FORESTRY IS SUBJECT OF EVENT HERE

Public forestry policy affects private forest management throughout the U.S. says a Missouri private timberland owner.

John Powell, who owns about 18,000 acres of land near Rolla and is a member of the Missouri Conservation Commission, was guest speaker during a two-day public conference to discuss current management and future direction of Missouri's public forests.

"What I am saying here today is my own feelings as a private timberland owner, and does not reflect any opinions of the conservation commission," said Powell.

Powell's topic Saturday at the University Center on Southeast Missouri State University campus was "The Role of Private Land and the Private Land Owner." Powell was one of 25 speakers from six states. Topics included forest productivity, future forest options, economic issues and wilderness.

"We're well pleased with the turnout here this weekend," said Alan Journet, chairman of the committee that arranged the conference and professor of biology at the university. "We have good speakers and we've had good audiences during the entire program."

"I have been managing Missouri timberland for more than 40 years," Powell told the near capacity crowd. "I am proud to have been a minute part of the rebuilding of Missouri's resources along with thousands of other conservationists."

Powell said that in Missouri 85 percent of forest land was under private ownership.

"I know that some people in this crowd today oppose any cutting on public lands," said Powell. "This is an idea that is being promoted at both state and national levels. The concept is that private forest land should assume the additional harvesting pressure that now is being cut from public land. I don't think the private foresters can accommodate the demand.

"Right now private foresters are cutting about 62 percent of each year's growth," he said. "If the Forest Service and the state stopped all cutting, and the demand levels remained the same, private lands would have to cut about 85 percent of their growth each year. In my opinion, public forests must continue to produce their fair share of timber products if the private lands are to realize improvements in management levels, stocking and overall quality."

Powell was blunt on his feeling of preservationist groups.

"Cutting systems on public and industrial lands have been the focus of preservationist groups for several years," he said. "In my opinion this is just a smoke screen for their real agenda; they want to stop all cutting period ... today on public land and tomorrow on all privately-owned land."

Powell cited some Missouri figures from the latest Forest Survey, which was completed in 1989.

"We have nearly 14 million acres of forest land in Missouri," he said. "Public ownership is about two million, with the U.S. Forest Service owning about three fourths of this and the state one fourth. That leaves 12 million acres of private ownership, with the vast majority of that in small tracts of less than 1,000 acres."

Most of the private land owners are not knowledgeable of timber resource management, said Powell. "The people who are saying that all our wood product needs can be met from private land are not taking this into consideration.

He said most private land is not being managed for long-term production of wood fiber, that most of the owners are not motivated by long-term productivity of the resource, and that most private land owners will not invest their money and time into long-term forest endeavors.

"Participation in forest cropland and tree farm programs are about the only indication we have of actual management levels in Missouri," said Powell. "Unfortunately, total participation is only 1,650 people in the state."

Sustaining productivity from private land depends to a great extent on the stability of ownership, said Powell. "There is no inducement for owners to retain high-price land to grow a crop of timber that takes years to mature."

Powell also discussed the need for "clearcutting."

"Disregard the need of wood fiber production," he said. "There is a need for sunshine for regeneration of forests. The more you open a forest, the more growth it will experience. The less you open the forest, the less growth it will experience. Clearcutting is a good forest management practice."

The problem of regeneration without clearcutting could become compounded in the next two decades, according to Powell.

"During that period, a great portion of our forest land that's been under management for a half century will be maturing," he said. "What are we going to do with the trees then? Do we harvest them and utilize their wood products and regenerate and grow the next forest? Or, do we leave them to die, rot, and decay, and regenerate a growth of shade tolerant trees?"

Powell said that everything done to limit production of forests or increase the cost of harvest will affect the price of all wood products consumed by everyone. He said, however, that there is a "much bigger picture than the use of forests and possible increased cost of wood products.

"This is just part of the overall problem," he said. "Similar movements are being made by groups to restrict and impede agriculture. Animal rights advocates want to restrict the use of animals for human consumption and medical research. They want to stop hunting and trapping. They want to restrict production of oil and minerals.

"The point I'm making is that these groups' primary objectives and universal goals are to limit or eliminate production and use of our natural resources."