I believe that foresters have been pervasively influenced by aesthetics and that their ministrations, on the whole, have tended to make our country more, rather than less beautiful. Let me add quickly that we could have done much better, and will have to do much better in the future. Many of us chose our profession for reasons that were basically aesthetic: the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest were so attractive that we decided to find a way to spend much of our time exposed to them. Our professional training and experience may have caused some of us to forget these feelings. Young foresters, at least of my generation, were accustomed to hear much of the importance of being practical, of gaining experience, of being economically realistic. These virtues are undeniable; but if practiced to the exclusion of others, they can "make Jack a dull boy." Perhaps some of us have allowed our sensitivity to be dulled, but I believe it is important for us to remember why we chose to become foresters; our reasons were good then and are still better today. Although this forester, like many, has had no training in the arts, let me nevertheless suggest some naive examples of beauty or ugliness related to silvicultural operations. As Twiss (5) recently pointed out, aesthetic judgments of forest scenes depend on the background and bias of the beholder. Aesthetics Around the Stand Straightness of stand boundaries or of long stretches of road-can be ugly to the person sensitive to visual impact. Monotony, like rectilinearity, can be aesthetically offensive, but continuity, especially in time, is generally appreciated. Whereas some foresters chafe at the apparently leisurely tempo of forest growth, when measured against the inexorable compound interest growth of costs, normal folk appear to like to see THE AUTHOR is prof. silv., Sch. Forest Resources, N. C. State contrast in ar Such are s and tempora stands thems forest is quit This is prett strong comp repetition of beautiful to persons with Such a forest terrain is lev rows. An un visual impac southeastern specially-trai influenced by ard, ease of example of th in me) cov Forestry whi color harmon To be son stands are "unnatural" types of un sprayed area age, or stan soned. Not a ral, but they nonforester, or misunders can rise to clearcut area lent job of forester is pe operation by exemplary, a to wood production, often unaesthetic by the standards e conflicts necessary? It may of using silvicultural techtically acceptable results are properties. Indeed, "classiviculture has been criticized son with the simplified planrecently spread so widely in n temperate regions of the our own southeastern states. ttal by Lamprecht (2) raise, way, the question of single vs "classical" central European an attack on the proposed sive plantation forestry. His biological grounds, such as bility of extensive even-aged heir tendency toward rapid escores them also for inadeOntimber benefits we usually h he does not make a special ects of "wood plantations" as - that wood plantations as we ow on an aesthetic scale, as more or less natural origin it should be emphasized, are is in the southern hemisphere ut rather of their being held yle central European silvicul gical Principles es two points relevant to the d aesthetics: The first is that hich are biologically approre likely to be aesthetically is good reason to claim this. matter of straight, arbitrary aries vs boundaries which are ohy or soil. The reasons for may, owever, ate to suggest that these liabilities are not likely offset by direct measures to control insects and eases. Current trends that would replace direct biological control may indeed proceed toward sil tural control, which often amounts simply to s species to site and retaining a relatively co species composition to spread the risks. This st is, indeed, one of the distinguishing features of try. Good practice in both forestry and farmi based on the recognition that the advantages of continued pure cultures are usually outweighe heavy penalties levied by pests, climate, soil dete tion, or all three. In agriculture, it has been 1 expedient to reap the advantages of pure stands short periods and to avoid the penalties by rotation. The forester is often forced to adapt to we may personify as nature's abhorrence of cultures by diversifying his stands in space rather in time, because of the relatively long life spa trees. That is to say, the forester is wise to a mixed stands or perhaps even to create them, alth the latter is not so easy as it sounds. Foresters ter reject this solution because it complicates harve and utilization. But mixed stands suited to their have aesthetic advantages as well as relatively biological security. It is easy to exaggerate the advantages of so-c natural regeneration. Moreover, excessive relianc natural regeneration precludes the possibility of significant genetic improvement in the stands so re erated. However, in view of the widespread disre in actual practice of current knowledge of the im tance of provenance, the prudent silviculturist continue, for some time yet, to keep natural reg ation techniques in his bag of tricks. Natural reger ation is not only a safeguard against mislocatio seed or planting stock, but under some circumsta may offer biological advantages. Regeneration u shelterwood or group selection may, because of sheltered position, escape both the effects of full posure on severe sites and the lethal competition weeds and brush which thrive even better than planted or seeded crop on new clearcuts. Mored Moreover, I have no desire to expose myself unduly to the economists after romping irresponsibly through the domain of the landscape architects. But one question may be general enough not to enrage any specialist. For whose benefit do we enhance the beauty of our forests? Whose eye are we trying to catch? One quick answer is that we wish to make our forests attractive to the tourist or vacationist who will, as a consumer of scenery who needs to get to it and live with it, contribute to the local and national economies. But there must be a broader scope and a larger role for forest aesthetics. Shouldn't we be trying to catch the eye of the local folks as well as the tourists? Is it not a challenging and rewarding task to make the forests places where people can live as well as make a living? These questions suggest that forest aesthetics may have dimensions other than the purely sensory ones. Perhaps they could be labeled, to use a term from the pages of the Journal of Forestry, the social economics of forestry. We tend to accept the fact that American society is becoming urbanized. We perceive that as individual productivity of workers in agriculture increases, the surplus of workers so created moves to the cities. We see the same trend, on a smaller scale, with woods workers. Indeed, it is not clear which are causes and which are effects in the complex of mechanization, seasonal work, labor scarcity, the lure of the cities, the social status of woods workers, rural school systems, and so on. What is clear is that the economic gain realized in the forest or on the farm by mechanization has its counterpart in social costs in the cities which make so many of our headlines these days. Forests and Cities Athelstan Spilhaus (4) recently exhorted us to concern ourselves more with the people in cities, for that is where the action is. While we may agree that foresters have a contribution to make toward rendering cities more habitable, I suggest that our primary job is cut stands is e so obviously r ble-yarding sy steep terrain in ly and biologica I suggest th that machines investments in inflexible const evolution of th make equipme Mechanization ready, to incre What should d tion so that it fcrest in the br C Many of us. have the publi ing to suggest. important to b been hearing is as a request by more of the claiming for f regard this req tion of silvicul engage their tal 1. EYRE, F. H. estry 67:8-10 5. Twiss, R. H ment. J. Fore tempt to summarize. r, Mr. Chairman, I would like to intermingle my sum face based on a state of what I guess I would call mild -ises from resentment I have to testimony given before tee yesterday. we are here to look at a very severe problem. There is a stortion, and a genuine concern for communication. record, I was appalled and insulted by a statement g the foremost men of the products industry, Mr. Wyatt of the National Forest Products Association, describing t nd a confrontation between the two groups. I strongly re t's insinuation that those who are here to question prac utting and I quote "the second group"-are people omfortable, leisurely way of life, and wanting only to up for themselves. ly resent Mr. Wyatt's statement that this "second gr ok at the forest with "an esthetically nonecon e." o put out at the insinuation that the inclusion of the "se at the "first group" has some sort of priority insight into of the mistrust of life, that they only recognize "that satellite, an almost closed life support system." it on behalf of the fine people who came so far to testify hotel owners, cowboys, game wardens, and sportsmen. re other points that I have seen. But I think I would sug look at the press releases that have come out on the p bstantiate what I feel has been distortion and emotional that I am tired of environmentalists being accused of. nett's statement is a flagrant misuse, I think of pu the subcommittee would expect these wild statements f hipper-snapper legislator from the hills of Wyoming. Wyatt asked that the public not be misled with misin d misrepresentation of the facts. I think it is time to s ridges and quit putting out glowing and distorted p He also expressed concern about the scenic cutting has gone on in direct view of the mill There have been clear-cuts within a quarter private property. And there have been clear mile of the corridor roads which carry the m Probably our basic objection to the pract been the network of roads which have covered objection to roads I do not mean that we have This is not our objection. We do have many area that benefit many people. But the roads clines in our big-game population. Senator Allott and some of the industry problem in Teton County. We do indeed ha has caused severe devastation of our lodgepole like to say that those who advocate clear-cutti on this as an excuse for control. There is no that either chemical control with DEB or cle on showing up the devastation of the Rocky cutting simply has not restricted it. We hav wilderness areas, in places it has subsided, a we have had clear-cutting it is still rampant. As a trained wildlife ecologist I must ref to our big game situation. We have heard t glowing terms of the wonderful things we This is not so in Teton County. Our fishin shown a marked decline in recent years. whether this has to do with clear-cutting. Bu the change in peak runoffs, and so forth, ha But my basic point here is that we have no studies done in our areas as to watershed fish economy, we have had no studies to know wh In answer to a question by Senator Hatf this committee, I think the way to start out given at this committee hearing is that we no 60-209-71-pt. 2- 3 |