be very good. High quality material cut from old, overmature stands, suitable for clear, high-grade lumber and veneer, will be particularly scarce. Chile, with a small but substantial body of virgin, good-quality hardwoods, in a temperate region accessible to export markets, should be in a position to profit from the post-war construction demands for wood and wood products of all kinds. New Industries The survey of Chile's wood-using industries leads to the conviction that immediate expansion of the forest industries is feasible on the following basis: 1. The installation of permanent band mills, or combinations of band and portable mills, in sufficient number to bring about a reasonable balance between small and large mill operations and furnish the basis for integrated industries, particularly those based on the utilization of woods and mill waste. 2. Expansion of cooperative efforts aimed at improving small mill operations through the furnishing of marketing facilities and competent technical guidance, including advice on equipment and logging and milling operations. 3. Improvement of related industries, including drying, planing, furniture, and shingles, through better integration, methodology and equipment. 4. Expansion of the veneer and plywood industry into new markets through the manufacture of other types and kinds of material, but no expansion of present plant capacity other than that now planned at existing plants. 5. Expansion of the hardwood distillation industry to include, ultimately, a series of modern plants capable of carbonizing 720 cubic meters of wood per day. 6. Installation of a sulphate mill in the Concepción area with a capacity of 50 to 80 tons per day, with provision for ultimate expansion to 2 to 3 times this size. 7. Installation of a treating plant in the Talcahuano area for the creosoting of poles and railroad ties. 8. Further investigation of the suitability of Chilean woods and the economic feasibility under existing conditions of producing such additional materials as plywood panels and other items for prefabricated houses, dimension stock, sawn ties, briquettes from sawdust, dissolving pulp for rayon, hardboard, and plastics, alcohol, and cattle feed. A FOREST POLICY FOR CHILE Chile has in her natural forests, woodlands and plantations a valuable resource, capable of considerable additional development. Just how far this can go depends on the ingenuity and skill with which new and expanded forest industries can be developed. Chile's forest resource, on a per capita basis, is now relatively large, while her use of it is moderate to small. Domestic markets should increase greatly with a rising standard of living and the export markets needed to use her forest resource to the full may be obtained with increasing efficiency in industrial operations. Full use of the forest resource is reasonably attainable if the proper management, skill and business acumen can be applied. However, if future forest industries are to be sustained on a permanent basis, Chile must develop and execute a forest policy of broad A good start has already been made in the basic forest law of scope. June, 1931, and subsequent forest legislation. This should be broadened and adequately implemented to provide for (1) adequate forest protection, particularly from fire, and (2) adequate management of forest lands, both public and private. Adequate Forest Protection The enormous losses from fire must be materially reduced if the forest resource is to be managed for permanent production. Chile's forests, though highly inflammable at times, grow for the most part in heavy damp stands where the slow rate of spread makes for relatively easy control of fire in most seasons. Consequently, a determined and well-administered program of fire prevention and control should bring sharp reduction in fire losses with reasonable expenditures. Fire Prevention Fire prevention requires a sensible fire law that would prevent indiscriminate and harmful burning but would recognize a legitimate need for the use of fire in disposing of waste and clearing land, and perhaps in some cases as a measure to prevent conflagrations. This law would have to be strictly enforced in the long-time public interest, with appropriate penalties for infractions. It is recommended that enforcement of forest fire laws be the function of the excellent and well-distributed national police force, acting in close cooperation with a proposed national Forest Service. The head of the police should be required to report to the President or other proper official, at least once a year, the number and character of infractions of the fire law and percentage of convictions. Enlightened public opinion, however, will be essential in the long run to the attainment of any reasonable degree of success in a fire prevention campaign. The educational program must be undertaken by the Forest Service. Fire Control It is recommended that an adequate fire fighting organization be established, manned and equipped to detect fires when small and extinguish them rapidly. This organization should be part of an enlarged and strengthened Department of Forestry or Forest Service. If the creation of a national Forest Service is delayed, the fire control unit could be organized first and absorbed later in the main organization, which should be adequate in size, manpower, and equipment to keep the average acreage burned annually small enough to be compatible with continued forest production. Reduction of fire losses by about 80 percent would accomplish this objective. Other Forest Protection In addition to fire prevention and control, the State should furnish adequate protection from destructive forest insects and disease. Special attention to this problem is justified by the large and expanding investment in forest plantations. Only early detection of epidemics and prompt and vigorous application of control measures can insure protection at reasonable cost. Since it is often impossible for an owner or group of owners to take effective protective measures, the State should provide for (1) research to secure the necessary knowledge about the occurrence, life history, and methods of controlling forest insects and disease; (2) a small force responsible for the periodic inspection of all forest stands, particularly the plantation areas, and (3) prompt application of control measures. The Congress should provide an emergency fund to finance these operations. Adequate Management of Forest Lands Adequate protection will go a long way toward keeping the forest resource productive, but it must be supplemented with good forest management on both public and private lands. At present, the plantations of Chile are under reasonably good management, but there is no forest management worthy of the name in the entire natural forest area. A recommended immediate step is to place all public forest lands in a special category to form, together with existing forest reserves and national parks, the basis for an enlarged forest and park system. This would involve a reversal of the traditional policy of transferring public lands to private ownership as rapidly as possible. Another important forward step would be to prevent destructive cutting practices on both public and private lands and provide for a residual stand of sound trees to furnish a basis for a second and fairly early cut -- a desirable practice with hardwoods. In view of the almost total lack of knowledge of the best conditions under which Chilean forest trees germinate, survive, and develope, further management recommendations would be highly speculative. The program needed to carry out an adequate forest policy would require (1) organization of a properly manned and financed national Forest Service responsible for the protection and management of public forest lands and the administration of public programs applicable to private forest lands; and (2) a program of public aid through the support of forestry education and research, and the provision of credits, planting stock and other desirable assistance to private forest landowners. A Chilean Forest Service The sine qua non of a good forest program in Chile will be a national Forest Service of high professional caliber, operating under a civil service system in which appointment and advancement are strictly by merit. Chile now has the nucleus of such an organization in the Departamento de Bosques of the Ministerio de Tierras y Colonización. This agency should be reorganized and greatly strengthened and enlarged. The suggested Forest Service may be divided into three ma in units: (1) National Forest administration, (2) Private forest administration, and (3) Research. Careful consideration should be given to adequate decentralization of this agency. Policy formulation on the national level would be facilitated by an advisory group (such as the National Forestry Council) representing all forest interests, both private and public. The National Forest Administration would be charged with administering and protecting the public lands embodied in the national forest system, which ultimately should include 50 percent of the forest land of Chile. The Private Forest Administration would be responsible for the protection of private forest lands in cooperation with private owners and in the administration of public programs, such as regulatory practices, applicable to private lands. The third major branch, Forest Research, would be charged, in close cooperation with the universities and other proper organizations with the conduct of research in all fields of forest production and utilization. Lack of knowledge will be a grave handicap to the proper management of forest lands until a program of forest research is organized and carried out on on an adequate scale. Provision should also be made, ultimately, for disseminating forestry knowledge to private and public owners and operators by means of an extension service of trained foresters and forest engineers. Desirable Measures of Public Aid to Forest Owners Lack of credit facilities for forest landowners and the forest industries is not as much of a handicap to good forest practices in Chile as in other lands, in view of the low carrying charges. However,. in the future, if the forest and wood using industries undertake to modernize their operations, the provision of credit will become more important. It may therefore be desirable to facilitate proper development of forestry operations in suitable tracts by providing, through federal loan agencies, long-term credits at low rates similar to those now made in strictly agricultural fields. A State-supported system of forestry education as an aid to both public and private forest landowners is a fundamental measure development of Chile's forest resources. Training should be provided on both the university and vocational levels. The former should be equivalent to the education now given agronomy engineers, and the latter aim at providing guards and rangers for the forest service and forest industries. A separate school or institute of forestry should be provided at an early date. The State should continue to promote private planting on suitable lands by furnishing planting stock at cost. The present planting program is based principally on two exotic species, Insignis or Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata), and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus). It would be good common sense to diversify the planting program with other suitable species capable of supplying a wider market, and to restrict future planting of Insignis Pine to accessible sites of proven quality, such as the non-irrigated areas in the coastal region between Constitución and Concepción and cleared lands along the Valdivia River. Research and Extension The State should undertake a program of research in forest planting to test other promising plantation species - both native and exotic. Species suitable for trial are, among conifers, white, short leaf, slash, loblolly, sugar, Austrian, Scotch, Ponderosa, and Digger pine, eastern redcedar, redwood, Douglas-fir, and Sitka spruce, among hardwoods, cottonwood, sycamore, black locust, Chinese and American elm, black walnut, hardy catalpa, Russian mulberry, pecan, sugar maple, white oak, and yellow-poplar. Research in methods of cutting and forest utilization, particularly of the abundant but less favored species, also deserves priority. The State should seek to enlarge and improve, as opportunity and funds permit, knowledge of the extent, character, and use of the forest reSuch information should be made fully available to landowners, timber operators, lumber mills, and others who are utilizing Chile's forests. source. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKERMAN, RALPH E. 1925. FOREST RESOURCES AND LUMBER INDUSTRY OF CHILE. U. S. Department Commerce, Trade Information Bul. 324. 28 pp. Washington, D. C. ANONYMOUS 1929. METHODS OF HANDLING AMERICAN LUMBER IN SOUTH AMERICA. U. S. Department Commerce, Unnumb. Bul. 51 pp. Washington, D. C. 1930 and on. ANUARIO ESTADISTICO DE LA REPUBLICA DE CHILE. General de Estadística. Santiago, Chile. Dirección 1930 and on. ESTADISTICO AGRICOLA. Dirección General de Estadística. Santiago, Chile. 1930 and on. SINOPSIS ESTADISTICA DE LA REPUBLICA DE CHILE. Direc.ción General de Estadística. Santiago, Chile. BENSON, A. O. 1931. DIMENSION STOCK FROM HARDWOODS OF THE LAKE STATES. Hardwood Record, March and April. Chicago, Illinois. FERNANDO and MATTHEWS G., CARLOS. BOZO M., 1943. EFECTOS DE LA EROSION EN LA PROVINCIA DE CONCEPCION. Primera BRUSH, W. D. 1938. TIMBER REQUIREMENTS FOR MINES IN THE UNITED STATES. Progress CLAPP, EARLE H. AND OTHERS. 1926. A NATIONAL PROGRAM OF FOREST RESEARCH. D. C. FERNANDEZ, ANTONIO AND TORRICELLI, EDUARDO. 232 pp. Washington, 1942. LA MADERA SU EXPLOTACION SECAMIENTO PROPIEDADES Y UTILIZACION. 205 pp. Santiago, Chile. FORSLING, C. L. 1943. THE FUTURE OF THE FORESTS. (1): 13-16. Washington, D. C. FROST, B. M. AND SUKMANOWSKY, E. Agriculture in the Americas III 1944. PULP AND PAPER TRADE STATISTICS OF THE OTHER AMERICAN REPUBLICS. 1938-1941. U. S. Department Commerce, Economic Series 35. Washington, D. C. GILBRAITH, A. V. 1938. PAPER PULP FROM AUSTRALIAN EUCALYPT TIMBERS Empire Forestry Jour. 16: 195. London. HAERTEL, M. H. 1938. TIMBER REQUIREMENTS OF THE HARDWOOD DISTILLATION INDUSTRY. HALLAUER, FRANK J. 1939. 1942. 1941. LUMBER REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-FARM RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION. LUMBER REQUIREMENTS ON THE FARM. 39 pp. Washington, D. C. Progress Report, Forest Sur75 PP. Washington, D. C. Progress Report, Forest TIMBER REQUIREMENTS FOR NAVAL STORES. |