The present textbook, designed to be useful to forestry students and practicing foresters, is a definite departure from the classical European approach. The authors have attempted to bring together in a single volume the basic material on forest management, from the standpoint of its applicability to American forest practices. The chapters in Parts I and II are devoted to the general problems of forest organization. Thus, in the traditional way, these problems have been segregated from the specific problems discussed in Part III, which is concerned with the principles and methods of forest regulation, that is, the principles and methods used in determining the allowable cut. Rigid methods of forest regulation and elaborate formulas for the determination of the allowable cut are considered in thing of the past. The management and regulation of uneven-aged forests are treated on the same level as are the methods applicable to even-aged forests. This point is particularly brought out in the treatment of the normal forest, separate chapters being devoted to the structure of the normal even-aged forest and to the structure of the balanced uneven-aged forest. Rotation as a regulatory factor in management, although no longer considered indispensable, is by no means overlooked. The fourth and last part of the book is devoted to management plans. Typical examples of management plans for forests of various sizes, located in various parts of the country, have been included in only slightly abbreviated form. These management plans clearly show that their preparation requires the forester to draw on his knowledge of the various fields of forestry. These plans should prove helpful to both the student and the practicing forester, but they should not be considered a substitute for the actual experience gained in preparing a management plan as part of the requirements of a course in forest management. What is true of students in schools is also emphatically true of the forest practitioner. Applied forest management and experience in the establishment of management plans will develop, more than anything else can, the ability of the forester to apply his technical knowledge to individual cases and problems as they present themselves in practices. It is impossible, of course, to include enough examples of management plans to cover the wide and varied range of forest conditions in America.
