Treesearch

A basic principle that should be recognized at the start of any forward-looking forest-management plan is that the intensity or level of management that can be profitably applied to a given tract will be controlled largely by four factors: markets, labor supply, accessibility, and site. The more favorable these factors are, the higher the intensity of management that will be economically feasible.

I am going to tell you about our snow and frost work on the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Hubbard Brook is one of several experimental areas scattered throughout the country on which personnel of the United States Forest Service are seeking to learn how different kinds of forests and methods of managing them affect streamflow behavior. Formerly known as "Forest Influences Research," this work is now officially called "Watershed-Management Research" in the Forest Service.

Charcoal manufacture has become the subject of a tremendous new interest in the Northeast in the past few years. In many communities, retailers have been unable to find enough charcoal to fill the demands - even though in the same localities there are large supplies of surplus wood that could be used in making charcoal. As a result of this unfilled demand, we have received many inquiries from people throughout the Northeast who want to know how to make and market charcoal.

This is a proposed 5-point, 5-year program for watershed-management research at the Kingston Research Center. This Center's area embraces 5 counties in southern New York and 18 counties in northeastern Pennsylvania, an aggregate of 10,247,000 acres or about 16,000 square miles. Its long axis (northeast to southwest) is about 250 miles long, and its breadth measures about 150 miles. It includes about 2 million people and its water resource supplies several million more in adjacent metropolitan areas.

The northeast is hardwood country. To be sure, central and northern Maine and the higher elevations of the Green Mountains, White Mountains, and Adirondacks have their spruce-fir; cool, moist sites throughout the region typically support some hemlock; and white pine - the original foundation of the lumber industry in North America - is widely represented by scattered stands and by individual trees intermixed with other species. But in broad panorama, the forests of the Northeast take their predominant tone and character from the hardwoods. So it was in the days of the Pilgrims; and so it...

Station Paper No. 77, issued in 1955, was a bibliography of articles on forest genetics and forest tree improvement that were published in 1954. It was prepared at the request of the Committee of Forest Tree Improvement, Society of American Foresters. This second annual bibliography includes articles published in 1955 and a few articles published in 1954 that were not included in the first bibliography. It is apparent that the boom in forest genetics, mentioned in the introduction of the 1954 bibliography, has not subsided.

From June 1954 to July 1955 the Vicksburg Infiltration Project collected and analyzed samples from 134 sites in six Northeastern States; the samples included 79 soil series and 114 soil types. This work was done to supply the U. S. Army with information needed for specialized research on military traffic ability. The basic data are herein presented because of their interest to soil scientists generally. In addition, relationships between bulk density, and soil texture and organic content are presented.

The oaks are the most important species group in the Appalachian hardwood forests. In West Virginia, oaks provide more than half of the lumber produced in the State. In addition, they provide a large portion of the mine timbers and specialty products.

The preparation of these guides has been a joint undertaking of research and national forest administration. Reviews and suggestions of other members of the Station who are active in northern hardwood research were helpful, especially those from men working at the Upper Peninsula Research Center in Marquette, Mich., and the Northern Lakes Research Center in Wausau, Wis. Numerous field conferences helped to integrate research results and thinking with the experience of national forest managers. The advice and suggestions of industrial foresters and timberland owners provided additional ideas.

This report contains forest area and timber volume statistics for the State of Iowa. The information presented here was gathered and compiled according to three different geographical units, the divisions being made on the basis of similar forest, soil, and economic conditions (frontispiece). So, for the benefit of those who might find such localized information useful, forest statistics are shown separately for each of these units as well as for the State as a whole.