GIFT OF
60TH CONGRESS, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j REPORT
2d Session. \ \ No. 2027.
ACQUIRING LAND FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS FOR THE
CONSERVATION OF NAVIGABLE STREAMS.
FEBRUARY 3, 1909. — Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state
of the Union and ordered to be printed.
Messrs. WEEKS and LEVER, from the Committee on Agriculture,
submitted the following
REPORT.
[To accompany S. 4825.]
The Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred various bills
for the protection of the watersheds of navigable streams, submits the
following report, to accompany Senate bill 4825.
After a thorough discussion of the purposes to be accomplished it
was deemed advisable to report the accompanying bill, as meeting
more fully than any other the needs of the situation.
Section 1 proposes to give the consent of Congress to each of the
several States of the Union to enter into any agreement or compact
not in conflict with any law of the United States, with any State or
States for the purpose of conserving the forests and water supply of
the States entering into such agreement or compact.
Section 2 appropriates the sum of $100,000 to enable the Secretary
of Agriculture to cooperate with any State or group of States, when
requested to do so, in the protection from fire of the forested water-
sheds of navigable streams, and the Secretary is authorized to stipu-
late and agree with any State or group of States to cooperate in the
organization and maintenance of a system of fire protection on any
private or state lands within such State or States and situated upon
the watershed of a navigable river.
The section further provides that no such stipulation or agreement
shall be made with any State which has not provided by law for a sys-
tem of fire protection, and that in no case is the amount contributed to
any State to exceed the amount appropriated by that State for the
same purpose.
Section 3 provides that the Secretary of Agriculture may,, for the
protection of the watersheds of navigable streams, on such conditions
as he deems wise, agree to administer and protect for a definite term
of years any private forest lands situated upon any watershed whereon
2 ACQUIKING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
lands may be permanently reserved, held, and administered as national
forest lands, and that in such case the owner shall cut and remove the
timber thereon only under such rules and regulations as will provide
for the protection of the forest in the aid of navigation. The section
provides that in no case is the United States to be liable for anv dam-
age resulting from fire or any other cause on such lands.
Section 4 provides that from receipts from the sale or disposal of
any products or the use of lands or resources from the public lands
now or hereafter to be set aside as national forests which may here-
after be turned into the Treasury of the United States and which are
not otherwise appropriated, there shall be available $1,000,000 for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, and not to exceed $2,000,000 for each
fiscal year thereafter, to be used in the examination, survey, and ac-
quirement of lands located on the headwaters of navigable streams, or
those which are being or which ma}r be developed for navigable pur-
poses, and further provides that the provisions of this section shall
expire by limitation on June 80, 1919.
This section has two features not included in any of the other bills
referred to the committee. The first is, that the proceeds from the
present national forests, so far as they are at present unappropriated,
are to be turned to the purchase of forest lands to the amounts above
mentioned. The second feature is, that instead of limiting the acquisi-
tions by purchase or otherwise for this purpose to any particular
region or regions, such as the Southern Appalachian or White Moun-
tain region, lands may be acquired on any watershed, so far as they
fall within the purposes of the bill.
Section 5 provides for the establishment of a National Forest Res-
ervation Commission, to be composed of the S^retary of War, the
Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, one member
of the Senate, and one member of the House of Representatives, the
object of the commission being to consider and pass upon such lands
as may be recommended for purchase and to fix the price or prices
to be paid for such lands. It further provides for limiting incum-
bency and for filling vacancies in the commission.
Section 6 provides for an annual report to Congress of the operations
'and expenditures of the commission.
Section 7 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to examine and
locate lands to be recommended to the National Forest Reservation
Commission for purchase. The section also provides that a report
shall be made to the Secretary of Agriculture by the Geological Survey
showing in what way the control of such lands will promote or protect
the navigation of streams on whose watersheds they lie.
Sections S and 9 provide the method b}^ which lands may be acquired
by the Secretary of Agriculture after they have been approved by the
National Forest Reservation Commission.
Section 10 provides that the owner of the land from whom title
passes to the United States may, under certain conditions, reserve the
minerals and merchantable timber within or upon such lands at the
date of conve}^ance, and provides the method by which the removal of
such minerals or timber may thereafter be accomplished.
Section 11 provides for the sale of small areas of agricultural lands
which may of necessity or by inadvertence be included in tracts acquired
under this act.
ACQUIRING LAND FOE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 3
Sections 12 and 13 provide for the management as national forests
of the lands so acquired and describe the limits of civil and criminal
jurisdiction over them.
Section 14 provides that 25 per cent of all moneys received from any
national forest acquired under this act shall be paid at the end of each
year to the State in which such national forest is situated for the
benefit of public schools and public roads.
Section 15 provides for the necessary expenses of the commission
and prescribes the manner of auditing and paying of the same.
SCOPE OF THE BILL.
This bill is general in its scope, and permits the acquirement of
lands in any part of the United States where such acquisition can be
shown to be advisable to the National Forest Reservation Commission,
after the Geological Survey has determined that such acquisition will
promote or protect the navigability of streams on whose watersheds
the lands lie.
INCOME FROM THE NATIONAL FORESTS TO BE USED.
The funds to be used under the provisions of this bill are a pre-
scribed amount of those which come into the Treasury from the sale
of the products or the use of the resources of the national forests so
far as they are not now appropriated. The law at present provides
that 25 per cent of the money so received shall be paid to the States
or Territories in which such forests are located, for school and road
purposes. It is to be particularly noted that this bill does not change
that plan, but rather extends it to the States or Territories in which
national forests may be acquired. The net amount received from the
uses of the national forests for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908,
was $1,341,691.39, and for the present fiscal year is estimated to be
$1,500,000.
RELATION OF FORESTS TO THE USE OF INLAND WATERWAYS
The relation of forests to the use of the inland waterways is shown
by the following quotations:
Our river systems are better adapted to the needs of the people than those of any
other country. In extent, distribution, navigability, and ease of use they stand
first. Yet the rivers of no other civilized country are so poorly developed, so little
used, or play so small a part in the industrial life of the nation. «
The first requisite for waterway improvement is the control of the waters in such
manner as to reduce floods and regulate the regimen of the navigable streams. &
Every stream should be used t > the utmost; every river system, from its head-
waters in the forest to its mouth on the coast, is a single unit and should be treated
as such, c
A mountain watershed denuded of its forest, with its surface hardened and baked
by exposure, will discharge its fallen rain into the streams so quickly that over-
whelming floods will descend in wet seasons. In discharging in this torrential way
the water carries along great portions of the land itself. Deep gullies are washed in
« Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission. Senate Document
325, Sixtieth Congress, first session.
& Report of the National Conservation Commission. Senate Document 676, Sixtieth
Congress, second session.
c Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission. Senate Document 325,
Sixtieth Congress, first session, page 2.
4 ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
the fields, and the soil, sand, gravel, and stone are carried down the streams to points
where the current slackens. Since the extensive removal of the forest on the upper
watersheds there has been avast accumulation of silt, sand, and gravel in the upper-
stream courses. Examples of reservoirs completely filled are already to be seen on
almost every stream. In the degree that the forests are damaged on the high water-
sheds, then inevitable damage results to water power and navigation through increased
extremes of high and low water and through vast deposits of gravel, sand, and silt
in the stream channels and in any reservoir which may have been constructed. a
The chief obstacles to navigation, then, are lack of "water during portions of the
year, and detritus which is washed into the streams and gradually fills the channels
or forms obstructions at the mouth. Were the flow uniform, the amount of water
carried by a river during the year would be sufficient to provide a good depth at all
times. But the flow is uneven; there is too much water at one time and not enough
at another. The floods of the spring waste the water which should be available to
maintain a navigable depth during the summer and fall. To lessen this inequality
of flow should therefore be the aim of all measures for the development of our water-
ways. If the rivers could be kept always in gentle flood, a relatively small expendi-
ture for reservoirs, locks, and dams would be required. In the same way, if means
could be found to prevent silt and sand from being washed into the streams the
enormous cost of dredging would be largely dong away with. The function of the
forest and of the humus beneath as a storage reservoir is of high importance, yet in
relation to navigation and the storage of storm waters the influence which the 'forest
has in checking erosion is of equal, if not greater value, &
In the Southern Appalachians the fullest use of water resources can be secured only
by carefully guarding the natural conditions which control them. The valuable
water resources of this region depend absolutely upon the maintenance of a protect-
ive forest cover. Without this forest cover the water power of the region can never
be developed to the full, and in the same way the navigable streams can not be kept
from silting up if the forest cover about their headwaters is removed. The protec-
tion of these areas is a large undertaking, but it is necessarily the first undertaking,
since it is fundamental to the development and utilization of the water resources. If
the forest is not first protected, damage to water resources will be far-reaching. If
the forest is preserved, the benefits from the standpoint of water utilization will be
widely diffused, even far beyond the borders of the Appalachain region, c
The opinions here quoted represent the almost unanimous view of
all who have investigated the relation between mountain forests and
navigable rivers. The bill which the committee has reported is in line
with the policy of conservation as recommended by the President and
the National Conservation Commission. It provides for establishing
an adequate programme of protection to the mountain forests by giv-
ing the Federal Government the right to cooperate with the States or
with private individuals, and by the acquisition of lands where such is
necessary. Further, it provides the most natural arrangement for
defraying the cost of such acquisition— that of using the funds which
come to the Treasury from the national forests already established,
and the bill necessitates the appropriation of no additional sums of
money in the carrying out of this project.
It has been the policy of the Government to improve its navigable
streams by the expenditure of large sums of money, in some cases at
their headwaters. For example, a series of reservoirs has been con-
structed at the headwaters of the Mississippi at a cost of approxi-
mately $2,000,000. Locks and dams have been constructed on the
Monongahela River at a cost of $2,479,818.18: on the Allegheny River,
$1,658,423.18.; and on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, $5,385,060.78.
Expenditures have been made on the headwaters of the Sacramento
a Report of the Secretary of Agriculture on the Southern Appalachian Watersheds.
Senate Document 91, Sixtieth Congress, first session.
& Report of the U. S. Geological Survey to the Department of Agriculture. Forest
Service Circular No. 143.
c Report of the U. S. Geological Survey to the Department of Agriculture. Forest
Service Circular No. 144.
ACQUIRING LAND FOE PEOTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 5
River amounting to $400,000 for the construction of dams for the
purpose of preventing the silting up of the lower channel of the river
as a result of hydraulic mining in the mountains.
In France, the first efforts to repair the disastrous torrents were
made by engineers along the lower water courses. Dredging and
dams, however, proved at best but temporarily effective. Only when
they began to push this work up to the headwaters of the streams did
they find themselves on the right road.
RELATION OF THE FORESTS TO FLOODS.
Flood damage in the United States has increased from $45,000,000
in 1900 to 1118,000,000 in 1907. All rivers on whose watersheds the
forests have been heavily cut show flood increases. They are greatest
in such streams as the Ohio, Cumberland, Wateree, and Santee, where
the most timber has been removed, and least in those streams on whose
watersheds forest conditions have been least changed. Except in the
change of forest conditions there have been no factors that could have
intensified flood conditions. In the Ohio River in seventy years the
number of floods at Wheeling has increased 62 per cent and their
aggregate duration 110 per cent.
In the Cumberland River at Burnside, Ky., the number of floods
increased 330 per cent in the fifteen years between 1891 and 1905 and
the duration in the same proportion. During the same period in the
Wateree River at Cainden, S. C., the number of floods increased 65
per cent and the duration 82 per cent. In the Congaree River the in-
crease during the same time has been 94 per cent in number and 113
per cent in duration. In the Savannah River at Augusta, Ga., be-
tween the years 1876 and 1905 the increase in the number of floods
has been 94 per cent and in duration 266 per cent. Between 1891 and
1905 the Alabama River at Salem, Ala., had an increase in number of
floods of 83 per cent and in duration of 31 per cent.
The Geological Survey has made a careful study of floods in the
Tennessee River during the past thirty-four years, and has found that
on the basis of equal rainfall floods in the last half of the period have
increased 18f per cent.
At the Tenth International Congress on Navigation, held in Milan in
1905, engineers from the various countries of Europe were unanimously
of the opinion that mountain forests were beneficial in preventing
floods, in regulating the low water in streams, and in retaining the
soil upon the mountains.
RELATION OF FORESTS TO SOIL WASH.
The annual soil wash in the United States is estimated by the Inland
Waterways Commission at about 1,000,000,000 tons, of which the greater
part is the most valuable portion of the soil. It is carried into the
rivers, where it pollutes the waters, necessitates frequent and costly
dredging, and reduces the efficiency of work designed to facilitate
navigation and prevent floods. Soil when once lost is replaced with
great difficulty, if at all. Consequently the protection of the forests
on the slopes which are too steep otherwise to be utilized means
actually immense gain in soil conservation.
6 ACQUIRING LAND FOB PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
Not only is soil removed in great quantities from mountain surfaces,
but the floods which gather on denuded mountain slopes inevitably
result in the destruction of the alluvial soils along the river courses.
OTHER BENEFITS FROM FOREST PRESERVATION.
The protection to navigable streams is the chief purpose of the pro-
posed legislation. Incidentally, there will be great benefits to the
whole country in other directions. Water power, like navigation,
depends on the regular flow of the streams. The amount of water
power capable of development in the United States is sufficient to
operate every mill, drive ever}7 spindle, propel eveiy train and boat,
and light every cit}r, town, and village in the county. The continued
successful development of many of our industries in the future
depends in large part upon the present protection of our inland water-
ways. We are using three times as much timber ever}7 year as the
forest produces, not because we have an insufficient area of forest
land, but because our forests are not protected from lire nor properly
used. The eastern forests are notable for their hard-wood production,
half of the country's supply being obtained from this source. The
proposed bill will give protection to the chief hard- wood forests of the
country.
EXPERIENCE OF OTHER COUNTRIES PROVES THAT THE PROTECTION
OF THE FORESTS AT THE HEADWATERS OF IMPORTANT STREAMS IS
IMPERATIVE.
The relation of the mountain forests to the navigability of inland
water is the same the world over. Every countr}7 that has maintained
an even and sufficient flow of streams for the purposes of commerce
has had to maintain and in some cases establish upon the headwaters
of the streams forests to hold the soil in place and to prevent over-
whelming floods. •
Germany stands in the forefront of nations in inland waterway
development, and she has all of her high mountains protected by
forests. These forests have been under government management for
a hundred years and they are the most productive and profitable
in the world, yielding an average net return of $2.40 per acre.
The stripping of the forests from the mountains of France was
unchecked until 1860, by which time 800,000 acres of farm land had
been ruined or seriously damaged and the waterways practically
destroyed. The population of 18 departments had been reduced to
poverty and forced to emigrate. A futile attempt was then made to
check the torrents by sodding. It was onh7 by the acquisition by the
Government of the bare lands, the building of stone walls for the
gathering of silt and the planting of trees on the soil held in check by
those walls that satisfactory results were accomplished. The cost
of this method has often been as much as $50 per acre. By 1900
$15,000,000 had been spent and the French Government has continued
the work by acquiring each year 25,000 to 30,000 acres of land. The
present programme calls for the expenditure of $50,000,000 on this
work. About one-fourth of the mountain streams have been brought
under control and the balance are beginning to show indications of
improvement.
ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 7
Italy has suffered extremely from the ruin which follows the re-
moval of protective forests. One-third of all the land is unproductive,
and though some of this area may be made to support forest growth,
one-fourth of it is beyond reclamation, mainly as the result of cleared
hillsides and the pasturing of goats. The rivers are dry in summer;
in spring they are wild torrents, and the floods, brown with the soil
of the hillsides, bury the fertile lowland fields. The hills are scored
where the rains have loosened the soil, and landslides have left exposed
the sterile rocks, on which no vegetation finds a foothold. Such floods
as that of 1897, near Bologna, which did over $1,000,000 damage,
destroy property and life.
The dearth of wood and especially the great need of protecting forests
to control stream flow have brought some excellent forest laws. In
spite of the first general forest law (1877), which regulated cutting and
forbade clearing on mountain slopes, large areas have persistently been
cleared, and though provision has been made for thorough reforesting
work, very little of the needed planting has been done. The classifi-
cation of the lands to which restriction shall and shall not apply is a
constant matter of dispute. An effort has been made to show that the
forest planting contemplated b}^ law is largely unnecessary. The last
point, however, has been safely settled by recommendations of a recent
commission, which declare that at least 500,000 acres will have to be
planted, at a cost of not less than $12,000,000, before the destructive
torrents, brought on by stripping and overgrazing the hillsides, can
be controlled.
Spain has suffered greatly from destructive floods caused by insuffi-
cient forests on the mountains. She has enacted an elaborate system
of laws to prevent overcutting, but the indebtedness of the country
has prevented the efficient carrying out of these laws.
Other countries which are working out comprehensive schemes of
protecting forests at the headwaters of mountain streams are England
in India, Switzerland, Austria-Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Russia, Roumania, and Japan.
China holds a unique position as the only great country which has
persistently destroyed its forests. What has been done in other coun-
tries stands out in bold relief against the background of China, whose
mountains and hills have been stripped nearly clean of trees, and whose
soil is in many districts completely at the mercy of floods. Trees have
been left only where they could not be reached. Streams which for-
merly were narrow and deep, with an even flow of water throughout
the year, are now broad, shallow beds choked with gravel, sand, and
rock's from the mountains. During most of the year many of them
are entirely dry, but when it rains the muddy torrents come pouring
down, bringing destruction to life and all forms of property. In a
word, the Chinese, by forest waste, have brought upon themselves two
costly calamities — floods and water famine. The forest school just
opened at Mukden is the -first step in the direction of repairing this
waste so far as it now may be repaired.
The results of deforestation in China are particularly discussed and
graphically illustrated in the President's annual message to the second
session of the Sixtieth Congress.
8 ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
CONCLUSIONS.
The great increase in floods in our rivers, together with the increas-
ing property loss and annual loss of soils, shows that in some sections
of the country we are rapidly approaching the situation in which
China now finds herself. It is not now too late for nature to restore
the forests on the mountains, but the time is rapidly coining when it
will be. The question of protecting the forests at the headwaters of
the streams is a national as well as a state problem. It is not right to
expect the State to deal entirely with areas requiring protection when
those areas affect chiefly other States. It is impossible for States
which suffer from conditions outside their own territory to remedy
them by their own action. The mountains of the West are already
largely under government protection. So far as they are not pro-
tected this bill is applicable to them. It is applicable to all other sec-
tions of the United States in which the source streams of the navigable
rivers lie in nonagricultural, mountainous regions, and it is believed
that it will accomplish the necessary protection to the Southern
Appalachians and White Mountains.
If the action which this bill proposes is taken by Congress, it will
work out to the great benefit of both agriculture and the manufactur-
ing industries, while to the permanent development of our inland
waterways the benefits will be fundamental.
KlTTREDGE HASKINS.
WILLIAM W. COCKS.
RALPH D. COLE.
ERNEST M. POLLARD.
CLARENCE C. GILHAMS.
el AMES C. MCLAUGHLIN.
JOHN W. WEEKS.
JOHN LAMB.
ASBURY F. LEVER.
AUGUSTUS O. STANLEY.
J. THOMAS HEFLIN.
Your committee therefore recommend that all after the enacting
clause of Senate bill 4825 be stricken out and the following inserted
in lieu thereof:
That the consent of the Congress of the United States is hereby given to each of
the seyeral States of the Union to enter into any agreement or compact, not in con-
flict with any law of the United States, with any otl er State or States, for the pur-
pose of conserving the forests and the water supply of the States entering into such
agreement or compact.
SEC. 2. That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated and
made available until expended, out of any moneys in the National Treasury not
otherwise appropriated, to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to cooperate with any
State or group of States, when requested to do so, in the protection from fire of the
forested watersheds of navigable streams, and the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby
authorized, and on such conditions as he deems wise, to stipulate and agree with any
State or group of States to cooperate in the organization and maintenance of a system
of fire protection on any private or state forest lands within such State or States and
situated upon the watershed of a navigable river: Prorided, That no such stipulation
or agreement shall be made with any State which has not provided by law for a
system of forest-fire protection: Provided further, That in no case shall the amount
expended in any State exceed in any fiscal )Tear the amount appropriated by that
State for the same purpose during the same fiscal year.
SEC. 3. That the Secretary of Agriculture, for the further protection of the water-
sheds of said navigable streams, may, in his discretion, and he is hereby authorized,
ACQUIRING LAND FOE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 9
on such conditions as he deems wise, to stipulate and agree to administer and protect
for a definite term of years any private forest lands situated upon any such watershed
whereon lands may be permanently reserved, held, and administered as national
forest lands; but such stipulation or agreement shall provide that the owner of such
private lands shall cut and remove the timber thereon only under such rules and
regulations, to be expressed in the stipulation or agreement, as will provide for the
protection of the forest in the aid of navigation: Provided, That in no case shall the
United States be liable for any damage resulting from fire or any other cause.
SEC. 4. That from the receipts accruing from the sale or disposal of any products
or the use of lands or resources from public lands, now or hereafter to be set aside as
national forests that have been or may hereafter be turned into the Treasury of the
United States and which are not otherwise appropriated, there is hereby appropriated
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nine, the sum of one
million dollars, and for each fiscal year thereafter a sum not to exceed two million
dollars for use in the examination, survey, and acquirement of 'lands located on the
headwaters of navigable streams or those which are being or which may be developed
for navigable purposes: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall expire by
limitation on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and nineteen.
SEC. 5. That a commission, to be known as the National Forest Reservation Commis-
sion, consisting of the. Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary
of Agriculture, and one member of the Senate, to be selected by the President of the
Senate, and one member' of the House of Representatives, to be selected by the
Speaker, is hereby created and authorized to consider and pass upon such lands as
may be recommended for purchase as provided in section six of this act, and to fix
the price or prices at which such lands may be purchased, and no purchases shall be
made of any lands until^such lands have been duly approved for purchase by said
commission: Provided, That the members of the commission herein created shall
serve as such only during their incumbency in their respective official positions, and
any vacancy on the commission shall be filled in the manner as the original appoint-
ment.
SEC. 6. That the commission hereby appointed shall, through its president, annu-
ally report to Congress, not later than t!.e first Monday in December, the operations
and expenditures of the commission, in detail, during the preceding fiscal year.
SEC. 7. That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to
examine, locate, and recommend for purchase such lands as in his judgment may be
necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams, and to report to the
National Forest Reservation Commission the results of such examinations: Prorided,
That before any lands are* purchased by the National Forest Reservation Commission
said lands shall be examined by the Geological Survey and a report made to the
Secretary of Agriculture, showing that the control of such lands will promote or
protect the navigation of streams on wrhose watersheds they lie.
SEC. 8. That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to purchase, in the
name of the United States, such lands as have been approved for purchase by the
National Forest Reservation Commission at the price or prices fixed by said commis-
sion: Prorided, That no deed or other instrument of conveyance shall be accepted or
approved by the Secretary of Agriculture under this act until the legislature of the
State in which the land lies shall have consented to the acquisition of such land by
the United States for the purpose of preserving the navigability of navigable streams.
SEC 9. That the Secretary of Agriculture may do all things necessary to secure the
safe title in the United Statts to the lands to be acquired under this act; but no
payment shall be made for any such lands until the title shall be satisfactory to the
Attorney-General and shall be vested in the United States.
SEC. 10. That such acquisition may in any case be conditioned upon the exception
and reservation to the owner, from whom title passes to the United States, of the
minerals and of the merchantable timber, or either or any part of them, within or
upon such lands at the date of the conveyance; but in every case such- exception and
reservation, and the time within which such timber shall be removed, and the rules
and regulations under which the cutting and removal of such timber and the mining
and removal of such minerals shall be done shall be expressed in the written instru-
ment of conveyance, and thereafter the mining, cutting, and removal of the minerals
and timber so excepted and reserved shall be done only under and in obedience to
the rules and regulations so expressed.
SEC. 11. That whereas small areas of land chiefly valuable for agriculture may of
necessity or by inadvertence be included in tracts acquired under this act, the Sec-
retary of Agriculture may, in his discretion, and he is hereby authorized, upon ap-
plication or otherwise, to examine and ascertain the location and extent of such
areas as in his opinion may be occupied for agricultural purposes without injury to
the forests or to stream flow and which are not needed for public purposes, and may
10 ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
list and describe the same by metes and bounds, or otherwise, and offer them for
sale as homesteads at their true value, to be fixed by him, to actual settlers, in tracts
not exceeding eighty acres in area, under such joint rules and regulations as the
Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; and in
case of such sale the jurisdiction over the lands sold shall, ipso facto, revert to the
State in which the lands so-ld lie. And no right, title, interest, or claim in or to any
lands acquired under this act, or the waters thereon, or the products, resources, or
use thereof after such lands shall have been so acquired, shail be initiated or per-
fected, except as in this section provided.
SEC. 12. That, subject to the provisions of the last preceding section, the lauds
acquired under this act shall be permanently reserved, held, and administered as
national forest lands under the provisions of section twenty-four of the act approved
March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one (volume twenty -six, Statutes at
Large, page, eleven hundred and three), and acts supplemental to and amendatory
thereof. And the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time divide the lands
acquired under this act into such specific national forests and so designate the same
as he may deem best, for administrative purposes.
SEC. 13. That the jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons upon the lands
acquired under this act shall not be affected or changed by their permanent reser-
vation and administration as national forest lands, except so far as the punishment
of offenses against the United States is concerned, the intent and meaning of this
section being that the State wherein such land is situated shall not, by reason of such
reservation and administration, lose its jurisdiction nor the inhabitants thereof their
rights and privileges as citixens or be absolved from their duties as citizens of the
State.
SEC. 14. That twenty-five per centum of all moneys received during any fiscal year
from each national forest into which the lands acquired under this act may from time
to time be divided shall be paid, at the end of such year, by the Secretary of the
Treasury to the State in which such national forest is situated, to be expended as the
state legislature may prescribe'for the benefit of the public schools and public roads
of the county or counties in which such national forest is situated: Provided, That
when any national forest is in more than one State or county the distributive share
to each from the proceeds of such forest shall be proportional .to its area, therein:
Provided further, That there shall not be paid to any State for any county an amount
equal to more than forty per centum of the total income of such county from all other
sources.
SEC. 15. That a sum sufficient to pay the necessary expenses of the commission
and its members, not to exceed an annual expenditure of twenty-five thousand dol-
lars, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro-
priated. Said appropriation shall be immediately available and shall be paid out
on the audit and order of the president of the said commission; which audit and
order shall be conclusive and binding upon all departments as to the correctness of
the accounts of said commission.
Amend the title so as to read: " An act to enable any State to co-
operate with any other State or States, or with the United States, for
the protection of the watersheds of navigable streams, and to appoint
a commission for the acquisition of lands for the purpose of conserv-
ing the navigability of navigable rivers."
VIEWS OF THE MINORITY.
In the first session of the Sixtieth Congress, reporting upon a reso-
lution offered by Mr. Bartlett, of Georgia, the Committee on the
Judiciary of the House of Representatives declared it to be their
opinion that —
The Federal Government has no power to acquire lands within a State solely for
forest reserves, but under its constitutional power over navigation the Federal Gov-
ernment may appropriate for the purchase of lands and forest reserves in a State,
provided it is made clearly to appear that such lands and forest reserves have a
direct and substantial connection with the conservation and improvement of the
navigability of a river actually navigable in whole or in part.
Bearing that opinion in mind (and it has met with universal acquies-
cence), it becomes of the very first importance, in considering a bill for
the purchase of forest reserves, to determine whether such reserves
" have a direct and substantial connection with the conservation and
improvement of the navigability of a river actually navigable in whole
or in part/' The statement that such connection does exist has been
so confidently assumed and so often repeated that those who have
given but a casual or superficial study to the subject have come to
regard it as an established and admitted fact.
The truth is that it is neither established nor admitted. On the con-
trary, the proposition is veiy earnestly disputed by men whose opin-
ions are entitled to great weight. It is perhaps not overstating it to
say that a majority of the riparian engineers who have given the sub-
ject careful study are of the opinion that forests do not exercise any
effective control in either extremes of high water or of low water.
Lieut. Col. H. M. Chittenden, of the United States Army Engineer
Corps, who has been studying the control of floods in rivers for many
years, is perhaps the most conspicuous exponent of this view in our
own country, having recently read a paper before the American
Society of Engineers in which is presented a powerful and to many
minds a convincing argument in support of his contention. In Europe
the same opinion is entertained by M. Ernst Lauda, chief of the
hydrographic bureau of the Austrian Government, who has recently
made an exhaustive report upon the great floods of the Danube, in the
course of which he s
F It is universally believed that forests have an influence in moderating and prevent-
ing floods, and deforestation upon their origin and more frequent occurrence, yet thia
belief is not better established from a hydrographic standpoint than the entirely un-
founded belief that the floods of the past few years in Austria are due to deforesta-
tion. Against the popular belief in the favorable influence of forests upon floods
resulting from excessive rains may be adduced the interesting fact that_lands richest
in forests are frequently visited by the severest floods. 9M
In support of this opinion he traces the history of the Danube River
for eight hundred years, drawing the conclusion that floods were for-
rly just as frequent and just as high in that river as they have been
recent times. He cites the records of the river Seine also showing
merl
in
11
12 ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
even greater flood height in the sixteenth century than any that oc-
curred in the nineteenth. As deforestation in the watersheds in both
the Danube and the Seine is vastly greater now than it was eight cen-
turies or three centuries ago, the testimony of the actual records pre-
sented by M. Lauda can not be lightly set aside. Nor can it be said
that M. Lauda stands alone in his opinion, for at the Tenth Interna-
tional Congress of Navigation, held at Milan in 1905, papers upon this
subject were presented by representatives from France, German}',
Italy, Austria, and Russia, and while all the writers favored forest
culture the opinion was practically unanimous that forests exert no
appreciable influence upon the stream flow of rivers.
Indeed, Colonel Chittenden, who has perhaps studied foreign reports
upon this subject more carefully than any other American, declares
that he is unable to find among the river engineers of Europe tiny that
advocate forests as a corrective for the extremes of flow in our rivers.
He cites an exceedingly elaborate investigation instituted by Napoleon
III, as a result of which the French engineers, after an exhaustive
study of the subject, united in the opinion that whatever value forests
might have locally in preventing the erosion of steep slopes they could
not be relied upon in any degree to diminish the great floods from
which France had been suffering, and that any measures which might
be taken in the line of reforestation would have no appreciable effect.
The report of these engineers quoted a very elaborate and exhaustive
work upon the floods of French rivers, going back over six hundred
years, in which it was conclusively shown that former floods were
larger than those of the present time. As a result of this report it is
declared that no French project of river improvement, either for flood
prevention or as an insurance against low water in navigable rivers,
has embraced reforestation as an essential part or even any part at all.
In our own country, where river records have been kept but a com-
paratively short time, the data are of course insufficient to warrant
any very sweeping generalizations. We believe it is admitted, how-
ever, that the records of the Ohio River, which extend over a period
of forty }Tears, show greater extremes of both high water and low
water during the first twenty years of that period than during the last
twenty years, thus bearing out in a degree at least the conclusions
reached through a study of the extended periods of observation of
European rivers. While it can not be regarded, therefore, as fully
established, we submit that the weight of expert testimon}^ and the
preponderance of evidence as deduced from actual observation is very
largely in favor of the proposition that forests do not exercise an"
appreciable influence upon the navigability of navigable rivers.
But the argument against the proposition in the bill under consid-
eration b}T no means rests alone upon the contention that there is no
vital connection between the forests and the maintenance of naviga-
bility in navigable streams. It is a conceded fact that at the present
time, in the southern Appalachians at least, the menace to the streams
comes from the operations of the farmer and not from those of the
lumberman. It is the tracts on the lower slopes of the mountains
which have been cleared for farming from which the silt is washed
into the streams and not from the upper slopes, which are covered
with trees. Now, it is not denied that if these lower slopes are prop-
erly farmed the soil will not wash appreciably, and the streams there-
fore will receive no damage. It is not denied either that if the steeper
ACQUIRING LAND FOB PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 13
slopes, which never can be farmed, are protected from fire thev will
always be forested, or at least covered with a growth that will prevent
erosion.
Remembering these two undenied facts, can it be argued that it is
necessary for the Government to purchase either the upper or the
lower slopes of the mountains in order to protect the streams? The
lower slopes are more valuable for farming than for timber raising if
the}T can be prevented from erosion. Since they can be so prevented
by proper methods of tillage, would it not be better national economy
for the Federal Government to help teach the farmers of that region
how to till their soil in such a way as to prevent erosion and maintain
its fertility than it would be to buy out those farmers and return the
land to the wilderness? And since the upper slopes will alwa}Ts have a
forest cover, if protected from fire, would it not be better national
econoim- for the Federal Government to lend its aid to such protec-
tion at a comparatively trifling cost (it is estimated by the Forest Serv-
ice that the cost of an effective fire patrol would not exceed 2 cents per
acre per annum) than to buy the land at a veiy great initial expendi-
ture, with the cost of fire protection to be added as a fixed and con-
tinuing charge? Would it not be better for the States concerned to
have the lands remain in private ownership, supporting a larger popu-
lation than could possibly be maintained if the policy of the pending
bill is pursued, and retaining the value of the property on the tax
rolls?
The very best that can be said in support of the proposition for the
federal purchase of these lands is that as a result of such purchase the
impairment of navigable streams may possibly be diminished or
retarded. But will this vague general possibilit}^, or probability, of
a distant and shadowy good offset the immediate and certain evil of
driving large numbers of people away from homes which in many
instances have been occupied for generations, of reducing the produc-
tivity of large areas, and of taking large amounts of property from
local tax rolls?
It is cited as a special merit in the pending bill that the mone}7 to
carry it into effect is taken not from the General Treasury but from
the receipts of the existing Forest Service, the agreeable inference
therefrom being that the proposed new forests can be bought without
any real draft upon the Treasury. We are unable to see the force of
this argument. The receipts from the present national forests are not
a new source of income conjured into existence by the pending bill.
On the contrary, these receipts are a part of the national revenues
which are paid into the Federal Treasury, just as are the revenues from
customs dues or internal taxation. To regard the income from the
forests as a special fund which can be diverted without any real effect
upon the Treasury balances is a palpable fiction, which if adopted
would expose the Congress to the charge of doing by indirection what
it was not willing to do directly. If we are going to enter upon this
policy, let us do it openly and boldly with a full understanding of
what it will cost ai\d where the money is to come from.
In its terms, the life of the measure being limited to ten years and
the expenditures under it restricted in the aggregate to $19,000,000,.
this bill is extreme^ conservative compared with others that have been
introduced upon' the same subject. It is to be noted, however, that it
is applicable to every section of the country, and that the foremost ad-
14 ACQUIRING LAND FOE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
vocates of the policy which it initiates maintain that the policy can
only be carried to a successful issue through the purchase of many
million acres of land. The last official report upon the subject recom-
mended the purchase of 5,000,000 acres in the southern Appalachians
and 600,000 acres in the White Mountains, the average estimated cost
being $3.50 an acre. , But it states also (on page 32) that there are
75,000,000 acres in these mountains which "will have to be given pro-
tection before the hard-wood supply is on a safe footing and before the
watersheds of the important streams are adequately safeguarded."
While no one now advocates the purchase of this enormous area, yet
with the policy once entered upon and backed by the tremendous polit-
ical and industrial influences that can be brought to its support, who
can give assurance that such purchases may not be made in the future
and the cost of this policy be thereby extended from tens of millions
to hundreds of millions?
Notwithstanding the enormous expenditure which will almost in-
evitably result from the entrance upon this policy, it might still be
warranted if it were a demonstrated fact that the maintenance of the
forested watersheds is the only way by which the filling up of navi-
gable streams and the destructive erosion of large sections of our
country can be prevented, and that the only means by which forested
watersheds can be maintained is through federal ownership of such
watersheds. Believing, however, that this destructive erosion and
consequent silting of rivers can be prevented by the introduction of
proper methods of farming and by adequate fire protection, both of
which can be accomplished through the cooperation of state and fed-
eral agencies at comparatively little expense, we are unwilling to con-
sent to a measure which commits the Government to a policy which
we believe to be both unwise and unnecessary.
CHAS. F. SCOTT.
WM. LORIMER.
GEO. W. COOK.
JACK BEALL.
W. W. RUCKER.
VIEWS OF MR. HAWLEY.
In addition to joining in the dissent of the minority and commending
its vigorous presentation of the matter, 1 desire to add the following
observations:
This bill provides for the acquisition of lands an}' where in the
United States for the establishment of new forest reserves or national
forests. These lands are to be acquired from the present private
owners upon the recommendation of a commission, as provided in the
bill. It is stated that the purpose of such acquisitions is to preserve
and improve the navigability of navigable rivers, apparently following
the opinion of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House, as
expressed in House Report No. 1514 of this Congress. It is inferred
that if the policy proposed in the bill is carried out, under the terms
and by the means therein set forth, that in due time extremes of high
and low water in navigable rivers will be regulated, and the hindrance
to navigation due to the deposit of silt will be controlled. The vital
question at this point is, " Will this be the result?" If not, then the
theoiy on which the bill is based fails, and its justification also fails,
under report No. 1514, referred to above. Upon this relation between
the proposed control and navigation or stream flow the authorities
disagree, as set forth at length in the proceeding opinion of the
minority. And no agreement exists as to where the necessary lands
lie or as to what is their nature.
The bill also provides that for the same purposes the Government
may administer private forest lands adjacent to the lands in the pro-
posed new reserves, for a term of years, upon agreement with the
owners. There is little evidence to show whether few or many owners
of forest lands will so agree, and in my judgment not many will accept
the terms proposed. If they do not, the amount of land necessary to
be acquired by the National Government in order to carry out the
policy in the bill will be increased and add largely to the appropria-
tions required.
It is proposed to appropriate from the revenues of existing forest
reserves $1,000,000 for the first year, and $2,000,000 annually there-
after for a period of nine years, in all $19,000,000. In view of the
large areas it is proposed to control, this amount must be regarded
rather as an experimental appropriation than as a sum adequate to
accomplish the purposes of the bill. The report of the Secretary of
Agriculture, made in compliance with the provision in the agricultural
appropriation bill, approved March 4, 1907, which directed him to
make an investigation of this question (see S. Doc. 91, 60th Cong., 1st
sess.), on pages 30, 31, and 32, says:
AREA AND LOCATION OP "LANDS NEEDING PROTECTION.
In order to determine the extent of the lands primarily available for forests in the
Southern Appalachian and White Mountain regions, a reconnaissance survey has
been made, as a result of which the accompanying maps have been prepared. Maps
I and II show for the two regions the lands to be classed as distinctly mountainous
and noiiagricultural.
15
16 ACQUIRING LAND FOB PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
The main centers for such mountainous and nonagricultural lands in the Southern
Appalachians are, first, the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains of North
Carolina and Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia; second, the Allegheny Moun-
tains of eastern and southern West Virginia and western Virginia, and, third, the
Cumberland Mountains of eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Alabama.
These lands include the main mountain ranges, and the roughest, wildest land of the
region. Naturally, they ein brace a smaller proportion of agricultural lands than
other parts of the region, and those which they do embrace have for the most part
been eliminated, as will be seen from the irregular boundaries on the map. Regard-
less of these eliminations they still include some small bodies of agricultural lands.
These areas, though they contain only 40 per cent of the timbered land of the
Southern Appalachians, include almost all of the virgin timber lands, because the
virgin timber which remains is mostly situated on the high mountains. Even though
these lands do produce an inferior grade of timber, their sole use must be for timber
production. There is no other crop which will hold the gravelly, stony soil in place
and keep it from clogging the channels of streams and covering the agricultural
valleys which lie below. These nonagricultural and mountainous" lands, approxi-
mating 23,000,000 acres, give rise to all the important streams which have their
source in the Southern Appalachians. They are therefore the vital portions of these
mountains. Whatever work is done to protect the Southern Appalachians must
center in these areas. The proportion to which these lands fall into different States
and watersheds is shown in the following tables:
TABLE 4. — Area, by States, of rwnagricultural and mountainous lands in the Southern
Appalachians.
State.
Area.
State.
Area.
Tennessee
Acres.
4, 962, 000
West Virginia
South Carolina
Acres.
5, 797, 000
590 000
Virginia
Alabama
3, 882, 000
491 000
Maryland
•>77 000
Georgia
1,806,000
Total
23 310 000
Kentucky
1,623 000
North Carolina
3, 882, 000
TABLE 5. — Area, by watersheds, of nonagricultural and mountainous lands in the
Southern Appalachians,
Watershed. Area.
Watershed.
Area.
Acres.
Tennessee 2 489,000
Yadkin
Acres.
428, 000
Cumberland 2, 759, 000
Big Pigeon
20, 000
Holston 582 000
50° 000
James 1,138,000
Broad
299, 000
Roanoke (Staunton) 431,000
Potomac . .
2, 095, 000
New (Kanawha) : 3 225 000
Chattahoochee
345,000
Big Sandy i 1,347,000
Little Pigeon
19,000
Hiawassee | 1 066 000
Twelve Pole
1,000
Little Tennessee 1 307 000
Savannah
86"0, 000
French Broad 623,000
Guvandotte
660.000
Pigeon 255 000 i
Saluda
100, 000
Little River 202,000
Kentucky
156,000
Monongahela 987 000
Coosa
767,000
Nolichuckv 379 000
Youghiogheny 117 000
Total
23,310,000
Rapidan 151 , 000
While the lands shown on the map are all in need of protection, they are not all
of equal inportance when all economic points of view are considered.
The lands to be classed as of first importance include the mountain ridges mainly,
but extend considerable distances down the* slopes in those localities where the soil
is particularly subject to erosion and on the watersheds of streams of greatest impor-
tance for water power or navigation. The area of such lands does not exceed
5,000,000 acres
The same class of land for the White Mountain region is shown in Map II. It
lies in both New Hampshire and Maine. Excluding the numerous bodies of water,
their area in New Hampshire is 1,457,000 acres, and in Maine 700,000 acres, mak-
ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 17
ing a total of 2,157,000 acres. The proportion in which this falls in the five water
systems included is as follows:
Acres,
Connecticut : 429, 000
Merrimac 264, 000
Saco : 332, 000
Androscoggin 1, 002, 000
Kennebec 130, 000
Total 2, 157, 000
There is also shown on this map an area embracing only the four main ranges of
the White Mountains. A few thousand acres of this area lie in Maine. All the rest
is in New Hampshire. This principal White Mountain area covers 668,000 acres,
and, considering all economic points of view, is the most important part of the region,
TREATMENT OF THE REGION.
The areas indicated in the preceding section, 23,310,000 acres in the Southern
Appalachians and 2,157,000 acres in the White Mountains, do not include all the
mountainous timber lands of the Appalachians. As is discussed under the heading
"Importance of Appalachian forests for hard-wood supply," there are probably
75,000,000 acres in this mountain system more important for timber production than
for any other purpose. This area will have to be given protection before the hard-
wood supply is on a safe footing and before the watersheds of the important streams
are adequately safeguarded.
If it is a wise policy for the Government to control by purchase or
agreement with owners such large areas of land, and in addition
thereto extensive areas included in this bill, but not included in the
report of the Secretary of Agriculture, then it should be undertaken
on a scale commensurate with its proposed final extent, and for which
appropriations many times the present amount will be required.
This bill if enacted into law will inaugurate a system of new forest
reserves whose final limits will include tne lands the administration of
which by the National Government may be said to conserve and regu-
late stream flow and assist in maintaining the navigability of navigable
rivers. In my opinion the proposed appropriation of $19,000,000 is
sufficient only to make a beginning and to commit the Government to
the policy. It initiates one of the most extensive and momentous
movements ever begun in this country by legislative action. It seems
to me there of necessit}- should be required prior thereto an exceed-
ingly thoroughgoing and exhaustive investigation by competent author
ity of all the problems involved, for the information of the country
and of Congress, and if thereafter the proposed polic^y is considered
wise and within the powers of Congress, a measure should be prepared
that will present the matter in all its magnificence to the country and
provide adequate appropriations for executing the policy, and granting
all necessary authority therefor.
Does the present bill authorize the commission to use the power of
eminent domain to obtain from unwilling owners the lands deemed
necessary? If not, is not the omission of such authority an error?
I fear, also, that when the Government goes into the market to
purchase from private parties the lands for the new forest reserves
great difficulties will be encountered, arising out of speculations in
these lands.
The committee have held many hearings on this subject, the net
result of which discloses the lack of accurate and adequate data. For
the purpose of securing carefully collected and scientifically presented
H. Rep. 2027, 60-2 2
18 ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
information on all phases of the subject, I introduced a bill at the last
session, and the fact that the information called for b^y it is not availa-
ble seems to justify the printing of it as an appendix.
Truly yours,
W. C. HAWLEY.
[H. K. 'J1877. Sixtieth Co
A BILL To provide for obtaining certain information relative to the1 White Mountain, Appalachian,
and other watersheds and forests.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the i'nitcd Mate* of America
in Congress assembled. That a commission consisting of three men, whose duties are
defined below, shall be appointed as follows: One by the President of the United
States, one by the President of the Senate, and one by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
SEC. 2. That the duties of this commission shall be as follows:
First. Personally to visit every watershed in the States named in section seven of
this act supposed to have influence in regulating the flow of waters and conservation
of water supply in the maintenance of the navigability of navigable rivers, and for
other purposes.
Second. To establish by metes and bounds the limits of such watersheds and to
actually ascertain the areas included.
Third. To ascertain how much of such areas are now forested and the kinds and
sizes of the trees and other growths thereon.
Fourth. The general nature and character of the soil of these watersheds and the
general topography of said watersheds.
Fifth. To ascertain how much of such areas are now deforested and the condition
of the deforested lands.
Sixth. To ascertain what portions of the deforested areas can be reforested, how
much can not be reforested, and the probable cost and period of time required for
reforestation of such areas.
Seventh. To ascertain whether these watersheds have a definite and demonstrable
physical connection, mediate or immediate, with the maintenance and improvement
of the navigability of navigable rivers. •
Eighth. To ascertain as accurately as possible the value of the lands of each water-
shed and the price at which they can be acquired.
Ninth. To ascertain whether any of these watershed areas will be transferred to
the United States, either as a gift or to be placed under the control of the United
States, and if so, for what length of time.
Tenth. If the question implied in paragraph seven is decided affirmatively, to
ascertain whether the control of the watershed areas will be sufficient for the' con-
servation and improvement of the navigability of navigable rivers, or whether the
control of areas below and other than the watershed areas will be necessary for that
purpose. If areas other than watershed areas are decided to be necessary, then such
areas shall be definitely located and measured, and their values and the prices for
which they can be bought shall be ascertained.
Eleventh. To ascertain the annual precipitation on each watershed area as nearly
as possible and for as long a period of years preceding as possible.
Twelfth. To estimate the probable annual revenues, if any, from such watershed
and other areas and the cost of administration yearly if acquired by the Government.
Thirteenth. To ascertain the miles on each river supposed to be directly or indi-
rectly benefited that are now navigable, and the number of months each such river
is navigable, the depth of water for each month, and the draft of vessels using same.
Fourteenth. To ascertain the increase or diminution of the miles of navigable
water in each such river and the depths of water therein for the longest period of
years possible.
Fifteenth. To ascertain the amount of commerce carried, by months, on each such
.river for the longest period of years possible.
Sixteenth. To ascertain the effects of erosion due to the denudation of watershed
or other areas and the damage effected thereby.
Seventeenth. To ascertain what effect on high and low water in rivers the drainage
and tiling of farm land has had.
Eighteenth. To ascertain who are the present owners of the areas referred to in
this act and when thev obtained such lands.
ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 19
Nineteenth. To ascertain whether large tracts have been recently acquired and
whether options have been taken on the -lands, and if go, in what quantities.
Twentieth. To ascertain the amount of timber cut on the watersheds aforesaid
yearly and the rate of such cutting for a period of years as long as possible.
Twenty-first. To ascertain the facts in the development of water power in such
areas.
SEC. 3. • That the said commission shall have authority to employ expert and
unskilled labor necessary to enable them to perform the duties imposed upon them
and to fix compensation therefor.
SEC. 4. That each of said three commissioners shall be paid at the rate of five hun-
dred dollars per month and shall receive compensation for necessary personal expenses
incurred in the discharge of their duties.
SEC. 5. That there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not
otherwise appropriated, the sum of thirty thousand dollars to provide payment for
services and expenses authorized by this act.
SEC. 6. That said commission shall report completely, finally, and in full on or
before February first, nineteen hundred and nine.
SEC. 7. That the watersheds and other areas described in this act, and which the
commission herein provided shall investigate under the provisions of this act, are those
located in the following States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Penn-
sylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.
VIEWS OF MR. HAUGEN.
Before entering upon such a gigantic scheme as is contemplated in
the proposed bill, one which in the end in all probabilities will involve
the expenditure of not millions but billions of dollars, Congress should
have detailed and accurate information in order that the matter might
be carefully, fully, and intelligently considered. It should at least
have data, or reliable estimates, as to the probable cost, the number of
acres that should be purchased for the preservation of the forests
within the watersheds of the navigable rivers not only in the White
Mountains and the Southern Appalachian Mountains, but over the
whole country. The only official information available at the present
time is that obtained under the act of Congress of March 4. 1907,
which " requires the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate the water-
sheds of the Southern Appalachian and White Mountains and to
report to Congress the area and natural conditions of said watersheds,
the price at which the same can be purchased by the Government, and
the advisability of the Government purchasing and setting apart the
same as national forest reserves for the purpose of conserving and
regulating the water supply and flow of said streams in the interest
of agriculture, water power, and navigation.'1
In this report the Secretary recommends that the Government
acquire an area of about 6,000,000 acres at once, and states that an
area of about 75,000,000 acres will have to be given protection. The
Secretary has this to say (p. 32) :
It is an enormous undertaking to bring this immense area of 75,000,000 acres under
proper conditions of protection and use. If the Government owned the land the
problem would be a comparatively simple one under our present forest policv.
I conclude from this that it is necessary to purchase the 75,000,000
acres to begin with. As to the method of acquirement and cost of
lands the Secretary has this to say :
WHITE MOUNTAINS.
The timber lands of the White Mountains are in the main held by a few large com-
panies, nearly all of whom are cutting extensively on the spruce stands for pulp or
lumber manufacture. The plants of some of these companies represent an investment
of several hundred thousand dollars. Manifestly, in negotiating for these lands, in
so far as they bear uncut timber, the value of the plant must enter into the consid-
eration. In addition, the stumpage value of spruce ranges from $4.50 to $6 or <j>7 per
thousand. This would give the best stands a value of $75 to $125 or more per acre.
* * >•* '•£ -X- * *
» i
The hard woods of the White Mountains, of which there is a large area, have not
the value of spruce, nor are they as yet being extensively cut. Their stumpage value
is from $2.50 to $4 per thousand, depending upon location, stand, and quality.
The cut-over lands have a value ranging from $1 to $6 or $8 per acre, depending
upon the condition of the timber growth upon them.
The question of the acquirement of timber lands by the Government has been con-
sidered with the principal owners of the region. While unwilling to dispose of their
20
ACQUIRING LAND FOE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 21
virgin timber lands, except at very high prices, they are willing to consider the sale
of their cut-over lands, the lands lying too high for lumbering, and the mountain tops.
A careful study of the situation leads to the conclusion that most of the lands of
these classes can be bought at an average price of $6 per acre.
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS.
in the Southern Appalachians the timber lands are owned by large companies to a
less extent than in the White Mountains, but even here as much as 50 per cent of
many localities is under such ownership.
Timber-land owners in the Southern Appalachians are generally inclined to sell
their lands to the Government at a reasonable price, regardless of whether the lands
contain virgin timber or are cut over. Furthermore many of them are favorable to
the transfer of their lands, themselves retaining the right to cut and remove certain
kinds of timber above specified sizes.
In considering the practicability of the Government's purchasing land for national
forests in the Southern Appalachians conference has been freely had with timber-
land owners, lumbermen, real estate dealers, and title examiners. Moreover, atten-
tion has been paid to the sales which have been made during the past two years and
the prices which have been paid.
The price of virgin hard-wood land varies from $5 to $12 per acre, depending on
accessibility and kind and quality of timber. Cut-over lands are worth from $2 to $5
per acre, their value likewise depending upon their location and the condition of the
timber growth upon them.
From this report, or an}T other information available, who can figure
out the probable outla}^ of money? No data is furnished as to the
number of acres of the $75 and $125 per acre land. There is no data as
to the number of plants. All that is known is that some of these lands
are valued at from $75 to $125 per acre, and that there are plants there
representing an investment of several hundred thousand dollars, and
that the value of the plants must enter into the consideration. No
data is given as to the number of acres of hard wood, except that there
is a large area. No data is given as to the number of acres of cut-over
land, valued at from $1 to $8 per acre, except that it is believed that
most of the land of these classes can be bought at an average price of
$6 per acre.
Suppose the average price of all the 75, 000,000 acres to be purchased
in this region is $20 per acre, it would mean an investment of one and
one-half billion dollars, an amount more than six times the cost of the
building of the Panama Ganal, or nearly twice the amount of our
present interest-bearing debt, or four times the value of the total
annual products of the Iowa farms.
The Secretary reports that these timber lands are in the main held
by a few large companies. This means large prices. Besides, the
Government generally pays more for what it buys and will have to
pay larger prices than would have to be paid by individuals in pur-
chasing the same lands.
The Secretary reports that the principal owners of lands are unwill-
ing to dispose of their virgin timber lands, except at a very high
price; that the cut-over lands, lands lying too high for lumbering,
and the mountain tops, or, in other words, that only such lands as are
not needed or desired for this or any other purpose are offered for
sale.
Considering the Secretary's report and the fact that the purchase of
the 75,000,000 acres, involving an expenditure of probably over a
billion dollars, is probably only a small part of the land necessary to
.be acquired, as undoubtedly enterprising and patriotic real estate
owners in other parts of the country would be willing to unload their
22 ACQUIRING LAND FOR PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
lands onto the Government, especially when the price is to be very
high, and will insist that there be an equitable distribution of these
billions of dollars; and considering also the enormity of the whole
proposition, is it not the part of wisdom, common sense, and sound
business judgment first to obtain detailed, accurate, and reliable infor-
mation in order that ,a comprehensive, well-devised,' and practical
policy may be worked out and followed?
Considering also that the proposed bill is an entering wedge to such
a gigantic proposition, I feel constrained to dissent from the views of
the majority, and believe that for the present that II. K. 2198(5, passed
the first session of this Congress, is the proper legislation. Its pro-
visions are clearly set forth in Report No. 1700, a copy of which is
appended.
GILBERT N. HAW EN.
[House Report No. 1700, Sixtieth Congress, first session.]
The Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred House bill 2198(5, has had
the same under consideration and reports as follows:
At the beginning of the present session a number of bills were introduced and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture having for their general purpose the pur-
chase of certain tracts of land in the White Mountains and in the Southern Appala-
chain Mountains with a view to preserving the forests on said lands and conserving
the flow in the rivers having their sources therein. The committee considered its
most pressing duty to be, first, to prepare the appropriation bill for the Department
of Agriculture. Before the consideration of this bill had been completed a resolu-
tion was introduced by Representative Bartlett, of Georgia, providing that the bills
above mentioned, commonly known as the White Mountain and Appalachain Park
forest-reserve bills, be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary with the request
that that committee render an opinion as to the constitutionality of the proposed
measures. This resolution was adopted by the House, and the bills were referred
accordingly. Pending the report of the Committee on the Judiciary the Committee
on Agriculture was of the opinion that it could not properly give consideration to
these measures.
On April 20, 1908, the Committee on the Judiciary rendered an opinion to the
effect that the United States would have no right to purchase lands for the purpose
of creating a forest reserve, but that Congress might appropriate for the purchase of
lands having a direct and substantial connection with the navigability of navigable
rivers. As a result of this decision, Representatives who had introduced the bills
which had been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary modified and reintro-
duced them, and they were again referred to the Committee on Agriculture, which
took up the consideration of them at the earliest possible date. After hearing testi-
mony and considering the bills for several days it became evident that the commit-
tee, with the information then before it, was unwilling to favorably recommend any
measure committing the United States to the policy of purchasing forest lands. The
whole matter was therefore referred to a subcommittee, with instructions to recom-
mend to the full committee such action as it was deemed proper to take. As a result
of the deliberations of this subcommittee, the bill, H. R. 21986, was reported to the
full committee, and by its action is herewith reported to the House.
It is a matter of common knowledge that the forests in the White Mountains and
in the southern Appalachian Mountains are being rapidly destroyed, and the desira-
bility of preserving what remains of them, or at least of introducing methods of
lumbering which will 'prevent the destruction of immature timber and will protect
the forests from fire, is universally conceded, not only for the perpetuation of the
timber supply, but also for the conservation of the flow of water in the streams
having their source within these forests. The problem as to how this desired end
should be reached has been widely discussed and has awakened profound interest
throughout the entire country. As a result of this discussion four distinct methods
have been suggested.
First. It has been held by many that the problem was one belonging exclusively
to the States concerned. Those holding this view have argued that the Federal
Government has no constitutional authority to purchase lands for the purpose of
conserving the forests upon them, even though such preservation may conserve the
ACQUIRING LAND FOB PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 23
supply of water in navigable streams. They hold that the matter is one over which
the States have exclusive jurisdiction, and that if the right exists it is the duty of the
State to assume the responsibility of meeting it.
Second. Another view is that while it is neither the right nor the duty of the Fed-
eral Government to purchase the forests it may properly cooperate with the States
or with private owners in their preservation by furnishing expert advice and assist-
ance in their proper utilization and administration.
Third. Still another view is that when it is shown that the forests of a given water-
shed have a direct and substantial connection with the navigability of the navigable
rivers flowing from that watershed the Federal Government ha« the right to exercise
jurisdiction over the forests therein, although they remain in private ownership, and
prescribe the method which shall be followed in utilizing the forests within such
watershed.
Fourth. The last, and doubtless the most generally advocated plan, proposes that
the Federal Government shall buy all the land that may be necessary to protect the
watersheds of navigable rivers and exercise over the forests growing upon them all
the rights and privileges of absolute ownership.
The bill now before the House was drawn with a view to meeting, in a measure at
least, each of these four proposed plans. The first section proposes to give the con-
sent of Congress to each of the several States of the Union which may wish to dp so
to enter into such agreement or compact, not in conflict with any law of the United
States, as it may deem desirable or necessary, with any other State or States for the
purpose of conserving the forests and the water supply of the States entering into
such agreement or compact. It has been often urged, by those who insist that the
Federal Government should purchase the forests under consideration, that the
problem is interstate, and in view of the constitutional inhibition against a State
entering into any agreement or compact with another the proper treatment of the
problem is made impossible to the States alone. If section 1 of this bill becomes a
law this obstacle to cooperation between and among the States will be removed.
Section 2 of the bill appropriates the sum of .$100,000 to enable the Secretary of
Agriculture to cooperate with any State or group of States, when requested to do so,
by supplying expert advice on forest preservation, utilization, and administration,
and upon reforestation of denuded areas. It also authorizes the Secretary of Agri-
culture to enter into agreement with the owners of any private forest lands situated
upon the watt" shed of a navigable river, to administer and protect such forest land
upon such terms as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe. It is believed that
under the authority given in this section many thousands of acres of forest lands will
be brought as effectually within the jurisdiction of the United States for all the pur-
poses of scientific forestry as if these lands were actually owned by the Government.
Section 3 of the bill provides for the appointment of a commission to be composed
of five Members of the Senate, to be appointed by the presiding officer^ thereof, and
iivr .Members of the House of Representatives, to *be appointed by the Speaker.
Section 4 makes it the duty of this commission to investigate all questions tending
to show the direct and substantial connection, if any, between the preservation of
the forests within the watersheds of the navigable rivers having their sources in the
White Mountains and Southern Appalachian Mountains, and the navigability of said
rivers. And in case the commission shall determine that such direct and substantial
connection exists, it shall then be its duty to ascertain to what extent, if at all, it
may be necessary for the Government of the United States to acquire land within
the" watersheds referred to, the number of acres of such land, and the probable cost,
or whether it may be desirable, if within the power of the United States to exercise,
without purchase, such supervision over such watersheds as may be necessary to
conserve the navigability of the rivers proceeding therefrom.
Under the provisions of this section all the questions arising out of the proposal
that the Federal Government purchase the forests or that it exercise jurisdiction
over them without purchase, may be carefully studied and fully considered. It is
true that by an act of the last Congress the Secretary of Agriculture was authorized
to report and did report upon the watersheds of the Southern Appalachian and
White mountains, the purpose of the report being to present to Congress "the area
and natural conditions of said watersheds, the price at which the same can be pur-
chased by the Federal Government, and the advisability of the Government pur-
chasing and setting aside the same as national forest reserves for the purpose of con-
serving and regulating the water supply and the flow of said streams in the interest
of agriculture, water power, and navigation."
Without intending any reflection upon those who prepared this report, it may be
fairly said that it does not present such detailed and accurate information as any
careful business man would insist upon having before entering upon a policy which
24 ACQUIRING LAND FOB PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC.
was to involve the expenditure of many millions of dollar*. It does not indicate the
extent of the navigable portions of the rivers whose navigability it is desired to pro-
tect nor the value of the forests upon them. It presents no data showing to what
extent, if at all, the volume or the steadiness of stream flow has been influenced by
the destruction of the forests. It shows in only the most general way the location,
area, and probable cost of the lands it is proposed to purchase.
While it recommends (p. 37) that the Government acquire an area of 600,000 acres
in the White Mountain? and 5,000,000 acres in the southern Appalachian Mountains,
it states also (p. 32) that an area of 75,000,000 acres will have to be given protection
"before the watersheds and important streams are adequately safeguarded," suggest-
ing the thought that while less than 7,000,000 acres are to be purchased at once,
75,000,000 acres must ultimately be acquired if the watersheds of the important
streams ar.e to-be ''adequately safeguarded." Your committee is of the opinion that
if a commission of ten members of the legislative body, responsible to their constit-
uents and to the country for whatever report they may make, is directed to investigate
the subject, the information presented in its report will be sufficiently comprehensive
and exact to enable Congress to intelligently legislate upon the subject. The commis-
sion is given authority to employ experts and such clerical assistants as may be
needed, and is required to report to the President not later than January 1, 1909.
Believing that this bill, by opening the way for the States to cooperate with one
another, puts it within their power to contribute much to the solution of this impor-
tant problem; that the provision it makes for cooperation between the United States,
the States, and private owners of forest lands must contribute greatly to the rapid
extension of scientific forestry; and that by means of the commission for which it
provides the most careful study of the whole problem with a view to future legisla-
tion is made possible, and that for these reasons the proposed legislation will be of
great public advantage, your committee respectfully reports the bill back to the House
with the recommendation that it do pass.
u
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