The General Assembly finds and declares that the pine and yellow-poplar forest resource of the State provides significant recreational, aesthetic, wildlife and environmental benefits as well as wood fiber essential to commerce and industry for the citizens of the State. The General Assembly has also determined that the pine and hardwood forest resources are being harvested at a greater rate than they are being replanted or reproduced and unless measures are instituted to ensure that the forest resources are sustained, this natural resource will be depleted to the detriment of the citizens of the State. It is, therefore, the declared public policy of this State to preserve and protect the pine and yellow-poplar forest resources of the State. The purpose of this subchapter is to regulate the maintenance and reproduction of the pine and yellow-poplar forest resources of the State in the public interest.