On the Postwar Development of Forestry Techniques and the Policy on Forestry Basic Law

The policy on Forestry Basic Law which primarily aims at reforming the structure of forestry productive force has been frustrated. It depends not only on the marked changes in the external conditions associated with forestry, but also on immaturity and confusion of the policy theory itself. And the industrial policy theory which grasps the distinctive quality of forestry techniques is now required. First of all the author considered the technical structure of forestry production, and then briefly traced the postwar development of logging techniques and techniques for forest improvement. The logging production has attained the improvement in prductivity and the certain release from enviromenental condition restricted by nature, due to the development of instrument of labor. On the other side we must mention that vibration sickness occurred around 1965 among workers who used the chain saws and developed into a social problem. And the objectives of logging techniques have been waved, because the logging management is strongly ordained by the forest managemet. Improvement of forests consists of improvement of fertility and that of location. Reforestation production plays a primary role in the former, and the latter is achieved by construction of forest roads. They are both techniques for adjustment of the production basis of forestry. Since the investment in forest roads is the capital incorporated into land (terre-capital), the construction has been remarkably promoted post world war II with the aid of public works expenditure. It has made the mechanization of logging easier and extended the area and the capacity of improvement in fertility. Improvement in fertility (forest product techniques) was pursued as the short-rotation forestry until the latter half of the 1960's, And thereafter the direction of the development of the techniques has been divided with changes in external conditions into intensive management for production of high quality timber and long-rotation extensive forestry management that largely depends on the natural production process. Either way we must have the correct understanding that capital invested in the refrestation management can not be consistent with the law for price of production; the value is realized through the law for rent. Improvement of forest fertility has been primarily carried out by the forest management bodies that can not essentially get rid of characteristics of collection of rents. The policy on Forestry Basic Law drifted ashore on the present "regional forestry" policy. The failure of the policy on Forestry Basic Law was a natucal result because it tended to evaluate forestry only within the framework of the forest production process and appears to have expected forest management bodies to be primarily engaged in the development of forestry productive force while attempting to improve its structure. For development of productive force, structucal contradictions between reforestation production and logging production should be evaluated, and a policy that solves or eases these contraindiction by regional consolidation is needed. The most important problem here is adjustment and settlement with policy of these contradictions between owners of forest resources (forest management bodies) and productive utilizers of these resources (reforestation contracting business and logging business). The present forest plan system should be improved into the system for the materialization of "regional forestry". Only this "regionlal forestry" policy enables technical integration between logging production and forest improvement. Especially, techniques for dealing with forestry at silvicultual forestry stage in which logging problems are regarded as equal to renewal problems of forests can be developed.