A Forestry Service Center to help Indians develop productive capacities of their commercial forest lands has been established at Littleton, Colo., in the Denver metropolitan area, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today.
The new office will be directly under the Central Office of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, and initially will be staffed with six employees. Bruce said the Center is centrally located to most Indian reservations.
Assigned as Director of the Center is Earle R. Wilcox, until recently stationed at Portland, Ore., with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He will coordinate forest management inventories and plans, evaluate the cost effectiveness of intensive management efforts, and conduct special studies required for the effective protection and administration of Indian-owned forest lands.
"Indian forests now could have an annual sustained-yield production estimated at more than 1.2 billion board feet if they are managed as intensively as industrial tree farms," Wilcox said. "This is 25 percent more than these lands produced during the last fiscal year."
Commissioner Bruce said the Bureau's move toward more intensive forest management is in keeping with President Nixon's call to increase forest productivity to help meet critical housing needs.
