The subject for the seminar was ’’Pie c hanization of
Site preparation”. During the Seminar and field trips, however,
much wider field was covered. Actually the technology and level
of mechanization of various forestry operations connected with
re-forestation, afforestation and protective afforestation was
discussed and demonstrated.

Sylhet district’ has an area of 4,785 square miles and a population
of 34,89,589’as per 1961 census.Government Forests cover an area of
300.91 square miles with following, break up
Reserve Forest 150*99 square miles
A.F. and proposed R.F. 149*92
300.91 square miles.
It is the reserved and part of the acquired forests that still
remains in condition both on paper as well as on the ground *
Most of the forests are located close to the international
boundary and is scattered all over the district • In the past-these
forests were jhumed by Tippras and in order to stop further deterioration
of these areas due to jhuming etc. catchment areas of main cheras which
had some sort of forest cover were gradually proposed for reservation
long before 1947 • Assam Government of those days, .realized the gravity
of the situation that laid to investigation of the land use pattern of
Sylhet district by competent people »

.
In Dacca district, the sal forests are limited within
the Dacca sadar North Sub-Division and in the district of
acres in Rajshahi district.
r . *
Sal is found only in the plains of
Dinajpur district,
Division and small patches in Thakurgaon Sub-Division. In
Rangpur district it is-limited within the Sadar Sub-Division.
In Rajshahi district it is limited within the northern portion
Mymensingh these are. limited within the Mymensingh Sadar and
Tangail Sub-Division and in the foot hills of Garo hills. In
these are limited within the Sadar Subof Noagaon Sub-Division. … . –
In area, Sal occupies approximately 64000 acres in Dacca
district, 1,78,890 acres in Mymensingh district, 16,344 acres
in Dinajpur district, 3410 acres in Rangpur district and 1057
Dacca,
I

Noakhali is a non-forest district of East Pakistan.
The problems of this district are many-fold of which the natural
calamities such as floods, tidal waves and Cyclone are the most
important. The district is located on the north of Bay of Bengal
which is notoriously a Cyclonic zone. The entire district is
flat, intercepted by mighty rivers and their delta. The Southern
part consists of a number of islands.which are continuously being
silted and enlarged. New islands are being formed due to siltation and appear only at low tide. The general level of the district
is a little above Sea level and a slight tidal wave causes destruction to houses and crops. It appears from historical records
that prior to 20th century the area was fully vegetated where
special efforts were made to colonize people by giving special
facilities in the remission of land revenue and cash advances etc.
In the beginning the Colonization was slow , most probably because
of the known ravages of the climatic factor due to its location.
The economic gains appear to have been so promising that in spite
of the dangers of climatic ravages the colonization progressed
steadily but slowly and at prese

There are many organizations that are carrying out research on
subjects directly or indirectly connected, with forestry . The Commonwealth
Forestry Institute and the British Weed Research Organization were visited
The Forestry Commission research station at Alice Holt could not be visited
as the organization was preoccupied with other visitors during the period .
At Oxford opportunity was taken to discuss the research programme
in East Pakistan in general and the experimental designs in particular . The
consensus of opinion was that replications should be introduced in each
research station. The plot size should be reduced from one acre to quarter
acre and four replications introduced .

Where there is sincere desire and a felt need for
improvement, there must be emphasis on research. In U.S.S.R.
there exists such an emphasis visible everywhere. Large number of research Scientists are engaged in productive research activities in many well-equipped research Institutes dealing with problems of logging and wood-based industries.Adequate funds are provided for annual budget of these institutes. They are provided with pilot plants and experimental
farms where they can try and test efficiencies of various
equipments and techniques designed and developed by them.