Permanent Forest Research Articles

The Soil Survey and Its Value in the Ad Valorem Taxation of Privately Owned Timberland

Abstract The use of detailed county soil surveys for predicting site productivity was evaluated for taxation purposes. One hundred and thirty permanent forest inventory plots containing suitable site index trees for loblolly pine (Pinus teada L.) were located on 11 different soil mapping units in the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas. The correlation between the field site indices for the mapping units and the site indexes projected by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) was extremely low (r = .10). Analysis of variance for the soil mapping units suggested that the actual average site index between mapping units was significantly different. Duncan's multiple range test, however, showed that these differences were limited to those soils having extreme site index values, with the majority of the mapping units showing no significant difference in productivity. Detailed county soil surveys provided an inadequate basis for determination of productivity as defined by site index for taxation purposes.

World Forestry: Forestry in Malaysia

Abstract Tropical forests of great botanical complexity occupy two-thirds of Malaysia's total land area of 33.2 million hectares. Dipterocarp species are the most numerous. Logs of high quality have been abundant and have supported a sizable export trade. Now the supply of such timber is dwindling, and planting has been started to avoid a shortfall. The 14 Malaysian states own and administer nearly all of the forest, but a national policy for Peninsular Malaysia calling for a system of permanent forests is nearing acceptance. While the lowland dipterocarp stands have long been managed with considerable success, many are being cleared for agriculture and the silviculture developed for them requires adjustment to the hill forests. On the whole, forest management and silviculture are in a state of flux. A Forest Research Institute has been active at Kepong since 1929, and two states have smaller research units. The Faculty of Forestry, at the Agricultural University, Serdang, offers four-year and three-year courses of instruction.