a meeting held in the grand hall of the University of Helsinki, honoured by the presence of the President of Finland, Dr. Urho Kekkonen. Among the numerous guests every feature of Finland's life as well as many foreign countries were represented.

The Director of the Finnish State Board of Forestry, Dr. Martti Lappi-Sappälä, described the stupendous changes which had occurred in Finnish forestry over the last 100 years: "A hundred years ago hardly anybody would have imagined that the forests of Finland would become the cornerstone of the nation's economy." The Director-General of the Board, Dr. N. A. Osara, reviewed these developments statistically. During the last century annual removals of over 300,000 cubic meters were reached only in occasional years. One million cubic meters of timber was cut from the state forests for the first time in 1907. In the 1920's annual removals went beyond 4 million cubic meters and in the 1950's beyond 5 million cubic meters. Present removals are approximately 20 times as much as the average for the 19th century. The progress indicated by these figures is still more striking when one considers that the area of state forests has decreased since the second world war. The average annual cutting target for the next 10 years is 6.7 million cubic meters.

The total income of the Forestry Board comes mostly from sales of timber: it was 12.5 billion Finmarks (U.S.$39 million) in 1958, and the profit to the state was 2.7 billion Finmarks (U.S.$8.4 million).

Dr. Osara and his colleagues of the Forestry Board received many warm congratulations. At the reception in their honour were the Prime Minister of Finland and many other notables. The Director of the Forestry and Forest Products Division, Egon Glesinger, represented FAO at the celebrations.

Japan

· The Research and Extension Service Section of the Forestry Agency has a program of extension activities directed towards improving techniques and operations throughout the sawmill industry. Research towards the same end is carried out through six prefectural forest experiment stations (wood technology divisions), technical schools and some universities: bulletins and notes are published on developments and recommended practices. Training courses are arranged in saw maintainance and in the lay-out and operation of equipment.

Since the country's sawmill industry comprises about 30,000 individual sawmills, it is understandable that the extension program is not easy. Specialists in the extension service have to give technical advice to every mill and also arrange seminars for owners and managers when new ideas and methods can be inculcated. In many areas, however, sawmillers have organized themselves voluntarily into groups to help the spread of efficient techniques.

The Forestry Agency and the National Federation of Lumbermen's Associations hold a national sawmill production contest once a year in Tokyo. Representative teams from each prefecture compete in the operation of circular saws and band saws. Techniques, operational efficiency, quality of sawnwood, and conversion rate have to be demonstrated before experienced judges.

The contest is taken very seriously and without doubt contributes to improved sawmill production.

Mexico

· Interest in forestry has been making remarkable progress in recent years as shown by numerous publications by the Mexican Forest Service and by well known individuals. It will be recalled that Los Recursos Naturales de México (1956) by E. Beltrán, now Under-Secretary of Forest Resources, was the first evaluation of past work published in Mexico, and it still serves as a guide for future work. More recently, M. Hinojosa Ortiz, former Under-Secretary of Forest Resources, has published a book Los Bosques de México3 where he handles with courage the existing problems and points up earlier faults. In it he stresses the need for more emphasis to be put on training, research, and rational management.

3 HINOJOSA ORTIZ MANUEL. Los Bosques de México, Mexico D F., Instituto Mexicano de Investigaciones Economicas, 1958.

Several foresters have compiled the Monografía Forestal del Estado de Michoacán recommending silvicultural, management and protection practices to bring the pine stands up to higher productivity. This is of particular interest because of the plans which FAO hopes to carry through for a study tour on Latin-American conifers for countries interested in the introduction of these potentially important species in their national planting programs.

CHINA: The series of stamps below, the first forestry set to appear in China, was issued at the end of 1957. They all have the same value (8 yen) but have different designs serving to highlight the campaign against forest fires and the campaign to afforest bare and denuded watersheds.

INDIA: This photograph showing a windbreak of Acacia melanoxylon and Callitris rhomboidea around a tea garden, is taken from a useful bulletin on Wind Erosion, Windbreaks and Shelterbelts (Farm Bulletin No. 46) issued by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. The bulletin is one of a series issued on agricultural and animal husbandry subjects, and was written by the Chief Conservator of Forests at Himachal Pradesh, and a member of the Soil Conservation Research, Demonstration and Training Centre, Chandigarh.

Eucalypts are also receiving more attention in Mexico: many plantations have been started on a commercial basis for raw material supply for the manufacture of wood particle boards.

Experience with eucalypts in Latin America will be brought to the fore at the second World Eucalyptus Conference which FAO expects to organize in Brazil in 1961. This will mark another phase in FAO's continuing program to promote interest in eucalypts that started with the Australian Study Tour of 1952 and was highlighted again by the World Eucalyptus Conference held at Rome in 1957.

Sudan

· An FAO technical assistance officer, D. A. Francis, writing of air surveys made early this year in Equatoria by the Survey Department's aircraft, reports that despite often adverse weather conditions it was possible to photograph the priority areas previously selected towards the Uganda border. By alternating the aircrews, the aircraft flew practically every day. The crews worked on the principle of going to have a look at the area from above and not relying on local weather reports. Often an area might be clear for about an hour between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. but not otherwise, and advantage could immediately be taken to take photographs.

In the Imatongs mountains, the aerial view served to emphasize what had already been appreciated on the ground, namely the severe topography even in the upper regions. There is considerable dense forest but much of it is on steep slopes and in deeply dissected areas where extraction will be difficult.

In discussing the photographic and forest inventory program with government officials, the way in which aerial photography could assist in selecting areas for forest reservation has been stressed. A round table conference of all the interested parties (agriculture, land use, veterinary and game preservation) under an independent Chairman has been suggested to deal with the arguments so often put forward that the forests contain land suitable for agriculture and should not therefore be reserved. It has to be pointed out that there is probably not one single forest reserve in the whole of Africa in which some area suitable for an agricultural crop could not be found.

Field survey work is not without its excitements in the south of the Sudan. Herds of elephant and buffalo are met crossing the traces which have been cut through the forest. The technical assistance officer writes: "The ultimate was reached in a game reserve last Sunday when an accompanying game scout (one is only allowed in on foot and with a game scout) proceeded effectively to drive off an inquisitive rhinoceros by throwing stones at it."

Sweden

· With the world's growing population, interest is increasingly focused on the resources that in the near or more distant future will be available for this population. One of the most important resources is the world's forest area.

A comprehensive study entitled World Timber, Trends and Prospects4 has been published in Sweden, and it attempts a forecast of future supply and demand of timber for various purposes on a world-wide scale. It is founded on a thorough analysis of trends in production and consumption and in trade in forest products and draws on the author's long acquaintance with the principal forest regions and markets for forest products.

4 STREYFFERT THORSTEN, World Timber, Trends and Prospects, Royal School of Forestry, Stockholm. pp. 246, Sw.kr. 40. 1957.

The author, Professor Thorsten Streyffert, rector (dean) of the Royal School of Forestry at Stockholm, has of course an international reputation in forestry, and his book demands close study. FAO has often benefited from his great experience and knowledge, and his findings in this book will be of considerable value in relation to the phased series of detailed regional" timber trends studies,' on which FAO is presently engaged and which it hopes to bring to a conclusion in a few years with a general world picture.

· A commentary on the paper on the use of insecticides appearing earlier in this issue, is expressed by news from Sweden. New methods for fighting insects have to be resorted to as breeds resistant to DDT, hexachlorine and other chemical agents develop. In agricultural areas, where these chemicals have been used in abundance, the situation is already alarming and, when forest insects begin to become resistant, great danger lies ahead.

Swedish scientists have engaged a new ally, small pathogen micro-organisms, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi. The Swedish Forest Research Institute has received a substantial grant from the Swedish Wallenberg Foundation to speed up research. The aim is to develop viruses which attack one type of insect only, so that a campaign can be launched against whichever kind is most injurious at a given time and place. The goal is developing virus types that are 90 to 95 percent active. Extremely small quantities of virus are required to immunize large districts. The virus content of five infected insects is said to be enough for spraying five acres.

Switzerland

· A collection of technical papers contributed by friends, colleagues and co-workers drawn from several countries of Europe, from the United States of America, South Africa and Indonesia, are contained in Fest-schrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstag published as a tribute of esteem to mark the 70th birthday of Dr. Hans Burger, former Director of the Swiss Federal Forest Research Institute and ax-President of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.

The contributions range from general papers to detailed reports of the results of research on specific facets of the problem of the interrelationship of forest cover with water and soil. This is a subject which has perhaps been closest to Dr. Burger's heart, for, although his interests in forest research are wide, the water regime aspects of forest influences have long been his speciality. He undertook exhaustive experiments in soil physics, measurement of silt-carrying capacity, and critical examination of methods of obtaining climatic data. He recognized the limited validity of certain research results and caused parallel experiments to be carried out under oompletely different conditions.

Shortly before Dr. Burger reached the age of retirement, two new gauging stations were inaugurated in the Flysch district of the canton of Fribourg. These important research stations, established to determine the relationship between afforestation and streamflow, can be regarded as practical achievements crowning Burger's activities in this field of research.

United Kingdom

· The first mill in the world to employ a continuous pulping process using a variety of hardwoods, continues to operate successfully. Opened in October 1958 with an initial production of 50 tons of bleached pulp daily, the mill employs the neutral sodium sulphite process and is automatic in operation, control being exercised by one man from a central instrument panel.

The Forestry Commission took the initiative in arranging a joint investigation with the industrial group concerned to discover whether hardwood thinnings could be used to produce wood pulp for paper making. The result of this investigation proved that sufficient wood was available and that a speciality bleached pulp, to blend with other raw materials, could be produced.

The pulpwood used at the mill must conform to a set specification otherwise it cannot be barked or chipped successfully. In the main, sound hardwood of at least 13 different species can be used, provided billets are out into 4-foot lengths, are between 3 ½ inches and 12 inches in diameter, and are reasonably straight and not forked.

The species of trees most suitable for the production of bleached hardwood pulp are oak, ash, birch, beech, alder, elm, sweet chestnut, sycamore, lime, poplar, willow, hazel and maple.

· The preface to Forest Machinery,5 recently published, explains that mechanization in the forest has reached a new level of importance which is not yet catered for in the technical literature on forestry. This compact book is designed to help fill the gap. It confines itself to a general description of the varied machines and equipment used in all branches of forestry and does not attempt to give constructional details nor to cover all models and types.

5 HUGGARD, E.R. and 0wen, T.H. Forest Machinery, 192 pp. illus., A and C. Black Ltd., London, 24s. 1959.

After dealing with the economic considerations determining the adoption of mechanization, the authors discuss the principles governing the application and operation of machinery, and then go on to deal in turn with nursery equipment, machines for land preparation and forest establishment, road construction plant, equipment for felling and rough conversion, extraction, ancillary machinery, and equipment used in forest protection.

IRAN: A note was included in Unasylva Volume 12, Number 3 on the Lowe demonstration forest area in north Iran. Mr. H. A. M. Gläser, who has been technical assistance officer in charge of the project, sends these further photographs of a compartment where regeneration fellings are being carried out.

IRAN: A note was included in Unasylva Volume 12, Number 3 on the Lowe demonstration forest area in north Iran. Mr. H. A. M. Gläser, who has been technical assistance officer in charge of the project, sends these further photographs of construction of a bridge for the access road over a torrent-type stream.

THREE STAMPS OF INTEREST TO FORESTERS: The Federal Republic of Germany issue (top left) for the Saarland draws attention to a "Prevent Forest Fires" campaign. The Autonomous Republic of Togo issued a first pictorial set of 18 values at the end of 1957 to celebrate its independence. The design (top right) shows a forest of African "teak" (Chlorophora excelsa). The Sarawak stamp (center) depicts ramin logs being manhandled out of the forest to floating point.

Union of South Africa

· Dr. W. E. Hiley has performed a worthwhile service to foresters everywhere in recording his observations6 on the reputedly unorthodox forest plantation practices followed in the Union of South Africa.

6 HYLEY, W.E. Conifers: South African Methods of Cultivation, 123 pp. illus., Faber and Faber, London, 21s, 1959.

The author explains the "agricultural approach to forestry" followed by the South African pioneer foresters in their huge task of establishing and managing extensive plantations of exotic species. This approach has led to "numerical thinning" as a means of greatly reducing the cost of growing timber trees. The author feels that these methods should find application or at least be adaptable to forestry elsewhere: he points out that even those South African foresters who were at first sceptical are enthusiastic about the results so far.

Readers will be interested to follow Dr. I. J. Craib's prescriptions for spacing and thinning for various species. The fact that both private and public investments have been based on such prescriptions suggests that a careful look should be taken at the measurements accumulating in the C.C.T. (Correlated Curve Trend) plots of various densities and ages for the more important exotic species. Unfortunately, in his small volume, the author has only been able to give a brief but tantalizing account of such measurements.

It is hoped that subsequent technical papers will elaborate the results, and in the meantime, foresters will watch with keen interest the financial results of investments of such organizations as South African Forest Investments Ltd., Peak Timbers Ltd., and the Usutu Project of the Colonial Development Corporation which are using the new methods with slight modifications as they go along.

United States of America

· Professor Worrell explains in his Preface to the Economics of American Forestry7 that his book is written primarily as a text for a college course in the economics of forestry, adding: "Naturally I will be pleased if practicing foresters find it helpful in their everyday encounters with economic realities." He need have no fears: his book is clearly destined to become a standard text.

7 WORRELL, A.C. 1959. Economics of American Forestry, John Wiley and sons, Inc., New York, Chapman and Hall, Ltd., London, $9.75.

The title reflects both the approach and the scope of the book. The term, economics of forestry, is preferred to forest economics because "the principles and theories which have been developed for economics apply to forestry just as they do to any other human endeavor... The truth is that a forest economist must first of all be an economist. And economies is economics whether its subject is forestry or retail trade or automobile manufacture." What follows, therefore, is a course in economies, elementary for the most part, in which all the illustrations are drawn from forestry and in which those sections presenting particular problems for or of special importance to the forester are given greater emphasis or treated at greater length. Thus the longest chapters are those concerned with production economics, growing forest products, forest land economics and marketing forest products.

The sequence is logical and well adapted to the student's requirements. The frame of discussion is set by introductory chapters dealing with basic economic relationships affecting forestry, and forestry in a free enterprise economy. Next follows a discussion of the consumption of forest products and services, and consumer demand for forest products. The supply of forest products and services leads on to production economies, at which point the processing of forest products and the demand for wood as a producers' good are dealt with before proceeding to chapters on growing and harvesting. Chapters on the factors of production - land, capital and labor - are followed by discussion of forest products marketing and prices.

Non-crop values of the forest are accorded their due importance and squarely presented, along with forest products, in the main chapters on consumption and supply. However, to avoid any break in the flow of the argument, detailed discussion is deferred to a later chapter, "Unpriced Forest Products and Services," preceded by one entitled "Social and Private Costs and Benefits in Forestry." The concluding chapters deal with the future demand for forest products and services, ownership of forestry enterprises, and the role of government. Throughout the book the examples are well chosen and the text tables and figures clear and comprehensible.

The book is illumined throughout by the author's strong sense of the forest economist's responsibilities, and his flair for presenting succintly areas of investigation which should command attention. Two examples will suffice:

"One important current function of economic analysis is to indicate the kinds of data which silviculturists and others should develop as a step toward economic decisions by forest owners." (p. 116).

"A risk is an outcome whose probability of occurrence can be established in a quantitative manner. ...One of the fertile fields for development in the economics of forestry is the reduction of some of the many production uncertainties to production risks." (p. 192/195).

All the illustrative material cited in the book is taken from American experience, while emphasis is naturally given to those problems which loom largest in North America. This does not limit the usefulness of the work to teachers and students - and practicing foresters - outside North America, because the author has carefully subordinated the descriptive material to the analytical approach. Practicing foresters will be happy to know that the author's clear and convincing style has produced that rarity, a book on economies which it is a pleasure to read and which engages the attention from first to last.

· Written as a textbook for a one semester course in conservation at the lower division college level, the appearance of Environmental Conservation,8 although it tells nothing new, is both welcome and timely. It fills the need for a teaching aid on the subject, restricted though its lessons are to conditions in the United States. The aim is to arouse "a sense of shame in the proprietorship of a sick landscape."

8 DASMANN, RAYMOND F. 1959. Environmental Conservation, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 307 pp. $6.50.

The author traces man's record on the earth to the present rise of industrial civilization which equips him with the power to shape almost any environment into a landscape of his own choosing, and to channel its materials into an industrial network which can create for him a high degree of security and material enrichment. But, with these new powers and techniques has disappeared the opportunity for long periods of adjustment to nature. Unless man is made aware of the dangers of these great powers, he remains in peril.

The second portion of the book is devoted to a study of each of the basic natural resources of soil, water, forests, range, and wildlife; their use or misuse in the past; and the measures adopted or recommended for their conservation and long-term productivity in the interests of man.

The real significance of the course - and of the book - comes in the short third portion of the publication in which respect for the traditional separate consideration of conservation according to individual resources is discarded for the all-embracing environmental approach. The "multiple use" ideal for management of national forests expresses this approach, and the remaking of the Tennessee River Valley by the TVA is another example. Both involve the pooling of the technical knowledge and viewpoints of as wide a range of interests as possible.

· Highlights of program goals for the national forests over the next 10-15 years, drawn from a report transmitted to Congress by the Secretary of Agriculture, are:

More and better water: Step up watershed management and protection to increase the quantity and improve the quality of water yields.

More wood: Increase annual harvest by 7 to 11 billion board feet (31.5 to 50 million cubic meters) through intensified sustained-yield management of present timber stands, growing more and better trees, reducing disease, insect, and fire losses, and improving utilization.

More recreation: Meet the needs of an expected 130 million annual visits by 1969, almost double the 68.5 million recreation visits in 1958.

Better hunting and fishing: Accommodate the increasing number of people seeking outdoor sport on the streams, lakes, and trails of the national forests.

Better range and grazing: Improve the range resources to achieve sustained high-level forage production and better watershed conditions through intensified management, better range practices, and more balanced use. Make lands available for grazing under conditions that promote individual and community stability.

Supporting activities include intensified protection, an expanded road system, boundary adjustments and ownership consolidation, providing essential structures and equipment, and accelerated research.

THE SACRED AND PROFANE: A bizarre montage made from natural tree roots. - Courtesy Foto-Dengler, Bad Wurzach, Germany


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