• Barton, William B.
  USDA Forest Service: Eastern Region
  

A well-managed forest should have high-quality, healthy trees of desirable species, at good stocking levels, in an orderly arrangement of sizes growing at an optimum rate. To attain this condition it is necessary to determine at frequent intervals the effect of applied stand treatments or other disturbances so that timely adjustments can be made to reach interim and final objectives.

With minor differences within the method, abut 50 managers of a 20 million acres of forested land in the U.S. has established more than 40 thousand CFI plots by early 1959. Similar CFI programs exist in Canada. More than 15 thousand plots on nearly 4 million acres have been remeasured. Analysis of "difference" reports have resulted in major changes in forest management policy in a few cases-minor changes in others. To date, more than 1,000 plots have been remeasured a second time.