From the collection of the
z n
z_ m
o Prelinger
v Jjibrary
t P
San Francisco, California
2006
73o CONGRESS! QTTMAT'T? /DOCUMENT
1st Session } SENATE | No> 12
A NATIONAL PLAN
FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
LETTER
FROM
THE SECEETAKY OF AGRICULTUKE
TRANSMITTING IN RESPONSE TO
S. Res. 175
(SEVENTY-SECOND CONGRESS)
THE REPORT OF THE FOREST SERVICE OF THE
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT ON THE
FOREST PROBLEM OF THE
UNITED STATES
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II
Index in back of Volume II
MARCH 13 (calendar day, MARCH 30), 1933. — Referred to
the Committee on Printing
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
168342 WASHINGTON : 1933
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 57
Submitted by MR. COPELAND
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
March 13 (calendar day, April 4), 1933.
Resolved, That the report of the Department of Agriculture entitled
"A National Plan for American Forestry/' transmitted to the Senate
on March 30, 1. 33, in response to Senate Resulution 175, Seventy-
second Congress, be printed, with illustrations, as a Senate document.
Attest :
EDWIN A. HALSEY,
Secretary.
II
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C.
Price $1.75 per set of 2 volumes.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
Page
Federal and State aid 1051
Federal financial and other direct aid to the States 1095
The national forests as a form of Federal aid to the States 1095
Federal aid in organizaing forest credit facilities 1125
Other Federal forest activities as forms of State aid 11 35
Public acquisition of private lands as an aid to private forestry 1147
State aid to private owners and local political units 11 77
Factors affecting Federal and State aid . 1203
National programs required and the responsibility for them 1229
The area which can and should be used for forestry 1231
Future adjustments in land use and ownership 1241
The probable future distribution of forest land ownership 1 253
Ownership responsibilities, costs, and returns 1 303
A program for direct Federal and State aid 1329
A possible program for public regulation
Enlarging the consumption of forest products 1355
Protection against fire 1395
Protection against forest insects 1415
Protection against forest diseases 1419
How to stop forest devastation 1429
A program for intensive forest management 1455
Reforestation of barren and unproductive land 1485
A watershed protection program 1509
A forest range program 1 537
A program for forest recreation 1543
A forest wild life program. _. 1547
A program for forest research 1555
Forest extension, an appraisal and a program _ — 1 575
The programs summarized as to costs, financing, and needed legisla-
tion 1 587
Appendix 1639
Alaska 1641
Puerto Rico__ 1646
Index 1653
in
FEDERAL FINANCIAL AND OTHER DIRECT AID TO STATES
By A. B. HASTINGS, in charge of State cooperation
CONTENTS
Page
Federal aid in forest-fire protection 1054
Federal aid in farm forest planting 1076
Cooperation with States in farm forestry extension 1081
Federal aid to States for roads 1087
Federal land grants to States 1088
Federal aid to State agricultural colleges and experiment stations __
Vocational education 1093
The Senate resolution in response to which this report has been
prepared specifically raised the question of Federal aid to the States.
It is therefore fitting to outline the purposes and accomplishments of
Federal aid insofar as they relate to forestry interests, in order that
this form of activity may be properly appraised as a means of solving
our forestry problems, now and in the future.
To summarize the status of Federal aid to States in its present
financial perspective, a list of current projects is given in table 1 . The
total of the appropriations as shown is more than $180,000,000, and
while there is no assurance that^the list is complete, sufficient care has
been taken to cover the major items.
TABLE 1. — Federal aid appropriations for the States for the fiscal year 1933
Project
Amount
Percent
Forest-fire prevention . - - - -
$1,611,580
0.88
Distribution of nursery stock
79,960
.04
Forestry extension .
69, 850
.04
Highways
125, 000, 000
68.60
State fund from sale of public lands '
26, 185
.01
Support of agricultural colleges . . .
2, 550, 000
1.40
Support of experiment stations
4, 374, 000
2.40
Cooperative agricultural extension work .
5, 760, 170
3.16
Vocational education
8, 414, 853
4.62
Vocational rehabilitation. _. ... - .-.
1, 089, 858
.60
National Guard
31, 263, 565
17.16
Maternity and infant hygiene 2
776, 576
.42
State fund under oil-leasing act ' .
1, 213, 562
.67
Total
182, 230, 159
100.00
Amount expended in fiscal year 1932.
2 Amount expended in fiscal year 1929.
It is impressive to note that the sums appropriated directly to for-
estry work in 1933 constitute less than 1 percent of the total. Al-
though such a ratio may roughly represent popular appreciation of
the need of aid to the States in forestry, it quite certainly fails to
measure the need in any real sense.
In the discussion that follows, first attention will be centered on the
three specific forestry activities shown — fire prevention, distribution
of nursery stock, and forestry extension. Several other activities,
having rather close relationships to forestry, will then be taken up in
order,
1053
1054 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
FEDERAL AID IN FOREST-FIRE PROTECTION
THE WEEKS LAW
(Act of Mar. 1, 1911; 36 Stat. 961)
The Weeks law was the first of the present-day Federal aid measures
enacted by Congress which embodied the condition of equal sharing
of expenditure by the States. Various forms of land grants had, of
course, been made long before this. Measures had also been taken by
Congress in support of State colleges of agriculture and of agricultural
experiment stations. By the passage of the Weeks law a lump sum
of $200,000 was made available until expended —
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 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: Provided, 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 year the amount
appropriated by that State for the same purpose during the same fiscal year.
During the fiscal year 1911, cooperation was undertaken with 11
States under this act. The number increased steadily to a total of
29 States in 1925, and meanwhile additional appropriations were
made under the act. During the calendar year 1911, $36,692 Fed-
eral, $165,975 State, and $54,590 private money was expended upon
the protection of approximately 60,779,000 acres of forested water-
sheds. In the fiscal year 1925, the last year prior to cooperation
under the Clarke-McNary law, the corresponding amounts spent
were $397,651 Federal and $1,844,192 State and private. Combined
expenditures under the Weeks law were thus increased nearly tenfold
from 1911 to 1925, and the area of forest land under cooperative pro-
tection in 1925 was three times that in 191 1 .
THE CLARKE-McNARY LAW
(Act of June 7, 1924; 43 Stat. 653)
This act continued the Federal cooperation started with the States
under the Weeks law, which was superseded in that respect. It
removed the limitation of protection to forested watersheds of
navigable streams, provided for cooperation through the States with
private forest owners, and added the important provisions contained
in sections 3, 4, and 5 — for forest taxation studies, for cooperation
with the States in the production and distribution of forest planting
stock for windbreaks, shelter belts, and farm wood lots, and for
cooperation in farm forestry extension.
The following are the provisions of sections 1,2, and 3 of the Clarke-
McNary law :
That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed, in coopera-
tion with appropriate officials of the various States or other suitable agencies, to
recommend for each forest region of the United States such systems of forest fire
prevention and suppression as will adequately protect the timbered and cut-over
lands therein with a view to the protection of forest and water resources and the
continuous production of timber on lands chiefly suitable therefor.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1055
SEC. 2 (as amended by act of Mar. 3, 1925, 43 Stat., 1127, and act of Apr. 13,
1926, 44 Stat. 242). That if the Secretary of Agriculture shall find that the
system and practice of forest fire prevention and suppression provided by any
State substantially promotes the objects described in the foregoing section, he is
hereby authorized and directed, under such conditions as he may determine to be
fair and equitable in each State, to cooperate with appropriate officials of each
State, and through them with private and other agencies therein, in the protection
of timbered and forest-producing lands from fire. In no case other than for pre-
liminary investigations shall the amount expended by the Federal Government in
any State during any fiscal year, under this section, exceed the amount expended
by'the State for the same purpose during the same fiscal year, including the expen-
ditures of forest owners or operators which are required by State law or which are
made in pursuance of the forest protection system of the State under State super-
vision, and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make expenditures on the
certificate of the State forester, the State director of extension, or similar State
official having charge of the cooperative work for the State that State and private
expenditures as provided for in this Act have been made. In the cooperation
extended to the several States due consideration shall be given to the protection
of watersheds of navigable streams, but such cooperation may, in the discretion
of the Secretary of Agriculture, be extended to any timbered or forest producing
lands or watersheds from which water is secured for domestic use or irrigation
within the cooperating States.
SEC. 3. That the Secretary of Agriculture shall expend such portions of the
appropriations authorized herein as he deems advisable to study the effects of tax
laws, methods, and practices upon forest perpetuation, to cooperate with appro-
priate officials of the various States or other suitable agencies in such investiga-
tions and in devising tax laws designed to encourage the conservation and growing
of timber, and to investigate and promote practical methods of insuring standing
timber on growing forests from losses by fire and other causes. There is hereby
authorized to be appropriated annually, out of any money in the Treasury not
otherwise appropriated, not more than $2,500,000 to enable the Secretary of
Agriculture to carry out the provisions of sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Act.
This law was passed after a special Senate committee had made an
exhaustive study of forestry needs. It was an attempt to advance the
protection of forest and water resources and to provide conditions
under which the practice of forestry by private owners would be freed
from excessive handicaps, so that it could be undertaken profitably
by the owner to the advantage of the Nation. Under the authoriza-
tion of $2,500,000 annually, an initial appropriation for cooperation
with the States in forest fire protection was made for the fiscal year
1926 in the amount of $660,000. For the succeeding fiscal years,
appropriations have been made as follows: 1927, $710,000; 1928,
$1,000,000; 1929, $1,209,802; 1930, $1,400,000: 1931, $1,700,000;
1932, $1,775,000. As an economy measure, a saving was made in the
1932 appropriation, so that the actual provision was $1,612,600.
The total amounts of Federal, State, and private money expended
under these two acts from March 1, 1911, to June 30, 1932, including
the amount spent for the investigations of forest taxation and forest
insurance, are the following:
Weeks law_. $2,431,378
Clarke-McNary law 8, 355, 819
Total Federal _ $10,787,197
State and private under Weeks law $12, 380, 607
State and private under Clarke-McNary law 24, 256, 679
Total State and private 36, 637, 286
Grand total. . 47, 424, 483
1056 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
ADMINISTRATION OF THE ACTS
the start the plan followed in the administration of the Weeks
and Clarke-McNary laws by the Forest Service has been based upon
the principle that the fire-protection work in each State would be
supervised and carried through by the State. State laws govern the
handling of fire and other trespass on State and private lands, the
protection of which is under discussion. State and private money
must be depended upon to carry most of the load. The projects are
therefore conducted under State plans, which, upon approval by the
Federal Government, are jointly developed by the State forester and
the Federal Forest Service. Annual budgets to carry out these plans
are submitted to the Forest Service for approval, as are the later reports
of expenditures which form the basis for Federal reimbursement to
the States.
To protect the Federal interest and to give full advantage to the
States of the experience of the Forest Service and other States, Federal
inspection districts corresponding in general to the forest regions
have been established, with a district forest inspector in each. The
inspectors in the East with headquarters at Amherst, Mass. ; Wash-
ington, D.C; Asheville, N.C.; New Orleans, La.; and Louisville, Ky.;
report directly to the Washington office. The inspectors in the West
report to the regional foresters at Missoula, Mont.; Denver, Colo.;
Albuquerque, N.Mex.; Ogden, Utah; San Francisco, Calif.; Portland,
Oreg.; and Milwaukee, Wis. These inspectors keep in close touch
with each State project in the field.
As a part of the fire plan for each State, careful estimates of areas
in need of protection, a layout of the organization, improvements,
etc., needed to accomplish adequate protection, and estimates of the
cost of such protection have been formulated. The estimates of areas
and costs as of 1930 are shown on table 2, columns 2 and 3. The
Clarke-McNary law itself, in its authorization of Federal appropria-
tions of $2,500,000 a year, presupposed an annual cost of approxi-
mately $10,000,000 as necessary to protect the State and private land
in all States. The 1930 revision of this cost was $13,386,273. Com-
parative studies and analyses made in the section of this report cover-
ing Protection Against Fire indicate that if protection of all forest
areas adequate to meet the standards as therein set up is to be attained
within the next 10 or 15 years the annual cost would be considerably
greater.
GENERAL RESULTS
FEDERAL AID AS A STIMULUS TO STATES IN ESTABLISHING AND
DEVELOPING FORESTRY DEPARTMENTS
Up to 1911, when the Weeks Act was passed, only 16 States had
appropriated money to engage in the protection of forests from fire.
Upon passage of the act, 1 1 of these immediately entered into agree-
ments with the Federal Government to cooperate in forest fire pro-
tection. The number of States cooperating in this activity in 1932
was 38, including all the original 16 and 22 others. The organized
protection of privately owned forest land is known to have been ini-
tiated in at least 17 of the 22 additional States as a direct result of
Federal cooperation. It is believed that in many of them forest
protection would have been much longer delayed if Federal aid had
not been available.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1057
\m
* 8* 1
Ss !
IM O O> O OS
5< CO CO
IS
o
8SK8S
CO CO (0 CO IN
cocoes
•~ >»
*§ii*!i
«s!lssil
•08* S
s
1058
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FOEESTET
8
•*»|
1
e
>Q
>-H
0}
•^H
I
nd cost of
ion — Con
by are
ng prot
ho
State and private forest la
as compared with a
Progress
few
2
E
Expendi-
tures 1915
2)
-H 0 C* 0 .-< <N r4 rH r-4
"ecqoicococsoJco°i-!coNC<i
8
OCOCO
eo V
CO Oi
:8£^£
co" W
in
§613 .2
ag-Sfllfl^
•^s-cfe-q^^
ills,
1
= £a.S
pd^S-S
al-1 ... § Sff
>>§ o
"o-oos
^"§i
SSJI
and for all Sta
on.
groups of St
needing pro
rcent prot
estimates
Eliminated
PercenjLs o
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1059
COVERAGE OF FOREST AREAS BY SOME DEGREE OF ORGANIZED
PROTECTION
The acreages covered in the extension of systematic protection to
the area needing protection are indicated for the years 1912 to 1931
in figure 1. The average annual gain in area of State and private
forest land under some form of systematic protection from 1912 to
MILL
ACRE
250
200
150
100
50
0
IS
ON
5
.— —
/-
X
^.X^
1 I i
1 I 1
1 1 1
1 1 1
II 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931
FIGURE 1. — Forest area in State and private ownership under cooperative fire protection.
100
200 300
Million Acres
400
500
Area Unprotected
••H Area Covered by some form ^
^^™ of Organized Protection *&
FIGURE 2.— Progress in protection of State and private forest land from fire on basis of area.
1931 was 8,781,000 acres. If this rate of progress were continued,
and if it is assumed that the total area to be covered is 420,000,000
acres, complete coverage would be attained at this rate in 22 years.
If we take the period 1925-30, the average annual gain indicated
is 9,870,000 acres, and the time required for complete coverage is
19 years. This periodic progress is shown in relation to the estimated
need in figure 2.
1060 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
A study of table 2, columns 5 and 6, will disclose the striking con-
trast between the areas protected in 1915 and in 1931. The per-
centage of total coverage increased from 23 to 54. But forecasts
based on total or average progress to date mean little. It is more
significant to consider what may happen in the particular areas where
increases in protection, if any, must occur. Column 7 of table 2
indicates by States and groups of States the extent to which forest
areas needing protection were covered by some form of systematic
protection in the calendar year 1931. * The New England, Middle
Atlantic, Lake States, north Rocky Mountain, south Rocky Moun-
tain, and Pacific coast regions are shown with already practically
complete coverage of all forest areas that need protection. Two
important groups, however, are shown to be deficient — the Central
group, with 31 percent coverage of forest areas classed as in need of
protection, and the South, with only 24 percent.
In these two groups complete coverage will not be secured within
20 years under present forms of organized effort unless the average
rate of progress for the country as a whole is brought to bear on
these groups specifically. This is particularly true in the South.
Such organized protection as has been accomplished in that region
has been built up around holdings of owners who have aggressive
interest in the protection of their properties. To increase or even
to sustain the rate of progress, steadily increased support will have
to be provided by the States and the Federal Government. This
development will take different forms in different States. The effort
to obtain greatly increased public participation must be accompanied
by intensive study of the effects of fire in different forest types, by
clear-cut definition and exposition of the fundamental benefits to be
secured by protection, and by education of private owners and of
the local public.
In this connection, however, it should be noted that the 11 States
in the Southern region, prior to the advent of Federal cooperation,
and even as lately as 1915, had no area under organized protection.
For these States to have placed 48 million acres under some form of
organized protection within 16 years is a major achievement. The
cooperative approach to the protection problem in the South has
succeeded admirably in getting the first steps undertaken. The
establishment of a satisfactory degree of State-wide protection on
the 155 million acres still without it is the task which lies ahead.
PROGRESS IN FINANCING PROTECTION UNDERTAKING
FINANCIAL RECORD IN BRIEF
The curve shown in figure 3 indicates roughly the increase in total
funds spent, Federal, State, and private, upon this work from 1911
to 1931. The average annual gain over the 21-year period is $345,670.
If this same rate of increase in funds spent upon the work were main-
tained, the amount of $13,386,273, which was set up by the 1930
estimates already referred to, would be reached in 17 years. The
contrasts between expenditures of 1915 and 1931 are shown in detail,
in table 2, columns 8 and 9.
1 It is t9 be noted that the number of acres of State and private forest land needing protection is neces-
sarily a different figure from the total State and private forest area. In many States there are considerable
areas of privately-owned forest land that are not classed as in need of organized protection. These are
isolated tracts of low fire hazard on individual farms, estates, or properties, the protection of which logically
devolves on the resident owners, caretakers, or operators.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1061
Ml
DO
8
6
4
2
0
IS
.LION
LLARS
^
/
/\
- A
/
A
/
_./
x/
_./"
1 1 1
~s3
i i i
i i i
1 1 1
1 1 1
II 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931
FIGURE 3.— Total annual expenditures (all agencies) in cooperative fire protection of State and privately
owned land.
1912. _
I920---PHP11P
I925___
I930___
REQUIRED
4-68
Mil lions of Dollars
[Federal Cooperative
' Expenditure
i State and Private
' Expenditure
^^^ Total Federal Cooperative
fr™™* Expenditure Required
h^!«-;;o-.| Total State and Private
^ I Expenditure Required
FIGURE 4.— Progress in protection of State and private forest land from fire on basis of expenditure, and
estimated expenditure required (1930 estimate) for adequate protection.
1062 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Table 3 shows the financial part played by the several cooperating
agencies during the fiscal year 1932 by States and groups of States.
(To consider the respective shares of the contributing agencies, it is
necessary to pass from the calendar-year basis of table 2 to a fiscal-
year basis.)
The total expended by all agencies during the fiscal year 1932 on
the cooperative forest fire protection project, $5,943,103 (see table 3,
column 10), is larger than any previous fiscal year total except that
for the fiscal year 1931, which was $6,710,103. Figure 4 ^indicates
the steady upward trend of these expenditures over 5-year intervals.
The decrease for 1932, in comparison with 1931, was due to the
general difficulty of financing State and private undertakings en-
countered during that year, and also to the comparative ease of
handling fires during the year. The total budget for the fiscal year
1933 shows a further moderate decline under the same influences.
Columns 12 to 16 of table 3 indicate the extent to which the ex-
penditures of the last fiscal year come up to the amounts of the 1930
estimates of what is necessary to give adequate protection. In
column 16 it may be seen that only a little over 44 percent of expendi-
tures thus classed as adequate was actually made by all agencies
taken together — about 12 percent representing the Federal part and
the balance the part of the States and private owners.
quate amount expende
by—
A NATIONAL PLAN
sssssss
« a >
"S co Q «-i io oo »o
5 •* O t- r~ rH 00
" od co O co •* co
FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
§285
1063
3 2
e^ O5 IN
CO -rf (N tC
— 00 — "O
00 O) Tf' CS
0500
OCO
ef m <£<£*
f— ( t>- c5 t^«
llif
coco — •*! o
r-H O «C OC i-H
CO O3 (>• O> CO
.82
3g
OQ£
r
1- C
CO iC CO Is- 1^-
QO I>- CO CD t^
10 co r^
0>"00
§8
I~lt°
000
1-H t>>
•* 10
00 <N
eo«o
oi oo oo r- oo
S8
§8
(NO
•*U3
CO <N — ^ CO
d:
icu
£
111
Cfi t? _CS
5 5>-H '
|H«D
fglgltSE £
»llIlalF |
168342°— 33— vol. 2 2
1064
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
3J.
sS
fa
ff!
!>. -*! O5 CO OS i
t^ t-I r-i CO t^ <
l
f
U3«5rt
s •»
is 3
s,
8"
^
|
|
1
eo CM co
0"TjTco i
CO CO CO
ToO CO 0
rH C^) T-H
co*o
co
rt< T*<
2 333
& ?*l
cc .^ ca w - o ^" — < vs S C H JJ « W •**•** <$ 'm
|O M'Eo .£2^3j3^3cg.fl -IS * 2.2 *^ OOO-M *3
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1065
The theory underlying the operation of the Clarke-McNary Act is
that the Federal Government should furnish some 25 percent of the
cooperative funds utilized. In terms of the amount which is esti-
mated as necessary to give adequate protection, it is seen that in 1932
the Federal Government underwrote 47 percent of its maximum esti-
mated obligation (one quarter of the total) and the States and private
owners 44 percent of their three quarters.
An inspection of the record by regions, however, reveals striking
inequalities. First, with reference to the performances of all agencies
taken together, we find that in 1932 the Middle Atlantic group of
States has already substantially exceeded its share of expenditures
estimated as necessary, the percentage given being about 109. Next
in order come the Lake States, whose actual expenditure is 88 percent
of that needed. For the northern Rocky Mountain region the figure
is 72. For New England it is 63, but there the fire season was very
favorable, and something less than 100 percent would here have been
expected in any event. The South and Central States each show the
strikingly low figure of 16 percent. In the South it is to be noted
from column 12 that the figure representing the Federal expenditures
is 7 percent of the amount needed from all agencies, or, as shown in
column 3, approximately 45 percent of the entire actual expenditures
for the year. For the Central States there is a similar correspondence
between the low percentage for all agencies (column 16) and the high
percentage, approximately 42 percent, for the Federal share (column
3). This large sharing by the Federal Government follows from the
Federal policy of guaranteeing a minimum allotment to any State
which can qualify, the minimum being a certain percent (8 percent for
1933) of the estimated amount needed for adequate protection.
Reference has already been made to the difference between the 1930
estimate of annual cost for adequate protection ($13,386,273), and the
larger estimate arrived at in the section covering Protection Against
Fire. The 1930 estimates were made for each State separately and in
cooperation with the individual State forestry departments. They
attempted to give the costs of organization and improvement pro-
grams necessary to afford adequate protection on the basis of ex-
isting conditions. The basic figures for this series of estimates are
revised at approximately 5-year intervals, so as to take account of
changing conditions and new information applicable to problems of
the individual States. Figures for the larger estimate were arrived
at by a careful adaptation of actual costs upon national forests and
upon standards of protection set up for each major forest type. They
were calculated by regions and not by States.
SHARING THE COST OF PROTECTION BETWEEN PRIVATE OWNERS AND
THE PUBLIC
When the Clarke-McNary law was passed, the theory was held that
the cost would ultimately be divided at least roughly as follows:
Private owners, 50 percent; States, 25 percent; Federal Government
25 percent.
In table 3, columns 7, 5, and 3, we find that the actual percentages
for 1932 over the country as a whole were: Private owners, 18.4 per-
cent; States, 55.1 percent; and Federal Government, 26.5 percent.
The position of the private owners and the States thus represents a
1066 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
complete reversal and more, of the theoretical relationship. Further-
more, the tendency is to draw still further away from dependence on
private money toward a more nearly complete dependence on public
money. The proportionate sharing varies greatly in different regions.
Fire protection in the New England, the Middle Atlantic, the Lake
States and, to a less degree, the Central regions already is very nearly
upon a basis of complete public support, the private expenditures of
1932 being 2.75, 0.21, 1.44, and 8.77^ percent, respectively. The
Pacific coast and the two Rocky Mountain regions, taken together, are
approximately upon the theoretically accepted basis of 25 percent
Federal, 25 percent State, and 50 percent private support, while the
South approaches equal sharing by the Federal Government on the
one hand and the State and private owners on the other.
In the northwestern section as a whole, fire protection was started
in merchantable stands of timber, and the private owner took the
initiative. Originally he could afford to pay the whole bill and was
willing to do so. As he removes his merchantable values, however,
his interest diminishes, and when the first major operation is com-
pleted he is often not disposed to hold and protect his cut-over areas.
This later situation is at present acute only in one State, but it is
anticipated in others. The difficulties are augmented by the fact
that the cost of protecting cut-over land is much greater than for
protecting mature stands, the ratio being sometimes as great as 10 to 1.
In certain cases continuous yield or selective cutting management will
cause the owner to retain his interest, but as a rule the assumption by
the public of an increasing share of expense becomes definitely neces-
sary as cutting proceeds. In the important Pacific coast and North
Rocky Mountain regions the large sharing of costs by the private
owners in 1932 does not, in itself, promise stability in protection.
In certain parts of these regions the reverse is true for the reason ex-
plained. In the Northeast and in the Lake States the adjustments
have already been made, and the public has assumed the bulk of the
protection costs.
In the South we have almost the opposite condition to that in the
Northwest. Protection interest here centers in second-growth timber
and in reproduction. The short-rotation for turpentine, in particular
has moved certain large onwers to initiate protection with the help of
the States and the Federal Government. The private interest and
support seems likely to continue and to increase, although not to such
a degree as to promise anything like State- wide protection. For
State-wide results, the public funds, and especially State funds, will
have to be greatly increased, and this may be a slow and laborious
process. The cooperative plan has, however, succeeded admirably
in the South in getting some degree of systematic protection started
where there was none.
Figure 5 is a graphic summary, by regions, of the financial status of
forest fire protection by the public and private agencies. The actual
expenditures are shown in dark shading and the additional amounts
needed to give adequate protection in light. In calculating the addi-
tional amounts, 25 percent of the total sum needed was taken as the
ultimate Federal share and 75 percent as that of the States and private
owners.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1067
RECORD OF FOREST FIRES
Table 4 presents regional data from which an idea can be obtained
as to the effectiveness of recent fire protection work. The figures are
averages for the 5-year period 1926-30, and apply to protected areas
only. Column 6 shows the proportion of area burned annually rela-
tive to the area protected; column 7, the proportion of allowable an-
nual burn to area protected; column 8, the number of acres in the
EXPENDITURES FOR PROTECTION OF STATE AND PRIVATE LAND
FEDERAL ~T~ STATE AND PRIVATE
Present Expenditure
I 2
MILLION DOLLARS
Needed Additional Expenditure
FIGURE 5.— Present expenditure (F. Y. 1932) for protecting State and private land from forest fire, in contrast
with total expenditures needed (1930 estimates), show that the pressing need for increased appropriations
is centered in the South and Central regions. Note: In the Middle Atlantic region the State and private
owners spent more in F.Y. 1932 than the estimated requirement. Average expenditures for 5 years
past would fall somewhat below this requirement.
average fire on protected land. The " allowable burn" is defined as
the area that may burn over annually without impairing radically
the forest values, if the predominant purposes of forest management
in a given type are to be attained. This practical standard of fire
control is more fully treated in the section entitled " Protection
Against Fire." It must be noted that in tables 2, 3, and 5 of that
section unprotected areas are included, while they are excluded from
the present case.
1068
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 4. — Area burned on protected area, State and private land — Yearly average.
1926-80
Region
(1)
Number
of fires
per year
(2)
Area burned yearly
Size of
average
fire
(8)
Produc-
tive
forest i
(3)
Nonpro-
ductive
forest 2
(4)
Total
(5)
Percentage of
protected areas
Actual
burn
(6)
Allow-
able
burn
(7)
New England . .
3,643
6,590
4,918
2,868
15, 893
4,964
1,166
149
Acres
74, 938
270, 983
318, 664
272, 304
1, 627, 215
456, 320
91, 740
2,134
Acres
20, 936
56, 822
238, 602
3,098
68, 302
498, 785
16, 982
2,834
Acres
95, 894
327, 805
557, 266
275, 402
1,695,517
955, 105
108, 722
4,968
Per-
cent
0.31
1.08
1.08
1.80
3.30
2.41
.87
.11
Per-
cent
0.16
.35
.36
.59
1.34
.49
1.05
.41
Acres
26.3
49.7
113.3
96.0
106.7
192.4
93.2
33.3
Middle Atlantic
Lake States
Central
South
Pacific coast
Northen Rocky Mountain... _.
South Rocky Mountain
Total
40, 191
3, 114, 298
906, 361
4, 020, 659
1.70
.88
100.0
1 Includes mature merchantable timber and young timber.
2 Includes protection areas whether forest or nonforest and areas of no watershed protection, or forest
values.
From column 6 it will be noted that the New England, northern
Rocky Mountain, and southern Rocky Mountain groups are the only
ones showing less than 1 percent of area protected which is burned.
Further, the north Rocky Mountain and the south Rocky Mountain
groups are the only groups in which the percentage of actual area
burned is less than the percentage of allowable burn as defined above.
In New England it is indicated that fires covered about twice as
great an area as should be allowed under adequate protection. These
States spent, in 1932, 63 percent of the 1930 estimate of the adequate
allowance. (See table 3, column 16.) In the Middle Atlantic States
the area burned was about three times that allowable, while the 1932
expenditures were 109 percent of the estimated adequate amount.
In the Lake States the area burned was again about three times that
allowable, and the 1932 expenditures were 88 percent of the adequate
estimate. In the Central States the area burned was about three
times, in the South between two and three times, and in the Pacific
coast region approximately five times the theoretically allowable burn.
For the entire country the area burned over each year from 1926 to
1930 within protected areas was 1.70 percent of those areas, whereas
the allowable burn was 0.88 percent. In other words, the area burned
was almost exactly twice what it is calculated should be permitted
to insure the production of full forest values on these lands. ,
AVERAGE SIZE OF FIRE
A study of the figures by years from which the averages of column 8
of table 4 are made up shows that, over the country as a whole, there
was a decrease in the number of acres burned per fire, from 135.7
acres in 1926 to 86.8 in 1930. In the New England, Middle Atlantic,
and South regions, this trend toward smaller area burned per fire is
striking and evidences substantical progress. It is also to be noted in
many individual States of the other regions. The effect of the relative
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1069
severity of the season, upon the size of the average fire is, however,
most compelling. It is so important, in fact, that a true index of pro-
tection efficiency must await a much longer statistical period than
that now available.
NUMBER OF FIRES
The annual record for the years 1926-30 shows a steady increase in
number of fires and, despite the decrease in acreage per fire, an in-
crease in total area burned annually on the protected areas. While
some of this increase naturally follows from the fact that the area
protected was also increasing, it is significant to note that whereas the
area protected increased 29 percent during the 5 years, the number
of fires increased 124 percent and the area burned 43 percent.
The increase in number of fires is perhaps further explained by the
fact that, with the better protection which certainly was provided in
1930, the record itself was more complete. This same phenomenon,
however, is observed on the national forests and in States where a
fairly uniform standard was maintained during the 5-year period.
The real causes must be sought in a number of factors, some of which
are climatic, as for example, decreased precipitation. In some sec-
tions a resistance on the part of local users of land to the development
of young forest growth and " rough" has led to incendiarism. Very
important, also, is the fact that people are traveling over the high-
ways and using the woods in increasing numbers.
It is noteworthy that in one particularly bad fire section of New
England where an intensive educational campaign in fire prevention
was carried on over a 3-year period, the records show an increase and
not a decrease in number of fires. Nevertheless, by intensive patrol
and well organized suppression, the net result was a striking decrease
in area burned as well as in the total protection costs. The local
public was mobilized in this protection effort in a most thorough
manner. The inference is clear that the gain was due to prompt
detection of fire and aggressive attack, not to any real improvement
in the matter of prevention of fire occurrence.
There is no doubt that forest-fire occurrence in the United States
is rather generally on the increase, whatever may be the causes.
This cannot be taken to mean that our protection efforts are decreasing
in efficiency. We know that the reverse is true. It means that much
greater effort is demanded if adequate control is to be obtained.
AREAS BURNED ON UNPROTECTED AREAS
The fire record for the more than 190 million acres classed as in
need of protection and receiving none is exceedingly inaccurate. A
great deal of work is done, however, to get rough estimates of forest
or potential forest area burned within this "no man's land." Table
5 shows the yearly averages for the period 1926-30 of areas burned
on unprotected areas, as nearly as the data allow, together with areas
burned on protected areas, repeated for comparison. It will be noted
at once that the great bulk of the total area of State and private land
which is burned in all States (37 million out of 41 million) is within
the unprotected area. The relative effectiveness of our protection
effort, despite all drawbacks, is witnessed by the fact that whereas 1.7
percent of the protected area was burned, fires are reported to have
covered 19.76 percent of the unprotected area in an average year of
the period covered. These points are illustrated in figure 6.
1070
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
NEW
ENGLAND
SOUTH
ROCKY--
MT.
O 25 SO 75 IOO IE5 ISO
MILLION ACRES
AREA BURNED BE^I AREA PROTECTED gx] AREA UNPROTECTED
FIGURE 6.— Areas burned yearly on State and private lands protected and unprotected from fire, 1926-30.
TABLE 5. — Area burned on protected and unprotected areas — Yearly average, 1926-30
Area burnec
Ratio
Region
On pro-
tected
lands
On unpro-
tected
lands
Total
Percent
pro-
tected
unpro-
tected
Percent
total
to al-
lowable
burn !
New England ..
Acres
95, 874
Acres
Acres
95, 874
0.31
0.31
Percent
194
Middle Atlantic -
327, 805
8,270
336, 075
1.08
.51
1.04
297
Lake States
557, 266
(2)
557 266
1 08
(2)
(2)
(2)
Central
275, 402
1, 100, 260
1,375,662
1.80
3.89
3.16
536
South
1, 695, 517
35, 844, 767
37, 540, 284
3.30
24 52
19.01
1 419
Pacific coast
955, 105
71 104
1 026 209
2 41
2 58
2 43
496
North Rocky Mountain
108, 722
37,554
146, 276
.87
2.39
1.04
99
South Rocky Mountain
4,968
9,243
14,211
. 11
.63
.23
56
Total
4 020 659
37 071 198
41 091 857
1 70
19 76
9 68
1 100
1 Protected and unprotected.
2 Certain areas in Wisconsin and Minnesota were reported as unprotected, but data as to fires on these
areas are lacking.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1071
Forest fires on unprotected areas are mainly a problem of the
South and Central regions, and actually 97 percent of the unprotected
areas burned were in the South. In two States of this region, a
special effort has been made to determine acres burned in unprotected
areas. In one of these States 20 percent of the unprotected area was
estimated as having been burned over in 1931, as against %% percent
of the protected area. The corresponding figures for the other State
were 14.6 percent and 3K percent. In a third State an 8 percent
burn on protected units in 1931 is contrasted by the State forester
with a 50 percent estimate of burn on areas that are unprotected.
It must, of course, be borne in mind that fires do less relative damage
in the pine woods of the South, where the bulk of unprotected area
lies, than in many other regions.
The last column of table 5 indicates, for protected and unprotected
areas together, the standard of fire control attained to date. From
the total of this column it appears that, for the country as a whole,
we are burning more than 11 times as many acres of State and
private land as we should if standard forest growing conditions are
to be maintained, the ratio of actual to allowable burn being 1,100
percent.
SIGNIFICANCE OF FEDERAL COOPERATION BY REGIONS
NEW ENGLAND
In the New England region, Federal funds have not been needed to
initiate or insure State forest-fire protection activity. If these funds
were discontinued, however, their complete replacement by the
States might, according to the regional inspector, take as long as 10
years. In Maine, effective participation by the State in the protec-
tion of about 5 million acres of forest land outside a defined forestry
district has been undertaken largely as the result of Federal coopera-
tion.
There is no doubt that protection standards have been raised in the
Northeast as elsewhere on account of Federal cooperation, although
the States would have functioned fairly satisfactorily without Federal
participation.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC
The situation -in the Middle Atlantic region is similar to that in
New England. A good standard of protection would be main-
tained in most of these States with or without Federal aid. Federal
money of course contribute to the efficiency of the work, and
during seasons of maximum difficulty it is of vital importance in sus-
taining the State's efforts. There has been mutual gain through
contact with Forest Service personnel and, through this medium,
with the work going forward in other States and regions and on the
national forests. In one State, the initiation of State forestry activi-
ties was very directly contingent upon assistance by the Federal
Government.
In another, Federal cooperation can be credited with the initial
extension of protection and with current supervision of protection on
an area of about 8 million acres of cut-over lands.
In other States of this region and throughout the country, Federal
aid has undoubtedly contributed to the financial ability of States to
1072 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
employ trained forestry personnel and to raise the standards of
organization and service, which in turn has been directly reflected in
more adequate protection of forest areas.
LAKE STATES
In the Lake States region a significant contribution of the Federal
Government has been assistance in building effective organization
and in coordination of the activities of adjoining States through the
field work of the Federal inspectors. Outstanding fire divisions have
been developed in each of the departments of conservation of Michi-
gan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, partly through Federal cooperation.
Until recently the Federal funds, in themselves small in proportion
to State funds, have perhaps been of less significance than the con-
tribution to plans and policies, but in at least one of these States the
Federal financial aid has resulted in substantially increased areas
under systematic protection.
CENTRAL
The Central region includes Tennessee and Kentucky, which are
generally classed as Southern States and to which may be applied the
statements made for the South under the next heading. In the other
Central States as a group, Federal aid has been a developing influence
of large importance. In two States of this region cooperation has
been discontinued pending the revision of State programs.
SOUTH
In the South the feature of Federal cooperation of perhaps greatest
significance is its stimulating effect upon organization for the protec-
tion of forests from fire. All the States in this group have begun or
strengthened their protection work under the stimulus of available
Federal aid and with the help of Forest Service officers called into
consultation by State legislatures and civic groups. In five of the
States, the actual establishment of State forestry departments was
quite directly due to the availability of Federal funds to help in
carrying out forestry programs. In this region is found nearly half
of the total State and private forest area in the country which is
classed as needing public protection, more than 200 million acres, of
which 150 million acres or more is still unprotected. It is a region
where the forest is of great commercial importance and rapid growth
and where its protection and development have, thus far, received
inadequate public consideration.
It is important to recall that efforts toward organized protection
of forest land in the South have been made only during the past few
years. In only 5 of the 11 States in the South was this work under-
taken as a State activity prior to 1925. Protection is here still in the
pioneer stage. Those in a position to effect State action probably do
not yet visualize the needs of forestry in true perspective in relation to
such other public enterprises as schools and roads. The needs and
the means of forest protection are now being actively presented, and
support of the work is steadily gaining.
One of the greatest needs is the determination of forest and fire
facts and their proper presentation. Experience has proved that
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1073
protection cannot be suddenly organized and made effective over
large areas until the landowners themselves want their lands pro-
tected and are ready to pay for part of it either directly or out of
funds raised by taxation. It can be successful only under enthusiastic
local cooperation.
There is amply reason to be encouraged over results thus far accom-
plished, and the cooperative system embodied in the Clarke-McNary
law is here particularly well adapted to the great variety of conditions
encountered.
PACIFIC COAST
Federal cooperation in fire protection in the Pacific coast region has
meant better protection than would have been practicable without it.
It has meant increased funds from the States and from private owners.
It has tended to sustain the interest of owners in their deforested land
and to make the financing of far-reaching programs appear practicable.
It has considerably advanced legislation and plans. To make these
gains secure by some guarantee of continuity in the protection thus
far attained is the purpose to which the Forest Service is bending its
energies.
In California there has been a marked increase in State and county
funds in recent years, as from $73,000 in 1921 to $505,000 in 1931.
This was accompanied by an increase in Federal funds from $23,000
to $148,000. The State forestry department has beenjapidly ex-
panded and the work greatly increased. Federal cooperation has here
been a strong stimulus and also has helped greatly through partici-
pation in plans and in making available the experience on the national
forests. The financial help and moral support of the Federal Govern-
ment has been effective in sustaining the State's efforts in protecting
large areas which may later come into public ownership. Meanwhile,
the public has a special stake in safeguarding its investment by the
continuance of this work.
The region is characterized by a real need for an appreciation of
Federal cooperation. Even though local financial support of the
work is comparatively large, the part played by Federal cooperation
is vital.
NORTH ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Federal cooperation in the north Rocky Mountain region had an
important influence upon the passage of advanced pieces of forestry
legislation, including provisions for compulsory participation in the
protection of their forest properties and slash disposal by the private
owners.
Federal cooperation has increased the numerical strength of the
protective organizations and has improved performance, especially
through close contact of associations and national forest officers.
Improved practice has resulted from contact with activities on the
national forests. The lumber industry has gained a better under-
standing of the aims and objects of forestry and has recognized the
practicability of some of its phases to its own problem.
Federal aid has not prevented the breaking down of protection on
about 150,000 acres in one instance in Idaho. The question naturally
arises, Could the Federal cooperation have been so handled as to have
prevented this? Possibly this cooperation came too late, or the funds
1074 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
were insufficient. In 1932 the State contribution, 19 percent of the
total, was entirely for the protection of State land. Federal expendi-
tures constituted 19 percent of the total and applied in part to State
land. The public thus shared less than 19 percent of the cost of
protecting privately owned land in that State. The agricultural
southern counties, with predominating legislative representation,
would no doubt effectively check large undertakings by the State
which would appear to benefit only timberland owners in the north.
Even so, the State biennial appropriation increased from $80,000, in
1924, the year previous to Clarke-McNary appropriations, to
$150,000 in 1932.
Although the problem for the future appears to be too great for the
forest protective machinery thus far set up, it is true that protection
has been greatly advanced by Federal cooperation in this region.
The protection system here may in some cases be a temporary
expedient, but even if so, it is a very important one.
It is to be hoped that the experience of many countries and of other
States may not need to be suffered in this " Inland Empire" region —
the cutting out and abandoning of the forest. Already the public is
protecting its interest much more than did such regions as New
England and the Lake States during the corresponding periods in
their forest history. This is a hopeful sign. The picture of other
States now spending millions to bring back the departed glories of
the forest is no doubt exerting its influence upon the Northwest
today. It is the writer's opinion that the northwestern regions will
keep their cut-over lands under protection and that Federal coopera-
tion will be an important factor in this accomplishment.
SOUTH ROCKY MOUNTAIN
In only three States of the South Rocky Mountain region has forest
fire protective cooperation been undertaken, namely, in Nevada, New
Mexico, and South Dakota. In New Mexico the private owners and
the State contract the work to the Federal Government. Federal aid
has resulted in a listing of State land with the Forest Service for pro-
tection and in the initiation of protection on some private lands and
its retention on others. In Nevada a somewhat similar result has been
secured. Without Federal cooperation here the protection effort of
private owners would be of much less effect. In South Dakota,
Federal cooperation has resulted in legislation enabling the State to
protect 124,000 acres of forest land, mostly privately owned.
The area of forest land which is outside the national forests in other
States of this region is not great enough to have given rise to cooper-
ative State projects up to the present.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS IN FEDERAL AID IN FOREST FIRE
PROTECTION
1. Federal cooperation has been an important factor in the estab-
lishment of 12 State forestry departments. In 17 States the protec-
tion of private forest land was commenced as a State activity as the
direct result of Federal cooperation.
2. Under Federal cooperation the area of State and private forest
land receiving organized protection increased from 95 million acres
in 1915 to 228 million acres in 1931. Should this same rate of increase
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1075
be continued, the entire area needing protection would be covered in
about 20 years. During the same period Federal, State, and private
funds devoted to forest fire protection have increased from $984,000
to $7,222,000. Federal aid has been an important factor in this
increase in area protected and in funds provided. The results are
much more important than would be represented by the area which
could be directly protected each year by a sum equivalent to the
Federal aid appropriated. It should be noted that in the fiscal year
1932 the Federal Government financed 47 percent of its assumed
obligation for an "adequate" program of protection, and the States
and private owners 43 percent of theirs.
3. Forty-six per cent of the State and private forest land classed
as in need of protection is still unprotected. This area lies for the
most part in the South and Central regions, where Federal aid has
meant the most in getting protection started.
4. On protected areas forest fires have annually burned over 1.7 per
cent of the area protected, whereas fires have covered about 19.8 per-
cent of unprotected areas. This proves that the protection work
undertaken has caused a sharp reduction in fire damage.
5. Forest fire protection in the New England, Middle Atlantic,
Lake, north Rocky Mountain, south Rocky Mountain, and Pacific
coast regions is well established. In many areas it can be expected to
develop adequately under present plans, with increase in public sup-
port which can be anticipated. In parts of the north Rocky Mountain
and Pacific coast regions, however, conditions are developing that
may become critical as a result of the tendency toward abandonment
of protection by owners interested primarily in the merchantable
timber now on the land. The need here for a larger, sharing in pro-
tection costs by the Federal Government and the States is clearly
indicated. Fortunately, the area involved is comparatively small (less
than 4 per cent of forest area of the country), although the present
importance of the timber is very great.
In the South lies the great unprotected forest area, and to apply the
proper degree of protection involves difficult problems which have
important social as well as economic and financial aspects. Progress
wifl. it is believed, be necessarily slow. The private owner here has
an increasing interest, since the forest land principally involved is
coming up to stands of rapid-growth timber which are being com-
mercially utilized at a young age. This interest cannot, however, be
relied upon to bring State-wide protection without increased public
participation.
6. In the administration of Federal aid the Forest Service has
served as a clearing house for information and for educational material
to the advantage of the State projects. The merit system in the
employment of men has been promoted, technical standards among
personnel have been raised, and methods of protection have been
measurably improved.
7. The questions may be asked, Has Federal aid in fire protection
stimulated the practice of forestry on private land? To what extent
is such Federal aid effective in keeping lands in private ownership?
In most cases where the question is up for decision whether an
owner shall retain title to a piece of forest land or let it go tax delin-
quent, the answer is based upon many considerations other than
protection. Insofar as the protection consideration has force, Federal
1076 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
aid has had a stabilizing influence through the increased forest values
which have resulted. Federal aid has promoted protection, but the
whole of protection is only one element, though a very necessary ele-
ment, in the development of the forests for use under private
ownership.
During the transition period between that in which the main supply
of timber comes from old growth and that in which it will come from
regrown timber on lands previously cut over, the practice of forestry
by the private owner will, it is believed, slowly but steadily increase.
There may be many set-backs. The final classification of lands which
should be devoted to forest uses has not yet been made. But fire
protection remains the necessary condition in the absence of which the
practicability of forestry can hardly be intelligently determined.
Moreover, fire protection is of distinct social and economic advantage,
whether or not it is now leading owners to planned and intensive
forest management.
In the case of second-growth stands as contrasted with old-growth
stands, the significance of protection, even in the absence of conscious
silvicultural management, is relatively great, and it is with the pro-
tection of second-growth stands that the public is principally concerned.
When second growth comes into yield, the operator seldom makes a
clean sweep of the stand. As compared with logging in the virgin
forest, operations are on a smaller scale, leaving more chance for
natural restocking. Cutting a smaller proportion of the trees fre-
quently presents to the owner the natural means of securing quick
returns. Self-interest of such an owner leads him into some form of
selective logging, and the result is less devastation over large areas.
This means that second-growth stands can be made continuously
productive under protection alone to a much greater extent than may
be generally supposed.
FEDERAL AID IN FARM FOREST PLANTING
Prior to 1925 there was an active demand for forest planting stock
in many States in excess of the supply. Only 18 States were distrib-
uting trees for forest planting. Farmers own about 127 million acres
of forest land, much of which can be greatly improved by planting.
They own much land which has been abandoned for agricultural crops,
but which can be profitably utilized if planted to trees. Such a
venture is possible to the farmer only if he can secure the right trees
of the right size, in quantity, at low cost. He could not find such
opportunities in the open market.
Section 4 of the Clarke-McNary Act provided for the first time for
Federal cooperation with the States in the production and distribution
of trees for farm planting. In the words of the law, the Secretary of
Agriculture is authorized and directed
To cooperate with the various States in the procurement, production, and dis-
tribution of forest-tree seeds and plants, for the purpose of establishing wind-
breaks, shelter belts, and farm woodlots upon denuded or nonf orested lands within
such cooperating States, under such conditions and requirements as he may pre-
scribe to the end that forest-tree seeds or plants so procured, produced, or dis-
tributed shall be used effectively for planting denuded or nonforested lands in
the cooperating States and growing timber thereon: * * *.
This section includes the usual limitation of Federal expenditures
to amounts not exceeding those expended by the State for the same
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1077
purpose. The authorization of the amount to be appropriated
annually is limited to not more than $100,000.
This provisioa became effective through the appropriation of
$50,000 by the. Federal Government on July 1, 1925. For the fiscal
year 1932, the appropriation was $95,000, while that for 1933 is
$79,960. For the 7-year period 1926-32 the Federal expenditures
have totalled $530,487. Table 6 shows the distribution of expendi-
tures as between the States and the Federal Government during that
period.
ADMINISTRATION
The projects are managed by the States, just as in the administra-
tion of cooperative forest fire protection, and the Federal inspector
participates in State plans and budgets. He inspects the work to
determine the effectiveness with which moneys are spent. Upon his
certification the States are reimbursed by the Federal Government to
the extent of its obligation after the initial payments are made by the
State.
RESULTS
In 1926, in direct response to the stimulus of Federal aid, the number
of States raising and distributing trees for planting increased from 18
to 30. Forty States, including Puerto Rico and Hawaii, are engaged
in this activity during the present fiscal year (1933), 18 of which owe
their start in the work to the provision of Federal assistance.
During the 6 calendar years 1926-31, under the Federal cooperative
projects, a total of 156 million trees were distributed to farmers by the
States. From this it would appear that something more than 150,000
acres of farm woodlands and shelter belts were newly established.
Many of the plantings have served as demonstrations to guide neigh-
boring farmers. During the same period the cooperating States
reported the distribution, without aid from the Federal Government,
of 113 million trees to private landowners other than farmers and the
planting of 150 million trees on State forests.
TABLE 6.— Expenditures in aid of far ?n forest planting
Year
Federal
State
Total
1926
$45,006
$223, 272
$268, 278
1927
71, 195
241, 738
312, 933
1928
74, 977
301, 664
376, 641
1929
74, 372
295, 245
369, 617
1930. . .
80, 479
322, 035
402, 514
1931
90,798
248, 091
338, 889
1932
93, 660
204,438
298,098
Total... .
530, 487
1, 836, 483
2, 366, 970
Only a small increase has occurred from year to year in farm planting
over the country as a whole. Starting in the calendar year 1926 with
about 23 million trees planted, the number increased to 29 million in
1928, but during the next 3 years it dropped to an average of about 25K
million.
Generally speaking, the projects have not developed into quantity
production on a large scale but have held to an average distribution of
less than a million trees for farmers per year per State, their effect
1078
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMEKICAN FOKESTBY
being primarily educational and demonstrational. Considerably
more trees would probably have been distributed during the past 2
years except for the depression. The general course of farm planting
is indicated in table 7.
This table shows substantial increases in all regions except in the
New England and the Middle Atlantic regions. The sharp declines
in these regions were sufficient to cause a net decline for the country as
a whole since 1928. It should be noted, however, that both these
regions have substantially increased distribution to private landowners
other than farmers and planting on their State forests, so that their
grand total, including distribution outside the Clarke-McNary law
cooperation, shows an increase — New England from 7 million in 1926
to 8% million in 1930, and the Middle Atlantic region from 32 to 36
million. The distribution of trees which the cooperating States made
in 1930 for all uses is shown, by regions, in table 8.
TABLE 7. — Number of trees distributed to farmers
Year
1926
1928
1930
New England
2, 790, 000
3, 003, 000
2, 262, 000
Middle Atlantic
17 385,000
19, 897, 000
13, 481, 000
Lake -
580,000
1, 335, 000
2, 029, 000
Central
1, 206, 000
2, 779, 000
3, 540, 000
South
119,000
549,000
1, 874, 000
Pacific coast
5,000
126,000
263,000
North Rocky Mountain -------
83,000
227,000
433,000
South Rocky Mountain - - - -
71,000
202,000
239,000
Hawaii and Puerto Rico
371,000
639,000
1, 715, 000
Total -
22, 610, 000
28, 757, 000
25, 836, 000
REGIONAL ASPECTS OF FEDERAL COOPERATION IN FARM
PLANTING
In New England forest tree nursery practice was already developed
by most of the States prior to the time of Federal participation. Fed-
eral cooperation has, however, resulted in some reduction in the price
which the farmer has had to pay for the trees and has led to more
effective inspection of plantations to check up on and to insure success
in planting. It has also led to more thorough accounting by the
States for all planting activity^
In the Middle Atlantic region we find much the same situation as
in New England. Most of the States were active in planting before
Federal participation, but one or possibly two of the States would not
have initiated tree production and distribution without Federal help.
In the South, forest nurseries would probably not have been
attempted by at least six of the States without Federal cooperation.
Here advice and assistance other than financial in establishing the
nurseries has also been of distinct advantage. From the point of view
of education and demonstration, the State forestry departments are
making good use of tree poduction and distribution as one of the
important means of furthering the practice of forestry.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
1079
TABLE 8. — Distribution of forest planting stock, by regions, for the calendar
year 1930
N
umber of tre
es distribute
d
Region
To farm
lands
(Clarke-
McNary
projects)
To State
lands
To private-
ly owned
lands other
than farms
Total
New England
2, 261, 601
3, 127, 500
3, 323, 786
8, 712, 887
Middle Atlantic
13, 480, 735
8, 683, 550
14, 273, 750
36, 438, 035
Lake States
2, 028, 709
17, 558, 500
2, 369, 150
21, 956, 359
Central
3, 540, 455
588,375
966,850
5, 095, 680
South
1, 873, 980
75,429
1, 502, 924
3, 452, 333
Pacific coast
262, 631
262, 631
North Rocky Mountain .
433, 400
15,900
449,300
South Rocky Mountain
239,304
12,900
11,500
263, 704
Hawaii - - - -
158,400
365,700
390,700
914, 800
Puerto Rico
1, 557, 000
31,700
185, 200
1, 773, 900
Total
25, 836, 215
30, 443, 654
23, 039, 760
79, 319, 629
In States or parts of States where tree growth is largely absent,
typified by parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, the Dakotas, and
Nebraska, farm planting is mostly in the form of windbreaks and
shelter belts. A block of trees set so as to protect farm buildings and
stock or cultivated fields and orchards is here of high importance.
Federal cooperation has been definitely helpful in establishing such
plantations. In 1931 in the States of Montana, Idaho, North Dakota,
Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, approximately 3,000
farmers established such plantations. Their value to farm homes
and as demonstrations is inestimable. The work would probably
not have been undertaken in at least five of these States without the
impetus of Federal aid.
In other States, as in Tennessee and Mississippi, the planting of
gullied portions of farms is returning otherwise waste areas to prof-
itable use.
DIFFICULTIES ARISING FROM FARM LIMITATION
Three fourths of the State nurseries are raising stock for reforesta-
tion of other land than farm land. Under the law, however, the
Federal Government can cooperate with these States only in that
part of their work which involves the production and distribution
of trees to farmers. The line is difficult to draw, and the distinction
seems illogical. The point of view of the State foresters is that the
needs of the land rather than the classification of the owner is of
first importance, although the large owner who may need no public
help would not generally be served until small applicants had been
satisfied. An amendment to change the conditions of Federal coop-
eration in this respect has several times been presented to Congress.
CONCLUSIONS
Federal aid in farm forest planting has been directly responsible
for the initiation of such work as a State activity in at least 18 States;
this is its greatest achievement. It supplied to each State a small
168342°— 33— vol. 2 3
1080 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
sum, about $2,000, with which the State was enabled to find $2,000
additional to start the work.
The effect of the Federal contribution has been to reduce the price
of trees which the farmer has to pay. It appears to be desirable to
sell the trees rather than to give them away. They are more highly
valued and better planted when obtained only for a price. This
price is low. In theory it is less than cost by at least the amount of
the Federal appropriation, because, under the Federal regulations
made in the administration of the project, the State is not permitted
to recover through sale an amount in excess of what the State itself
puts into the work. In most States the recovery is much less than
that.
Federal cooperation has tended to improve State practice. In lieu
of money it has supplied Norway pine seed when hard to get from
other sources. It has exerted influence upon the States to avoid use
of planting stock for landscape and related private uses in competition
with commercial nursery stock.
Experience has proved that satisfactory production and distribu-
tion of suitable trees for forest planting has not been attained in the
absence of public assistance and guidance. The commercial produc-
tion of forest stock is still undeveloped in most sections of the country.
The State forestry departments are showing the way by producing
these small trees in quantity and at minimum cost. When the
market is sufficiently developed, it is possible that commercial nurs-
eries may find it profitable to engage in production of forest trees of
suitable species and size and at such prices as would make forest
planting feasible, as some of them are already doing to a small extent.
The interest in trees which has been stimulated by public activity in
forest planting has, it is confidently believed, increased the business
of nurserymen in other lines, such as fruit, nut, and decorative tree
stock. The farmer cannot afford to plant his waste lands unless the
planting stock can be bought at a low figure, a figure much lower
than that contemplated by nurserymen before the practice of raising
small trees for forest planting was established, by State and Federal
agencies. The purpose of the law is to enable him to get the kind
and quantity of forest trees needed for his special uses at a cost which
he can afford.
It has been estimated that there will remain in the United States
a total of approximately 70 million acres of land now in a poor stage
of restocking, deforested, and submarginal argiculturally, which will
not become satisfactorily restocked within the next 40 years without
planting. How much it may be economically advisable to plant will
be determined on the basis of our forest needs. But, in any event,
this estimate makes it clear that the 1930 program of planting on
State and private land, as indicated by table 8, which would take
care of less than 100,000 acres, is quite inadequate. The present
effort in this line can be considered as essentially educational and
demonstrational, and even under that aspect it should be much
extended.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOK AMEPxIOAN FORP;STKY 1081
COOPERATION WITH STATES IN FARM FORESTRY
EXTENSION
Federal cooperation with the States in farm forestry extension was
first undertaken on a Nation-wide basis as a result of the Clarke-
McNary law, beginning with the fiscal year 1926. Section 5 of that
act authorizes and directs the Secretary of Agriculture, "in coopera-
tion with appropriate officials of the various States, or, in his discre-
tion, with other suitable agencies, to assist the owners of farms in
establishing, improving, and renewing woodlots, shelter belts, wind-
breaks, and other valuable forest growth, and in growing and renewing
useful timber crops. " The usual limitation is provided, namely, that
the amount expended by the Federal Government under the section
shall not exceed the amount expended by the State, and the amount
authorized to be appropriated annually is $100,000.
Farm forestry extension l is conducted as a part of the program of
the various State colleges of agriculture. Federal cooperation in the
work is administered by the Extension Service of the Department of
Agriculture, with the cooperation of the Forest Service.
i The statement from this point to the topic Federal aid to States for roads is contributed by W. K. Wil-
liams, forestry specialist of the Office of Cooperative Extension Work, Department of Agriculture, in this
activity.
1082
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Clarke-
McNary
iS?8§£22!
S3:
) t^ <N O O5 -H
> CO 00 *O OO
Tf< CO *— <t^»— liOOO
OO«>OC<S<MOOO
> S ?C <Bf* S CO «
I T*( U3 S »O >O S 5C
I -
r^T *f<£tZ~*fm*f*f«fa$cS
\&Mtt3&ti£\
etf^afSK"
^"^J"^ efi-T
O5O5CiCiO5O5O5
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1083
FEDERAL FUNDS
Most of the Federal funds used in farm forestry extension are made
available under section 5 of the Clarke-McNary law. A smaller
amount comes through the Smith-Lever law. Table 9 shows all the
Federal funds used and the expenditures, by years since 1915. The
principal Federal fund (Clarke-McNary) is supplemented by an equal
amount of State money. In total amount for the entire period shown
in table 9, the State funds used considerably exceed the amount of
Federal moneys expended. Most of the Federal appropriation is used
in payment of part of the salaries of State extension foresters, who are
the leaders in the extension programs in farm forestry in the 33 States
FARMERS
FARMERS
FARMERS
DIRECT \DIRECT / DIRECT
ASSISTANCE ASSISTANCE ASSISTANCE
STATE EXTENSION
SERVICES
ASSISTANCE
PROJECT
AGREEMENTS
U.S.DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
FIGURE 7. — Administration of farm forestry extension under sec. 5, Clarke-McNary Law.
and 2 Territories now cooperating under section 5 of the Clarke-
McNary law, the Smith-Lever law, or both.
ADMINISTRATION
In administering farm forestry the Federal Extension Service has
the cooperation of the Forest Service in professional matters and,
through the Forest Service, an indirect contact with the State forestry
departments. The latter work with the State extension services in
promoting programs and in giving direct assistance to farmers. In
figure 7 is seen the administrative and cooperative organization set
up for the work. In the main, the administration and extension of
forestry in the States is conducted by the State extension services in
much the sme manner as livestock extension, horticultural extension,
or any other phase of agriculture. The system makes available a
1084 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
total force of 4,444 local field workers (as of June 30, 1931), including
county agricultural agents, home demonstration agents, and 4-H club
leaders. Not all of this group in the States has carried on forestry
work; the number, however, is increasing yearly. During 1931, 878
county agents participated in forestry activities in 46 States, 31 home
agents in 7 States, and 95 4-H club agents in 16 States — a total of
1,004 extension agents.
• RESULTS
To assist in the profitable management of farm woodlands and
reforestation of unused farm lands constitutes the task undertaken by
the State extension services in cooperating with the Federal extension
service. Since July 1, 1925, when farm forestry funds under section 5
of the Clarke-McNary law became available, definite progress has
been made yearly. Table 10 presents statistics of accomplishment.
It shows that the total number of farms that had adopted improved
practices in 1926 was 10,074. In 1929 the number had more than
doubled. The same trend of progress is indicated in practically every
other phase of the extension forestry work.
The planting of forest trees on farms continues to be one of the
most popular phases of extension forestry. Approximately 26 million
forest trees were distributed to farmers during 1930 by the State
forest nurseries and 25 % million in 1931. A large percentage of the
trees distributed were planted under the direction of the State exten-
sion foresters and county agents. In the prairie and plains States the
planting of trees for wind-breaks and shelter belts is meeting the
problem of providing protection for farmsteads. In the Eastern and
Southern States planting is done mainly for the control of erosion and
the production of timber products such as fence posts, poles, pulpwood
and sawlogs. Planting of forest trees on idle farm lands not needed
for agricultural purposes is gaining increased attention in those States
having marginal land problems.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1085
1086 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
In the timbered States east of the Prairies, such management
projects as improvement cutting of woodlands, fire protection, and
the marketing of timber products have been stressed as features of the
State woodland management programs. It will be noted in table 10
that 9,534 farmers were assisted in this work in 1931. The work of
these men, considered as demonstrators, has its effect in spreading
better farm forestry practices in the respective communities. Other
phases commanding local attention in some States have been instruc-
tion in sawmill practice, estimating timber, the marketing of Christ-
mas trees, pulpwood, and black walnuts, care of maple sugar orchards,
and grading of maple sirup.
In addition to the projects under way with farmers, the State
extension foresters are finding an increasing interest in forestry
manifested among farm boys and girls in 4-H clubs. Many of these
club members are engaged in such projects as establishing forest tree
plantations, estimating timber, protecting the farm woods from fire,
planting black walnut, establishing school forests, and marketing
timber products. Table 10 shows that 10,620 4-H club members
enrolled for forestry work in 1931, a larger number than ever before,
and that 7,877 completed their projects during the year.
METHODS OF EXTENDING FORESTRY
One method of encouraging better woodland practices has been
through the use of State forestry publications. In many States
printed bulletins and circulars have been prepared. These publica-
tions have been supplemented with an increasing amount of mimeo-
graph material, folders, handbills, envelope inserts, and leaflets,
besides bulletins furnished by the United States Forest Service.
Circular letters have come into Vide use in connection with campaigns
and other special efforts to influence the spread of improved practice.
Other educational devices largely employed to further forestry
teaching among farmers are woods demonstrations, exhibits, meetings,
tours, news stories, monthly news letters, and radio.
COOPERATION
For the success of farm forestry extension the whole-hearted coopera-
tion of all agencies in the forestry and agricultural fields is necessary.
The cooperation of State forestry departments, particularly, is essen-
tial to the proper development of the program. In most cases there
are working agreements between the State extension services and the
forestry departments, and their cooperation has been of mutual benefit.
The cooperation accorded by State forestry departments includes
assistance in financing the project, technical advice, publication of for-
estry bulletins, and growing and distribution of forest- tree seedlings
for farm planting.
The active cooperation of many other agencies has contributed to
the success of the extension forestry work. Among them should be
mentioned the farm bureaus, county and community organizations,
lumber companies, State and Federal experiment stations, State
departments of game and fishery, State departments of education,
civic clubs, conservation organizations, women's clubs, railroad
companies, and the press.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1087
FEDERAL AID TO STATES FOR ROADS
Until the period immediately preceding the present century, the
counties and towns or similar units of government had entire jurisdic-
tion over the construction and maintenance of highways. Prior to
1900, however, the States began to aid the local units in establishing
highways of State-wide significance.
With the advent of the automobile, the need for Nation-wide
systems of roads began to be keenly felt, and on July 11, 1916, by
the Federal Aid Road Act of that date, the Federal Government
entered upon the now well-known Bankhead plan of taking the lead in
modern highway development, under which a total of $1,005,381,470
of Federal money has been spent up to June 30, 1932. This has been
applied to the construction and maintenance of 101,389 miles of
roads and bridges, the total cost of which has been $2,296,431,593.
The distribution by regions is shown in table 1 1 .
The effect of road extension and improvement upon the protection
and utilization of the forests has been great. Better roads have
brought the products of the forest nearer to market and thus increased
stumpage values in localities that were formerly inaccessible. They
have greatly facilitated the attack upon forest fires and thus reduced
protection costs. Roads have, however, exerted an adverse influence
of grave import in some localities through greatly increased fire
occurrence due to the carelessness of the traveling public.
TABLE 11. — Cost and mileage of Federal-aid roads
[Totals as of June 30, 1932]
Region
Total cost
Federal-aid funds
Miles
New England. .
$113,269,101.01
$43, 180, 751. 72
2, 720. 5
Middle Atlantic
357,883,875. 18
124,619,645.46
7, 848. 7
Lake States
242, 373, 481. 43
104, 659, 405. 42
14, 143. 8
Central
640, 321, 834. 99
278, 710, 829. 45
25, 802. 5
South
564,338,595.51
250,859,581.72
27, 718. 3
Pacific coast _ .. _ ..
143,508,631.00
66, 439, 273. 05
5, 029. 1
North Rocky Mountain
55, 460, 702. 52
31,788,024.70
4,215.8
South Rocky Mountain
Hawaii
175, 335, 515. 81
3 939 855 79
103, 833, 541. 14
1 290 417 84
13, 834. 1
76 3
Total
2, 296, 431, 593. 24
1,005,381,470.50
101 389. 1
The highway program would go forward without reference to the
forests and does not need extended treatment here. The Federal
Aid Road Act represents, however, by far the greatest extension of
Federal aid to the States and is of importance in any discussion of
such activities. The more than 1 billion dollars spent thus far by the
Federal Government in aid of roads contrasts strikingly with the less
than 12 million dollars spent in aid of forestry under the Weeks and
Clarke-McNary Acts. The latter sum is only a little more than 1
percent of the former. This ratio may roughly indicate the relative
appreciation of needs on the part of the public. By no leap of the
imagination does it express the actual relative need which the public
has for these two forms of service.
1088 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
FEDERAL LAND GRANTS TO STATES
Congress has, since 1785, granted land from its public domain to
every State in the Union. In cases where States had no public land
within their borders, they received scrip for land in other States which
the States turned into cash. The area of land so granted reached, at
the end of the fiscal year 1931, the enormous aggregate of 203 million
acres. In addition, the railroads have been granted approximately
94 million acres representing public interest in the extension of trans-
portation facilities.
The purpose underlying the Land Grant Act of 1785 was to help
the States to support their public schools. The furtherance of educa-
tion has been a dominant motive in the granting of millions of acres
of land to the States throughout the Nation's history. Other purposes
have, of course, been served. Early in the nineteenth century
Congress donated nearly 5 million acres of public domain to aid
States in building canals. In 1841, nineteen States received half a
million acres each for " internal improvements". The great period
of railroad grants came mainly after the Civil War.
The condition upon which States received their grants during the
first 75 years was very simple, namely, that moneys received from
sales would be devoted to public schools, highways, or to whatever
purpose was designated. Some of this land brought the State $3 per
acre which a year later was sold for $25 per acre. Other areas were
sold by the States for as little as 50 or 60 cents per acre.
It is interesting to note that New York sold its scrip to Ezra
Cornell at 60 cents per acre, with the understanding that he should
pay for the land as he sold it, and that all receipts over the amount
of his obligation would become an endowment for a university.
Cornell located the scrip in the white-pine district of Wisconsin and
sold most of it at an average price of $6.73 per acre, thus securing
for Cornell University an endowment of more than 5}£ million dollars.
The university's forestry department has, of course, benefited along
with other units. Forest land of high value was here involved which
could presumably have been managed for continuous revenue. The
fact that the forest property was exploited without reference to its
continuing timber values represents a highly successful piece of busi-
ness for New York, the State which the grant was intended to benefit,
but it also illustrates strikingly the fact that neither the Federal
Government nor the States remotely contemplated that the forest-
covered parts of the vast areas granted would be managed as State
forests.
During the last 50 years, Congress has imposed more rigid require-
ments. Certain lands were granted to States on condition that they
should be irrigated and prepared for settlement. Title to these lands
was to pass only after completion of the designated program. In
1927, 10 States had applied under that provision for lands totaling
nearly 8K million acres, but titles to only a little more than 1 million
acres, were approved. In the case of grants to Arizona and New
Mexico in 1910, the Governor and the secretary of state were required
to approve all investments of funds derived from the "sale of lands,
and disposal or sale for any objects other than specified in the law was
to be deemed a breach of trust." The areas granted as land or scrip
to the several States from 1785 to 1931 are shown in table 12. In this
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1089
table an attempt is also made to show the amount of forest land
which the States still retain of all the Federal lands granted to them.
The policies and programs of States in handling the grants are
briefly discussed below.
TABLE 12. — Land and scrip granted to States and Territories for educational and
other purposes, 1785 to 1931
Region
Total Fed-
eral land
grants
Forest
areas now
held by
States
from
grants
Region
Total Fed-
eral land
grants
Forest
areas now
held by
States
from
grants
New England:
Connecticut scrip
Acres
180,000
Acres
South:
Alabama
Acres
2, 258, 000
Acres
' 270, 000
Maine do
210 000
Arkansas
9, 373, 000
(2)
Massachusetts do
360,000
Florida
21,970,000
(2)
New Hampshire do
150,000
Georgia - scrip
270,000
Rhode Island do
120 000
Louisiana
11,030,000
25,000
Vermont do
150,000
Mississippi
5,021,000
300,000
270 000
Total
1,170,000
Oklahoma
3, <m', ooo
(2)
Middle Atlantic-
South Carolina _ . scrip . .
Texas do
180,000
180,000
Delaware scrip
90,000
Virginia do.--.
300,000
210 000
New Jersey do
210 000
Total
53, 948, 000
595 000
New York do
990 000
Pennsylvania do
780,000
Pacific coast:
8 426 000
Total
2,280,000
Oregon
4*, 353! 000
3 33,000
3 044 000
51 248 000
Michigan
8, 788, 000
5 62, 000
Total
15, 823, 000
1 , 295, 463
8 372 000
1 230 000
North Dakota
3,164,000
North Rocky Mountain:
Wisconsin
6, 221, 000
192,000
Idaho
3, 632, 000
958,000
5 870 000
439 000
Total
26 545 000
1 484 000
Total
9 502 000
1 397 000
Illinois
3, 639, 000
South Rocky Mountain:
Indiana
4, 306, 000
Arizona
10, 539, 000
4 32,000
Iowa
3 020 000
Colorado
4, 434, 000
154 000
Kansas .
3, 607, 000
Nevada
2, 724, 000
2,000
Kentucky
353,000
New Mexico
12,656,000
4 121,000
Missouri..
5, 574, 000
40,000
South Dakota...
3, 434, 000
66,000
Nebraska
3, 459, 000
Utah
7,464,000
Ohio
2, 493, 000
Wyoming
4,139,000
120,000
300 000
West Virginia do
150,000
Total
45, 390, 000
495,000
Total
26,901 000
40 000
Alaska
21 445 000
(2)
Grand total
203,004 000
5 306,463
1 Rough estimate.
2 No data.
3 Plus 70,000 Eliott State Forest, secured by exchange sec. 16 and 36's.
4 Represents commercial saw timber stands only.
4 Includes area secured by exchange.
PRESENT STATUS OF AREAS GRANTED TO STATES
The Alabama Commission of Forestry is making an inventory pur-
suant to an act passed by the 1927 legislature. This is a rather long
job, since no additional funds have been provided for the work.
Much of the land has been diverted from purposes for which granted,
and many of the sections 16 have been given away outright. The
remnant had not been protected or developed as State forests up to
1928, but progress is being made against trespass and larceny and
toward insuring that full value is received by the State in case of
sale of land or timber. It has been estimated that there may be
270,000 acres of forest land in this remnant.
1090 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
In Florida all of the land granted except 1,187,342 acres has been
conveyed to private owners under various legislative acts. Many of
the deeds of conveyance prior to 1877 have never been recorded in
the county records, but complete records have been kept since that
year. The State forester has no record of the location of forest lands
remaining from the original grants. The State has neither protected
nor developed the forest lands.
The superintendent of forestry of Louisiana is authorized by law
to examine Federal grant lands remaining unsold and to report upon
their suitability for State forests. The work has never been done,
on account of difficulty in securing the records showing where the
lands are located.
The University of Mississippi has title to 23,000 acres designated
in 1932 as the University State Forest. The area has been protected
from fire since 1927, and the 1932 legislature authorized a contract
with the State forestry commission for its protection and management.
Mississippi holds about 500,000 acres of common school grant lands,
mostly in 640-acre tracts. Much of the area is under lease, but only
about one third is used for farming. It is estimated that about
300,000 of the 500,000 acres is forest land. The State forester has
proposed a plan of handling whereby ultimate returns from forest
products would, he believes, exceed present returns from rents.
In Idaho, of the 3,632,000 acres in original Federal grants, 1,150,000
acres is estimated as having been originally forest land. The State
now has 958,000 acres of this forest acreage left, 854,000 acres of which
is commercial forest land, among the best in the State. Present
values are appreciated by the public. The areas are being protected
from fire, and cutting is roughly in accordance with Forest Service
standards.
Federal land grants to Montana amounted to 5,870,000 acres, of
which 4,000,000 acres are left. In 1927 the legislature provided that
State timberland should not be subject to sale, but the timber only.
From the best information it appears that of the State land 439,000
acres is classified as forest land, of which 409,000 acres is commercial
forest. Little forest land has been lost from Federal grant land
through earlier sales. Montana has a fine forest property, largely
commercial forest, regulatory laws governing and guarding it, and an
appreciation of its value.
Of the 4,434,000 acres of original Federal grant land in Colorado,
about 154,000 acres of forest land remains in State ownership. Tim-
ber sold from the land in recent years is cut to a 10-inch diameter
limit. The State land board has authority to sell timber and other
products and may request the advice and assistance of the State
forester but is not required to do so. It also has authority to sell any
of the public lands of the State not reserved for some special purpose.
In South Dakota, of the original 3,434,000 acres of Federal grant
land, 61,000 acres is retained by the State in the Ouster State Park,
and of this 55,000 acres are forested. The area is well protected and
administered as a park. No timber is cut except 250,000 board feet
per year for improvements needed. In addition to the above, 11,000
acres of scattered forest land belongs to the State. Sales on these
lands, when they are not too far from the headquarters of Ouster
State Park, are supervised to insure good forestry practice.
In Kansas and Nebraska the Federal grants consisted almost en-
tirely of farm and grazing land.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1091
Although Wyoming received 4,139,000 acres of Federal grant land,
the total forest land now owned by the State is 120,000 acres in
scattered locations. The State land board has jurisdiction. Timber
on school sections within or adjacent to national forests has been
marked for cutting by national forest officers. Otherwise there has
been no consistent attempt at forest management. Areas of State-
owned forest land not included in the national forests are largely
unprotected.
The States of Arizona and New Mexico have still in State ownership
approximately 153,000 acres of forest land remaining from their
Federal land grants. Cutting on State land is handled by the Forest
Service at State expense, in the same manner as on national forest
land.
Only about 2,000 acres of commercial timberland remains to the
State of Nevada from Federal grant land.
In Utah the State has exchanged its forest lands for farm and graz-
ing lands or has sold them as rapidly as possible. Its past policy has
not recognized that any of its grant lands have a permanent value for
forest purposes and should be managed to that end. Its authorities
are now anxious that the Federal Government take over the respon-
sibility for the handling of all remaining State forest land within its
boundaries.
In Washington and Oregon, as in other land-grant States, con-
tinued use of Federal grant land for timber production was not con-
templated. The nature of the grants tended to make considerations
of management for timber production very remote and apparently
impracticable. In Washington the enabling act stipulated as a con-
dition of sale of grant lands the securing of such a high price that the
State still has most of the timberland, and it has had the advantage of
rising prices in its sales of stumpage. Efforts to consolidate have
been in part successful and will be continued. It is reasonable to
expect that eventually the original grants will be put into such shape
that they can be managed as State forests. There is little reason to
criticise these States for failing in the past to consolidate the forest
areas of the grant lands into State forests under management. The
opportunity for the profitable management of State forests did not
exist.
In the Lake States there is no accurate record as to the part of
original Federal grant lands w^hich should be classified as forest land.
Forest lands which came by Federal grant have been under forest
management only when located within State forests. The latter
embrace about 1,434,000 acres of grant lands. These have had the
advantage of fire protection, which is steadily increasing in effective-
ness and has saved them from being despoiled of their forests as were
nearly all the lands which went into private ownership.
The small total of 5% million acres of forest land left today in State
ownership out of over 200 million acres of land of all classes granted
to the States is impressive. The enormous publicly owned domain
would have returned to present and future generations vastly greater
values than have ever been obtained, if a much larger part of it had
been kept in public forests under good management. Short-sighted-
ness in both Federal and State Governments must now be acknowl-
edged, however much the wholesale disposal of grant lands may have
meant to States in the pioneer days in the way of cash for education
and for the development of transportation.
1092 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
FEDERAL AID TO STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES
AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS
The first form of Federal aid to the colleges was in land. In 1862
the Morrill Act offered units of 30,000 acres to each State, according
to its numerical representation in both houses of Congress. The
offer was conditioned on the establishment of a college of agriculture
within a stated time. Scrip was awarded to States in which there
was no Federal land. No limitations were imposed as to the price for
which the land was to be sold. Eventually every State availed itself
of the benefits of this act.
In 1890 the second Morrill Act provided an annual appropriation
for the support of each State agricultural college, which appropriation
was gradually to rise to the present $50,000 annual maximum. All
the States and three Territories receive this aid.
The total Federal appropriation to land-grant colleges for the fiscal
year 1933 was $2,550,000. The total of endowments built up from
the land grants made to the colleges under the act of 1862 is about
$22,000,000, which under ordinary conditions brings a total revenue
of about $1,000,000 per year. The Federal funds provide only for
instruction in agriculture, mechanical arts, English, and science. No
part of these funds, principal or interest, is to be used for buildings.
Here a degree of supervision is indicated which is characteristic of
later Federal aid legislation.
In many State colleges of agriculture provision is made for forestry
schools or forestry courses along with other lines of education. Thus,
forestry has participated indirectly in the support which Federal funds
have given to the mother institutions. Forestry courses are now
being given in the colleges of agriculture of the States listed below.
To designate the nature of the forestry teaching, one or more numbers
follow the name of each State. (1) is used to designate instruction
leading to a degree in forestry, (2) ranger courses, (3) short courses
in forestry, and (4) courses in range management. The list of
States is :
Alabama (3); Arkansas (3); Arizona (4); California (1), (3), (4);
Colorado (1), (3), (4); Connecticut (1), (3); Delaware (3); Georgia
(1), (3), (4); Idaho (1), (3), (4); Illinois (4); Indiana (1); Iowa (1),
(3), (4); Kansas (3), (4); Louisiana (1), (3); Maine (1); Massachu-
setts (3); Maryland (3); Michigan (1), (4); Minnesota (1), (3), (4);
Montana (1), (4); Mississippi (3); Nebraska (4); Nevada (4); New
Hampshire (1), (3); New York (1), (3), (4); North Carolina (1), (3);
North Dakota (3); Oklahoma (3); Oregon (1), (4); Pennsylvania (1),
(2), (3), (4) ; Rhode Island (3) ; South Carolina (3) ; South Dakota (3) ;
Utah (1), (3), (4); Vermont (3); Virginia (3); Washington (1), (2),
(3); Wisconsin (3).
Just what this Federal aid to agricultural colleges means in dollars
and cents to forestry cannot readily be ascertained and will not be
here attempted.
By the Hatch Act of 1887, strengthened by the Adams Act of 1906
and the Purnell Act of 1925, there was established a plan to aid in the
establishment of experiment stations in connection with the agri-
cultural colleges. The Federal appropriation for State agricultural
experiment stations for the fiscal year 1933 was $4,374,000 a com-
paratively small part of which is devoted to forestry.
A NATION AT, PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1093
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
By the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, a plan was set up for " cooper-
ating with the States in paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors,
or directors of agricultural subjects," as well as "in preparing teachers,
supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects and teachers of
trade and industrial and home economics subjects." The adminis-
tration of this act was placed in the hands of the Federal Board of
Vocational Education.
It appears that Federal aid has served as a powerful stimulus to the
development of State programs of vocational education. The number
of federally aided schools increased fivefold during a 9-year period and
the number of teachers and pupils about as rapidly. In 1932 there
were 1,075,510 pupils and 28,368 teachers.
This activity is significant for its influence upon forestry. In some
of the States, as in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina,
the vocational agricultural teachers are carrying on important work
in forestry. Many of the schools have established small demonstra-
tion forests, which are being developed by the students. In many of
these schools, also, effective programs of forestry instruction are being
carried on. A very promising field, just beginning to be cultivated,
for the extension of forestry interest and practice lies in cooperation
between State forestry departments and the vocational agricultural
schools.
THE NATIONAL FORESTS AS A FORM OF FEDERAL AID TO
THE STATES1
L. F. KNEIPP, Assistant Forester, Forest Service
CONTENTS
Page
Relationship of the national forests to the general forest situation 1095
H istorical background of national forest system 1 096
The direct consequences of national forest administration 1098
Details of the 1927 study of national forest relationships 1101
The financial status of national forest administration, 1923-27 1 104
Effect of national forests upon costs of local government 1106
Probable costs of local government without national forests 11 09
The probable situation if the national forests had not been created 1110
Best lands privately appropriated and taxed — residual lands protected
by States 1111
If the national forests had instead been administered as State forests. _ 1118
General summation of results of study 1121
RELATIONSHIP OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS TO THE
GENERAL FOREST SITUATION
The basic problem of forestry is the adequate protection, develop-
ment, management, and controlled utilization of approximately one
fourth of the total land area of the continental United States. This
requires large capital outlays and current expenditures for (1) the
permanent organizations essential to effective protection, improve-
ment, management, and research; (2) protection against fire, insects,
and diseases; (3) construction and maintenance of the physical im-
provements requisite to the protection and use of the natural resources;
and (4) forest planting, sanitation, and other cultural operations
demanded by sound principles of silvicultural management.
Such expenditures, in the main, are long-time investments. Only a
small proportion is capable of early financial liquidation. Long-time
credits and low rates of interest are imperative requirements. Rela-
tively few of the States and only a minor proportion of the owners of
private lands are able, under prevailing financial and economic con-
ditions, to make available the funds requisite for the complete a-nd
adequate protection, development, improvement, and management
of all the forest properties within their borders or under their control,
to the degree dictated by major considerations of public interest. If
the Federal Government failed to participate in certain phases of the
problem, the entire enterprise of forestry in the United States would
verge on failure.
The retention or establishment by the Federal Government of
actual ownership of certain parts of the forest land area, and the
assumption of all costs incident to their protection, development,
improvement, and management, including the manifold phases of
1 In this section, expenditures and receipts recorded are actual total disbursements made and revenues
derived during periods indicated. They therefore differ from the cost figures in other sections of the report,
which treat certain forms of expenditure as capital investments and charge as annual costs only the amounts
required to cover interest costs and amortization of such capital investments.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 4 1095
1096 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
forest research essential to those ends, was motivated primarily by
considerations of national welfare and security. The forests adminis-
tered by the Federal Government are national in purpose and result,
as well as in ownership and management. But one important con-
sequence of the national-forest policy is that the burden upon the
States, counties, and private owners is measurably reduced, while
their enjoyment of the economic and social potentialities of the forest
lands continues undiminished — is, in fact, enlarged and made more
permanent and systematic.
In pursuance of this policy the Federal Government, since 1891, has
established 148 2 national forests situated in 31 of the States and in
Alaska and Puerto Rico. Within these administrative units it owns,
or is in process of acquiring, 161,360,691 acres of lands. The national
forests in the continental United States with a total net area of 140
million acres, comprise 7.36 percent of the total land area. Not all
of this area, however, is true forest land, since the national forests
inevitably embrace large areas above or below the altitudinal limits
of timber growth, and other lands supporting vegetation, brush, and
trees of great importance to streamflow stabilization but not capable
of producing timber of commercial sizes and species within practical
limits of time. The acreage of true forest lands under Federal con-
trol within the national forests in the continental United States is
estimated to be 74,679,000 acres, or approximately 15 percent of the
total area of forest land in the States.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NATIONAL FOREST
SYSTEM
The initial action by the Federal Government was as the custodian
of the public lands. By the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1103), it
inaugurated the policy of withdrawing the federally-owned forest
lands from processes of destructive exploitation and by the act of
June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 34), it initiated the policy of regulated use and
occupancy of the lands so withdrawn.
But the problem of forest conservation was most acute in States or
regions in which there were either no public lands at all or only very
limited and widely distributed areas of public lands. Here the in-
terest of the United States was not one of custodial management of
public properties but rather of national welfare. The rapid and
destructive depletion of forest resources was creating a condition of
economic insecurity. The deforestation of the watersheds of impor
tant streams was diminishing their navigability in interstate com-
merce and was causing widespread and remote damage both physical
and economic. The States in which this situation existed were not
prepared to meet it in an effective and adequate way. Public owner-
ship and management of the areas in which the situation was most
acute was imperatively necessary. To accomplish this the Federal
Government initiated the second phase in its program of forest-land
management through the enactment of the act of March 1, 1911 (36
Stat. 961), and eventually the act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 653),
under which acts it has developed and placed under administration
east of the Great Plains 41 national forest units within which the
2 Not including three Wisconsin areas which although constituting an important administrative unit
and representing substantial expenditures have not yet been formally proclaimed as national forests.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1097
United States now controls 7,231,555 acres of land, of which 4,727,680
acres have been acquired by cash purchase under the provisions of
the acts above mentioned. " Figure 1 shows graphically the year-to-
year trend in (A) the total national-forest area and (B) in the area
acquired by purchase under the Weeks law and the amendatory
Clarke-McNary law.
A brief discussion of the facts and circumstances leading up to the
adoption of this policy may, perhaps, be warranted.
Immediately prior to the turn of the century the general trend of
forest land utilization created grave and widespread concern. Pro-
cesses of utilization were destructive and negative to future economic
and social progress and welfare. Concerted and systematic action
to check the tremendous losses due to fire, insects, and disease was
almost wholly lacking. Vast areas of land were in large degree
denuded of their chief elements of economic and social service, and
HARRISON CLEVELAND MCKINLEY ROOSEVELT TAFT WILSON HARDING COOLIDGE HOOVER
J
160
|l20
|
xl
j>
40
0
} '! 1 1 1 1 1 1 L__! *
-
'
I
\ \ \
\ \
i
5
PART OF TOTAL NET AREA ACQUIRED BY
PURCHASE UNDER THE WEEKS LAW
'/'
,J
M/LL/OM ACfft
Q — ro cu l
^
^
-S
\ \ \
\ \ \
\ \ \
/
\ \ \
\ \ \
\ \
FIGURE 1.— Total net areas of national forests by years.
wherever this condition prevailed it was marked by dying industries,
abandoned towns, economic maladjustments, eroded soils, impaired
navigability of streams, and the replacement of scenic beauty and
inspirational quality by ugliness and devastation. The obvious
trend constituted a definite menace to national ideals and objectives
and economic security.
Preponderant opinion agreed that some form of remedial public
action imperatively was necessary to check this demoralizing trend.
The direct and immediate effects of the trend were local, but its
ultimate ramifications and consequences were national. By empha-
sizing different factors in the equation it was possible to place primary
responsibility for remedial action with either the county, the State or
the Federal Go verment . Generally, three maj or courses of action were
open to consideration, namely:
1. Continuation of prevailing principles of private land manage-
ment and public land appropriation, depending on either voluntary
or enforced private action to conserve adequately the forests in
private ownership (a) without any public effort to protect or con-
serve either abandoned or unappropriated lands (a wholly impossible
formula), or (6) with only superficial State or county protection and
1098 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
conservation of lands remaining or revested in public ownership
(a markedly inadequate formula), or (c) with adequate State or
county protection and conservation of lands remaining or revested in
public ownership.
2. Establishment of extensive systems of permanent State forests,
through which the States largely would redeem the public responsi-
bilities of forest protection and conservation.
3. Establishment of extensive systems of national forests, through
which the Federal Government would assume a share of the public
responsibility of forest protection and conservation and, to that degree,
make it possible for the several States to meet more effectively a
vital problem of public welfare and necessity.
The effectiveness of course 1 would have been contingent upon
the successful accomplishment of a vast program of legal, political,
and economic readjustments involving many revised or new concepts
of public and private functions. In relation to the urgency of the
situation, its possibilities markedly were limited and its fullest prac-
tical realization dependent upon a prolonged educational effort.
Course 2 likewise was subject to many seemingly insuperable
obstacles to early adoption, in the form of State constitutional limita-
tions, legal restrictions, diverse land ownerships, and inadequate
financial resources. Few States had constitutional or legislative
authority to establish systems of State forests of even limited extent ;
few could divert from other uses the funds requisite to the acquisi-
tion, development, protection, and management of acreages of forest
land sufficient to offset the progressively widening area of depleted
or denuded forest. At the time when the need for affirmative action
in forest conservation became acute, it would have been impossible
for the several States and their constituent units of government to
have met the situation in any effective way.
By force of circumstances, Federal action became inevitable in
support of, rather than competitive with, State action. The States
could not fully meet the situation without the aid of the Federal
Government. The establishment of national forests was a very
definite form of Federal aid. Every acre given a national-forest
status and protected, developed, and administered at Federal expense
correspondingly diminished the magnitude of the problem demanding
State and county action and made it possible for those agencies more
effectively to meet the phases of the situation which were within
their exclusive fields of action.
THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCES OF NATIONAL FOREST
ADMINISTRATION
By the establishment of a national forest the State or county in
which it is situated is relieved from all costs of public forest protection
related thereto except those incident to lands actually owned by the
State or county. The Federal Government at once establishes a
resident organization to protect, develop, and administer the lands
and to conduct all processes of management and research requisite
to their highest use and service. All physical improvements essential
to the proper protection and utilization of the national-forest lands,
such as forest highways, development roads and trails, lookout
towers, telephone lines, administrative structures, fences, etc.,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1099
are constructed at Federal expense, except where special circum-
stances warrant cooperative contributions of State, county, or other
funds. The Federal expenditures not only relieve the State and
counties from proportionate drafts upon their funds but release in
each region sums which contribute markedly to that region's eco-
nomic security. The benefits from these expenditures are not con-
fined exclusively to the federally-owned lands but are reflected over
such State, county, or private lands as are situated within or con-
tiguous to the national-forest boundaries, thus aiding appreciably
in promoting the effective and economical protection and management
of such lands.
All privately owned improvements or other property on national-
forest lands are subject to State or county taxation, but the national-
forest lands are not. As an offset, however, Congress has provided,
Act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260), that 25 cents out of every dollar
collected from the sale of national-forest resources or use of national-
forest lands shall be paid to the State in which collected, for pro-
portionate distribution to the counties embracing the national forest
in which it was earned, for the support of schools and roads. This
payment, in effect, is equivalent to the form of taxation known as
the severance tax, but is a larger proportion of gross revenues than
most taxes of that character.
Congress also has provided, Act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 843),
that 10 cents out of every dollar derived from the sale of national-
forest resources or uses of national-forest land shall be expended by
the Secretary of Agriculture for the construction and maintenance
of roads and trails within the national forests of the State in which
the revenues were derived. The roads and trails constructed and
maintained with this fund are of substantial benefit to the counties
in which they are situated and otherwise largely would be provided
at public or private expense, consequently this additional 10 percent
of national-forest revenue properly may be regarded as a further
offset to the taxes which might be collected if the national-forest
lands were subject to private appropriation and attendant local and
State property taxes.
In addition, Congress, since 1916, has made large appropriations
for road and trail construction on lands within or adjoining the na-
tional forests. At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932,
the total expenditures for road and trail construction, improvement,
and maintenance, including the 10 percent of national-forest receipts
(exclusive of Alaska) amounted to $116,095,330, an average of 83
cents for each acre of land now reserved in the States for national-
forest purposes. One provision of these appropriations is that the
larger proportion thereof shall be expended upon roads of primary
importance to States, counties, and communities which in the absence
of Federal funds necessarily would be constructed and maintained
wholly at State or local expense. The availability of these Federal
funds thus has enabled State and county governments to extend and
improve their road systems more rapidly and at less cost to the local
taxpayers than otherwise would have been the case.
Upon these lands thus reserved from the Federal domain or ac-
quired by purchase, the United States has established administrative
organizations, systems of protection against damage by fire, insects,
disease, etc., and effective machinery for the regulation of logging,
1100 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the grazing of domestic livestock, the use of water resources, and the
use of land for purposes of industry, recreation, etc. It has definitely
inaugurated advanced systems of silvicultural management, including
the planting of denuded areas. It has established or is in process
of establishing the systems of physical improvements essential to
the proper protection, utilization, and occupancy of the areas such
as roads, trails, bridges, telephone lines, administrative structures
lookout towers, etc. It has developed methods and principles under
which the industrial or economic use of the natural resources of the
areas is equitably apportioned between the industrial or commercial
groups and interests dependent upon the use of such resources.
Finally, it has conducted a large program of forest research, not
only applying the results thereof to the lands under Federal manage-
ment but also making them available for applications to all other
forest lands where similar conditions prevail. In consequence of
this action by the Federal Government wide-spread benefits have
accrued to all of the States within which the national forests are
situated. Some of these are abstract and in tangible; the majority
are direct and concrete and of large proportion.
The outstanding benefit to local interests which accrues through
national-forest administration is the stability and permanency of
local industries which results. The natural resources are protected
from fire, insects, disease, and destructive forms of use. Their
volume and utility are increased by constructive forms of manage-
ment and development. Their utilization is conducted in an orderly
manner and with a view to securing permanent and sustained pro-
duction of the most complete character compatible with the preserva-
tion of the basic natural capital. Opportunity to use these resources
to meet personal needs or for purposes of industry and profit is
afforded under conditions which secure equitable distribution and the
best net contribution to local welfare and prosperity. Certainty of
future economic security and permanency of community and indus-
trial growth and development thus is created and reflects itself in
every phase of industrial life of the community.
A second contribution to public welfare, of far-reaching consequences
is the element of watershed protection. With each passing year
water becomes more and more indispensable to the industrial and
community life of the Nation, so that effective watershed protection
is a matter of vital consequence. Where no national forests exist,
watershed protection is entailing an increasing burden of public and
private expense. States or parts of States whose watersheds are
embraced within national forests secure satisfactory watershed pro-
tection withou t direct outlay. The needs of municipalities adequately
are met and safeguarded and every effort is made to maintain the
stability and purity of streamflow essential to the full utilization of
water resources.
A third benefit is the contribution to wild-life conservation. The
availability of extensive areas of national-forest lands as suitable
habitats or environments for wild life permits the fullest public devel-
opment and most complete use and enjoyment of this resource at a
minimum of local public or individual cost. If the national forests
did not supply these facilities they would have to be provided in other
ways at local expense. The cooperation of the national-forest organ-
ization in game-law enforcement and fish planting relieves the States
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1101
and counties of substantial expenditures for these purposes which
otherwise would be imperatively necessary.
Still another public benefit of outstanding proportions is the con-
servation and development of the extensive recreational resources
contained within the national forests. The economic and social values
of such resources are fully recognized, they are safeguarded and
improved, and their full and free enjoyment by the general public is
allowed under a minimum of regulation and restriction. As a result,
such values are assuming large proportions and are becoming important
factors in promoting the commercial development and material
prosperity of the regions in which they exist.
It safely may be asserted that the officials and citizens of the
majority of the political units that contain national forests now con-
cretely recognize the existence and magnitude of the direct and indirect
national-forest contributions to local welfare above enumerated. As
the old order has changed, public thought has changed. The need for
standards of protection and management such as prevail in national
forests is becoming more and more generally recognized and accepted
by the citizens of the national-forest States and counties, but combined
with this there exists a realization that as a rule the States and counties
are unprepared, financially and otherwise, to assume at this time or in
the near future the burdens entailed by such standards of protection
and management.
The fact that the more equitable apportionment and lower cost of
national-forest resources reflects itself in community welfare and
prosperity ; that the stability and permanency of industrial and com-
munity life promoted by established principles of national-forest
management permits communities to build for the future with cer-
tainty and security, thus creating stable rather than speculative values,
is less and less disputed with each passing year.
Nevertheless, proposals have from time to time been made for
increases in the State shares of gross receipts from national forests.
In support of such proposals it has been represented that if the
national-forest lands had remained open to free appropriation and
consequent taxation, or if they had been ceded to the respective
States for administration as State forests from which the States would
derive all revenues over and above the costs of protection and manage-
ment, the returns to the States and counties involved markedly would
have surpassed those derived directly and indirectly from the national
forests. This viewpoint was particularly manifest in 1927, at which
time two bills to increase the State share of national-forest revenues
were before Congress. The circumstances dictated a detailed study
of the situation, which was made, covering the fiscal years 1923 to
1927 inclusive.
DETAILS OF THE 1927 STUDY OF NATIONAL FOREST
RELATIONSHIPS
The period covered by the study affords perhaps a clearer and truer
picture of the national forests as a form of Federal aid to the States
than would a similar study under current conditions. It was a period
of abnormal financial and economic ease. The Federal Government's
part was not influenced by considerations of depression relief which
more recently have materially increased its expenditures in the national
1102 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
forests. The standards, objectives, plans, and programs of the States,
counties, and private owners were relatively uninfluenced by consider-
ations of financial or economic exigency. For these reasons the results
of the 1927 study are used for the purpose of this analysis.
The subject naturally divided itself into four major questions,
namely :
1. The true measure of the Federal contribution toward the solu-
tion of the national economic and financial problem through the media
of the national forests.
2. The degree, if any, to which the establishment and Federal
management of the national forests imposed upon the States and
counties additional burdens of cost in the discharge of their functions
of local government.
3. For purposes of comparison, the probable financial consequences
to the States and counties if the public lands, instead of being reserved
for national-forest purposes, had continued subject to private appro-
priation under the land laws of the United States, with the States
assuming responsibility for the protection and management of the
unappropriated residue and deriving from the lands the taxes payable
upon those privately appropriated and the revenues obtainable from
those remaining or revested in public ownership.
4. For further purposes of comparison, the probable financial
consequences to the States if the lands reserved for national-forest
purposes had instead been ceded to the States for administration as
State forests from which the States would derive all revenues over and
above the costs of protection, development, administration, and
management.
To attain a true understanding of the situation, an effort was made
to compile the following data for each county containing substantial
areas of national-forest land :
(a) The acreage of privately owned taxpaying lands, exclusive of
town and city property or of improvements, in each such county;
the total annual tax paid by such lands; the percentage of total county
income represented by such tax payments; and the average tax
return per acre of taxable land. Coupled with this was a study of
lands on which taxes had been delinquent three or more years.
(6) The total acreage of lands in State or county ownership to which
title had been established by grants from the Federal Government, the
total revenues derived from such lands, the percentage of county
income represented by such revenues, and the average return per
acre. Coupled with this was a similar study of the lands which had
reverted to State or county ownership through tax delinquency.
(c) The total contributions secured by the local taxing units from
the national forests in the form of direct payments from national
forest receipts; taxes upon privately owned improvements, Federal
payment of costs of road and trail construction and maintenance;
cooperation in fish and game protection; and benefits, such as free
use by citizens of timber and forage, difference between sale values of
timber and prices paid in sales at cost, value to State, private, and
outside lands of Forest Service protection against fire, tree diseases,
insects, etc.; these factors being reduced to total amounts, returns
per acre, and comparisons to total county income.
(d) The estimated probable returns to States and counties from the
national forests, when through more complete utilization and better
management they become fully productive.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1103
(<?) The potential taxability of national-forest lands, i. e., the
acreage which probably would be privately appropriated if the
national forests did not exist; the probable assessed valuation of such
land if privately owned; the probable tax yield; and the probable
return per acre distributed over all national-forest lands in the unit.
(f) The average annual cost of national-forest administration by
separate activities during the preceding 5-year period.
(g) The present cost to States, counties, and private owners of road
and trail construction and maintenance; protection of forest lands
against fire, insects, and disease; protection of fish and game; mainte-
nance of schools for residents within national-forest boundaries;
enforcement of civil and criminal processes; and assessment and
collection of taxes on lands within national-forests.
(h) An estimate of what the above-described costs to States, coun-
ties, and private owners would be if the national forests did not exist.
(i) The extent and cost of present State or county activities in forest
protection.
The project as planned did not contemplate field studies or ap-
praisals of land. The Forest Service had neither the men nor money
with which to examine private or State and county holdings, and data
regarding national-forest lands were already available in the form of
a detailed land classification prepared pursuant to the act of August
10, 1912 (37 Stat. 287), and representing the results of eight or more
years of careful work by highly qualified members of the Forest Service
and other Bureaus of the Department of Agriculture. The study,
therefore, was confined to a compilation of pertinent facts and figures
from the best available State, county, Forest Service, and other rec-
ords from which the desired data could be secured without an undue
outlay of time or money.
Experience proved the impossibility of making the study in the com-
plete detail originally contempletad. It was dependent in major part
upon the data available in State and county records, which vary widely
in methods of arrangement, in completeness, and in detail. In some
units, excellent records are maintained, consistent classifications of
property are used and adequate summaries or analyses are currently
compiled. In other units, records are poorly maintained and con-
fusing; division of taxable property into classes is not systematic or
consistent; specific summaries or analyses are not available; and
approximations based upon the best judgment of present official
incumbents sometimes were necessary. No facts were intentionally
omitted. Their absence, where it occurred, was because they were
not reasonably obtainable.
For the reasons given, the figures herein presented are not regarded
as 100 percent accurate. In view, however, of the large numbers of
records consulted, and the tremendous acreages of private land, State
lands, etc., reported upon, the returns for all practicable purposes can
be accepted as dependable, since such doubtful cases or figures as may
exist can not make substantial difference in the major conclusions.
Consideration of all phases of the study above outlined is not essen-
tial to this discussion. The data related to the granted or revested
lands under State or county control and the annual revenues derived
therefrom, or to the areas under administration as State forests and
the costs of such administration and their relation to income, afford
opportunities for many interesting comparisons. However, they do
not specifically apply to the national-forest lands herein discussed.
1104
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The contributions made by the national forests during the period
of the study are matters of detailed record. It is more difficult to
measure the results obtainable under the second method. However,
the fact that the national-forest lands had previously been classified
in detail permitted reasonably correct comparisons with the lands in
private ownership and defensible deductions as to the degree to which
the national-forest lands would have been privately appropriated had
they not been reserved, the values at which such lands would have
been assessed if in private ownership, and the probable tax returns on
such assessments. It is necessary arbitrarily to assume the prob-
able revenues obtainable from the residual lands and the probable
costs of protecting such lands.
As to the third method it might logically be argued that the
net gain or loss under State management wTould not be greatly different
from that actually occurring under Federal management. As a
means of minimizing doubts, the comparisons are based upon the
assumptions that under State management revenues would be 10 per-
cent greater and costs of protection and administration 20 per cent
less than those actually obtained under Federal management, although,
as hereinafter indicated, no valid grounds exist for such assumptions.
THE FINANCIAL STATUS OF NATIONAL FOREST
ADMINISTRATION, 1923-27
Table 1 is a summarized statement of the financial aspects of na-
tional-forest administration during the period of July 1, 1922, to
June 30, 1927, as determined by the study above described. The
data do not include the costs of national-forest administration in
Alaska or in certain counties where the national-forest acreage was
too small to warrant the inclusion of the counties in the study.
Neither do they include the large previous expenditures for improve-
ments, equipment, and other facilities which tended to minimize
administrative costs during the period covered by the study.
TABLE 1 . — Summary of total and net average annual Federal expenditures for local
national-forest administration l
State
Expenditures for local
administration
National-for-
est receipts
Payments
(25 percent)
to States and
counties
Net outlay of
Federal funds
Propor-
tion of
area of
counties
involved
occupied
by na-
tional
forests
Total
Per acre
California
$1,913,382.27
1, 275, 731. 00
1, 107, 820. 47
1, 047, 333. 00
727, 775. 00
94, 776. 00
784, 605. 00
349, 232. 00
2, 180, 944. 66
1, 909, 203. 39
466, 577. 00
124, 751. 29
28, 681. 20
20,119.40
130. 192. 45
Cents
10.1
9.6
11.5
9.2
5.5
1.9
9.2
4.7
11.4
12.0
5.5
11.7
13.9
15.9
13 0
$1, 190, 233. 23
717, 953. 27
421, 997. 59
308, 463. 84
413, 695. 19
100, 485. 15
153,384.82
209, 500. 12
614, 291. 00
269, 807. 78
273, 784. 35
112,100.39
11, 070. 14
773. 23
30 Q71 00
$297, 558. 31
179, 488. 32
105, 499. 40
77,115.96
103, 423. 80
25, 121. 29
38, 346. 20
52, 375. 03
153, 572. 75
67, 451. 94
68, 446. 09
28, 025. 10
2, 767. 54
193. 31
7 74.** nn
$1, 020, 707. 35
737, 266. 05
791, 322. 28
815, 985. 12
417, 503. 61
19, 412. 14
669, 566. 38
192, 106. 91
1,720.226.41
1, 706, 847. 55
261, 238. 74
40, 676. 00
20, 378. 60
19, 539. 48
1(V1 OKI AR
Percent
22.1
22.6
30.8
19.4
29.8
9.6
15.2
14.3
46.7
26.3
23.6
12.6
4.3
4.7
Oregon.. .
Washington . .
Arizona
Colorado. . .
Nevada .
New Mexico
Utah
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota..
Nebraska. .
Michigan
Minnesota. .-
1 All figures shown are yearly averages for period from July 1, 1922, to June 30, 1927.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1105
TABLE 1. — Summary of total and net average annual Federal expenditures for local
national-forest a<l ministration— Continued
State
Expenditures for local
administration
National-for-
est receipts
Payments
(25 percent)
to States and
counties
Net outlay of
Federal funds
Propor-
tion of
area of
counties
involved
occupied
by na-
tional
forests
Total
Per acre
\rkansas
$154, 697. 00
17, 945. 00
22, 191. 00
42, 396. 00
Cents
15.7
29.2
20.7
12.4
22.7
18.1
32.2
23.9
15.7
20.7
17.1
10.5
24.8
$77, 448. 80
6, 352. 42
676. 84
24, 570. 97
9, 352. 67
1,927.57
26, 730. 08
14, 3P0. 24
34,069.61
3, 697. 33
2, 495. 46
31,763.66
494.56
$19, 362. 20
1, 588. 10
169. 21
6, 142. 74
2, 338. 17
481. 89
6, 682. 52
3, 590. 06
8, 517. 40
924. 33
623. 86
7, 940. 92
123.64
$96, 610. 40
13, 180. 68
21, 683. 37
23, 967. 77
37, 260. 50
5, 999. 32
101, 245. 44
66, 529. 82
64, 352. 79
43, 767. 00
3, 628. 40
21, 082. 26
52, 814. 08
Percent
11.8
7.8
12.6
8.2
14.4
9.9
8.7
13.0
9.3
8.2
2.5
14.9
10.7
Oklahoma
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
44, 275. 00
7, 445. 00
121,293.00
77, 300. 00
89, 905. 00
46, 540. 00
5, 500. 00
44, 905. 00
53, 185. 00
Sou) h Carolina
North Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia .. - . ..:
West Virginia
Maine
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Total or average ..
12,888,701.13
9.45
5, 062, 452. 30
1, 265, 613. 08
9,091,861.91
21.5
In substance, in 397 counties in the continental United States
136,375,417 acres were under national-forest management during the
period of the study. They represented an average of 21.5 percent of
the total areas of the counties in which situated, varying from a
minimum of 2.5 percent in Maine to a maximum of 46.7 percent in
Idaho. During the 5-year period the expenditures of the Federal
Government in the protection, development, and management of these
lands averaged $12,888,701 per year, including all costs of constructing
and maintaining highways, roads, trails, and other physical improve-
ments, but exclusive of the costs of the Washington office, the Forest
Products Laboratory, the eight forest experiment stations, and the
various activities of the Forest Service not directly related to the
actual protection, development, and management of the national-
forest lands. These expenditures averaged 9.45 cents per acre per
year for the lands covered by the study, the acreage average ranging
from a minimum of 1.9 cents in Nevada to a maximum of 32.2 cents
in North Carolina.
In offset to these expenditures the national forests yielded revenues
averaging $5,062,452 per year. Of this sum, however, $1,265,613 was
repaid to the States for distribution to the counties embracing the
national-forest lands, so that the average net return to the Treasury
was $3,796,839, which, credited against total administrative expendi-
tures, reduced them to an annual average of $9,091,862.
These expenditures aided the States in several specific ways,
namely :
1. They increased State and county financial resources by the
annual payment of substantial sums, comprising one fourth of the
total gross revenues derived from sales of natural resources and uses
of lands, without any State or county costs of collection. While it is
true that the money thus paid can be used only for school and road
purposes, its availability released other State or county funds for other
classes of expenditures, including forestry.
1106
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
2. They substantially reduced the amounts of money which the
States and counties had to spend to properly safeguard and conserve
natural resources vital to their continued economic and social progress.
3. They markedly reduced the amounts of money the States and
counties had to spend to provide and maintain the systems of high-
ways, roads, and trails essential to existing and prospective public
needs.
4. They made available to the States and counties for the enforce-
ment of State laws and county ordinances, such as the fish and game
laws, fire laws, sanitary laws, etc., the cooperative assistance of a
widely distributed and trained organization, and correspondingly
diminished the expenditures the local agencies otherwise would have
had to make to carry out properly their regulatory functions.
5. They indirectly benefited all State, county, or private lands
intermingled with or contiguous to the national-forest lands by mini-
mizing losses from fire, disease, and insects; and benefited the local
economic situations by making available to local populations valuable
privileges and uses which facilitated local commercial and industrial
development and land use, and correspondingly enhanced local values.
Table 2 quantitatively summarizes the extent of these benefits.
The first column of figures covers item 1 , the second column items 3
and 4, and the fourth column item 5. The figures in the first column
are matters of detailed record; those in the second are based on
detailed road and trail expenditures and cost distribution records;
and only those in the fourth column are approximations.
EFFECT OF NATIONAL FORESTS UPON COSTS OF
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
In offset to the evident benefits accruing locally from the national
forests, the representation frequently has been made that the existence
of national forests markedly increases the general costs of local
government. The study herein discussed therefore included con-
sideration of that aspect of the situation.
Primarily the functions of State and county government are :
1. The protection of public safety, health, and property.
2. The enforcement of civil and criminal processes under State law
or county ordinance.
3. The promotion of public education.
TABLE 2. — Summary of national forest contributions to State or county revenues or
development programs during fiscal years 1923 to 1927
State
Direct contribution to revenues or
development programs
Additional
benefits and
privileges
to citizens
(estimated)
Average
annual
payment !
Direct aid-
roads, law
enforce-
ment, etc.
Total
California
$297, 558
179, 488
105, 500
77, 116
103, 424
25, 121
38. 346
$1, 205, 564
1, 348, 772
801,609
624, 091
537, 751
166, 185
416, 554
$1, 503, 122
1, 528, 260
907,109
701, 207
641, 175
191, 306
454,900
$12, 056
19, 443
13,468
31,312
52, 317
2,944
51, 127
Oregon . ..
Washington
Arizona
Colorado.
Nevada . _ . ..
New Mexico..-
25 per cent of national-forest receipts.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1107
TABLE 2. — Summary of national forest contributions to State or county revenues or
development programs during fiscal years 1923 to 1927 — Continued
State
Direct contribution to revenues or
development programs
Additional
benefits and
privileges
to citizens
(estimated)
Average
annual
payment
Direct aid-
roads, law
enforce-
ment, etc.
Total
Utah
$52, 375
153, 573
67, 452
68,446
28,025
2,768
193
7,743
19, 362
1,588
169
6,143
2,338
482
6,683
3,590
8,517
924
624
7,941
124
$332, 345
1, 520, 348
1,054,791
443,411
79, 985
11,743
1,863
72, 750
68,560
8,817
8,038
24, 499
13, 954
3,505
81, 240
31,048
55, 527
19, 369
3,432
34, 469
9,561
$384, 720
1, 673, 921
1, 122, 243
511,857
108, 010
14, 511
2,056
80, 493
87, 922
10,405
8,207
30,642
16,292
3,987
87,923
34, 638
64, 044
20,293
4,056
42, 410
9,685
$13, 398
88,933
43, 641
18, 703
8,752
302
3,380
18, 939
39, 493
111
2,956
929
2,682
893
6,874
2,411
4,221
6,124
185
2,388
3,880
Idaho -. -. . . .
Montana . .
Wyoming
South Dakota
Nebraska _ .
Michigan
Minnesota.. _
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Alabama .
Florida
Georgia. ... . . . ... . .. . ... . .
South Carolina
North Carolina
Tennessee . . .
Virginia
West Virginia...
Maine
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Total
1, 265, 613
8, 979, 781
10, 245, 394
451, 862
4. The development and maintenance of public improvements.
The examining officers experienced great difficulty in obtaining
accurate figures on the amounts expended by the counties, the States,
and the private owners of land, within the national forests, in road and
trail construction and maintenance, the protection of State or private
forest lands against fire, insects, or disease, the protection of fish and
game, the maintenance of schools for residents within national -forest
boundaries, the enforcement of civil and criminal processes, and the
assessment and collection of taxes on lands within national forests.
In the great majority of cases the county officials were unable to
segregate the costs applicable to national-forest areas. Costs of
school maintenance were most readily determinable because they
represented fixed activities at fixed locations, but frequently only a
part of the cost could be charged to national-forest territory. Koad
and trail construction and maintenance costs were reasonably deter-
minable. The other items of cost specifically chargeable to the
national-forest areas were not determinable because they were not
segregated from the similar expenditures upon parts of the country
not within the national forest.
As a matter of fact, the majority of county and State expenditures
are influenced by project activities or by population rather than by
area of land. The existence of national forests reduces rather than
increases the burden of cost to counties and States. The national-
forest lands are protected against fire, insects, and disease at Federal
expense without contributions by the county or State except where
county or State property is directly involved. State, county, and
private lands indirectly benefit from this protection. The Federal
Government also cooperates liberally in the development and main-
tenance of the most expensive classes of public improvements, namely,
1108
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
the roads and trails. Thus, in two important respects, the national
forests diminish rather than increase the costs of county government.
Although the protection of fish and game is primarily a State function,
the State largely is relieved of that responsibility within the national
forests through the cooperation of the forest officers. The continued
presence and active cooperation of forest officers under present con-
ditions makes it unnecessary for the States to station any game
wardens within large areas of national-forest lands. Were it not for
the cooperation of the forest officers, the employment of additional
game wardens would be absolutely necessary, the total cost of their
salaries and expenses being chargeable to the specific areas now within
national forests.
The same principle applies to other activities now handled by the
field officers of the Forest Service with a minimum of contributed
time but which in the absence of such cooperation would require the
employment of additional men or the expenditure of additional funds
by the State, county, and private interests directly involved. The
enforcement of civil and criminal processes is least necessary within
the predominantly publicly owned national forests, and the presence
within such areas of trained and highly qualified men prepared to
cooperate with the local authorities in the enforcement of State laws
and county ordinances diminishes rather than increases the expense of
such enforcement. Since the national forests normally are the most
scantily populated parts of a county, they impose minimum require-
ments of public education. The return to the county of 25 percent
of gross national-forest revenues annually is secured without any
process of land assessment or tax collection, so that the counties are
relieved of the costs of such work. The assessment and collection of
taxes on private lands or improvements within national forests is
facilitated rather than hampered by the existence of the forests
because of the excellent status and other records available to the
State or county officials. The difficulty of securing definite estimates
of costs from the State officials themselves is rather a concrete demon-
stration of the negligible or the wholly minus character of such costs
to the county or State.
Subject to these numerous explanatory qualifications, the results of
this phase of the study are presented in the first column of figures in
table 3.
TABLE 3. — Approximate effect of Federal administration of national forests upon
costs of State and county government and private land management within and
adjacent to the national forests for the fiscal years 1923-27
State
Estimated actual cost of local gov-
ernment and land management
Theoretical cost of local govern-
ment and land management if
there had been no national
forests
Increase
in costs
without
national
forests
State
County
Private
State
County
Private
California
$2, 038, 718
692, 795
739, 305
281, 712
179, 800
586
41,000
43, 700
78,800
85, 421
31,062
$1, 282, 685
419, 698
204, 675
581, 430
587, 000
18, 200
351, 750
52,100
271, 325
264, 039
87, 246
$142, 383
47, 118
80, 931
24, 830
42, 240
627
21,300
4,800
74,500
65, 850
131
$2,567,467
1, 150, 000
1, 152, 500
709, 244
386, 800
167, 300
322,000
324,000
600,000
258, 300
329,000
$1, 992, 024
839, 425
454, 485
971, 180
805, 600
39,400
586, 400
174, 100
767, 250
689, 100
168, 664
$209, 629
247, 800
217, 500
12, 429
52, 600
654
63, 340
4,800
276, 000
138, 100
$1, 305, 334
1, 077, 614
799, 574
804, 881
435, 960
187, 941
557, 690
402, 300
1, 218, 625
670, 190
379. 225
Oregon
Washington
Arizona
Colorado
Nevada
New Mexico
Utah
Idaho.
Montana
Wyoming.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1109
TABLE 3. — Approximate effect of Federal administration of national forests upon
costs of State and county government and private land management within and
adjacent to the national forests for the fiscal years 1923-27 — Continued
State
Estimated actual cost of local gov-
ernment and land management
Theoretical cost of local govern-
ment and land management if
there had been no national
forests
Increase
in costs
without
national
forests
State
County
Private
State
County
Private
South Dakota
$89, 360
400
835
2(5, 045
189, 737
0
1,750
7,826
3,425
$462, 100
24,312
4,055
25, 760
157,990
1,600
7, 704
40, 022
12,000
640
13, 544
92, 170
26, 825
68, 314
179,880
14,900
$500
0
0
0
71, 340
$115,300
3,050
2,100
32,045
342, 30C
3,050
1,750
15,554
3,925
$499, 600
37, 750
5,130
75, 290
222, 270
7,300
13, 591
74, 925
21, 125
877
20, 213
102, 720
50, 350
69,100
196, IOC
21, 530
$967
0
0
0
85, 740
100
$63, 907
16, 088
2,340
55, 530
231, 243
8,850
5, 889
42, 631
9,625
237
7,437
12, 945
26,500
2,306
26, 780
12,115
Nebraska
Michigan
Minnesota -.
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
768
14,000
13, 370
4,930
72,450
26,600
Tennessee
11,605
10, 240
2,300
61,890
16,965
Virginia
155
1,110
0
4,150
West Virginia
Maine
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Total
4, 635, 277
5,251,964
581,965
8,617,803
3, 982, 526
8, 905, 499
3, 653, 535
1,309,659
727,694
8, 363, 755
8, 363, 755
Increase in costs with-
out national forests
PROBABLE COSTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT WITHOUT NATIONAL
FORESTS
The next step in the study was to approximate the costs which
would have had to be borne by the State, the county, and private
owners of land, if the national forests did not exist. This was a
matter of great difficulty because of the lack of definite information
as to the intensity of protection and administration which would
under such circumstances prevail. Some reporting officers assumed
that if the national forests did not exist, the prevailing standard of
protection, management, and improvement would be maintained by
other public and private agencies and based their estimates of cost
accordingly. Other reporting officers assumed that if the national
forests did not exist the lands comprising them would be subject to
the indifference and neglect which characterizes many comparable
areas not within the national forests, and consequently included in
their estimates only the obviously necessary minimum requirements,
making no provision for a continuance of constructive standards of
forest and watershed protection and management. Some reporting
officers assumed that in the absence of the present indirect benefits
from national-forest protection, owners of private land would supply,
at their own expense, substitute protection against fire, insects, or
disease; while others reasoned that the private landowners would
merely pay their proportionate share, in the form of taxes, of such
additional forest protection as the State or county might provide.
Such figures as were secured, therefore, were incomplete and broadly
approximate. With that qualification they also are presented in
table 3. They indicate that if national forests had not existed the
annual average of $10,469,206 actually expended by States, counties,
and private owners, under prevailing circumstances would have been
increased to an estimated expenditure of $18,832,961, or an additional
sum of $8,363,755. The fact that this estimated increase in cost is
1110 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
more than $4,000,000 below the then prevailing average annual
expenditure for national-forest protection and management within
the counties covered by reports indicates that it is not an exaggerated
estimate. Detailed comparisons of estimated State, county, and
private costs as compared to actual national-forest expenditures
within specific counties almost uniformly demonstrated that the esti-
mated costs were conservative.
Accepting the returns at their face value, the absence of national-
forest management during the period July 1, 1922, to June 30, 1927,
would have increased the average annual cost to trhe counties from an
estimated $5,251,964 to $8,905,499, a difference of $3,653,535. The
cost to the several States would have jumped from $4,635,277 to
$8,617,803, a difference of $3,982,526. The $581,965 expended by
private landowners would have been increased to $1,309,659, a
difference of $727,694.
To have maintained financial parity with then existing conditions,
the States and counties, if they had adequately managed the areas
without the aid of the national forests, would have had to derive from
these lands incomes as much in excess of what they received under
the then prevailing arrangement as their additional expenditures
would have been in excess of their approximate actual costs, or, in
other words, an increase of moia than $7,600,000 over approximate
actual expenditures. It is quite improbable that they could have
done so. The national-forest resources were being utilized as fully as
prevailing economic and industrial conditions allowed, with due
regard to the permanency and sustained production of such resources.
Substantially greater revenues could have been obtained only through
substantially increased charges for resources and land uses; the bulk
of the burden of such increased charges would fall largely upon local
industries; and the ability of such industries to pay taxes upon their
privately owned property would be correspondingly diminished. The
net benefits to the county would be debatable.
THE PROBABLE SITUATION IF THE NATIONAL FORESTS
HAD NOT BEEN CREATED
Regardless of the degree to which the beneficial consequences of
national-forest administration may be quantitatively or otherwise
expressed, there may be honest and sincere doubts as to whether some
other form of public action would not have yielded larger or more
substantial results. Adequate consideration of the entire problem,
therefore, demands a discussion of the possibilities and probable
consequences of such other courses of action as were capable of public
adoption. As previously indicated, there were two other courses
available — first, the continued passage to or retention in private owner-
ship of all lands attractive to private initiative, plus State or county
management of the residual lands; second, the cession of all public
lands to the States for permanent administration as State forests.
Since neither of these courses was adopted in relation to the national
forests the conclusions as to their probable consequences necessarily
must be largely circumstantial and hypothetical. But justification
does exist for determining the conditions which actually resulted in
relation to comparable types of land within the same regions and
subject to the same circumstances and by processes of comparison
and analogy applying such conditions to the national-forest lands.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1111
BEST LANDS PRIVATELY APPRAISED AND TAXED— RESIDUAL
LANDS PROTECTED BY STATES
As a part of the process of comparison, the reporting officers were
asked to make the best possible estimate of the potential taxability of
national-forest land and the tax return which might be expected if the
national forests were abolished and the lands made freely available for
appropriation under the applicable public land laws. Decision as to
whether lands of certain types would or would not be appropriated
was to be based upon the capacity of the land for profitable production
and its adaptability to private use and management, with due regard
to actual conditions and results within comparable areas open to
private ownership. Probable assessed valuations and probable tax
returns were based upon the assessments and tax payments of similar
privately owned lands within the region. In this process it was
assumed that national-forest lands comparable in character to unre-
served public lands which, though freely open to entry, remain unap-
propriated would not be taken up even though the national forests
did not exist; consequently lands of this type were eliminated from
the calculation of potential taxability as were also lands of types or
conditions which, where privately owned within the same region, were
being allowed to revert to the county for delinquent taxes.
The degree to which lands now reserved for national-forest purposes
would be appropriated if opened to entry is difficult of approximation.
One perplexing question is afforded by the lands chiefly valuable for
grazing purposes. Under open-range conditions, stock growers as a gen-
eral rule acquire title only to the key lands such as meadows, springs,
stream borders, or other strategic points, which so fully control the use
of all commingled lands that the holder of the key lands has practically
exclusive use without ownership or tax payment. It is impossible ac-
curately to determine how far this practice would prevail if the national
forests did not exist. If it were general, the States or counties would
derive no tax from the major part of the grazing lands, whereas at
present they receive 25 percent of all grazing receipts therefrom.
Another debatable point is the extent to which private owners
would appropriate and continue to pay taxes upon lands supporting
inferior stands of timber. The national forests contain large areas
supporting what is designated as " protective forest " for which no
economic demand is probable for many years to come. Grounds
exist for honest doubt as to the degree to which this class of timbered
land would pass to private ownership if subject to appropriation.
The assumption that owners of timbered lands generally would con-
tinue to pay heavy taxes until cutting becomes economically feasible
or after the timber is removed is in large measure controverted by the
rapidity with which much cut-over and some timbered land with no
considerable value for other purposes, such as farming, grazing, etc.,
is being allowed to revert for taxes in many regions. Growth, yield,
and cost studies by the Forest Service indicate that the less productive
types of forest land cannot, with current or probable stumpage
values, pay appreciable net returns over interest, taxes, and other
carrying charges, at the present rate of capital investment, taxation,
and protection cost. Attempts to realize an immediate contribution
to local governmental costs by taxes disproportionate to income would
tend to force much land into a condition of unproductivity. A
168342°— 33— vol. 2 5
1112 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
method of administration which will permit the continued construc-
tive management of the properties and the fullest realization of their
wealth-producing capacity is far more logical.
The true criterion of the capacity of any given class of land to con-
tribute to the cost of State or county government is the income pro-
ducing, or consequent rental or investment value of such land.
Experience is demonstrating that long-accepted principles of private
ownership of land and timber are in many cases economically fal-
lacious; past payments of taxes upon privately owned lands are no
criteria of future payments. The tax returns from privately owned
forest lands are continually diminishing as the timber is cut off and
serious question is arising in some localities as to whether the present
owners of uncut timberland which will not be marketable for a decade
or two can afford to carry the costs of its ownership for the further
period which must elapse before the timber value profitably can be
realized. Upon lands which contain stored up or accumulated natural
values, such as timber for which a reasonably early market can be
foreseen, the owners will, of course, continue to pay taxes until such
time as those values can be completely exploited. Lands held with this
object in view temporarily can pay a higher tax than lands held for
permanent productivity. But in many forested regions the payment
of taxes is discontinued as soon as the accumulated values are removed.
In view of these circumstances it is debatable whether the national-
forest lands, considering their character and economic capacity to
produce wealth, could under any other form of ownership contribute
more to the cost of State and county government than they ulti-
mately will contribute under the existing procedure. At present, the
capacity of private ownership to pay prevailing rates of taxation is
based primarily upon the existence of accumulated natural wealth
created without human effort, acquired, at small expense and tem-
porarily preserved, pending utilization, by minimum expenditures for
protection. The national forests, of course, contain comparable
stored-up or accumulated natural values, but their importance as
sources of future supply, rather than of immediately marketable com-
modities, justifies larger expenditures than private owners would
make to preserve and perpetuate such values; while upon much of the
national-forest area the objective and requirement is to create new
values. Where such objectives and requirements exist, old rules of
taxation conceivably may be inappropriate and inimical. No equit-
able comparison can be made between the proper contribution to
costs of local government by privately-owned lands and by national -
forest lands until private lands are placed upon the same basis of
permanency in timber production, watershed protection, and other
stabilized land uses ; nor can an equitable comparison be made without
taking into account the fact that the returns from the national forests
will progressively increase as their resources become more fully usable
and more fully developed.
These common problems aside, some variation existed in working
out this phase of the study. Some reporting officers classed as poten-
tially taxable some lands that apparently will not become privately
desirable for many years, while others excluded such lands from the
taxable category. Some reporting officers included as potentially
taxable all lands which might be privately appropriated even for tem-
porary uses — others only the lands of such character as to create the
presumption that they would remain permanently in private owner-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1113
ship and taxable if appropriated. Severity of classification in
some units is offset by liberality of classification in others. The
figures derived may vary as much as 25 percent from the maximum
private appropriation which actually might occur were the national
forests thrown open to entry.
In estimating the potential taxability of national-forest lands no
consideration was given to mineral lands, since such lands are now
freely open to appropriation under the general mining laws of the
United States and would in no way be affected by the abolition of the
national forests. The passing comment may, however, be made that
the inclusion of such lands within national forests retains them in a
status which permits of their full and free development when otherwise
they might have been locked up by appropriations for other purposes.
In compiling statistics as to tax payment on private lands, an effort
was made to obtain averages over a period of several years, but where
this was not practicable statistics for the last completed tax period
were secured. All figures given are for nonurban lands exclusive of
improvements. In compiling the figures the plan primarily was to
determine the taxes actually paid, but in a majority of cases it was
necessary to report instead the taxes as levied by the assessors, which
means that the payments shown are greater than those actually col-
lected, since inevitably there would be some delinquency.
In reaching conclusions as to the potential taxability of national-
forest lands it is necessary to bear in mind the general difference be-
tween such lands and the privately owned taxable properties in the
same political unit. With the exception of the lands purchased for
national-forest purposes in the Eastern States, the national forests,
speaking broadly, are the public lands which remained after an ex-
tended period of settlement and appropriation. They are confined
largely to the higher elevations of the principal mountain masses of the
United States and consequently embrace a great deal of land of low
productive value, difficult of accessibility or utilization. It is futile
to assume that lands of such character are permanently capable of
making substantial contributions to local costs of government whether
they are in private or public ownership. This fact necessarily must
be taken into account in the consideration of the present subject.
With the possible exception of place grants to railroads, States, or other
agencies, the privately owned taxpaying lands within national-forest
counties normally represent the choicest and most desirable lands, the
eagerly acquired, permanently held, and highly developed revenue-
productive properties upon which the economic life and industrial
prosperity of the unit largely is built. They include the valuable
agricultural and grazing lands, the best and most accessible timber,
and the lands most highly developed for resort and summer-home
purposes. The returns per acre from such lands naturally and prop-
erly should be several times the returns per acre which may be expected
from lands of the character reserved for national-forest purposes.
Yet the disparity is not so great as might be expected. In some
cases, the exclusion of a minor acreage of the most valuable lands from
the calculations would bring the average tax return from the remainder
of the private lands into substantial harmony with the average
return from the national-forest land.
In many units, tax-delinquent private lands which make no return
whatever to county costs afford opportunity for interesting compari-
sons with the national-forest lands which do make a substantial
1114
A NATIONAL PLAN" FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
return. It was difficult, however, to secure completely dependable
figures on tax-delinquent or tax-revested land. In many counties
records of tax-delinquent or tax-revested lands, particularly the
latter, were poor. At best, the data on tax-delinquent lands are con-
fusing because of repeated purchases at tax sales; and even within a
given State the counties do not appear to follow uniformly the pro-
cedure of State law, and numerous instances were encountered where
counties maintain no record of delinquent land as such. In certain
counties, the county officials stated that it would take from 1 to
2 months to make accurate statements of delinquent land by classes.
For these reasons, the delinquent land figures compiled in the study
necessarily are minimum, since it was quite improbable that any land
was improperly included but quite certain that much delinquent land
was not included.
Table 4, columns 8, 9, 10, and 11 picture roughly the extent to
which the lands now reserved for national-forest purposes might,
through taxation, have contributed to the costs of local government
if they had not been withdrawn from private appropriation and
ownership by reservation or purchase. Emphasis must, however, be
laid upon the fact that the figures shown are of historical rather than
current or future value. They were compiled in 1927, were in-
tentionally made liberal even under 1927 conditions, and in the form
presented are substantially greater than the figures initially developed
by the reporting officers.
TABLE 4. — Study of actual taxability of private lands and potential taxability in
States containing national forests 1
State
Returns from private land in counties containing national
forests
Acreage assessed
Average annual tax
Total levy
Per acre
Ratio to
county
income
California. . .
Acres
39, 938, 972
27, Oil, 177
11,486,302
8, 439, 358
13, 860, 988
3, 504, 102
17, 064, 212
7, 179, 325
10, 722, 247
29, 995, 534
8, 005, 755
5, 798, 716
4, 188, 467
1,419,416
8, 257, 750
a 4, 040, 712
482, 418
762, 472
3, 459, 152
1, 111, 903
391, 615
3, 776, 425
2, 137, 815
4, 530, 065
1, 743, 848
1, 224, 738
2, 429, 844
1, 710, 348
Percent
46.5
46.7
43.4
14.6
31.3
7.6
30.4
13.9
26.2
49.5
22.4
69.2
88.4
53.0
74.1
80.2
62.2
89.6
82.9
82.8
94.1
87.8
86.5
73.5
63.8
96.7
84.7
85.7
$70, 778, 510
11,859,340
10, 052, 234
1, 787, 387
4, 817, 773
363, 974
1, 213, 625
2, 108, 919
4, 130, 842
4, 403, 367
1, 361, 427
1, 213, 289
241, 560
337, 483
4, 902, 530
615, 112
145, 958
104, 783
2, 443, 686
144, 542
58,709
1, 692, 616
1, 186, 160
1, 607, 499
531, 029
453, 868
2, 632, 523
519, 654
$1. 770
.439
.875
.212
.348
.104
.071
.294
.385
.147
.170
.209
.058
.238
.594
.152
.303
.137
.706
.130
.150
.448
.555
.355
.304
.371
1.083
.304
Percent
30.6
22.0
25.4
11.9
28.5
14.0
20.2
12.5
23.3
21.1
8.3
55.0
42.8
56.0
50.0
40.8
Oregon
Washington.
Arizona _
Colorado
Nevada
New Mexico...
Utah
Idaho
Montana .
Wyoming
South Dakota
Nebraska-
Michigan
Minnesota
Arkansas .
Oklahoma
Alabama
56.3
68.8
42.4
23.4
29.1
47.0
30.5
34.4
36.1
55.9
17.1
Florida-
Georgia
South Carolina. .
North Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia.
Maine
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Total or average
224, 673, 676
131, 708, 399
.586
1 Periods covered by taxation data vary from a single year in some States to average of 2, 3, or 5 years in
others.
3 In only 10 out of 18 counties.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1115
TABLE 4. — Study of actual taxability of private lands and potential taxability in
States containing national forests — Continued
State
Land tax delinquent 3
or more years
Potential taxability of national forest lands 3
Area
Amount
Area adapt-
ed to pri-
ownership
Probable
assessed
value if
privately
owned
Tax yield
if privately
owned
Return
per acre
of total
national
forest area
California. ....
Acres
110, 716
952, 149
615, 014
(5)
408, 731
7,128
(5)
198, 526
989, 279
1, 030, 472
216, 814
503, 667
(5)
295, 312
1, 097, 189
4 25, 160
62, 803
(5)
317, 480
(6)
(5)
(•)
m
(*)
(5)
1
(5)
(5)
$825, 927
1, 338, 191
522, 395
157, 328
2,164
1, 924, 190
156, 571
615, 763
1, 193, 139
27,149
3, 318, 935
(*)
67, 433
2, 749, 833
5,005
23,786
(5)
108, 811
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
|
|
(5)
Acres
4, 179, 148
7, 779, 225
2, 332, 941
7, 472, 000
3, 214, 189
91, 272
7, 837, 200
2, 618, 795
2, 990, 170
2, 686, 212
845, 218
281, 890
205, 946
1,020
63,000
858,588
56, 480
107,000
343, 180
193, 859
41,042
376, 183
322, 790
574, 286
225, 318
32, 256
427, 325
214, 416
$36, 676, 629
48, 424, 703
24, 728, 639
20, 365, 680
4, 281, 497
260, 970
9, 054, 450
9, 341, 228
20, 838, 621
22, 039, 136
4, 945, 505
2, 222, 872
590, 622
21,506
497, 645
2, 649, 341
167, 720
261, 885
636, 745
523, 678
49,045
1, 537, 671
920, 631
714, 845
436, 380
165, 701
2, 328, 958
846, 149
$1, 168, 770
1, 468, 714
1, 354, 940
453, 258
395, 953
4,516
238, 781
230, 580
668, 536
341, 580
74, 259
60, 785
8,614
787
21, 425
79, 053
3,477
5,722
35, 595
12,506
2,575
27, 403
19, 978
16,039
9,258
7,092
65,078
46,011
$0. 062
.111
.141
.040
.030
.001
.028
.031
.035
.021
.009
.057
.042
.006
.021
.081
.057
.053
.104
.065
.063
.073
.062
.028
.041
.220
.152
.215
Oregon
Washington
Arizona _.
Colorado
Nevada
New Mexico
Utah...
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
Nebraska ..
Michigan
Minnesota.. . . .. . ... .
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Alabama. ..
Florida
Georgia ...
South Carolina
North Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Maine
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Total or average
6, 830, 440
13, 036, 620
46, 370, 949
215, 528, 452
6, 821, 285
.050
3 Area, value, and tax yield are based on area adapted to private ownership. Yield per acre is figured on
total acreage of national forests in States.
4 Applies to all 18 national forest counties.
8 Data not available.
Economic facts and trends during the past five years largely have
invalidated the 1927 determinations. A true realization of the eco-
nomic potentialities of such types of wild land markedly has reduced
the incentive to convert such lands to private ownership and to assume
the attendant obligations of annual tax payments, special assessments,
protection costs, interest charges, and other cost items. For example,
western livestock growers now realize that ownership of range lands,
other than those of highest productivity or greater strategic control,
at the prices and subject to the taxes prevailing during the past
decade, spells insolvency more frequently than profit. Owners of
certain types of forest lands have reached the same conclusions.
This fact adequately is confirmed by the tremendous increase in tax
delinquency manifest in recent years and discussed in another section
of this report. It is further confirmed by the present disinclination
to appropriate any appreciable part of the 173 million acres of public
lands which remain unreserved and unappropriated. A current
study of the degree to which the national-forest lands are adapted
to private ownership and management and capable of permanently
contributing to costs of local government through annual taxation
would yield results far less optimistic than those pictured in table 4.
The economic capcity of the less productive lands to yield returns
1116
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
over and above the costs of their own constructive management
obviously has certain inherent limitations.
After all lands attractive to private initiative had been appropriated
there would still remain large acreages in public ownership, subject
to progressive increase as private initiative exploited its lands and
allowed them to revert to public ownership through tax delinquency.
In some instances these residual lands would form large compact
areas susceptible of economical protection and management ; in others
they would be widely interspersed among private lands and difficult
either of protection or management. Collectively they would con-
stitute a public obligation of large proportions. In the circumstances
under discussion, this obligation logically would rest upon the State.
Under adequate management these lands normally should produce
some revenues, but these would be far below the average returns
derivable from the entire national-forest acreage. Generally their
productivity would be of the lowest and their utilization most difficult
and expensive. Frequently their use would be so completely control-
led by intermingled private lands that there could be no competition,
hence no need of compensation for their use. In approximating the
probable revenues from such lands, consideration must be given to
their economic value and the difficulties attendant upon their use.
No fixed rule or principle would be generally applicable. The con-
clusions necessarily must be based upon individual judgment and
knowledge but unavoidably must be arbitrary.
In the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maine, New Hamp-
shire, and Pennsylvania, all national-forest lands were classed as
susceptible to private ownership and used in computing the possible
tax return, leaving no residue for which to compute a possible income.
In the other States the proportions and income-producing possibilities
of the residual lands varied markedly because of the wide differences
in the proportions of the lands that theoretically could be privately
owned and the kind, quantity, and distribution of those which would
remain in public ownership. Residual lands primarily valuable for
grazing use might continue to yield relatively high revenues while
lands valuable only for the inferior stands of timber thereon would
yield little or nothing in the way of cash returns. By the processes
indicated and on the basis of average annual returns under national-
forest management from 1923 to 1927, the probable returns per acre
per annum from the residual lands were worked out as follows :
Cents
California 2
Oregon 2
Washington 1. 5
Arizona 1
Colorado 1. 4
Nevada 2
New Mexico 1
Utah 2
Idaho 1. 5
It is a logical assumption that if all the most productive and valuable
lands were privately appropriated the justifiable expenditure per acre
of public funds upon the remaining lands necessarily would be much
lower than the average expenditures made in the fiscal years 1923-27.
On the other hand, the lands remaining in public ownership would
Cents
Montana 1
Wyoming 2
South Dakota 5
Nebraska 5. 4
Michigan . 5
Minnesota 1. 5
Arkansas 3
Oklahoma.. _ 5
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1117
be more difficult to protect and manage because of their widespread
dispersal among lands not under public control. The conclusion
was reached that the probable average cost of protecting, developing,
and managing the residual lands would be approximately two thirds
of the average actual expenditues per acre on the national forests
1923-27. In the 11 eastern States where all of the land was classified
as potentially susceptible of private ownership, with no residue de-
manding public protection, there would, of course, be no protection
costs. In the other States the probable costs per acre of protecting,
developing, and managing the residual lands, presupposing the same
intensity of protection, development, and management that is given
similar types of lands in the national forests, were estimated to be as
follows :
Cents
California __ 6. 6
Oregon 6. 34
Washington 7. 6
Arizona 1
Colorado 3. 6
Nevada 1.4
New Mexico 2
Utah 3. 1
Idaho __ 7.5
Cents
Montana 8
Wyoming 3.66
South Dakota 7.75
Nebraska 13
Michigan 14
Minnesota 9. 1
Arkansas 12
Oklahoma.. _ 20
TABLE 5. — Assumption I — Permanent private ownership and consequent taxation
of all suitable lands plus State management and protection of residual public
lands 1
State
Theoretical returns to States
Theoretical
cost of
care of
public
lands
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
Taxes on
private
lands
Revenues
from
public
lands
Total
California
$1, 168, 770
1,468,714
1, 354, 940
453, 258
395, 953
4,516
238, 781
230, 580
668, 536
341, 580
74, 259
60,785
8,614
787
21, 425
79, 053
3,477
5,722
$295, 845
109, 181
109, 179
38, 657
124, 491
86, 446
6,713
95, 421
241, 502
132, 334
151, 620
39,062
11, 121
628
14, 071
3,619
250
$1,464,615
1, 577, 895
1,464,119
491,915
520, 444
90,962
245, 494
326, 001
910, 038
473, 914
225, 879
99, 847
19, 735
1,415
35, 496
82, 672
3,727
5,722
35, 595
$976, 289
346, 105
553, 174
38, 657
358, 533
60,513
13, 427
147, 902
1, 207, 510
1, 058, 669
277, 464
60, 546
26, 773
17,587
85, 362
14, 478
1,000
+$488, 326
+1,231,790
+910, 945
+453, 258
+161,911
+30, 449
+323, 067
+178, 099
-297, 472
-584, 755
—51 585
Oregon
Washington --- .
Arizona - - - -
Colorado
Nevada -
New Mexico - -
Utah
Idaho - -
South Dakota
+39, 301
-7, 038
— 16 172
Minnesota
-49, 866
+68, 194
+2, 727
+5,722
+35, 595
+12, 506
+2, 575
+27, 403
+19, 978
+16, 039
+9, 258
+7, 092
+65, 078
+46, Oil
Oklahoma - - - - - -
Alabama
Florida
35, 595
Georgia --
12, 506
12, 506
2,575
27,403
South Carolina
2,575
27, 403
Tennessee
19, 978
19, 978
Virginia
16, 039
9,258
7,092
16, 039
9,258
7,092
West Virginia - - - - -
New Hampshire
65, 078
46,011
65, 078
46,011
Total -
6, 821, 285
1, 460, 140
8, 281, 425
5, 243, 989
+3, 037, 436
i Assumption I is based on figures for Federal fiscal years 1923 to 1927.
1118 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
As developed by this method of analysis, the indicated financial
consequences to the States of a policy of private appropriation,
ownership, and protection of all lands attractive to private enter-
prise, and State protection and management of the unappropriated
or revested lands, are shown in table 5. The premises are believed
to be valid and conservative. They indicate that if instead of
being administered as national forests the lands involved were passed
to private ownership to the fullest degree warranted by their in-
herent values and taxed on the same bases as similar lands in private
ownership, and if the lands remaining in public ownership yielded
the highest return per acre per annum that probably could be
realized, and if the States protected, developed, and managed the
lands remaining in public ownership with the same qualitative
and quantitative standards as those hitherto applicable to the same
lands, 6 of the States would incur annual deficits and 22 of the States
would derive net financial returns. In 17 of these States the theo-
retical net return under this method would be less, in some cases
very much less, than the total net returns under national forest
management; in the other 5 the net returns under this method would
exceed, generally in small degree, the total net assistance under
national-forest administration; but in 4 of these States the na-
tional-forest lands largely or entirely have been acquired by pur-
chase or exchange with the complete concurrence and cooperation
of the State agencies and the superior merit and desirability of
national-forest aid is generally recognized and supported. Further-
more, such theoretical net balances of returns over cost as are de-
veloped by this method have now become extremely questionable
because of the downward trends of wild-land values and the growing
tendency for such types of lands to revert to public ownership through
tax delinquency.
IF THE NATIONAL FORESTS HAD INSTEAD BEEN ADMINISTERED
AS STATE FORESTS
As another contrast to the known measures of aid afforded by the
national forests there remains for consideration the subject of the
probable consequences to the several States if the national-forest
areas, during the fiscal years 1923-27, had instead been adminis-
tered wholly as State forests, with no contributions from the Federal
Government other than the free cession of the public lands involved.
The first question is whether the States would have been willing
to administer adequately all of the national-forest area. In numer-
ous cases a national forest is most important to the protection of
interests situated in other States, frequently remote from the area
under management. Where the immediate and tangible benefits
were of small extent and the major benefits accrued to other States,
there would be a natural reluctance on the part of the State contain-
ing the forest area to tax its own citizens beyond the point of local
and definite benefits, so that unless the beneficiary States made up
the additional costs under some form of interstate compact or agree-
ment there would be inadequate or no management of the particular
forest area. The difficulties of measuring and evaluating the benefits
from a specific area derived, respectively, by possibly several States,
and of providing by compact or agreement for the sharing of costs
in porportion to benefits, seem obvious.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1119
Another question is that of the degree to which any given State
would permanently continue to carry the full obligation of forest
protection, development, and management of national-forest areas
if the greater part of the cost thereof fell upon the taxpayers of the
parts of the State most remote from such areas and apparently
deriving the least benefit therefrom. In such circumstances it is
not wholly improbable that tax-paying majorities might urge sharp
limitations of State action.
Still another question is that presented by the large areas of
timber-productive lands actually owned by a number of the States
or counties and the annually increasing areas reverting to State
or county ownership through tax delinquency. States unprepared
to assume the entire obligation of forest conservation logically
would incline first to take over the areas within which State or
county responsibility was most definite and immediate, a course
conceivably militating against effective management of what are
now national forests.
These circumstances suggest the improbability that complete and
fully effective protection, development, and management of what
are now national-forest lands could be anticipated or accomplished
through the media of State forests unless the net financial results
to the several States under that method were more favorable than
those obtainable by any other practicable method. The facts
available do not indicate that such would be the case. On the
contrary, administration of the national-forest areas as State forests,
considering each State as an entity, would result in heavier net
expenditures of State funds than would be necessitated by either
of the other two courses of action discussed herein.
Making allowances for differences in standards of administration
and management, past State expenditures for forest and watershed
protection on State lands, as known to or understood by the Forest
Service, do not appear to demonstrate any inherent capacity on the
parts of the States or lesser political divisions thereof to perform such
functions at unit costs substantially lower than those incurred by the
Federal Government. In few if any instances could adequate pro-
tection and management be gained with smaller organizations or fewer
field men or men willing to work for appreciably lower rates of pay.
Performance by other State agencies of functions relating to forest
management or development would no more than offset the extent to
which such functions are now performed by other Federal agencies.
The conduct by 28 separate States of the forest-research work now in
progress on the national forests, collectively would require a greater
number of research workers than is necessary to carry out the Federal
program of research. Abundant factual data relating to the com-
parative costs of constructing and maintaining highways, roads, trails,
lookouts, telephone lines, administrative structures, and other physical
improvements show no basic factors consistently illustrative of the
greater economy of State expenditures. On the contrary, it is not
wholly improbable that the unit costs of administration would be
higher under State management than they were under Federal man-
agement.
Nor is there any ground lor belief that the revenues which would be
derived from what are now national forests would be substantially
greater under State or county administration than under Federal
1120 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEEICAN FOKESTEY
administration. Higher returns would be obtainable only by higher
charges for resources or privileges, and since such higher charges
largely would be borne by local industries and interests, they con-
ceivably might diminish the tax-paying power of the local community.
At the present time, no national-forest stumpage is sold in large quan-
tities except at competitive bid and to the highest bidder after full
publicity has been given by appropriate advertisement. Livestock
growers in the western States frequently allege that increased grazing
fees would be a burden on the industry. The occupancy of national-
forest lands for commercial, industrial, and recreational purposes is
now allowed to the full extent of the public demand, at prices repre-
senting fair returns for the privileges enjoyed. No form of State or
county administration can be foreseen which would greatly stimulate
these revenue-producing activities over and above what they normalty
will be under national-forest administration, or derive therefrom an
annual revenue appreciably in excess of the revenue which will be
received under prevailing principles.
In the absence of tenable grounds to the contrary it logically might
be contended that if the national forests covered by the 1927 study
had been administered as State forests during the fiscal years 1923-27
the net financial costs to the several States would have differed but
little from the actual net costs to the Federal Government as shown
in the next to the last column of table 1 .
However, in recognition of a widely prevalent belief to the contrary
and as a means of meeting any existing valid doubts, an analysis has
been made on the premise that during the fiscal years 1923-27 the
States could have derived revenues 10 percent greater than those
received under national-forest auspices, and could have held costs of
adequate protection, development, and management to 80 percent of
the expenditures actually made. In the States in which the national-
forest lands were largely or wholly acquired by cash payment, the
States, of course, would have had to pay interest upon such capital
investments or would have lost the interest otherwise obtainable by
the use of the invested funds. An interest charge of 4.5 percent oh
the average annual investment during the 5-year period therefore was
included in States containing lands acquired by cash purchase.
Table 6 summarizes the average extent to which each of the several
States would have derived revenues or incurred deficits if during the
fiscal years 1923-27 they had administered as State forests the lands
which in that period actually were administered by the Federal
Government as national forests but on the premise "that revenues
would have been 10 percent greater and administrative costs 20 per-
cent lower than they actually were.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEKICAN FORESTRY
1121
TABLE 6. — Assumption II. — National-forest areas created and administered as
State forests during period covered by study, without Federal aid other than free
cession of public lands
State
Annual
revenues 1
Annual
costs 2
Interest
charge 3
Net loss(-)
or gain (+)
California .
$1, 309, 256
$1, 530, 706
-$221 450
Oregon
789 749
1 020 585
—230 836
Washington
464 197
886 256
422 059
Arizona
339, 310
837, 866
-498 556
Colorado
455 065
582 220
— 127 155
Nevada .
110,534
75, 821
+34, 713
New Mexico
168, 723
627, 684
—458 961
Utah-
230, 450
279, 385
—48, 935
Idaho
675, 720
1, 744, 756
—1,069,036
Montana
296,789
1 527 363
— 1 230 574
Wyoming _ . - . . .. -..
301, 163
373, 262
-72,099
South Dakota
123, 310
99,801
+23 509
Nebraska . - - . . . .
12, 177
22, 945
— 10,768
851
16 095
$699
15 943
Minnesota
34,069
104 154
65 343
— 135 428
Arkansas .....„„__,.
85, 194
123, 758
32, 183
-70,747
Oklahoma
6,988
14, 356
7,368
Alabama --------------
745
17, 753
56, 136
-73, 144
Florida
27 028
33 917
—6 889
Georgia
10, 288
35, 420
153, 745
— 178,877
South Carolina
2,120
5,956
22, 648
—26, 484
29 403
97 034
303 935
371 566
Tennessee
15, 796
61 840
203 214
-249 258
Virginia -----------------
37, 477
71, 924
273, 276
-307, 723
West Virginia
4 067
37 232
93 496
126 661
Maine
2,745
4,400
24, 336
-25, 991
New Hatnpshirfi
34 940
35 924
397 747
398 731
Pennsylvania .
644
42,548
72,304
-114,308
Total
5, 568, 698
10, 310, 961
1, 699, 062
—6, 441, 325
1 110 percent of national-forest receipts.
3 80 percent of national-forest costs.
3 Interest at 4>i percent on actual cash payments for national-forest lands.
This process of analysis demonstrates that of all the 28 States
involved only 2 would have derived a net profit through State-forest
management of national-forest lands. One of these would have been
Nevada where costs of forest protection are low and revenues from
grazing use general and relatively high. The other would have been
the State of South Dakota where the Black Hills and Harney National
Forests afford probably the best current combination of intensive
forest management, high productivity, large stumpage values, and
active local demand to be found on any national forest. Even in
these two States the theoretical net returns derivable through man-
agement as State forests would fall far short of the total benefits
actually enjoyed during the period through the agency of the national
forests. The other 26 States would all have shown annual deficits,
some of very large proportions.
GENERAL SUMMATION OF RESULTS OF STUDY
To facilitate comparisons, the net results as shown in tables 2, 5,
and 6 are summarized in table 7 and figure 2, in which there also is
presented an interpretation of the net financial consequences to the
States had the areas under consideration been administered as State
forests with approximately the same revenues as those actually de-
rived and the same administrative costs as those actually incurred
during the fiscal years 1923-27. The figures submitted are actual or
theoretical receipts and expenditures. No attempt is made to evaluate
1122
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the numerous abstract or intangible benefits which by common
consent are recognized as the consequences of sound forest manage-
ment but are difficult of quantitative expression; nor does table 7
NET REDUCTION NET INCREASE
ASSUMPTION
I
•
ASSUMPTION-
n
m
ASSUMPTION
m
wmm,
PRESENT-
STATUS
>• v^xX • .' * *' • .' . ' '.'] '"/'/ o8v
-IO -5 O +5 +IO
MILLION DOLLARS
FIGURE 2.— Graphical representation of extent to which State or county resources available for forest
conservation would be reduced or increased under different assumptions as to ownership, as shown in
table 7.
express the values of the actual benefits enjoyed by local land-owners
or residents because of national-forest management, as shown in the
last column of table 2.
TABLE 7. — Estimated net loss or gain under different assumed forms of private and
State ownership of national-forest lands compared with actual total net gain to
State and counties for period 1923—27
State
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
under as-
sumption !
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
under as-
sumption 2
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
under as-
sumption 3
Net gain (+)
to States and
counties from
present
Federal
ownership 4
California
Dollars
+488 326
Dollars
221 450
Dollars
723 149
Dollars
+1 503 122
Oregon
+1,231,790
—230, 836
—557, 778
1 528 260
Washington..:.- -
+910, 945
—422 059
—685 823
907 109
Arizona
+453 258
498 556
738 869
701 207
Colorado
+161 911
— 127 155
—314* 080
641 175
Nevada
+30, 449
+34 713
+5 709
191 306
New Mexico
+232 067
458 961
631 220
AKA qnn
Utah
+178 099
—48 935
139 732
384 720
Idaho
—297 472
1 069 036
1 566* 654
1 673 921
Montana .
—584 755
—1 230 574
—1 639 396
1 122 243
Wyoming
—51 585
72 099
192 793
511 857
South Dakota-
+39. 301
+23.509
— 12.651
108.010
i Assumed private appropriation and ensuing taxation of all present national-forest lands suitable for
permanent private management, plus adequate protection and management by States of all national-
forest lands remaining or revested in public ownership; returns to States to comprise (a) taxes on privately
owned lands and (6) revenues from residual publicly owned lands.
1 Assumed that without aid from Federal Government, other than free cession of public lands involved,
it had been necessary for States to create and administer as State forests what actually were national
forests during the period 1923 to 1927, but conceding that the States could have derived 10 percent more
revenue and administered the lands at 20 per cent less cost than the Federal Government.
3 Assumed that without aid from the Federal Government, other than free cession of public lands in-
volved, it had been necessary for States to create and administer as State forests what actually were national
forests during the period 1923 to 1927; the revenues derived and the costs of administration being identical
with the receipts and expenditures under Federal management.
4 Actual total direct contributions to State or county revenues or development programs derived from
or by reason of the national forests during the fiscal years 1923 to 1927.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1123
TABLE 7. — Estimated net loss or gain under different assumed forms of private and
State ownership of national-forest lands compared with actual total net gain to
State and counties for period 1923-27 — Continued
State
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
under as-
sumption
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
under as-
sumption
Net loss (-)
or gain (+)
under as-
sumption
Net gain (+)
to States and
counties from
present
Federal
ownership
Nebraska
Dollars
—7,038
Dollars
—10, 768
Dollars
—17,611
Dollars
14 511
—16, 172
—15 943
—20 045
2 056
Minnesota - - -
—49, 866
—135,428
—164, 563
80 493
Arkansas
+68, 194
—70, 747
— 109,431
87 922
Oklahoma. .- -- - --
+2, 727
-7, 368
—11,593
10 405
Alabama - - - -
+5, 722
—73, 144
—77, 650
8 207
Florida
+35, 595
—6,889
—17 825
30 642
+12,506
— 178 877
—188 667
16 292
+2 575
26 484
—28 165
3 987
North Carolina
+27, 403
—371, 566
—398 498
87 923
Tennessee - - - - - -
+19, 978
-249, 258
—266, 154
34,638
Virginia ._---.-._
+16, 039
—307, 723
—329, 111
64 044
West Virginia
+9,258
—126 661
—136 339
20 293
Maine - - - -
+7,092
-25, 991
—27, 341
4,056
New Hampshire _._- _ _
+65, 078
—398, 731
—410, 888
42 410
Pennsylvania
+46,011
—114 308
— 124 994
9 6g5
Net gain or loss . _ . .
+3, 037, 436
-6, 441, 325
—9, 525, 311
+10 245 394
Table 7 leads inevitably to the conclusion that acting through the
central agency of the Federal Government the people of the United
States have very definitely and largely assisted each of the States
containing national forests to work toward an adequate program of
forest conservation within its borders more effectively than would
have been possible if the entire burden of forest protection had rested
upon the State and its component units of government. It is true
that the national-forest system was established in recognition of a
national need, as a measure of national security and welfare, rather
than with the studied purpose of assuming part of the State's
function or obligation in the field of forest conservation ; nevertheless,
the national policy markedly has aided the States to meet the
inescapable requirements of economic and social necessity created
by dangerous trends in forest-land utilization. No other use to
which the national-forest lands might have been devoted, no other
principle or method under which they might have been adminis-
tered, would as fully or effectively have enabled the States to
meet the tremendous problem which confronted them. There would
have been no greater economic and social use and enjoyment of
the lands and natural resources comprising the national forests
than that which has been allowed under Federal management.
There could have been no other way by which greater financial re-
sources could have been made available for purposes of forest pro-
tection, regeneration, and management with less tax burden on the
properties and citizens of the States and counties in which the national
forests are situated. Neither could there have been any fairer or
more equitable way by which both the common and collective interests
of all the people of the United States, as represented in assured future
supplies of timber and adequately protected watersheds, and the more
localized interests of the States and their citizens, could be har-
moniously correlated and coordinated. The record shows no in-
1124 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
justice or inequity to either party to the compact; on the contrary
it seems conclusively to demonstrate that, while the States through
their concurrence and cooperation in the development of the national-
forest system have made it possible for the Nation as an entity to
safeguard the future interests and welfare of all its citizens, the Nation
in its turn has made it possible for the States containing national
forests to accomplish more within their own fields of forest conserva-
tion and management than otherwise would have been possible.
FEDERAL AID IN ORGANIZING FOREST CREDIT FACILITIES
By BURT P. KIRKLAND, Principal Forest Economist
THE PURPOSES TO BE SERVED
It is common knowledge that speculative capital is seldom lacking
for investment in matured stands of timber. Very largely as a
phenomenon connected with the liquidation of speculative forest
investments, an excess of capital has flowed to the support of logging
and sawmilling operations. These have been relied on as the most
effective means of liquidating timber investments, especially if no
effort is made to balance production or avoid waste. In making
these investments little attention has been paid to the possibility of
integrating different wood-using industries in numerous localities
without the use of additional capital. It can hardly be maintained,
however, that any form of wood utilization has suffered in the aggre-
gate for lack of capital, although the capital has not always flowed
to the plant locations economically most desirable. On the whole,
capital investment has been directed to the purpose of utilizing
existing timber supplies like a store of minerals. It has been so
managed as to^destroy rather than to preserve the forest resource.
This discussion deals with the problem of supplying capital for
continuous forest production. In the section of this report entitled
" Status and Opportunities of Private Forestry," it was brought out
that a relatively small portion of the existing capital investment in
forests is being directed toward sustained-yield operation. To insure
continued forest productivity new objectives need to be set up in
the management of this capital. New capital investments in exten-
sive forest areas will be needed before growth can be restored to
satisfactory levels. It seems apparent that credit capital, obtained
on terms appropriate to this type of enterprise, could materially
facilitate placing the remaining forests on a continuous-yield basis.
NATURE OF INVESTMENT IN FOREST ENTERPRISES:
THE PRESENT INVESTMENTS
As was stated in the section of this report dealing with the status
and opportunities of private forestry, 80 to 95 percent of the invest-
ment in producing forests is represented by the growing stock and
soil, which economists dealing with the factors of production call
"land" or " natural resources." Business men include these ele-
ments under the term " capital," and from the business standpoint
do not distinguish them from capital such as is represented by the
forest improvements created by labor or the investment of money.
In this discussion the term "capital" will be used in this inclusive
sense.
When the first white settlers landed within the territory now inclu-
ded in the United States there were in this territory some 800 million
1125
1126 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
acres of forests stocked for the most part with trees of magnificent
size. At that time, however, these forests had no capital value.
Now their remnants have a large capital value. This capital value
essentially results from the relationship between human needs and
the forest resource and from the right of ownership, which enables
the owner to reap profit from the sale of forest products. Very little
of the present capital value of American forests has been created by
labor or by the investment of money. The money value of property
rights in private forests has grown through "unearned increment"
as they were handed from generation to generation. The value
status at any given time has been recognized as the titles were trans-
ferred from owner to owner. This process of valuating forests has
been active in one region after another. The South and the West
are the last regions in which prices for timberlands have reached
high levels.
It is not to be assumed either that this process has come to an end
or that it cannot be reversed. Certainly some reversal, that is to
say decline in value, has recently taken place owing to deflation of
prices and depletion of growing stock. Future movements of value
will depend on the treatment the forests receive. Widespread cutting
operations now going on without care for future production are
removing forest capital too rapidly to permit replacement by growth
unless the forests are rigidly protected from fire and other destructive
agencies. Maintenance of capital value during the past 30 years or
more, since timber cut has exceeded growth, has depended on writing
up values of the stumpage remaining.
Changes in value reflected in such "write-ups" may occur sud-
denly. ^ After the World War, price and credit inflation brought
about increases through a period of nearly 5 years except during the
short depression of 1921. Such changes are seldom of any lasting
benefit and often bring disastrous after effects. An oversupply of
unduly cheap credit might produce similar results. General adoption
of improved machinery may increase profits and thus capital values,
but its effect is more likely to be dissipated in lower prices to con-
sumers. ^ Skilled management, since it is a scarce factor of production,
leads to increased valuation of the properties benefiting by it. The
commonest ^ device of skilled management is to adopt improved
machinery, improved technique, and the results of research in advance
of the industry as a whole.
When the term "capital" is considered as inclusive of these capi-
talized resource values it becomes clear that organization of forestry
as a business involves long-term investments and, if credit capital is
used, long-term credit. The capital structure of the enterprise,
including both ownership capital and credit capital, should be such
that pressure for liquidation or withdrawal of capital will be avoided.
For the larger enterprises the device that has been worked out, but
not altogether perfected, to serve this purpose is the corporation.
By means of the corporation the individual investment has in a
considerable proportion of business investments become liquid al-
though the enterprises are permanent. One of the chief elements
which often interfere with the permanence of corporate enterprise
is the relation of the credit capital to the enterprise as a whole. Per-
manence depends on limiting the creidt capital in amount, limiting
interest rates to a point not in excess or not much in excess of the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1127
earnings of the capital, and providing means for gradual amortization.
These three factors require careful consideration.
The total investment in privately owned forest lands and timber
has been calculated as of the year 1929 by the Forest Taxation Inquiry
of the United States Forest Service to be approximately $4,075,000,-
000. This is less than previous estimates of these values, which is
readily accounted for by the fact that in the past few years the pro-
gress of forest depletion has exceeded the rate at which capital values
have been "written up."
FURTHER INVESTMENTS INVOLVED IN BUILDING UP
FOREST PROPERTIES
As is shown in other sections of this report, in most regions of the
United States the forests have been largely depleted of growing stock;
in other words, the forest capital has been liquidated. On large areas
this process may have gone too far to permit restoration under private
management. This discussion refers chiefly to private forest enter-
prises on areas that still contain saw-timber or cordwood growing
stock or to recently cut-over areas closely associated with saw-timber
or cordwood areas.
In most instances forest capital can be built up by establishing
conditions under which nature will provide the necessary increased
stocking through growth. The safest way to build up capital is
through utilizing income from products sold currently. The problem
of obtaining sufficient gross income to carry the property and main-
tain the owner while the growing stock is being built is simplified if
high-grade mature timber is present in considerable volume. Where
the growing stock is badly deteriorated but a market for low-grade
material exists, it may still be possible by skilled management to
obtain sufficient income from sales to meet expenses during the time
required to rehabilitate the growing stock. On numerous properties
money investments will be necessary to pay taxes and the costs of
administration and fire protection and permit the owners to forego
income from the forest while it is being rebuilt to a condition that will
permit continuous operation. This refers to properties occupied largely
by young stands too immature for immediate cuttings.
Equally, as urgent as the situations described in the foregoing, if
not more so, are conditions found in regions where a temporary sur-
plus of mature timber still remains, specifically in the Pacific coast
and north Rocky Mountain regions. Here financial pressure and
other influences are leading to hasty and wasteful liquidation of the
forests. Credit at economical costs appears fundamental to any
program looking to the orderly marketing of the surplus of mature
timber under private management in a way to preserve the produc-
tivity of those forests on a sustained-yield basis. In any given case,
such credits should be extended for the full length of time necessary
to accomplish the purpose, with proper rates of amortization as well
as of interest. Financial support of this type should assist in dimin-
ishing the severity of destructive competition between those now
marketing this mature timber without regard to future productivity
of the forests and those endeavoring to develop permanent forest
enterprises.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 6
1128 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
There is no adequate basis for estimating with any precision ^ what
additions to capital value can be expected as a result of restoration of
the growing stock through conservative forest management or what
portions of the capital required for this restoration must be borrowed.
The enormous losses through growing-stock depletion, the loss of
forest improvements, and other features of timber cutting under the
liquidation policy add huge sums to the current operating expenses of
the industry. The increase in net earnings that will result from sav-
ing these losses, under normal conditions of price and of operating
costs, will be reflected in capital value. Weighing such information
as is available on the present condition of the forest capital with the
conditions that must be brought about if the Nation is to continue to
be served with forest products warrants the belief that the forests
now in private ownership need and reasonably warrant rebuilding to
double or more the present capital values.
In addition to enabling present owners of forest land to restore the
Eroductivity of their holdings, credit capital would almost certainly
ave a still larger function in assisting in a redistribution of ownership
that would bring more forest land into the hands of enterprisers with
the desire and the ability to create permanently productive operating
units.
Notwithstanding the desirability of facilitating better management
of forests by making credit capital available at reasonable costs,
caution should be observed in these credit transactions. An excessive
flow of low-interest capital to this field would assuredly result in
unjustifiable writing up of capital values. This may be socially un-
desirable owing to the tendency to divert an undue share of the
product of industry to fixed charges at the expense of labor and
management.
SOURCES OF PRESENT CAPITAL AND COSTS OF CREDIT
CAPITAL
As has already been stated, the principal source of capital in forests
(including resource value) has been the gradual process of valuation of
the forest resource. The form which title to the capital takes, and the
distribution of title, are of importance. ^ Unfortunately, complete
information does not exist as to the proportions of capital represented
by direct property ownership and by long-term and short-term credit.
The most definite information available on any region was obtained
by the West Coast Lumbermen's Association in 193 1.1 These data
show that the investment value of the lumber industry within the
Douglas fir region is approximately $838,761,149, of which $502,674,-
500 is attributed to timber and the remainder to manufacturing plants.
No figures are given for the pulp and paper and other important
forest industries of the region. The capital involved is represented
by direct ownership to the extent of about 75 percent. The form
and times of maturity of the debt represented by the remainder are
not given.
It is known that no great amount of capital has been available for
long-term loans in the form of timber bonds and that the maturities
of such bonds are too early to permit amortization of the loan except
i Greeley, W. B., The Northwest Lumber Crisis. American Forests, September 1931, pp. 529-533.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1129
through liquidating the stumpage pledged as security. A great deal
of the borrowed capital, although invested in permanent form, has
come from commercial banks. Since many of these loans lack liquid-
ity they are not altogether adapted to the requirements of commercial
banking. Interest rates for loans to be used in timber operations are
generally 6 or 7 percent plus financing charges. Since timber opera-
tions are often the leading enterprises in their communities they have
generally had access to bank credit, often on very easy terms.
While borrowed capital has undoubtedly been costly in some
instances, the chief difficulties that arise from the present forms of
borrowing have to do with the frequent renewals, refinancing, and
general uncertainty with regard to permanence of the sources of
credit capital.
Equally reliable information is not available for other regions.
Income statistics of the Bureau of Internal Revenue 2 show that during
the year 1929 corporations engaged in the lumber and woods-products
industries paid $18,049,813 and the pulp and paper industries
$17,260,075 in interest charges. These amounts were 1.56 percent of
the gross receipts of the lumber and woods-products corporations and
1.86 percent of the gross receipts of the pulp and paper industries,
respectively. In comparison, the average interest charge of all
manufacturing industries was 0.98 percent of gross receipts. The
greater part of the forest-products manufacturing is carried on by
corporations, but less than half the privately owned forests that are
still productive are owned by corporations. No data are available
on the credit capital used by individual owners of woodlands or of
small sawmill plants.
It is known, however, that throughout the forested regions farm
woodlands form part of the security for farm-mortgage indebtedness.
The size of the interest bill for corporate forest industries taken
together with what is known of farm-mortgage practices in woodland
regions leaves little doubt that the total borrowed capital in the forest
industries, including forest land and timber holdings, in the United
States approaches $1,000,000,000.
It is desirable to reiterate that this borrowing and the resulting
interest charges have been for manufacturing purposes rather than
for care and perpetuation of forest productivity. The latter purpose
is not adequately cared for in the present financial provisions within
the forest industries.
ORGANIZED METHODS OF PROVIDING BASIC CAPITAL
In the modern world individual dealings between borrowers and
lenders do not meet the needs of industry. Not only are the sums
commanded by individuals too small to meet requirements but the
undistributed risk to investors is too great. To provide for the flow
of capital to the points where it will have the greatest utility and be
invested with the least risk has become an institutional problem.
Institutional development to meet such needs is by no means complete
In late years a strong tendency has manifested itself toward the
development of lending institutions adapted to special requirements.
Many examples such as insurance companies, mutual-savings banks.
? Statistics of Income for 1929, pp. 26£-284,
1130 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
and building and loan associations come readily to mind. These
have been developed chiefly to serve the needs of persons wishing to
save and lend capital, although the building ancf loan associations
originally had an equal aim of serving borrowers. Of more recent
development are institutions organized specifically to serve needs of
borrowers. These include smaller institutions such as credit unions,
but the more outstanding examples are the Federal land banks, the
intermediate credit banks, and the home loan banks. To be suc-
cessful all such institutions must provide a very high degree of security
to the funds of lenders.
Whether organized primarily to serve lenders or borrowers, all these
institutions require the exercise of the age-old governmental function
of protecting the average individual against the encroachments of
thievery and dishonesty. These encroachments, which in a simpler
society took the form of direct assaults on individuals for the purpose
of wrongful appropriation of private property, now take the more
subtle and far more effective form of financial manipulation. To
prevent losses from this cause as well as from misappropriation of
funds by persons in positions of trust, and to reduce losses from
incompetent management to a minimum, it has increasingly become
a duty of Government to supervise aU sorts of banking and financial
institutions.
In connection with efforts to accomplish the above ends it has been
learned that correct methods of organization and operation result in
economy and that mass borrowing on sound lines tends to provide
credit capital at lower cost to industry. The Federal land banks have
been reasonably successful in attaining these objectives, greatly
reducing interest rates on farm mortgages in localities remote from
centers where investment funds are plentiful. No Federal land bank
bonds have been defaulted.
An institution to serve borrowers should be organized and operated
in such a way as to (1) limit safely the amount of credit capital used
by the borrower, (2) provide an interest rate within or not much
beyond the earning capacity of the enterprise, and (3) provide a rate
of amortization the enterprise can meet without the added expense
incident to refinancing.
LIMITING THE AMOUNT OF CREDIT CAPITAL USED
It is a frequent practice to provide credit capital to the extent of
50 to 60 percent of the total capital required in an enterprise. By
various subterfuges even these limits are exceeded. No doubt cir-
cumstances occasionally arise in which the use of credit to this extent
is justified, especially if means for rapid amortization of the excess
percentage are available. Events of recent years have made it plain,
however, that the use of credit capital to these percentages is at-
tended by risks of loss of the physical property by the borrower and
loss of investment funds by the lender. If the financial needs of an
entire industry are to be served, with full consideration for stability
of the credit capital throughout the business cycle, the limit of credit
capital should as a regular practice be fixed far below 50 percent.
One of the fundamental reasons for limiting permanent credit
capital lies in the changes constantly taking place in capitalized value.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1131
Farm values serve as a good illustration. Census statistics 3 show
that the values of farm land and buildings in different years were as
follows :
1920__ _ $66,316,002,602
1930 47,879,838,358
It is by no means improbable that value shrinkages were even
greater than reported and that the aggregate value at the present
time is still lower. By 1931 farm debt had risen to between
$13,000,000,000 and $14,000,000,000, with interest averaging 6 per-
cent on mortgage debt, 8 percent on short-term credit, and 15 to 20
percent on merchant credit.4 The total annual interest charge approx-
imated $900,000,000. In 1930 the gross income of agriculture, includ-
ing the value both of commodities sold and of commodities consumed
on farms, was $9,401 ,939,000.5 Interest charges in 1930 were therefore
about 9% percent of gross income. Since income has continued to
shrink, interest charges constitute an increasing percentage of gross
income. Railroads supply another example of heavy indebtedness
that has carried serious difficulties. Consideration of these examples
warrants the conclusion that in undertaking to serve the nee"ds of
forest enterprises organized for continuous yield the use of permanent
credit in excess of 30 percent of the total capital in any individual
enterprise should be discouraged. Temporary credit in excess of this
percentage will frequently be necessary in the process of assembling
and organizing such properties.
INTEREST RATES AS RELATED TO EARNING
CAPACITY
When interest rates are paid by an enterpriser in excess of the
earnings of his project the lender receives the earnings of his own
capital plus part or all ofthe earnings of the borrower's capital, or the
surplus rate may be absorbed by costs of placing and administering
the loan or ^by risks on that class of loans. A leading function of
credit organization is to reduce costs of placement and administration
of loans and to distribute risks. As a result of efficient organization
the borrower should be required to pay^no more than necessary for
the use of the credit with minimum costs incident to carrying the risks
and to administration and financing, and the lender seeking safety for
his capital should receive an approximation to the riskless rate. ~The
chief factors to be considered are the adequacy of business volume to
distribute overhead costs and risks, the building up of reserve to
insure meeting unusual risk, and loaning on an amortization plan to
avoid frequent refinancing charges. Limitation of loan percentages
together with systematic amortization underlies the elimination of
risk.
When all possible has been done by these means to establish low
interest rates, comparison may be made between the interest rates and
the prospective earning rate of the enterprise. The available means
for supplying credit capital at still lower rates are virtually limited to
the use of tax-collected public funds or of funds raised on securities
3 Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Vol. II, Agriculture, Table 1.
* United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook, 1932, p. 501.
* United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook, 1932, p. 890.
1132 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
with endorsement of the Federal Treasury. These means should be
used only if the public interests involved demand such action.
AMORTIZATION RATES
A rate of amortization that permits discharge of the loan from
earnings of the mortgaged enterprise saves refinancing charges and
provides a painless method of paying the loan. A loan obtained under
these conditions also protects the borrower from the grave risks
attending efforts to renew loans in times of depression or panic, and
protects the lender against shrinkage in asset value from the same
cause. A long amortization period is justified if the loan does not
exceed a very conservative percentage of appraisal value, the enter-
prise is in a field of permanent utility, and the interest rate is as low
as or lower than the earnings of the enterprise. It is certainly true
that many forest properties meet these specifications. With an inter-
est rate of 5 percent, amortization at one half percent will retire a
loan in slightly less than 50 years. A retirement period of 30 to 50
years seems appropriate for basic credit not exceeding 30 percent of
the appraised value of the real property. Junior financing beyond the
30 percent should be amortized within 10 years, or subjected to
renewals at the time of which the status of the loan can be reexamined.
RELATIONSHIP OF FOREST LOANS TO AIMS OF
FEDERAL LAND BANK SYSTEM
A fundamental aim of the Federal land bank system is to promote
effective use, in the public interest, of the agricultural land resources
of the country and to promote satisfactory social conditions. Effec-
tive use of forest lands must be considered closely related to this
purpose. For this reason it appears desirable to utilize the existing
machinery of the Federal land bank system for handling forest loans
rather than to create an entirely new agency. A further important
element in this relationship is the fact that much submarginal agri-
cultural land may be diverted to forest use. Facilitating the use of
such land for forestry purposes is expected to strengthen agriculture
and presumably the security behind farm loans. It appears unwise
to impose the function of making forest loans on the present land
banks, however, for the reason that these deal with land values
chiefly under restrictions that are inapplicable to forest loans. Forest
loans will require special types of appraisal and will require supervision
of a different technical nature. Therefore, it seems reasonable that
the function of providing forest credit should be placed in separately
organized institutions.
OUTLINE OF SUGGESTED ORGANIZATION FOR
FOREST LOANS
The following is suggested as a possible basis for organizing insti-
tutions to provide forest credit :
1. The institutions should be under the control of the Federal Farm
Loan Board. This would keep supervising expense at a minimum
and insure experienced and competent administration.
2. Not more than four adequately capitalized banks (possibly with
$25,000,000 capital stock each) should be created. This would be
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1133
a more liberal capitalization by share capital than is provided for the
home loan banks or Federal land banks. It would provide a greater
margin of safety for bonds issued and greater facility for building up
and protecting adequate reserves.
3. Each bank should have a board of directors of seven members.
These would be in part elected by the stockholders and in part
appointed by the Federal Farm Loan Board,6 as in the case of the
Federal land banks.
4. Suitable central organization of the several banks should be
provided to permit cooperative action and mutual aid, including is-
suance of bonds and debentures under joint liability of all banks.
5. Each borrower should be required to purchase stock in his
regional bank to the extent of 5 percent of his loan. Simultaneously
he should sign an assignable option for the sale of the stock at par
value without restriction on the time of such sale. When in the
course of time all the stock of any bank had been taken up, op-
tions on the oldest stock outstanding should be utilized to transfer the
stock to the current borrowers. Stock should be transferable to a
purchaser of the forest property involved, and might be made trans-
ferable without restriction after the loan it accompanied had been
paid.
6. Banks might begin doing business when 40 percent of the capital
was paid in. The United States Treasury would be directed to
purchase stock to this extent.
7. Dividends on stock should be limited to 5 percent cumulative.
Dividends paid in any year should not exceed the earnings of that
year after suitable transfers to reserve accounts.
8. Banks should have authority to issue long-term bonds based on
mortgage loans as collateral and with joint liability of the banks. In
order to take advantage of conditions under which short-term obliga-
tions sell at lower interest rates, authority should be granted to issue
short-term debentures not to exceed a reasonable percentage of the
paid-in capital, with due regard to current income from interest and
amortization of outstanding loans.
9. Banks should be authorized to make first-mortgage loans only
on forest properties organized for operation on a sustained-yield basis
or being subjected to measures necessary to prepare for such opera-
tion. Suitable penalties should be provided for violation of these
provisions. No loan or loans to a single concern should exceed 10
Eercent of the paid-in capital of the issuing bank, "single concern"
eing interpreted to include with a parent corporation all subsidiary
corporations or corporations with interlocking directorates. No loan
should exceed 30 percent of the appraised value of the property.
Net income should be duly taken into consideration in appraisals.
Interest rates should not exceed by more than 2 percent the rate
borne by the last previous issue of long-term forest loan bonds.
First-mortgage loans should provide for amortization within 30 to 50
years. If made within 5 years, payment should be 1 percent above
par to cover costs incident to placing the loan.
10. Where bank officials consider such action desirable, second-
mortgage loans might be granted on properties on which the bank
holds the first mortgage. Such loans should not exceed an additional
« Fifteenth Annual Report, p. 62
1134 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
30 percent of the value of the property, nor should all such loans
placed aggregate more than 25 percent of the forest mortgage loans
outstanding. Interest rates on second-mortgage loans might exceed
the rate on the last sale of long-term bonds by 3 percent. Amortiza-
tion within 10 years should be required.
The purposes for which loans might be granted would include the
following :
1. Such measures as are designed to improve the productivity of
organized forest properties, including restricting cut to permit build-
ing up growing stock, fire protection, and necessary silyicultural
measures. (When loans are made for these purposes on immature
forests or on forests the cutting of which should for any reason be
deferred, arrangements may be made to advance the loans in annual
installments over periods as long as 20 years. No annual installment
should exceed the amount required to meet costs for that year.)
2. To assist in the orderly marketing of timber already mature or,
in exceptional cases, to withhold from the market timberlands which
it would be economically injurious to throw on an overburdened
market.
3. To assist in acquiring tracts and assembling them into units of
economic size and location for continuous-yield operations.
4. To assist in constructing permanent transportation systems
within the confines of forest properties concerned and to connect
them with common-carrier transportation facilities.
5. In exceptional cases, to assist in acquiring, rebuilding, or con-
structing manufacturing plants necessary for complete and economical
utilization of forest raw material from the property concerned, includ-
ing such facilities cooperatively owned by owners of adjacent holdings.
No loan should be granted to provide manufacturing capacity that,
combined with the capacity of efficient plants existing in the locality,
would be excessive in proportion to the present or soon expected sus-
tained yield of the forests of the locality. Judgment on this element
should be based on reports of competent technicians.
RECOMMENDATION
In view of important pending changes in the commercial banking
systems and possibly in other financial institutions within the super-
visory field of the Federal Government, and in view of the desirability
of thoroughly examining the operating methods of institutions with
similar purposes in order to utilize their experience to the utmost, it
is recommended that a study looking to the establishment of an
organization such as is outlined above be undertaken cooperatively
by the Forest Service and the Federal Farm Loan Board, to be
completed at the earliest practicable date.
NOTE. — The foregoing discussion has been reviewed by Paul Bestor, Farm
Loan Commissioner, John H. Guill, member of the Farm Loan Board, and A. F.
Garden, chief appraiser of the Federal Farm Loan Bureau.
OTHER FEDERAL FOREST ACTIVITIES AS FORMS OF STATE AID
FOREST PATHOLOGY
By CARL HARTLEY and J. S. BOYCE, Office of Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant
Industry
PAST AND PRESENT AID TO STATES
In a sense, all of the Federal research activity in the forest disease
field has been an aid to States, local governmental units, and private-
timber owners. Even when the studies were made primarily for con-
trol of diseases on the national forests, the published results have been
generally available, and unpublished information has been made
freely available to State and local officers and private landowners.
The total annual cost of this research based on Federal appropriations
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933, is approximately $133,000 not
including funds primarily for diseases of ornamental trees and shrubs.
Of tliis amount, $113,000 is for forest diseases and $20,000 for study
of fungous injury to forest products. In some cases the investigations
have been made in close cooperation with State agricultural experi-
ment stations or State foresters, part or all of the salary or expenses
of former State employees having been carried on Federal funds during
studies of local aspects of more general problems. Advice on diagnosis
and practical control measures has been given by personal visits when
possible.
In no case has there been any grant of Federal funds to State or
private agencies for use in connection with control of forest diseases.
There are annual Federal grants to the State agricultural experiment
stations under the Hatch, Adams, and Purnell Acts for research on
agricultural problems; these acts are interpreted as providing for
research covering problems of forestry, where such problems are a part
of the farm problems or practice of agriculture, or when the investiga-
tion is aimed at questions of fundamental science the solution of
which will be useful in the general field of agriculture.
An inconspicuous but tremendously important service to all of the
States, that is and can be rendered only by the Federal Government, is
in the inspection and quarantine activities connected with the pre-
vention of the introduction of new diseases from abroad. The Bureau
of Plant Quarantine of the Department of Agriculture, under authority
of Federal legislation, forbids the general importation of nursery stock
and certain other kinds of material that are known to be likely to
carry dangerous parasites, maintains a force of port inspectors to en-
force these regulations, and arranges for inspection or long-time obser-
vation in quarantine when introduction of foreign propagating stock
is essential to Ajnerican plant breeders or propagators. The amount
expended for forest protection by this method cannot be segregated
from that spent for the protection of other kinds of plants, since the
same personnel attends to all kinds of material. The results of this
work are impossible of quantitative evaluation, since we have no way
1135
1136 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
of telling what additional introduced diseases might have entered the
country had it not been for this service, or what they might have
caused. Had the present regulations and enforcement service been
in force 40 years earlier, the loss of our chestnut and the expenditures
for blister-rust control might have been postponed for centuries.
Some parasites may slip through the most rigidly maintained quaran-
tine, but the hazard is very greatly reduced by such service as the
Bureau of Plant Quarantine is giving. State inspection authorities
can effectively supplement and strengthen this Federal protection
service against foreign pests, but they suffer legal disabilities in ex-
cluding foreign shipments which make Federal help necessary.
Individual States are also handicapped in preventing the spread of an
introduced parasite that is already established in some part of the
country. For example, State A may refuse or neglect to quarantine
against a disease from another region dangerous to adjacent State B,
but which if introduced into A will spread naturally into B. Federal
interstate quarantines have also been an important part of the effort
to delay the spread of the blister rust within the United States.
The most direct efforts to aid the States in the control of a forest
disease have been in connection with the white pine blister rust.
The Federal Government initiated the control campaign against this
disease; it furnishes each cooperating State with one or more men
who act as control leaders under the administrative direction of the
proper ^ State official (usually the State forester), to furnish technical
supervision of control work, perform necessary experiments to im-
prove control practice, scout for blister rust, and disseminate technical
information on the disease and its control. Each cooperating State
furnishes men directly to supervise the control jobs lined up by the
State control leader, gives administrative direction to all control
work, and, when necessary, reimburses owners for the loss of produc-
tive currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed in control application.
Each owner desiring to protect his pines from blister rust furnishes the
labor to pull the wild and cultivated currant and gooseberry bushes
growing within 900 feet of the pines, under the direction of a foreman
furnished by the State.
The acreage cleared of currant and gooseberry bushes in the United
States from 1916 to 1932, inclusive, totals approximately 10,600,000
acres, consisting of 9,077,271 acres of complete initial control work,
934, 329 acres given a second working to maintain control, and 674,756
acres of incomplete initial control work (concentrations of currants
destroyed with chemicals on 7 percent of this land, along streams).
This work has resulted in completely protecting approximately
6,000,000 acres of white-pine forest, with partial protection to such
pine as may be present on the additional 3,700,000 acres in the protec-
tion zones and along stream bottoms from which the currants were
cleared. The total cost of all control work to the end of 1932 (Federal
State, and private expenditures) amounts to $8,307,000, or 83 cents
per acre for the area actually cleared of currant and gooseberry bushes.
On the basis of 6,000,000 acres of protected pine, the cost averages
$1.39 per acre of pine land. Of the latter amount, 24 cents (17 per-
cent) was Federal funds for development of control methods and for
general service activities such as scouting and quarantine enforce-
ment; 55 cents (40 percent) was Federal funds for direct cooperation
with the agencies applying control; 55 cents (40 percent) was expended
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1137
by State agencies and pine owners in control application ; and 5 cents
(3 percent) was expended for control by the National Forest Service
and National Park Service.
The blister rust problem is essentially national in scope. The fact
that the Federal Government assumes leadership in cooperating with
the States has given them the necessary urge to carry on with this
work under a systematic program which has accomplished effective,
large-scale control results. Without Federal leadership it is doubtful
if the States could carry on any extended program. In addition to
giving impetus to the work, leadership has been furnished which
results in coordination of effort between the agencies concerned in
the work, and in the development of a greater appreciation of the
value of forest care on the part of timber owners. Also this leader-
ship has resulted in better coordination of effort between States and
has furnished a medium for exchange of ideas which has been helpful
to the State organizations in meeting their forestry problems. The
same type of organization which has proved effective in securing
control of blister rust could be adapted to a much wider field in secur-
ing application of the results of investigations in forest pathology.
FUTURE AID TO STATES
The Federal Government must continue to bear much of the expense
of investigating forest tree diseases to determine principles for their
control. This is indirect aid which is properly a Federal function
since many forest diseases, just as forest trees, are regional in their
distribution. Rather than direct financial aid to the States for dis-
ease investigation, the Federal Government under the provisions of
the McSweeney-McNary Act proposes to make its contribution to
the solution of problems of more than local concern through patholo-
gists at its regional forest experiment stations. Federal aid cannot
and should not be expected to make unnecessary the investigation by
the States of their own pathological problems either independently
or in cooperation with the regional station.
Great improvement in the utilization of research results could be
ob tamed by the development of field service men, of the type already
employed in the white pine blister-rust control work, and where prac-
ticable with similar State cooperation, to help in the development by
landowners and lumbermen of control work against native diseases.
Quarantine must be maintained by the Federal Government to pre-
vent as far as possible the introduction of diseased or potentially dis-
eased trees from foreign countries or from one region to another within
the United States. For the reasons earlier indicated, individual
States cannot protect themselves adequately by their own quarantine.
Quarantines are a more important part of the program for protection
against foreign tree diseases than they are against diseases of most
crop plants, since it requires an infinitely longer time to develop a
resistant tree by crossbreeding or selection than is needed to develop
a resistant annual plant.
Because of the national character of the interests at stake, the
Federal Government may need to give direct financial as well as tech-
nical aid to State or private owners in the location and eradication
of new introduced diseases. Aid is extended to the States for planting
trees, and protection against fires; it should also include protection
1138 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
from destructive epidemics. A disease first appearing in one State
may be of no importance there because of the limited commercial
value of the tree attacked, or unfavorable conditions for the develop-
ment of the disease, but if allowed to continue unchecked it could
easily prove catastrophic in another forest region embracing several
States. Naturally taxpayers in one State are reluctant to have money
spent for the protection of other States, since there is no assurance
that they will receive equal consideration under similar circumstances.
The only way action can be taken promptly enough in such situations
to be successful is by direct Federal aid, both financial and through
leadership which coordinates the efforts of all agencies concerned.
The service organization which has proved valuable in curtailing white
pine blister rust can be modified to take care of similar situations
which additional introduced disease might call into being.
FOREST ENTOMOLOGY
By Division of Forest Insects, Bureau of Entomology
The control of forest insects as a factor in timber production has
been developed chiefly by the Federal Government. Each of its
three elements — prevention, early detection, and suppression of insect
attacks — is dependent upon research for the perfection of its methods.
The highly technical nature of the subject, its importance, and its
scope and complexity call for the utmost possible Nation-wide coordi-
nation of plans, funds, and personnel and therefore, for unified Federal
and coordinated State action.
The work in forest insect control has grown up around the activities
of the Bureau of Entomology, which has handled the research activi-
ties, recommended plans and procedure for putting research results
into practice, and to a considerable extent supervised the control
work. Control measures based on the research findings have been
conducted by three Federal agencies — the Forest Service, the National
Park Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs — and also by private
timberland owners. The growth of these control activities is indicated
by expenditures which have increased from $2,700 in 1906 to nearly
$200,000 a year, by the Forest Service alone, in the last three years.
Expenditures by the National Park Service during the last 3 years
were from $40,000 to $50,000 a year, and those of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs from $10,000 to $20,000. As will be shown in the
section State Aid to Private Owners and Local Political Units, State
aid to private owners in forest insect control amounts annually to
about $1,206,000, consisting of State, county, and town funds mostly
for gypsy moth control in New England, New York, and New Jersey.
In view of the great annual losses from forest insects — which, as
stated elsewhere, have been variously estimated at from $100,000,000
to $150,000,000 a year — the service made available to the States
through the national prosecution of forest insect investigations and
control measures assumes large proportions. Few States escape loss
from such insects as the mountain pine beetle, the Black Hills beetle,
the western pine beetle, the pine butterfly, the spruce budworm, the
hemlock looper, the gypsy moth, the southern pine beetle, and the
numerous insects which damage felled logs, sawed lumber, and finished
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1139
wood products in use. Federal legislation to provide direct financial
aid to the States was proposed in 1931 (H.R. 5830 and S. 1862, 72d
Cong., 1st sess.), whereby Federal funds not to exceed $250,000 for
each cooperating State would have been available for the control of
tree-killing forest insect epidemics on State and privately owned forest
lands, if matched by equal funds furnished by the States. (This bill,
while approved in principle by the Secretary of Agriculture, was
adversely reported for immediate enactment.) This measure is simi-
lar to that for cooperative fire control authorized under section 2 of
the Clarke-McNary Act (June 7, 1924, 43 Stat. 653) as amemded.
Pending the enactment of such legislation, Federal aid to the States
will remain incidental to the national program, but this does not mean
that the actual benefit to the States will not be large.
An illustration of this Federal service to the States is afforded by
the interception activities at ports of entry, to prevent the intro-
duction of injurious foreign pests. This is unquestionably a Federal
job and can best be handled by the organization now invested with
this responsibility — the Bureau of Plant Quarantine.
The detection of insect outbreaks in the forest is primarily the
function of the landowners — Federal, State, and private — yet past
experience has indicated that more effective results are possible if
such detection service utilizes the advice and cooperation of Federal
officers of the Bureau of Entomology.
Forest insect research has developed during the past 30 years pri-
marily as a Federal function, and it seems advisable to urge that the
Federal activities in this line be continued and strengthened. Further
development of the Federal work should be coordinated with the
Federal forest experiment stations. This plan was inaugurated some
few years ago and it has proven to be highly effective and advanta-
geous to Federal and private interests.
A few States have undertaken independent research in the field of
forest entomology, usually in connection with the academic work of
forest schools, as the New York State College of Forestry, University
of Minnestoa, University of Michigan, University of California, and
the Oregon Agricultural College. The State of Maine has maintained
a forest entomologist for several years. It is wise to urge further
State activities either through universities or the State experiment
stations, and the fullest possible Federal cooperation should be given.
Such cooperation is already in existence at practically every point
where forest entomological work is being conducted. Where States
have important local problems and sufficient interest to provide some
money for technical work, it should be possible for the Federal Govern-
ment to assist by contributing funds or technical assistance that would
aid in coordinating these activities with the Federal program. Several
examples of this type of cooperation are now in effect.
The actual control of forest insects is a function of the land-
managing agencies. Insect control on Federal, State, and private
lands receives cooperation, as to technical methods, from insect control
experts of the Bureau of Entomology whenever possible, but actual
suppression costs are at present borne by the agency administering
the lands. Federal aid has been advocated in control work on State
and private lands where these are intermingled or where a menace
1140 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
exists that threatens other timber. In other words, the forest insect
control program should be coordinated between Federal and State
agencies, probably in some such manner as in fire prevention.
FOREST SERVICE RESEARCH
By E. H. FROTHINGHAM, Director, Appalachian Forest Experiment Station
Federal contributions to both agricultural and forest research
take two forms, one of financial grants to the States for the State
agricultural experiment stations, the other of direct Federal appro-
priations applied to building up a strong Federal research organization
in the Department of Agriculture. The two types of organization
are distinct in plan and scope of activity. The agricultural experi-
ment stations are concerned primarily with State and local problems.
The 11 regional forest experiment stations and the Forest Products
Laboratory — which are the Forest Service field units of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture research organization — deal, on the other hand,
with national and regional problems, and with local problems only in
connection with the management of the national forests. The
regional forest experiment stations complement, and in no sense
rival, the State agricultural stations. At the same time, while their
fields are distinct, opportunities for effective cooperation ^ are often
afforded by national or regional forest problems with important
State angles. Thus the Classified List of Projects of the Agricultural
Experiment Stations, 1930 (U.S. Department of Agriculture Miscel-
laneous Publication No. 89) contains 21 projects involving cooperation
with the regional forest experiment stations of the Forest Service.
The purpose of research by the Federal Forest Service is to supply
the basic knowledge necessary for the best management of forest
and range lands, and the best utilization of their products. Of the
knowledge so obtained, a large part is of direct or indirect value to
the States, to smaller political units, and to private timberland owners.
This State-aid aspect of Forest Service research will be apparent from
the following brief review of the major activities discussed in the
section Research in the United States Forest Service, a Study in
Objectives.
RESEARCH AT THE REGIONAL FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS
Each of the 11 regional stations is charged with the solution of
problems pertaining to one of the major forest regions of the United
States. These problems are classified under a very few subject
heads: General forest management, active at all the stations; forest
range investigations, at present in progress at 4 western stations; the
forest survey, at 5 stations; forest economics other than the forest
survey, at 3 stations; erosion-streamflow investigations at 6 stations;
and forest products, at 3 western stations. The work is much more
diverse than the small number of subjects might suggest. Within a
single subject the problems take widely different forms corresponding
to differences in the character of the forest and the uses made of
forest lands and products. In the subject of forest management,
for example, the eastern stations must give much more attention to
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1141
Eroblems of hardwood forestry than the stations in the West, where
ardwoods are not important. The hardwood forest problems are
themselves widely different as, for instance, those of the Northeastern
States and the southern river bottoms. Naval stores investigations
are limited to one station covering the longleaf and slash pine territory
of the Southern States. The development of a forest-planting
technique, on the other hand, though studied at every station, follows
distinctly different lines in each region. These differences give each
station its own distinctive field of regional activity, while all the
stations combine to increase the national fund of knowledge in the
major investigative subjects.
The concentration of forest research activities at regional stations
places at the disposal of the States a local source of information much
of which can be directly applied to the solution of State problems or
those of private timberland owners. A good illustration is the naval
stores research conducted by the Southern Forest Experiment Sta-
tion and the Forest Products Laboratory in the southern pine region.
From South Carolina to Texas the behavior of the turpentine-
producing pines and the climatic and soil conditions affecting gum
yields and extraction are sufficiently alike to warrant the expectation
that research results obtained at representative points will be appli-
cable with minor modifications at other points in the region. Thus
the Federal work on such problems as prolonging the period of profit-
able turpentining, increasing the flow of gum, protecting the stand, or
improving the management of the forest in other ways should be of
quite general use, to individual States and to private operators in
them. Similar illustrations could be given for every forest region
served by a forest experiment station, and for every line of investi-
gative activity. Thus, in forest-fire studies the results of the statis-
tical analysis of past fires that is being made regionally by some of the
forest experiment stations will incidentally assist State and private
fire-protective organizations in improving their technique and effi-
ciency. The regional studies of forest-fire damage similarly furnish
local data applicable to State problems. In like manner, the Federal
research in forest range management in the Western States, while
regional in scope, has direct value to the States as a means for improv-
ing and perpetuating both the livestock industry and the production
of timber within their boundaries.
In the field of forest economics, the research now being conducted
by the Forest Service on a regional or national basis carries with it
a high degree of usefulness to the States and to private timberland
owners. In numerous instances this aid is direct, particularly in the
State aspect of the investigations of forest taxation and insurance,
financial aspects of forestry, and the forest survey. The research on
economic problems of the forest industries and on statistics of pro-
duction, consumption, and requirement is directly serviceable to the
States, as a basis for public policy. This field of research is so broad
and important to all work in forestry that no other investigative
effort, State, regional, or national in scope, can be regarded as com-
plete or fully satisfactory until its economic relationships have been
defined.
For the mutual advantage of close contact between the regional
stations, States, and private owners, the headquarters of the stations
are placed in or near the larger cities and, where practicable, at uni-
1142 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
versity centers, so that the technical workers will be most readily
available for consultation or cooperation on State problems. The
size of the territories covered by the stations necessitates local con-
centrations of work at branch stations situated at points which are
representative of the different important forest types of the region.
This further enlarges the opportunities for contact and cooperation
by the regional station personnel. At these branch stations, experi-
mental forests are being established which constitute another fruitful
source of aid to the States and private owners through the demon-
stration of experimental results. Five or ten such experimental forests
will probably be required in each forest region. Similar forms of aid
are presented in the experimental ranges, for the States in which range
grazing of livestock is important ; and in the natural areas which are
being set aside on the national forests for research purposes.
Another effective means by which cooperative relations may be
established and research at the regional stations brought more closely
in contact with State ^and local agencies, is provided by the station
advisory councils appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. Through
these councils the stations are brought into contact with representa-
tives of State forestry departments, agricultural colleges, universities,
industrial leaders, timberland owners, game and wild life organiza-
tions, and others.
In such ways as these the aggregate of assistance available from the
regional stations to the State forestry agencies and private timberland
owners is large, and not all of it is indirect. Most of the field projects,
in fact, are constantly producing data of local value in the conduct
of the regional studies, which have a direct bearing upon State forestry
problems or those of private owners within the State boundaries.
RESEARCH AT THE FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY
Most of the forest-products research of the Forest Service is con-
centrated at the Forest Products Laboratory, at Madison, Wis.
The laboratory investigations cover a wide variety of problems con-
nected with forest-product utilization, from the cutting of the tree to
the grading, selection, and conditioning of forest products, the funda-
mental study of their properties, their modification to resist decay,
fire, or shrinkage, and the study of methods and kinds of wood for
use in pulp and paper manufacture. The investigations cover also
the design and adaptation of forest products with reference to strength
and other properties, and manufacturing processes, such as gluing and
painting. The laboratory tests of forest products are supplemented
and coordinated with the work of the forest experiment stations in
various ways, notably through studies of the relation between growth
conditions and wood quality which are being conducted by the labora-
tory in cooperation with the regional stations and other agencies.
The work done at the Forest Products Laboratory is intimately
related to many other forest activities. Since it is designed to extend
the use of wood to new products, and to accomplish a better and
closer utilization of timber, it contributes to forest conservation in
general and to various phases of forest management in particular.
Its results are of value to the States in numerous ways, as well as to
local industries, and a considerable amount of the field work done by
the laboratory is in close cooperation with both State and private
agencies.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1143
RESEARCH EXPENDITURES
The growth of the appropriations for Forest Service research from
1915 to the present is shown graphically in figure 1. From less than
$300,000 in 1915, the total expenditures reached a maximum of
nearly $1,800,000 in 1932, dropping to $1,667,000 in 1933. Since
1928, most of the research has been developed under the provisions
of the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act, which embodies the
scope and financial plan. Exceptions are the work on the relation of
forests to erosion and stream flow, which is carried under the item for
soil-erosion investigations in the appropriation act for the Department
of Agriculture, and the studies of forest taxation and insurance, which
THOUSAND
DOLLARS
1800
1500
1200
900
600
300
1915 1920 1925 1930 1935
FIGURE 1.— Appropriations for forest research by the Federal Forest Service, 1915-33.
are covered under the Clark-McNary Act. A proposed extension of
the McSweeney-McNary Act to cover erosion stream flow investiga-
tions is discussed under the section Research in the United States
Forest Service.
Between 1915 and 1932, the funds available for the Forest Products
Laboratory increased from $130,744 to $534,430. The forest experi-
ment stations received in 1921 a total allotment of less than $50,000
and in 1932, including appropriations for the forest taxation inquiry,
they received $1,048,580, a twenty fold increase.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 7
1144 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
SUMMARY
While responsibility for research on State or local forest problems
rests with the appropriate agencies in the States, the Federal research
organization in its work on national or regional or local national forest
problems is of both direct and indirect assistance to the States in
many ways. Federal, State, and private forest-research agencies
frequently aid each other through direct cooperation on local aspects
of the regional problems studied by the Federal stations. Since all
of the important forest types studied by the regional stations are
common to more than one State, the research results obtained, though
regional in scope, furnish much information that can be used by
States and private owners in connection with their own problems.
Intimately related to these investigations is the work of the Forest
Products Laboratory the results of which aid forest management and
forest conservation and are of value to the States, to private opera-
tors, and to industrial plants throughout the country.
In addition to research results, the regional stations offer facilities
for assistance to States and private timberland owners through their
technical staffs which are available for consultation or cooperation,
the experimental forests where research results are demonstrated,
and the advisory research councils which establish contact between
the regional stations and the State and local forest-using agencies of
many kinds.
INFORMATIONAL ACTIVITIES
By A. B. HASTINGS, Forest Inspector in Charge, Division of State Cooperation
DIFFUSION OF FORESTRY INFORMATION
Any effort toward permanent improvement in the management of
forest resources depends for success upon widespread public recogni-
tion of the value of these resources. In compliance with the terms
of the act establishing the Department of Agriculture (Act of May 15,
1862, sec. 511, title 5, U.S. Code), to acquire and to diffuse among
the people of the United States useful information on subjects con-
nected with agriculture, in the most general and comprehensive sense
of that word, the Department maintains a number of types of infor-
mational activities relating to forestry. They include the distribu-
tion of bulletins and circulars on forestry prepared in the Department,
forestry exhibits for State and county fairs and other expositions,
motion-picture films, lantern slides for purchase or loan, special edu-
cational cooperation with the States and with clubs and institutions
hi the States, and extension work among timberland owners by
agents of the Forest Service specially designated for this work. These
activities in one way or another reach a very large number of people.
It is estimated, for example, that motion-picture films on forestry
subjects, of which 920 loans were made to State forestry agencies in
1931 by the Department, were seen by over 2% million people. In
the same year the Forest Service loaned exhibit material of bromides,
display panels, etc., to 13 States, and it is estimated that nearly 4%
million people saw these. In 1932 approximately 90,000 persons
viewed more than 11,000 Forest Service lantern slides loaned to a
very wide variety of organizations in 26 States,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1145
The special educational work consists of cooperation with teachers,
club women, young peoples' forestry clubs, and other organizations.
In 1931, 10 travelling school exhibits made up of picture panels,
photographic prints, wood samples, and publications were loaned to
53 schools and a number of other organizations, and were shown to
about 31,000 persons.
In connection with the cooperative fire protection work discussed
in the section entitled " Federal Financial and Other Direct Aid to the
States," the time of one man is devoted exclusively to giving addresses
on forestry. The itineraries for these lectures are arranged by State
forestry agencies. In 1931, 173 addresses were made to approxi-
mately 40,650 people. These lectures are believed to have aided
materially in the spread of forestry information and enthusiasm and
aided materially in bringing in valuable support to the State projects.
DEMONSTRATION AND ADVICE
Practically the entire time of two representatives of the Forest
Service is spent among the owners of timberlands and farm wood-
lands in the East, with the object of improving forest practice by
advice and demonstration. In the plains region of the West Central
States an important contribution to forestry has been made by such
field stations of the Bureau of Plant Industry as those at Mandan,
N.Dak., Cheyenne, Wyo., and Woodbridge, Ohio. At the Mandan
station, for example, trees have been produced and supplied to selected
ranch owners for the establishment of demonstration windbreaks in
eastern Montana and western North Dakota. This activity has been
invaluable to the States of the Great Plains in connection with the
successful development of tree distribution and farm forestry exten-
sion work, especially in the parts of these States where a deficiency
in rainfall results in little or no natural tree growth.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON WOOD UTILIZATION, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
This committee, organized in 1925, is made up of about 200 mem-
bers representing professional groups and trade 'associations inter-
ested in the production, distribution, and consumption of forest
products. Its aim is to encourage reforestation through intelligent
use of wood. The committee is particularly interested in furthering
more efficient use of wood in building and construction. It works in
close cooperation with both public and private agencies.
PUBLIC ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE LANDS AS AN AID TO
PRIVATE FORESTRY
L. F. KNEIPP, Assistant Forester, Forest Service
CONTENTS
Page
General reaction of private timberland owners to principle of public
acquisition 1147
Economic justification and consequences of an enlarged public acquisition
program 1150
Acquisition of lands denuded, depleted, or in various stages of re-
growth 1150
Acquisition of lands supporting merchantable timber 1151
Public agencies engaged in the acquisition of forest lands 1158
Present purposes and objectives of Federal acquisition program 1160
Considerations governing Federal acquisition program 1161
Effect on financial integrity of counties involved 1161
Effect on existing or contemplated State or county forest-land acqui-
sition programs 1162
Effect on actual or probable private management of forests 1162
Methods by which Federal Government can acquire forest lands 1162
Land exchanges 11 62
Cash purchases 1165
Donations of lands suitable for national-forest purposes 1167
Development of national-forest system and present status 11 68
In western public-land States 1168
Eastern States 1171
Within and contiguous to existing public forests is a great deal of
privately owned forest land integrally related to and demanding man-
agement in common with the public holdings. Additionally, there
are many forest areas not in public ownership where public action
will be necessary to conserve the social and economic values of such
lands. Some of such land may revert to the public through tax
delinquency, but much of it can be publicly acquired only by equitable
compensation to the owners thereof, either by payments, in cash or
bonds, or by grants of other publicly owned natural resources, or by
agreement to special conditions of donation. The term " acquisi-
tion " as used in this discussiou therefore means the systematic estab-
lishment of public ownership in forest-productive lands by dedicating
to that purpose public funds, resources, or administrative facilities.
GENERAL REACTION OF PRIVATE TIMBERLAND OWN-
ERS TO THE PRINCIPLE OF PUBLIC ACQUISITION
The reactions of owners of private forest lands toward past, present,
and proposed programs of public acquisition of forest lands may be
divided into four broad classifications — one negative, the others
favorable. In recent years a certain minority has envisioned the
public-forest properties chiefly as potential future competitors in the
function of timber supply, apprehensive of the effect upon future prices
that would result from timber produced without taxation, with funds
obtainable without interest charge or at rates of interest lower than
1147
1148 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
those available to private enterprises, and with operating deficits
justified by collateral public benefits.
On the other hand, numerous private owners of forest lands see in
proposed programs of public acquisition of forest lands a new leader-
ship by public agencies in the field of actual silviculture; a stimulation
of research and experimentation through which more practical and
profitable principles of forest-land management and utilization will be
evolved and demonstrated for the common benefit of all timber-
productive properties. To others, the proposed public forests are
desired assurances of permanent sources of timber supply for estab-
lished wood-using industries and communities which, by supple-
menting the supplies from inter-related private lands, will more cer-
tainly guarantee and stabilize sustained timber production and
utilization and thus create better conditions for the private practice
of forestry than would prevail in the absence of the public forests.
Finally, other timberland owners regard the policy with favor because
they see in it a public willingness to assume in greater degree obliga-
tions of forest-land ownership which cannot be borne by private
owners; as a procedure by which they can, on terms equitable to all
interests concerned, relieve themselves of an excessive burden of
unliquidated stumpage by means other than destructive exploitation
inimical both to private and public welfare.
The fear that the timber products of public forests will compete
destructively for future markets can be considered only as an abstrac-
tion. Such competition has not thus far assumed alarming propor-
tions nor does it appear to have serious future probabilities. It seems
wholly inconceivable that any public agency would for any length of
time be allowed to manage a public resource in ways destructive of
sound private enterprise or otherwise inimical to the best economic
interests of the region, State, or Nation. If any such tendency
developed it would promptly be corrected. Then, too, as compared
to private action, there is inevitably a certain inflexibility and routine
in any form of public management which would tend to equalize
advantages of tax exemption, cheaper credit, and smaller necessity for
affirmative financial returns. All other factors being relatively
equal, the greater flexibility, simplicity, and lower cost of private
management should enable it successfully to compete with the prod-
ucts of public forests. Upon types of land where this is not true,
where inherent disadvantages would militate against or preclude
successful private-forest management, the unavoidable additional
elements of cost of timber production should equalize whatever
advantages of public administration there might be. The apprehen-
sion that the products of public forests generally could and would
undersell the products of private forests lacks a valid and tenable
foundation.
The future of forestry in the United States hinges largely upon the
development of a technique in the management of forest lands which
within practical limitations oncosts will most adequately realize their
potentialities for the production of timber commodities and related
economic and social services. This not only requires the full explora-
tion of the field of research and experimentation but also widespread
and systematic demonstration of the principles and methods essential
to highest use and their practical consequences, biologically, economi-
cally, and financially. Few if any private owners are prepared or
disposed to pioneer this field; it is peculiarly a public function. Its
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1149
generally beneficial consequences to private forestry already have been
demonstrated beyond doubt. The function of research and demon-
stration is facilitated by the availability of adequate areas of public
forest lands which can be managed for the purpose of deriving scienti-
fic facts rather than exclusively for monetary returns.
The creation of public forests within zones tributary to established
wood-using industries and communities, especially those representing
large fixed capital investments such as pulp and paper plants, is
generally an additional assurance of permanence and stability. There
are few large wood-using plants or dependent communities whose
permanence does not vitally depend upon the systematic recreation
of at least a part of the forest capital necessary to the future life of
the enterprise. Ordinarily, existing and immediately prospective
timber supply is adequate only for a part of a complete forest rotation
or cycle of operation. Private provision of the timber products
necessary to bridge over the hiatus or period of deficiency may not be
economically practical. Barring public action, the early disintegra-
tion of the plant or community would be inevitable. With public
cooperation through public acquisition and management of a part of
the tributary forest land, the permanency of the plant or community
may be definitely assured, thus promoting continued and constructive
private management of that part of the forest area upon which such
management is financially practicable.
Any program of public acquisition of forest land inevitably affords
owners of such land opportunity to relieve themselves of its ownership.
As now generally conducted, it does not afford them a means to unload
at excessive prices. Principles and methods of land appraisal and
purchase have now been so systematized and are so carefully con-
ducted that the owners of the desired lands seldom are able to capital-
ize the public program for purposes of unearned profit in any save a
minor degree. It is in some instances true that properties are not in
demand by other buyers, that their owners tentatively or positively
contemplate relinquishment through tax delinquency. But by the
time the owners have complied with all of the requirements of public
purchase, the nominal per acre value they may receive for such lands
constitutes a negligible net consideration and by its payment proper-
ties which otherwise would pass through a long period of neglect and
damage, with marked impairment of their productive values and
progressively multiplying costs of regeneration, promptly are placed
under efficient control and management and thus are more readily
and economically restored to a condition of productivity. Even where
it is reasonably certain that the lands eventually will revert to public
ownership through tax deinquency, it nevertheless may be the highest
public economy to allow a reasonable consideration for their early
conveyance to public ownership, rather than to take over badly
damaged lands 5 or 10 years later and expend much larger sums for
their reclamation.
A program of public acquisition of forest lands, by permitting a
private owner to divest himself of nonoperable properties whose carry-
ing charges are forcing a destructive and uneconomic liquidation of
stumpage values, may enable that owner to constructively and
adequately manage a certain part of the ownership and thus aid very
directly in the establishment of private forestry as a stable practice.
Such a result promotes, with a minimum net cost, a maximum contri-
bution to a national program of forest conservation.
1150 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMEEICAN FOKESTRY
ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF AN
ENLARGED PUBLIC ACQUISITION PROGRAM
Even the tentative proposal of an enlarged program of public
acquisition of forest lands will immediately give rise to a series of
vitally important questions. One will be that of cost; of the ability of
the public to finance such a program and the economic soundness of
that type of public investment as compared to other pressing needs for
constructive public action. Another will be that of political policy,
of the logic and merit of a program which contemplates enlarged
public participation in a field hitherto quite commonly regarded as one
primarily of private initiative. Both of these questions hinge largely
upon the answer to a third question, namely, the economic justifica-
tion and consequences of such a program. The question of costs is
not one of amount but of economic and social necessity and net bene-
ficial consequences. The question of jurisdiction is not exclusively
one of prerogative but of the most logical and effective method of
collective public action. The facts which follow seem logically to
imply that a substantially enlarged future program of public forest-
land acquisition is fully justified and promises large beneficial economic
consequences.
In any program of public forest-land acquisition the lands requiring
consideration fall into two broad classes, viz : (1) those largely denuded
of their forest cover or supporting only seedlings or saplings, or ad-
vanced second growth not yet of merchantable dimensions or quality,
and (2) those supporting mature stands of timber of commercial size,
quality, and volume. Units meeting the minimum requirements of
efficient and economical public administration occasionally contain
lands of only the first class but more commonly they embrace lands of
both classes and in their adequate development as public properties it
frequently is necessary to decide whether the heavily timbered lands
shall be acquired as fast as funds are available and price agreements
can be reached, or whether they shall be excluded from the purchase
program until their mature values have been exploited by private
enterprise and they can be acquired at low unit costs as cut-over lands.
Past experience creates serious doubts as to whether the latter policy
is in the long run the most economical, as the lower prices at which the
cut-over and often seriously damaged lands can be acquired frequently
are offset by losses of the revenues which could have been secured
through sound operation of the mature stumpage, and/or by the added
costs of restoring the lands to productive condition. Aside from this
factor of the initial investment required to carry out a program of
acquisition, other considerations of public policy deserve attention.
ACQUISITION OF LANDS DENUDED, DEPLETED, OR IN VARIOUS
STAGES OF REGROWTH
Much of the land in this category has lost much or all of its power
to provide men with creative employment, to support industries, to
contribute to costs of local government or to otherwise promote desir-
able economic and social objectives. Any measure that will restore
that power to a degree which in beneficial returns exceeds the costs
of restoration has definite economic justification and beneficial con-
sequences. There can be little question as to the essentiality of
steps to conserve the social values of such lands. The only question
A NATIOHAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1151
is whether such action by public agencies would handicap private
enterprise or benefit it. If the preponderant facts indicate that pri-
vate enterprise would not be handicapped, but instead benefited, little
argument remains against enlarged public ownership of lands in this
classification.
With limited exceptions, individual or private action is wholly con-
tingent upon the existence of a sufficient profit incentive. Where
that is absent private enterprise quickly abandons the obligations of
ownership. There is much forest land where the profit incentive is so
obviously lacking, or is of such small degree, that the probability of
successful private action in forest-land management may be dismissed
from consideration. But while the monetary returns from such lands
may not be sufficient to inspire continued private ownership the
products of such lands if publicly administered will permanently
contribute to the support of wood-using industries which by their
successful and continuous operation will provide markets for the
products of private forest lands and thus promote the practice of
forestry to a degree not otherwise practicable. It may be the best
economic doctrine for the public to assume the task of forest regenera-
tion, leaving to private initiative the more practicable functions of
harvesting, transporting, manufacturing, and merchandising the forest
products. In general, the function of redeeming denuded forest lands
and of carrying young stands of timber to economic maturity will be
assumed by private enterprise under only the most favorable cir-
cumstances, and its assumption by the public under any other cir-
cumstances helps rather than handicaps private forestry. There is
no significant competition between public and private enterprise in
this field of forestry.
ACQUISITION OF LANDS SUPPORTING MERCHANTABLE TIMBER
If the 552 billion board feet of saw timber on the national forests,
the 53 billion feet on other Federal lands, the 42 billion on State forests
and the 32 billion feet on the Indian reservations administered by the
United States on behalf of the Indians, or any substantial part thereof,
were now in private ownership, the conditions of the lumber industry
and of forestry generally would be much worse than they are. Cur-
rent facts make it clearly evident that the initiation of a program of
public retention and acquisition of forest-productive lands was highly
beneficial not only to the public but also the timber industry and the
individual owner of forest land. Instead of^ reacting adversely
against the best economic interests of States and industries, the policy
has, in large degree, safeguarded such interests. The present question
is not of its possible curtailment but of the necessity for its consider-
able enlargement.
The forest situation in the United States presents a striking
economic anomaly — a surplus of privately-owned timber in a country
which faces a possible deficiency of future timber supply. If, during
the past 40 years, the Federal Government had parted title with only
that part of its timbered lands actually needed to supply current
timber requirements, a major cause of the present wasteful depletion
of forest lands and resources would not now exist.
But liberal public-land laws permitted private acquisition of areas
of heavily timbered lands vastly in excess of current and immediately
1152 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
prospective timber requirements and thus vested in private ownership
considerable areas of heavily timbered lands for whose products there
is no economic necessity either at present nor within the next decade
or more. The time will arrive when such timber will be indispensable
to economic and social welfare and all considerations of public interest
dictate that it shall be preserved from wasteful exploitation until that
time, but at present the tendency of all but a small minority of the
present owners of such timber is to follow a policy of quick liquidation
notwithstanding the obvious fact that such a policy is uneconomic
and against the highest public and private interest.
Just prior to the beginning of the century the belief prevailed that
the timber requirements of the Nation would soon equal and shortly
thereafter exceed the total available supply. In such circumstances
large increases in stumpage values seemed inevitable. Nevertheless,
stumpage then was relatively cheap and large areas of heavily timbered
public land were easily obtainable at trifling expense. Costs of
ownership were low. In consequence, a tremendous wave of private
acquisition of timbered lands developed and continued for a decade
or more. Single ownerships embraced scores and hundreds of
thousands of acres of the finest timber on the continent. In general,
the movement was motivated by speculative considerations.
The ensuing financial situation offered many opportunities to
capitalize stumpage values which by force of other circumstances
tended to increase with each passing year. Timber bonds were
readily salable, loans readily obtainable. Invested capital demanded
current returns. Meanwhile costs of State and county government
not only increased but multiplied as need arose for more and better
highways, schools, public buildings, and other forms of public service.
Year by year the capital investment in the properties not only increased
but more incessantly demanded at least partial liquidation. To
accomplish that, mills, logging railroads, and other facilities for
manufacture were imperative, these in turn adding largely to the
capital investments pressing for current returns. As the invested
value per unit of stumpage increased, its more effective protection
against destruction by fire, disease, insects, etc., demanded heavier
annual outlays. Through these several circumstances private forest
ownership has tended in some sections to assume the proportions of
an inverted pyramid, with no greater degree of stability and no
greater assurance against eventual collapse. Getting the money out
of the trees and into the bank seemed the one feasible method by which
collapse could be averted. But to accomplish that a market for the
timber was absolutely essential and demand was smaller than tem-
porary supply.
The situation described, has in substantial measure now run its
course. It was least acute in the New England States and the
Appalachian region. In the southern pine region it has gone so far
that the remaining timber stands are not greatly in excess of operating
requirements, and to some degree a reaction has set in favorable to
a new order of private forest-land management based on small capital
investments in well stocked second-growth lands. In the Lake States
the cycle is so nearly complete that the forest problem largely is one of
regenerating cut-over lands, generally as a public function but with
limited participation by private agencies such as the pulp and paper
manufacturers whose large fixed investments will justify substantial
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1153
outlays in forest-land management. In the southern Rocky Moun-
tain region the smaller extent and wider distribution of ownerships
and their relation to other industrial uses has tended to minimize the
condition described. In Idaho, Montana, California, Oregon, and
Washington, the States now containing the largest proportion of
mature timber, the cycle is just now approaching its most acute stage,
creating a situation which constitutes a real threat to the economic
integrity of the lumber industry, to the States concerned, and to that
part of the national interest dependent upon assured sources of timber
supply and proper safeguarding of watersheds. While the timber is
situated in the five States mentioned, the consequences of its enforced
liquidation adversely affect all of the forest lands of the Nation. So
long as Douglas fir can be delivered on the Atlantic seaboard at sacri-
fice prices, it will be difficult profitably to practice forestry on the
white pine lands of New England or the short leaf pine lands of the
Southern States. Under prevailing conditions timber products
flow into any point of demand, and overproduction in any section
of the country adds to a reservoir of manufactured timber which
threatens to overflow economic safeguards.
Existing mills and operating properties are more than adequate to
supply all current and immediately prospective timber needs. But
the nonoperating properties represent large investments of capital,
increased each year by current outlays for protection charges, taxes,
and other costs of ownership. ^ Furthermore, many of them are sub-
ject to outstanding bonded obligations representing large proportions
of their appraised values, and interest charges must be met or fore-
closure will result. In such circumstances the investment per unit
of stumpage increases with rather alarming rapidity, and threatens
within a relatively few years to exceed the probable realizable value
of the stumpage. Owners assume or think that prompt liquidation
is dictated. The historic and frequently only available method of
liquidation is the operation of the timber. This means new sawmills
added to already excessive mill capacity, new logging railroads in
territories already containing too many, new lumber production added
to a stream already overflowing all demand.
To secure a share of the business the owners of such properties
must cut prices. In order to cut prices they also must cut costs. To
cut costs the common although wholly mistaken practice is to forget
all of the elements of good forest management and abandon all idea
of maintaining the productive power of the land. Faced with the
new competition other operators in the region similarly tend to cut
prices and costs with the same consequences to the future values of
the forest lands. Ultimately, the timber products of the new opera-
tion and its established local competitors, by reason of sacrifice prices,
cheap water-freight rates and other factors, overflow the markets of
remote sections, and immediately the timberland owners within or
tributary to those sections correspondingly tend to cut prices and
costs and to similarly abandon the idea of conserving the timber-pro-
ductive values of their properties or conducting their operations on
a sustained yield basis. The vicious cycle set in motion by the finan-
cial stress of new and economically unnecessary operations finally
influences the future destiny of a major part of all the forest lands of
the Nation.
1154 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
It might be, and frequently is, reasoned that the owners of proper-
ties such as described should suffer the consequences of their own poor
financial judgment; that it is no part of the function or obligation of
the public to take over such properties and permit the owners to
retrieve their unsound investments. If only the property owners
were involved, this reasoning would be correct. However, the inter-
ests of the owners may become wholly insignificant as compared to
the train of adverse circumstances set in motion by their attempts to
salvage their investments. The ultimate economic consequences
deserve serious consideration in such situations.
On the basis of sound social economy, timber for which there is no
immediate need should be withheld from rather than forced into
destructive competition. Its current operation seriously aggravates
an already critical situation. In another quarter century the stump-
age might conceivably do much to alleviate a different type of critical
situation — one caused by a real deficiency of timber supply. How-
ever, the owners could not be compelled or expected to retain the
timber uncut for that period of time except under a definite guarantee
that through tax relief, fixed prices, bonuses of public money or other-
wise, they would be compensated for all costs of ownership during
the intervening period plus a proper return upon invested capital and
managerial control.
In the circumstances described, it might be the highest public econ-
omy to take over the holdings subject to premature and uneconomic
exploitation, establish them as public forests to be controlled and
managed by appropriate public agencies, and hold the timber they
support until its utilization is dictated by sound economic considera-
tions. In this way the forest resources would be preserved from
destruction, a large amount of capital would be kept available for
other needs instead of being invested in unnecessary mills, railroads,
and other manufacturing facilities, established lumber manufacturers
would not be threatened with or actually thrown into insolvency,
their forest lands would not be so destructively logged, and remote
owners of forest lands sincerely endeavoring to practice forestry and
maintain the productive power of their properties would not have
their efforts nullified by forms of sacrifice competition they could not
meet.
Such properties cannot be expropriated or taken over without equi-
table compensation to the owners. But such compensations should
be based upon factual and actuarial determinations of sound invest-
ment values in the light of probable future trends in demand and
value — not on the basis of unprofitable and possibly unwise invest-
ments which may have been made therein, nor on that of earlier
standards of valuation which have markedly been modified by recent
and prospective price trends. It should not be the purpose of a public
forest-land acquisition policy to recoup the losses of timberland inves-
tors. If conducted under the principles herein proposed, the public
acquisition of properties such as herein discussed would not compre-
hend a wastage of public funds. Consistently managed, with utiliza-
tion deferred until need therefor acutally existed, and barring unfore-
seen calamities from fire or disease or insects or windthrow, the prop-
erty should return to the public treasury the full costs of its acquisi-
tion and management. Meanwhile, in offset to taxes, it would be
contributing to many social needs and rendering many forms of bene-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1155
ficial public service, not always susceptible of valuation in monetary
terms or financial revenues but nevertheless distinct and of great public
importance.
Aside from minor economies in production costs, financial returns
from private forest properties of the kinds under consideration can be
realized only by larger sales of products or by high returns per unit
of product. Considering collectively the States of California, Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, and Montana, larger sales would be possible only
with demands for timber greater than those which can now before-
seen. If Pacific coast stumpage is pressing inexorably for liquidation
at the rate of 25 billion board feet per year and if total national lumber
consumption does not exceed 30 to 35 billion board feet per year the
impossiblity of increasing financial returns by a greater volume of
sales becomes obvious.
Private owners of timbered lands are subject to all the inexorable
laws of financial economy. To maintain financial solvency the
periodically realizable values produced by a forest property must at
least equal the values consumed by the processes of production
during the same period. In the case of private ownership intangible
and abstract social values not translatable into monetary returns
cannot figure in the equation, no matter how essential and important
they may be to general public welfare. Costs of ownership and
production must be met by cash outlays and therefore must be offset
by cash returns. In simple terms, the owners of large timbered
holdings pressing for liquidation must reduce the costs of ownership
or increase the financial returns of ownership if they are to avoid
the wreckage of their properties, or bankruptcy.
New principles of forest utilization now in course of development
and application promise substantial increases in net returns and
markedly improved conditions for permanent forest practice. To
the extent they prove to be practicable they will aid greatly to
relieve the situation. In situations where such principles of utiliza-
tion are inapplicable and where financial adjustments cannot be
worked out under private ownership public participation is essential
to the conservation of the economic and social values involved.
Reduced to its elementary form, the solution of the problem pre-
sented by certain types of private forest ownership will lie in the
willingness of the people of the United States to assume a larger part
of the costs of such forest conservation either by relieving the private
owner of a larger part of the costs of maintaining the property in a
fully productive state, or by paying more for the commodities of the
forests thus conserved, or by taking over the ownership and control
of that portion of the unexploited forest area which, in the public
interest, should be withheld from industrial exploitation until needed
to meet actual public requirements, or by public regulation, which
may have to be accomplished by provisions for expropriations.
Public contribution to decreased costs might take several forms.
With the support of public credit properties might be refinanced at
lower rates of interest with consequent reduction of financial pres-
sure. The public might assume a larger share of protecting existing
values against destruction by fire, disease, and insects. The public
might underwrite a system of forest insurance under which the risk
of forest-land ownership would be appreciably diminished. The
public might grant partial exemption from annual taxes. None of
1156 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMEEICAN FOKESTBY
these courses could be followed without substantial outlays of public
funds or losses of public revenues.
The public also could increase the financial returns to the private
owner of timberland. It could, for example, pay a bonus on lands
managed in conformity with prescribed standards or principles. It
could rebate taxes previously paid on such lands. Most practical of
all, it could pay higher unit prices for the lumber and other timber
products which it consumes and thus make it possible for the pro-
ducers thereof more effectively to meet the true requirements of
forest conservation.
The first question presented by this latter proposal is that of ways
and means. So long as the products of the forest are subject to the
free play of the laws of supply and demand, and so long as a surplus
of forest products is competing for a limited market, and so long as
the timberland owners believe themselves to be driven by financial
necessity to liquidate regardless of the ultimate effect upon their
forest properties or financial status, no way exists through which the
public can be compelled to pay a greater share of the costs of ade-
quate forest management, except by a modification of existing laws
through which production could be controlled and correlated with
demand, and the depressing effect of unrestrained competition upon
unit prices could be averted.
Otherwise the better the market, the more existing mills are
brought into maximum production, the more new mills are pro-
moted. In such circumstances higher unit prices for timber com-
modities would not necessarily mean better forest management.
Some definite and guaranteed correlation between production and
consumption, stabilizing, and safeguarding the permanency and
security of conservative forest management, would be an unavoidable
essential.
Under American concepts of government and private enterprise it
is quite natural to propose that the desired objective be attained by
a compact or series of compacts between the timberland owners of
the Nation, supported by State or possibly Federal regulatory pow-
ers and by State and Federal policies of public forest-land manage-
ment and utilization. This would require drastic modification of
existing public policies relating to combinations of industry or capital.
Unless the compacts encompassed all large timber holdings, both
operative and inoperative, each price advance would be merely an
incentive to the installation of additional mill capacity and the
operation of additional blocks of timber. No compact among
timberland owners could be successfully maintained unless it em-
braced all actual and potential owners of such lands, and was sus-
ceptible of effective enforcement by legal processes. It would
require new machinery for supervision and control. To be effective
it would mean large increases in the costs of the lumber and other
timber products consumed by the American people.
As an alternative^ the adjustment of the present chaotic condi-
tion of the lumber industry by a program of controlled production
leading to the establishment of higher prices per unit of timber
product, thus endowing timberland owners with greater financial
power to properly manage and utilize their properties, consideration
properly may be given to the question of whether public acquisition
of certain forest areas may not be the most equitable method by which
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1157
the public may participate in the needful processes of forest conserva-
tion as related to such areas. By payment of higher prices the con-
suming public would create conditions more favorable to forest con-
servation, but it would not by that process be in a position to definitely
dictate and enforce the minimum requirements of sound forest-land
management, except by enactment of regulatory legislation, and the
establishment of the necessary processes and machinery for its en-
forcement.
If the public must, in fact, contribute more fully toward the main-
tenance of acceptable conditions on forest lands now in private
ownership, the preferable alternative might be for the public to take
over, control, and manage the parts of the privately owned timber-
lands which by the menace of then* actual or potential utilization
cause the chaotic condition now prevailing in the lumber industry
and the consequent antisocial waste and wreckage of natural values.
By such a course the public would secure definite values in return for
its cash outlays; would create by administrative action rather than
new and only partially tested regulatory power the conditions essential
to national security and progress, and would derive and enjoy the
concrete social benefits and financial returns ultimately obtainable
from the properties thus acquired.
The best data available show that of the total estimated stand of
saw- timber in the United States, 79 percent is in the Pacific coast,
northern Rocky Mountain and southern Rocky Mountain regions.
The Pacific coast and northern Rocky Mountain regions alone contain
71 percent of the total stand. It is these regions primarily that are
responsible for the overproduction of lumber which tends so strongly
to disrupt normal processes of forest utilization and management,
not only within their limits but nationally. The reason is not far to
seek. Over 47 percent of the timber supply in these three western
regions, 618 billion board feet exclusive of that in farm wood lots, is in
private ownership. This is 20 times or more the normal annual con-
sumption of the entire Nation.
In recent extensive studies made by the Forest Service, the stump-
age in the western regions was classified into three zones, on the basis
of 5-year average costs of conversion or manufacture and average
selling prices for the products. The 5-year periods were from 1925 to
1929 in some instances; 1926 to 1930 in others. Zone 1 included the
timber that on the bases indicated could be milled at a profit of 1 cent
or more per thousand board feet; zone 2, the timber which could only
be operated at a loss of from 1 cent to $5 per thousand feet; and zone
3, the timber where the operating loss would exceed $5 per thousand
feet. On these bases, the privately owned timber in the Pacific coast,
northern Rocky Mountain, and southern Rocky Mountain regions
divides as follows: Zone 1, 373,568,000,000 feet; zone 2, 172,067,000,-
000 feet; zone 3, 99,514,000,000 feet. Considering California, Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, and Montana, collectively, but excluding inferior
species such as larch and fir for which there is but a limited demand,
and excluding also, except in California, the private timber in farm
wood lots, the timber in private ownership is classified as follows:
Zone 1, 338,023,000,000 feet; zone 2, 155,953,000,000 feet, and zone 3,
85,749,000,000 feet; a total private holding of 579,725,000,000 board
feet hi the five States.
1158 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The greatest probabilities of early exploitation are of course, in
zone 1, but under the stress of inescapable fixed charges operations
also are conducted in zone 2, the stump age absorbing the operating
deficits. Zone 3 is largely safeguarded against early exploitation by
the large margin of loss per thousand board feet. However, new de-
velopments such as new transportation facilities may modify the
classification by throwing areas into zone 1 or zone 2. Moreover,
since all of the land is subject to all costs of private ownership a
given tract of timber even though it is not subject to profitable op-
eration may by the burdens of its ownership compel the liquidation
of more accessible stumpage to meet current costs.
In the circumstances described, public acquisition of heavily
timbered lands, rather than being detrimental to private forestry, is
one of the most practicable means by which private forestry can be
placed upon a sound and stable foundation. Since the power of
eminent domain is rarely exercised in forest acquisition programs
and considerations allowed are held strictly to current market prices,
the public would acquire only those lands which private agencies were
indisposed or unable to carry until the utilization of their timber
values was dictated by sound economic considerations. The policy
therefore would be one of relief to private forestry rather than one
of negation. Considering the nature and location of existing and
proposed public forests, the public programs of acquisition largely
would involve timbered lands in zone 3, the zone within which private
operation is, and for some time will be, least practicable. Relieved of
the burden of zone 3 properties, private operators would be in a far
better position to manage their zone 1 and zone 2 holdings in con-
formity with good forest practices and sound economic principles.
PUBLIC AGENCIES ENGAGED IN THE ACQUISITION OF
FOREST LANDS
Municipal acquisition of forest lands ordinarily is motivated by
one or both of two purposes : The protection of the municipal water-
shed or the provision of areas within which the citizens can engage in
various forms of outdoor recreation. In few cases is the municipally
owned forest regarded primarily as a source of timber supply or of
income from the sale of timber products; although frequently, as
E roved in European countries, it has large potentialities along those
nes.^ In recent years, notably in New England, there has been a
growing interest in "town forests" with increased emphasis upon
revenue production. While the movement seems destined to grow
in scope and importance as time goes on, it has not thus far attained
large dimensions nor gained general recognition.
Similarly, in the instances where forest lands have been purchased
by counties, or secured through exchanges of other county lands or
resources, the element of public recreation has been prominent and
though designated as forests the lands largely perform the functions
of parks. Since tax-delinquent lands in many States revest in the
county, only the heavily populated counties containing lands of high
value and little subject to tax reversion hitherto have found it neces-
sary to make appreciable purchases of forest lands to promote their
programs. In few instances have the possibilities of well-managed
forest lands as sources of permanent county income received construe-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1159
live recognition; due probably to the fact that new standards of
public improvement and service have drawn heavily on county
finances, leaving little for types of investment that could be deferred.
In counties largely comprising forest lands, the depletion of the tim-
ber values and consequent reduction of tax income to the county has
tended to preclude any constructive action by the county. The num-
ber of counties systematically developing productive^ county forests
will progressively increase, but neither in number nor in total acreage
acquired will they be major factors in a program of public forestry in
the near future.
The States are the smallest units of government, with rare excep-
tions, which have definitely formulated plans and programs of forest-
land acquisition; and only a minority of the States offer present
promise of carrying such programs into effective execution on any
considerable scale. States which still retain large areas of public land
granted by the Federal Government, and States containing large
areas which have reverted to public ownership through tax delin-
quency, or which promise to so revert in course of time, do not need
to devote part of their financial or other resources to the acquisition
of additional lands upon which to initiate the processes of forest
management; their chief problem is to make available the means
with which to redeem the obligation imposed by present holdings or
the involuntary accessions through tax reversion. In such States
acquisition of additional lands by purchase, exchange, or donation
will be important only as a means of creating better conditions of
management and administration through the elimination of private
holdings within units of management, or by the extension of unit
boundaries to more logical limits of administration. In this category
may properly be placed all States in the Lake, northern Rocky Moun-
tain, south Rocky Mountain, and Pacific coast regions, and some of
the States in the southeastern region.
So far as the next decade or so is concerned, the probability of ex-
tensive State programs of forest-land acquisition by cash purchase,
exchange, or the solicitation of donations is strong only in the New
England, Middle Atlantic, and Central regions, plus one or two States
in the southeastern region. These groups of States now have little
or no land granted by the Federal Government. Their populations
are dense, their per capita wealth large, their lands possess sufficient
economic values to warrant continued private ownership and tax
payment, hence tax reversion is at a minimum. The social and eco-
nomic importance of forests is widely recognized and State policies
and programs of forest conservation are of longest standing and
greatest permanency. Due to these circumstances these States offer
freatest promise of progressively developing and expanding their
tate forest systems by systematic acquisition of the essential lands.
State principles and procedures of acquisition are not greatly dis-
similar to those of the Federal Government. In each case sound and
conservative principles of land valuation and appraisal are developed
and adhered to. Purchases are confined to specifically defined areas
established wholly on the bases of public value and necessity. Provi-
sion normally is made for executive or legislative supervision and
control of purchases so as to avert any misuse of either public power
or public funds. The net result has been to place in State ownership
168342°— 33— vol. 2 8
1160 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
certain forest properties of major importance to public welfare, with
clear and unencumbered titles and at costs safely within sound limits
of actual monetary value. The section " State Accomplishments and
Plans" so fully covers the subject of State holdings that their dis-
cussion here is unnecessary.
As is quite natural, the Federal program of acquisition through
purchase, exchange, or donation thus far has developed with greatest
rapidity and has attained the greatest present and prospective dimen-
sions. It actually has been carried out in some degree in all of the
31 States containing national forests and should eventually extend to
several more. Collectively it represents the largest area and invest-
ment of public funds to date and prospectively. Its continuous oper-
ation over a period of 21 years has served to stabilize the principles
and policies by which it is directed and controlled. There has been a
more systematic collection and recordation of factual data, making
available detailed statistical information. Due to these several cir-
cumstances it is both feasible and desirable to discuss the Federal
acquisition program in greater detail than is possible in relation to
State, county, and municipal programs.
PRESENT PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES OF FEDERAL
ACQUISITION PROGRAM
Where national interests are concerned, and under prevailing public
policies, the control and management of certain forested areas is
properly a Federal function, and if the lands involved are not in
public ownership and control, their acquisition is an essential pre-
requisite to effective Federal action. For example, the policy of
Federal cooperation in protection of the watersheds of navigable
streams and stimulation of timber production east of the Great
Plains was almost wholly dependent upon Federal acquisition through
cash purchase of the areas essential to the consummation of the
project. In other words, in certain parts of the United States the
Federal function of watershed and forest protection necessitates a
broad program of land acquisition.
Unless it is complete and comprehensive, Federal ownership within
any given area fails in some degree of its purpose, is less efficient,
and more expensive. Privately owned lands interspersed among or
contiguous to the Federal lands add greatly to costs of protection
and seriously interfere with processes of utilization and management
necessary to realize the full public values of the public properties.
Lands owned by persons who will not cooperate in essential programs
of forest protection against fire, insects, or disease markedly diminish
the effectiveness and increase the costs of such protective measures.
Lands which control access to and consequently the utilization of
publicly owned natural resources frequently increase the costs and
difficulties of such utilization or create undesirable monopolies.
Where natural units of timber operation are characterized by diverse
ownerships and conflicting plans or policies of use and management,
it is impossible to manage the public properties as efficiently and
economically as would be the case were the unit wholly in public
ownership.
The present purposes and objectives of the Federal acquisition
program, therefore, are (1) to create conditions most favorable for
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1161
the redemption of Federal responsibilities within areas in other than
Federal ownership and (2) to round out and consolidate existing
Federal holdings in established national-forest units so as to promote
their most efficient and economical protection and management and
the highest degree of industrial and social use.
CONSIDERATIONS GOVERNING FEDERAL ACQUISITION
PROGRAM
EFFECT OF FINANCIAL INTEGRITY OF COUNTIES INVOLVED
Lands in Federal ownership are not subject to taxation. The
act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260), provides that one fourth of the
gross revenues derived from sales of national-forest products or
occupancy of areas shall be paid to the States for distribution to the
counties containing national forests ; but where all currently realizable
commercial values have been removed from the land prior to its
acquisition, as is frequently the case, there may be little or no current
revenue until new crops of timber have been produced. In the
interim the income received by the county may not adequately re-
place the taxes previously paid. In consequence the Federal Govern-
ment, in all of its forest-land-acquisition program, must give careful
consideration to the degree to which the acquisition of a given area
will affect the financial and political integrity of the county or counties
in which that area is situated.
In some instances it is so evident that the lands will revert to public
ownership through tax delinquency and thereafter cease to contribute
anything in the way of taxes that the county officials interpose no
objection to their acquisition by the United States. In other in-
stances the availability of the national-forest stumpage to be granted
in exchange for the private lands may make possible the continued
operation of a logging enterprise and furnish greater opportunity
for employment and industry than otherwise would be the case;
in which circumstance the county officials may endorse and support
the transaction.
In other instances the increased net acreage in Federal control
within a given county will permit it to share more generously in the
receipts from the national forest or to qualify for an increased pro-
portion of Federal aid in road and trail construction and thus offset,
at least in part, the taxes which would be collected if the land con-
tinued in private ownership. Frequently enlarged participation by
the United States in forest protection and development is regarded
as offsetting possible losses of taxes. If, however, these considerations
do not prevail, if it is evident that beyond a certain point acquisition
by the United States would be inimical to the financial and political
integrity of the local unit of government, limitations are established
which will obviate such results. In some instances maximum
limitations of area are agreed upon by the county, State, and Federal
agencies and thereafter govern the Federal acquisition program
within the particular region. Occasionally, as a means of safeguard-
ing the integrity of agricultural communities, specifically defined
areas within the exterior boundaries of the national forest or purchase
unit are eliminated therefrom so as to obviate the possibility of their
purchase. In other words, the acquisition program always is influ-
enced by considerations of county interest. Where an exchange of
1162 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
any magnitude is pending consideration, the officials of the county
concerned are afforded opportunity to informally indicate whether
such exchange would be adverse to the welfare of the county, and if they
make such a showing, the exchange is either modified or abandoned.
EFFECT ON EXISTING OR CONTEMPLATED STATE OR COUNTY
FOREST PROGRAM
The Federal forest land acquisition program lacks any element of
competition with similar programs of other political jurisdictions.
Where State or county initiative reasonably is meeting the requirement
of forest conservation or has definite future plans to do so, action by
the Federal Government is, of course, unnecessary. In the formula-
tion of the Federal program the effect on existing or contemplated
State or county forest programs is therefore a major consideration;
and where there is reason to believe that the inauguration of a
Federal program of purchase would militate against an actual or
contemplated State or county program, the Federal plan is appro-
priately modified. Usually there is no conflict except where the same
lands are involved in both or several programs. Mere adjacency or
or contiguity of State and Federal forest holdings is not an adverse but
rather a favorable feature since it permits of better coordination and
the various economies obtainable through cooperation. Many
national forests adjoin and in some instances surround State forest
units without appreciable detriment to the management of either
property.
EFFECT ON ACTUAL OR PROBABLE PRIVATE MANAGEMENT OF
FOREST PROPERTIES
Every public forest policy thus far evolved places the major
dependence upon private initiative for future timber supplies and
satisfactory management of forest lands. A program of forest-land
acquisition which would minimize or .defeat the fullest practical
measure of private forest management therefore would be against
the public interest, and any feature of the Federal acquisition pro-
gram which would have that effect is either modified or abandoned.
METHODS BY WHICH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN
ACQUIRE FOREST LANDS
LAND EXCHANGES
The first legislative provision for the public acquisition of privately
owned lands within national forests was the ill-famed forest-lieu
selection provision of the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 56), which
had two major purposes: (1) to enable the private landowner to escape
the assumed restrictions of a federally managed reservation, and (2)
to promote the more efficient and economical administration of such
reservations. The idea was good; the provisions for its enforcement
wholly bad. The Secretary of the Interior was given no adminis-
trative discretion, no authority to withhold approval of selections
involving disproportionate values. The law permitted owners of
lands within national forests to do certain things and naturally the
owners took advantage of it. The Secretary of the Interior could not
deny landowners the right to do what the law allowed ; even where he
knew that the lands reconveyed to the United States were practically
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1163
worthless and the lands selected in lieu thereof the finest and most
valuable timberlands remaining in public ownership. The Federal
departments could only protest against the law and urge its repeal,
which finally was accomplished by the act of March 3, 1903 (33 Stat.
1246).
Because of the unsavory record of the Forest Lieu Selection Act,
Congress naturally looked askance at any and all ensuing proposals
to acquire privately owned lands by grants of other public resources
or by cash payments. It was not until March 13, 1908, that the
first national forest land exchange law was enacted ; that relating only
to the Crow Creek National Forest, Wyo. February 18, 1909, an
act was approved permitting selections of unreserved public lands
for private lands in the Calaveras Big Tree groves in California;
and on February 28, 1911, another act authorized consolidations
through exchanges in the Kansas National Forest in the State of
that name. The act of March 4, 1911, authorizing exchanges within
national forests in the State of Oregon was the first land-exchange
measure of more or less general application. Other acts followed in
quick succession until at present there are on the statute books a
total of 56 acts of more or less general application and 13 which author-
ize exchanges with specifically named private owners or of specifically
described lands. The date, statutory citation, field of operation, and
major provisions of each of these acts are shown in table 1.
The. fundamental difference between the objectionable Forest Lieu
Selection Act and the various acts listed in table 1 is that the latter
are all wholly in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior and/or
the Secretary of Agriculture and are operative only upon affirmative
showing that a given exchange is definitely in the public interest and
will vest in public ownership values at least as great as those granted
in exchange. They do not endow the private landowner with any
legal right or power to demand or compel an exchange nor do they
sanction exchanges purely or primarily for the convenience of the
private landowner. There must in each case be a demonstrable and
dominant public purpose and benefit.
TABLE 1. — Acts of Congress authorizing exchanges within the various national
forests, Aug. 15, 1932
Date of act
Forest
Authorizes—
Mar. 13, 1908 (35 Stat. 43)
Crow Creek Na-
Land in national forest for public domain military
Feb. 18, 1909 (35 Stat. 626) .
tional Forest.
Calaveras Big
maneuvers, Wyoming.
Lands in forest for public domain.
Feb. 28, 1911 (36 Stat. 960)
Trees.
Kansas...
Lands within equal area and value. (All recon-
Mar. 4, 1911 (36 Stat. 1357) .......
May 7, 1912 (37 Stat. 108)
National forests
within Oregon.
Calaveras Big
veyed.)
Lands within.
Do.
July 25, 1912 (37 Stat. 200) ...
Trees.
Paulina
Lands within equal area and value.
Aug. 22, 1912 (37 Stat. 323)
Pecos, Zuni
Timber Pecos for timber and land Zuni. (Santa
July 31, 1912 (37 Stat. 241)
State of Michigan-
Barbara Pole & Tie Co.)
State lands equal area and value. (Either outside
Apr. 16, 1914 (38 Stat. 345)
Sierra-Stanislaus
or within national forests.)
Timber and land for land within Yosemite National
May 13, 1914 (38 Stat. 376)
Sierra .
Park.
Lands within equal area and value.
June 24, 1914 (38 Stat. 387)
Ochoco
Do.
Sept 8, 1916 (39 Stat 852)
Whitman
Land within for timber in or near national forest.
July 3, 1416 (39 Stat. 344).
Florida
Equal value.
Sept. 8, 1916 (39 Stat. 846)
Oregon
Do.
Mar. 3, 1917 (39 Stat. 1122)
Mar. 4, 1921 (41 Stat. 1364)...
National forests in
Montana.
Carson...
Timber selected in national forests.
Land for equal value land or timber in forest.
1164
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 1. — Acts of Congress authorizing exchanges within the various national
forests, Aug. 15, 1932 — Continued
Date of act
Forest
Authorizes —
Feb 27 1921 (41 Stat. 1148).
Montezuma
Equal value land for land or timber in forest or on
June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 980)
Sierra...
320 acres adjoining.
Equal value land for land or timber in forest.
Mar 4 1921 (41 Stat. 1366)
Rainier .
Do.
June 5 1920 (41 Stat 986)
Harney
Land equal value.
May 20, 1920 (41 Stat. 605)
Oregon
Land for land, equal value, or timber within forest
Feb 2, 1922 (42 Stat. 362)
Deschutes— ..
Lands within 6 miles or in forest for lands or timber
Mar 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465)
All
in any Oregon forests.
General Exchange Act. Land for land or timber
Mar 8 1922 (42 Stat 416)
Malheur
in national forest, equal value.
Land for land or timber in forest, equal area
Sept'. 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1036)
Dec 20 1921 (42 Stat 350)
Wenatchee, Olym-
pic, Snoqualmie.
Rainier
Lands outside for lands or timber within, equal
value.
Lands for land or timber within forest, equal
Feb 14 1923 (42 Stat. 1245)
Lincoln
value.
Lands in forest for lands outside, equal value
Sept 22 1922 (42 Stat 1017)
All
Land deeded to United States under act June 4,
Sept. 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1018)
Mar 3 1925 (43 Stat 1117)
State of Idaho
Custer
1897, base of new selections outside forests.
School lands in forests for certain lands outside.
Reservation coal offered lands.
Feb 20, 1925 (43 Stat. 952)
Plumas, Eldorado,
Lands outside national forests for lands or timber
Feb 28 1925 (43 Stat. 1079)
Stanislaus, Shas-
ta, Tahoe.
Mount Hood .
within, equal value.
Do.
Mar. 4, 1925 (43 Stat. 1279)
Umatilla, Wallo-
Lands outside national forest for lands or timber
Feb 28 1925 (43 Stat. 1090)
wa, Whitman.
All
under act Mar. 20, 1922.
Reservation of mineral timber, etc., under act
June 7 1924 (43 Stat. 643)
Forests in New
Mar. 20, 1922.
Private lands in Las Trampas grant for timber of
Jan 12 1925 (43 Stat 739)
Mexico,
do
equal value in any forest in New Mexico.
Private lands in Santa Barbara grant for timber of
Feb 28 1925 (43 Stat. 1074)
Snnqualmip
equal value in any forest in New Mexico.
Lands outside for lands or timber within forest
Mar 3 1925 (43 Stat. 1215)
All
under act Mar. 20, 1922.
Provisions of General Exchange Act extended to
Mar 4, 1925 (43 Stat. 1282) .
Whitman
lands acquired under Weeks law.
Lands outside for land or timber within forest under
Apr. 21, 1926 (44 Stat. 303)
All forests in New
act Mar. 20, 1922.
Lands within Mora grant for lands or timber
May 26, 1926 (44 Stat. 655)
Mexico and Ari-
zona.
Absaroka, Qalla-
within forests.
Private lands within for lands or timber within
June 15, 1926 (44 Stat. 746)
tin.
National forests in
forests.
State-owned lands within forests for lands in forests
Mar 3 1927 (44 Stat 1378)
New Mexico.
Arapaho
or public domain.
Lands outside for national forest land or timber.
Mar' 4, 1927 (44 Sta. 1412)
Colville---
Do.
Feb 15, 1927 (44 Stat. 1099)
Black Hills and
Lands within 5 miles for national forest land or
Mar 2, 1927 (44 Stat. 1262)
Harney.
State of Oregon
timber, in forests named.
Select revested Oregon & California R.R. land in
Apr. 16, 1928 (45 Stat. 431)
Carson, Manzano,
lieu school sections in national forests.
Lands within private land grants.
Apr 23 1928 (45 Stat 450)
Santa Fe.
Crater
Lands within 6 miles of national forest.
Apr 10, 1928 (45 Stat. 415)
Challis, Sawtooth.
Certain described lands outside national forests.
Mar 26, 1928 (45 Stat. 370)
Manti .
Lands outside national forests.
May 17 1928 (45 Stat 598)
Missoula
Certain described lands outside national forests.
Jan. 30, 1929 (45 Stat. 1145)
Montana
Lands within 6 miles of national forests.
Feb 7, 1929 (45 Stat. 1154)
Lincoln ._
Lands within national forests for public domain.
May 14 1930 (46 Stat. 278)
Fremont
Lands in certain described townships outside
Feb 25, 1932 (47 Stat. 55)
Cache .
national forest.
Certain described lands outside national forest.
June 30 1932 (47 Stat. 451)
Siuslaw
Extended to lands in T. 12 S., R. 6 and 7 W.
ACTS AUTHORIZING EXCHANGES WITH PRIVATE PARTIES
July 15, 1912 (37 Stat. 192).
May 14, 1914 (38 Stat. 377)
July 28, 1914 (38 Stat. 556)
Feb. 17, 1917 (39 Stat. 922)
July 3, 1916 (39 Stat. 350).
Feb. 28, 1919 (40 Stat. 1204)
Feb. 28, 1919 (40 Stat. 1209)
June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 757)
Jan. 7, 1921 (41 Stat. 1087)
Feb. 7, 1921 (41 Stat. 1147)
Dec. 30, 1919 (41 Stat. 1455)
Apr. 11, 1922 (42 Stat. 493)
Apr. 13, 1926 (44 Stat. 248)
)
Black Hills, Har-
7)__.
ney.
Cache—.
)
Fishlake .
I)
Cache
Powell, Sevier
M)
Cache
)9)
do
Colorado
)
Sevier
o.::
San Isabel
35)
})
Powell, Sevier
Tahoe
«—
Medicine Bow. .
John L. Baird.
Joseph Hodges.
Salina Land & Grazing Co.
Aquila Nebeker.
John L. Sevy.
Jas. E. Hauser, Wm. H. Stewart, Isaac P. Stewart.
C. Boiling, F. Zollinger, Jr., Conrad Alder, Robert
Murdock.
John Zimmerman.
Henry Blackburn.
A. A. Bruce.
Thomas Sevy.
William Kent.
Leo Sheep Co. Selected land outside.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1165
A basic requirement of all the laws listed in table 1 is that the
values revested in public ownership through exchange must be at
least as great as the values relinquished by the public. To guarantee
such result, careful and detailed examinations, cruises, and appraisals
of both offered and selected properties or resources are made by quali-
fied members of the Forest Service. The resulting reports, maps,
and estimates of comparative values are then carefully reviewed and
checked successively by the forest supervisor, the regional forester or
his immediate assistants, and the forester or his immediate assistants,
and no exchange is recommended to the Secretary of the Interior
until all of these reviewing agencies are satisfied that in every respect
and detail it fully meets the spirit and letter of the law under which
it is being made. A further safeguard to public interest rests in the
fact that practically all exchanges now consummated are made under
laws which require that publicity be given to pending exchanges by
advertisement in newspapers of general circulation within the counties
in which the offered lands and the selected lands and /or stumpage
are situated; so that each such exchange is a matter of common
knowledge and subject to protest if any belief exists that it would be
against public interest. Present legislative and administrative prin-
ciples and procedures in national-forest land-exchange work thus
completely eliminate any possibility that valuable public resources
will pass into private ownership except under circumstances wholly
in the public interest and at valuations equitable to the public.
CASH PURCHASES
^ By the time definite form was given to the policy of Federal acqui-
sition of forest lands in the Eastern States for purposes of watershed
protection, little remained in the way^ of Federally owned lands or
timber resources within the territory involved. With negligible ex-
ceptions the lands essential to the program were privately owned, and
could be acquired only by cash payments. The act of March 1, 1911,
(36 Stat. 961), commonly known as the Weeks law, accordingly made
and authorized appropriations to cover costs of purchase. Further
appropriations later were authorized by the acts of April 30, 1928,
and June 2, 1930. The record of total appropriations to date is as
follows:
Fiscal year:
1910 (all reverted to Treasury) $1,000,000.00
1911 (of which $1,982,679.24 reverted to Treasury) 2, 000, 000. 00
1912 2,000,000.00
1913 _. 2,000,000.00
1914__ 2,000,000.00
1915 ___ ___ 2,000,000.00
1916__ None
-!»!<
1918
_ None
1919__
_ _ __ __ _ None
1920___
600, 000. 00
1921
_ __ None
1922__
1,000,000.00
1923__
450, 000. 00
1924__
450, 000. 00
1925
818, 540. 00
1926
1,000,000.00
1927 __.
1,000,000.00
1928
_ 1, 000, 000. 00
1166 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
Fiscal year — Continued.
1928 (supplemental) .___ _ $1, 000, 000. 00
1929 . ... 1,000,000.00
1930 2,000,000.00
1931 2,000,000. 00
1932 (of which $300,000 reverted to Treasury) _ 2, 000, 000. 00
Total appropriations 28, 318, 540. 00
Reverted to Treasury 3, 282, 679. 24
Net appropriations 25, 035, 860. 76
For so important a project, careful control and supervision ob-
viously was necessary. To provide it the Weeks Law created the
National Forest Reservation Commission, in which was vested the
power of final approval of land purchases under the act. The project
involved three of the executive departments of the Government; the
War Department which had control over navigable streams, the
Department of the Interior which handled the public lands, and the
Department of Agriculture which functioned for the Federal Govern-
ment in matters relating to forestry. The Secretaries of these three
Departments therefore were made ex-officio members of the Com-
mission, the Secretary of War to be the President thereof.
The project also was of direct interest to the legislative branch of the
Government, so that the law provided that two Senators designated
by the President of the Senate and two Representatives designated by
the Speaker of the House should also be members of the Commission.
Through the Commission both the legislative and executive branches
of the Government participate directly in the execution of the pro-
visions of the act. No purchases of lands can be made until they have
been approved by the Commission, which usually meets in formal
session about twice each year but functions additionally by recess
action based upon detailed memoranda. While authority to deter-
mine the areas within which purchases should be made is vested in
the Secretary of Agriculture by the act of March 1, 1911, the practice
is to present to the National Forest Reservation Commission all facts
relating to a proposed purchase unit and to secure its assent and
concurrence before initiating any negotiations for purchase within
such unit. Under the established procedure all expenditures of funds
for land purchases are carefully supervised and controlled, and
confined strictly to the purposes of the basic laws.
One of the basic provisions of the Weeks Law (section 7) is—
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 * * *.
The States thus have full power to decide whether or to what extent
the Federal Government shall be allowed to purchase lands for
national-forest purposes. The majority of the State acts of consent
under which purchases are made contain no limitations, but several
apply to only certain specified parts of the State, one prescribes a
maximum area for the State, one a maximum area allowable within
any single county, two require the concurrence of the county com-
missioners, State conservation commission, and State land boards.
No national-forest purchase unit can be established nor purchases
made therein except in conformity with the provisions of the State act
of consent.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1167
Following the establishment of a national-forest purchase unit,
ownership of the lands embraced therein are determined and recorded.
The willingness of the United States to receive and pass upon offers
of sale is publicly announced, and persons desiring to offer their lands
are furnished with printed forms upon which their proposals can be
presented in detail. As they are received the proposals are carefully
reviewed and if the proposed conditions of sale, including the price
asked for the property, are deemed reasonable, a careful examination,
cruise, and appraisal of the property is then made by a trained and
experienced examiner. Values for soils and young growth are based
upon values prevailing in local commercial practice as checked by
comparisons with values established by earlier purchases in other older
units. Stumpage values are worked out by determinations of utiliza-
tion or conversion costs as against average sales prices of lumber or
other products in the appropriate markets; and are checked against
stumpage values established by earlier purchases in other comparable
units. Standards or bases of valuation are checked periodically and
revised as necessary. All details related to a given tract of land are
combined in a single report, which is then reviewed and checked in
turn by the forest supervisor, the regional forester or his immediate
assistants, and the Forester or his immediate assistants. The
acceptance of an option on an offered tract is not authorized until the
reviewing officers are completely satisfied that the price demanded is
conservative and equitable and the conditions of sale are wholly
acceptable.
Upon receipt of an acceptable option the case is then ready for
presentation to the Commission, each member thereof being furnished
with a detailed digest of all facts as to the character of the offered
land, timber volume, value, etc. All conditions of purchase, even
minor reservations of negligible importance are brought to the
attention of the Commission. If later title investigations disclose
new conditions not previously approved by the Commission the case
must be resubmitted and again approved before payment for the land
can be made. All titles must be approved by the Attorney General
prior to their acceptance. A member of the office of the Solicitor of
the Department of Agriculture, and corps of title attorneys and
abstractors working under his supervision, has charge of and full
control over all features of the title work, independently of the Forest
Service. The funds appropriated for the purchase of lands are
disbursed under the supervision of the chief disbursing officer of the
Department of Agriculture and, of course, the Comptroller General.
DONATIONS OF LANDS SUITABLE FOR NATIONAL FOREST
PURPOSES
There are certain owners of forested or forest-productive lands who
for sentimental reasons desire that such lands shall be fully conserved
and safeguarded but who are unprepared to permanently bear the
costs of properly protecting and managing such lands. There are
others who are sincerely interested in promoting forest conservation
and, as a step in that direction, are disposed to dedicate to public
forest purposes lands from which they otherwise could derive some
financial returns. There is another and rapidly growing class
possessed of large areas of forest land, generally cut-over, but
1168 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
occasionally bearing timber of commercial size and quality, but
inaccessible, who cannot foresee any future private or public market
for such land and are willing to donate it outright rather than allow
it to go through the proplonged processes of tax reversion.
In such cases, if the lands are of such character and so situated as
to make them valuable for national-forest purposes, donation to the
United States can be accomplished under either of two acts now on
the statute books. One is the act approved March 3, 1925 (43 Stat.
11 33),. which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to accept dona-
tions of land for any national-forest purpose. The other is the act of
June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 653), of which section 7 is as follows:
That to enable owners of lands chiefly valuable for the growing of timber crops
to donate or devise such lands to the United States in order to assure future
timber supplies for the agricultural and other industries of the State or for other
national forest purposes, the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized, in his
discretion, to accept on behalf of the United States title to any such land so
donated or devised, subject to such reservations by the donor of the present stand
of merchantable timber or of mineral or other rights for a period not exceeding
twenty years as the Secretary of Agriculture may find to be reasonable and not
detrimental to the purposes of this section, and to pay out of any moneys appro-
priated for the general expenses of the Forest Service the cost of recording deeds
or other expenses incident to the examination and acceptance of title. Any
lands to which title is so accepted shall be in units of such size or so located as to
be capable of economical administration as national forests either separately or
jointly with other lands acquired under this section, or jointly with an existing
national forest. All lands to which title is accepted under this section shall, upon
acceptance of title, become national forest lands, subject to all laws applicable to
lands acquired under the act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961) and amendments
thereto. In the sale of timber from national forest lands acquired under this
section preference shall be given to applicants who wrill furnish the products
desired therefrom to meet the necessities of citizens of the United States engaged
in agriculture in the States in which such national forest is situated: Provided,
That all property, rights, easements, and benefits authorized by this section to
be retained by or reserved to owners of lands donated or devised to the United
States shall be subject to the tax laws of the States where such lands are located.
(See also section 555, title 16, U.S. Code above.)
During the first several years these acts were in effect, donations
were few in number and small in area ; inspired mainly by sentimental
considerations. But interest in this method of passing forest land to
Federal ownership now is rapidly increasing and over 100,000 acres
of timber productive land of good site quality recently have been
conveyed to the United States. Present and prospective circum-
stances indicate that a large acreage of cut-over timberland will in
tune be donated for national-forest purposes without cost to the public
other than the small charges for title adjustments and recordation.
DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM AND
PRESENT STATUS
IN THE WESTERN PUBLIC LAND STATES
The policy of withdrawing for national-forest purposes unreserved
and unappropriated public lands chiefly valuable for timber produc-
tion and watershed protection was initiated by the act of March 3,
1891 (26 Stat. 1095), and accelerated by the act of June 4, 1897 (30
Stat. 11). As a result of the withdrawals made during the past four
decades there are now in the western half of the United States 121
national-forest units embracing a gross area of 151,012,085 acres, of
which 133,161,417 acres are in Federal ownership; the difference of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1169
17,850,668 acres comprising lands in State, county, or private
ownership.
Not all of the federally owned timber-bearing lands are in national
forests. Considerable areas are in national parks. Lesser areas are
embraced in national monuments and reclamation withdrawals.
Lands formerly comprising parts of the grants to the Oregon & Cali-
fornia Railroad Co. and the Coos Bay Wagon Road Co., which were
revested in the United States under the act of June 9, 1916, aggregate
nearly 2% million acres chiefly valuable for timber production and
streamflow protection. In addition to the areas thus reserved for
various purposes other than forestry there remains an appreciable
area of unreserved and unappropriated public domain which supports
or has supported timber of commercial value or of great importance
for watershed protection. It would be wholly consistent with pre-
vailing Federal policies of land management to permanently add such
unreserved and unappropriated public lands to the national forests
so as to safeguard their future values for timber production and
streamflow stabilization. ^ That, however, is a matter of congressional
or Executive action outside of the scope of the acquisition program.
As above indicated the 121 national forests in the western United
States contain 17,850,668 acres in ownerships other than Federal.
Prior to the creation of the national forests title to much of the
choicest and most productive timberlands had been established by the
operation of State or other land grants and by private appropriation.
These lands seldom occur in solid bodies of large extent but as a general
rule are widely interspersed among the national-forest lands to which
they normally bear an integral relationship. A certain part of the
privately owned land clearly is best adapted to private management
for grazing, agricultural, recreational, or other uses or services within
the field of private initiative. Approximately 10 to 12 million acres
of it is most valuable for timber production and should be under the
same protection and management as the intermingled national-forest
lands. Some of this land has been depleted of its timber value by
logging, fires, insects, disease, or windthrow, or a combination of two
or more such causes ; much of it still supports heavy stands of timber
of commercial size and quality which could most economically be
utilized in conjunction with the public timber in the same unit.
The boundaries of the national forests in the western public-land
States frequently were dictated by the lines of private ownership and
thus fall far short of encompassing the natural limits of the timbered
areas of which they are parts. In consequence there are outside of
but contiguous to the national forests millions of acres of other timber-
productive lands, in part cut over, in part still bearing virgin stands
of timber, which likewise are integral parts of the national-forest units.
They should be governed by the same plans and principles of manage-
ment and utilization, subject to the same systems of protection and
physical development. Their jointure with the publicly owned prop-
erties would mean the highest and best use and development of both
properties; the mitigation of the condition of unrestrained and de-
structive exploitation, so detrimental to related national-forest lands,
which otherwise seems inevitable under prevailing circumstances.
The fullest realization of the public purposes and values of the
national forests depends upon the degree to which these intermingled
or related lands come under the same administration and management.
1170 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Some of them doubtless will be donated to the United States; others
can be acquired by giving in exchange other national-forest lands of
lesser public importance and value or equal values of national-forest
stumpage. The net value at which they would be obtainable is
therefore largely conjectural.
So far as the western public domain States are concerned, the only
hitherto prevailing policy and program of forest-land acquisition has
been that of exchanges of national-forest land and/or stumpage for
privately owned lands within the national forests, or in some in-
stances within adjacent areas defined by special acts of Congress.
Since 1908, Congress has enacted 56 laws of more or less general
application and 13 laws specifically describing the lands subject to
exchange, under which exchanges can be made. Under these various
laws a total of 830 separate exchanges have been made, involving
Federal acquisition of 1,205,100 acres of land valued at $4,773,519,
and the grant in exchange therefore of 390,415 acres of national-forest
land valued at $1,795,099 and 858,268 M board feet of national-forest
stumpage valued at $2,377,820. The net gain in national-forest area
thus has been 814,685 acres, but the gain in timber-productive area
has been greater than that since nearly all of the offered land was
timber-productive soil while much of the selected land was of low
forest value and desired primarily for grazing use.
The cumulative record of land exchanges by States is contained in
table 2. Included in the table are exchanges made with the States
of California, Michigan, and Nebraska, whereby the respective State
and Federal holdings were consolidated in units susceptible of most
effective and economical management. The table does not include
earlier agreements with the States of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South
Dakota, and Washington, under which these States relinquished
1,200,980 acres within the national forests, and selected 275,000 acres
of other public domain lands, plus 924,362 acres eliminated from the
national forests to permit such selection.
However, the exchange authority does not fully meet the present
need. To begin with, the commodity most desired in exchange for
privately owned lands is salable national-forest stumpage, and the
employment of large volumes of such stumpage necessarily curtails
receipts to the Treasury and the shares thereof paid to the counties
embracing national forests. To avoid injustice to those counties,
the rule has been adopted that the value of the national-forest stump-
age granted in exchange for private lands during any given year shall
not markedly exceed 10 percent of the value of the stumpage
sold for cash. Under this policy curtailed national-forest timber-
sale activity means also the curtailment of private-land acquisition
through exchange. The other adverse feature of the land-exchange
policy is that it does not meet the needs of the owners of large
bodies of heavily timbered operable lands, who would be willing
enough to dispose of their properties for cash but have no desire to
exchange them for national-forest lands of similar character and
value. Due to this fact only a minor part of the lands hitherto
acquired through exchanges support large volumes of currently
merchantable timber.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1171
TABLE 2. — Number of land-exchange cases consummated up to Dec. 31, 1931
State
Num-
ber
Land conveyed to the
United States
Selected land granted
in exchange
Timber granted in
excvange
Area
Appraised
value
Area
Appraised
value
Volume
Appraised
value
Arizona . _
24
4
85
168
11
68
20
16
87
1
1
34
178
28
1
39
48
16
Acres
173, 894
32, 945
175, 729
75, 074
55, 917
59, 897
136, 004
2, 854
129, 462
8,960
3,504
68,006
71
181, 592
8,666
14
29,070
57,269
6,172
$308, 581
61, 679
1, 414, 430
321, 602
116, 562
155, 443
227,733
16, 985
263, 185
44,800
6,728
295, 161
144
1, 091, 886
28, 276
70
155, 175
232, 510
32, 569
Acres
8,864
146
25, 671
25, 592
21,015
538
135, 113
26
76,929
8,959
3,520
8,076
1
44,914
418
$21, 321
1,030
481, 667
64, 456
42, 181
2,546
198, 248
16
191, 707
44,793
6,013
14, 415
4
571, 274
1,916
1
145, 017
5,195
3,299
M board ft.
109, 733
7,746
216,811
59,099
12, 514
19, 745
$267, 004
59,580
675, 308
167, 270
72, 785
127, 368
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Idaho
Michigan
Minnesota
2,796
24, 747
12, 825
72, 942
Montana.
Nebraska
Nevada.
New Mexico .. . ...
109, 427
266, 122
North Carolina
Oregon
199, 592
5,002
434, 134
19, 221
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
27,903
967
1,763
Washington
85, 625
5,431
185, 627
17,634
Wyoming
Total
830
1, 205, 100
4, 773, 519
390, 415
1, 795, 099
858, 268
2, 377, 820
EASTERN STATES
The proposal that the Federal Government acquire and perma-
nently manage certain forest areas in the Eastern States apparently
originated, or at least was first formally expressed, at Asheville,
N.C., in 1899. Different agencies interested in the development
of the Southern States had noted with concern the rapidity with
which the original stands of timber were being exploited and the
ensuing impoverishment of the lands through fire and erosion.
Their interest was esthetic as well as economic, and the first ten-
tative proposals were for the establishment of national parks, but
in time sentiment crystallized in favor of national forests as a more
practical form of Federal administration. The idea quickly found
favor in New England where the rapid progress of timber utiliza-
tion was likewise creating alarm; so that the two widely separated
regions joined in support of the new proposal of Federal participa-
tion in the solution of the rapidly enlarging problem.
So radical a departure from previously existing concepts of Federal
functions inspired widespread differences of opinion, not only among
Members of the Congress but among laymen as well. The consti-
tutionality of the proposal was both attacked and supported by
eminent authorities on the subject. Conferences and hearings were
held, not only by congressional committees but also by organized
unofficial groups and agencies^ In all, the subject was under detailed
consideration for a total period of 12 years. At the end of that
period Congress enacted the law of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961),
popularly known as the "Weeks Law" because of its sponsorship by
John W. Weeks, then a Representative from Massachusetts but
later to be a Senator from that State and eventually Secretary of
War. The primary purpose of the act was to safeguard the navi-
gability of streams by maintaining on their upper headwaters the
forest cover necessary to prevent excessive run-off and erosion.
1172 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
The Weeks Law is generally applicable to all parts of the United
States, but it was enacted to meet conditions which were particularly
acute in the Eastern States. Its practical application, as a matter
of administrative policy, therefore has been limited to those States
situated east of the Great Plains, since the extensive areas of public
lands in the Western States afforded a large field of Federal action
without additional acquisition through cash purchase.
As originally formulated, the purchase program contemplated
the eventual purchase of approximately 1 million acres in the New
England States and 5 million acres in the Southern Appalachian
region. In time the program was enlarged to include the national-
forest units in Arkansas, and later to permit the establishment of a
unit in northwestern Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, changes were
made in the boundaries of previously established areas so that
they would more effectively serve the purpose of their creation.
At the close of the fiscal year 1924 there were 23 approved purchase
units (later consolidated into 18) with a combined gross area of
9,568,515 acres.
Under the Weeks Law, purchases were confined to areas on the
upper headwaters of navigable streams where the maintenance of a
forest cover was found by the United States Geological Survey to
favorably influence the navigability of the stream. This limitation
debarred from consideration the vast forest areas in the Lake States
and the southern pine belt of the South Atlantic and Gulf States,
where the need for constructive public action in forest conservation
became more acute with each passing year. In consequence a
demand arose for the extension of the Federal purchase program to
such regions as a means of determining, demonstrating, and stimu-
lating better forest practice. In response to that demand the
Sixty-seventh Congress, by Senate Resolution 398, created a Senate
select committee of five members, which made an exhaustive study
of the entire situation, holding hearings throughout the country
at many important centers of timber production and use. Its
findings, Senate Report No. 28, Sixty-eighth Congress, recom-
mended amendment of the Weeks Law to include timber production
as an objective of Federal management; which was done by the
act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 653), popularly known as the "Clarke-
McNary law."
Pursuant to the purpose of that law an enlarged program was
submitted to and approved by the National Forest Reservation
Commission, under which 20 new purchase units designed primarily
to stimulate timber production were proposed and eventually
established. Meanwhile need was established for three additional
units primarily to protect watersheds and these also were approved.
The full extent, present attainment, and requirements for comple-
tion of the hitherto established acquisition program in the Eastern
States, under the Weeks Law as modified by the Clarke-McNary
Law, is set forth in table 3. It shows that primarily for watershed
protection 21 national-forest purchase units have been created in
16 of the Eastern States. They contain a gross area of 10,696,453
acres, of which 4,717,307 acres is now under Federal control. Of
this, 3,728,083 acres have been acquired by purchase at a total cost
of $18,832,667.64, an average of $5.05 per acre.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1173
i
^«
838888388
' c<i •TJH ic -^ i-J >o r^ t^
1C t-"-<
<0 «<l«0
1-C f.
W
oSco
<N
O
•Ci n
cscxi
11=1
S3
oo £?
IM' od T-i 06 d >ri
IN- l-» S5 QO O ^t*
OS t>^ T-i 00 CO t^
(M 00 >O CO S O
§ss
»d '
CQ -.g
-ils
11
888
Hi
^888^8888
Tj'COO^OCOC'O'-H'C'— <
s
•g^ja
PS.22
I'o'S
•2 o
**
•a -3
II 11412^1^1 II 1 Hi
§*3 *•*
.Srf
-2^2
IM.
1174
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1 55
e o
2 i
3 §
fa
§ £
a
1 S
oil
S88
N
888
iO T-H CD
CO CO CO
CO ^5 rH
111
m
sra
gig!*
to oo 10
<* « «y
i i s
II
I
'
EH O
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1175
In order fully to accomplish the purposes for which these units were
created, the Federal Government should further acquire within their
boundaries a total of approximately 5,171,268 acres. On the basis of
past values this area would cost approximately $23,922,332, or an
average of $4.65 per acre, but present price trends indicate that the
actual cost would be substantially lower, probably not exceeding
$20,000,000. If the program were carried out in full the Federal
Government within the 21 units would then control 9,888,575 acres,
at a total purchase cost of something less than $39,000,000.
The stimulation of timber production as a Federal function in the
Eastern States is not wholly a process of large scale direct ownership
and management of land but also one of research, experimentation,
and demonstration. These purposes can be accomplished with
administrative units smaller than the areas required where watershed
protection is the objective. To date, 20 timber-production units
have been established in 6 different States, but 2 of those States also
contain watershed units so that the total number of States affected is
20. Within the 20 established timber-production units the United
States now controls 2,514,248 acres; of which 999,597 acres have been
acquired by purchase at a total cost of $2,370,354.29, or an average of
$2.37 per acre. To complete the 20 existing units an additional area
of about 2,468,474 acres should be acquired; at a cost of $7,000,000.
If that were done, the total area under Federal control in the 20
established units would be 4,982,722 acres; for which something less
than $10,000,000 would have been paid.
The statements contained herein relate only to the completion of
the existing national forests to a point where their public objectives
and values can be fully realized within reasonable limits of adminis-
trative cost. They present only a partial and incomplete picture of
future requirements. The economic facts which seem indubitably
and imperatively to dictate the enlargement of many of the existing
national forests and the establishment of many others are set forth in
another section of this report, which presents in detailed terms of
distribution, area, and cost the apparent ultimate scope of the
national-forest system.
A considerable part of the lands which will be proposed for acquisi-
tion are in the Pacific coast and northern Rocky Mountain regions.
The facts stated in the fore part of this section make it evident that
the passage of such lands to Federal ownership, under conditions fair
and equitable both to the public and to the landowners, would in
large measure relieve a situation which while originating in a some-
what limited territory is national in its ultimate consequences. The
program which will be proposed, therefore, would not be antagonistic
to the best interests of the private owner of forest lands but, on the
contrary, would be in complete accord with the evident trend of land
economy and forest economy.
Lands acquired in the Eastern States would not contain the large
volumes of stored-up timber characteristic of the Western States.
The effect of their acquisition would not be to relieve private owners
from an accumulation of past burdens, but to afford such owners
better opportunities for progress and profit in the future operation of
the forest properties suitable for private management, by supple-
menting the production of such properties, by affording means for
168342°— 33— vol. 2 9
1176 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
better developing and demonstrating best principles of forest manage-
ment, and by contributing to the systematic control of fire, disease,
and insects. By making the national-forest units centers of research,
experimentation, demonstration, and constructive cooperation, the
Federal Government will not only meet those phases of the forest
problem which are national in their implications and consequences but
will also create conditions more favorable to the private practice of
forestry.
STATE AID TO PRIVATE OWNERS AND LOCAL POLITICAL UNITS
By H. J. EBERLY, District Forest Inspector
Page
Scope and functions of State aid 1177
Analysis of State aid by projects 1179
Analysis of State aid by regions 1 185
SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS OF STATE AID
Ownership of the 495 million acres of commercial forest land in the
United States is divided as follows :
Percent
Federal 18
State, county, and municipal 2
Private 80
Since 80 percent of our total commercial forest area is in private
ownership, embodying a vast amount of public interest and welfare,
it is readily apparent that public participation to aid and stimulate
private action in forestry is desirable and offers great possibilities of
getting something done on an immense forest area. For example, of
the total area of privately owned commercial forest lands in need of
protection from fire, only a little better than half is at present being
protected.
The Federal Government offers forestry aid in fire protection,
planting, and extension work to private owners through the States
under the provisions of the Clarke-McNary law. Likewise the several
forested States extend aid to private forest owners, and this discussion
is for the purpose of evaluating the amount of such aid and of present-
ing factual information on the character of such activities.
All the States, except Arizona, Missouri, and South Dakota, now
provide many or all of their private forest landowners with some form
of forestry aid. Some States are doing much, others comparatively
little, but the basic need and justification of extending aid to private
forest owners are given at least formal acknowledgment by all for-
ested States. In some instances aid in forestry is extended by coun-
ties, towns, and municipalities as well as directly by the State, and in
this report all such aid is included as " State aid."
The character of State aid to private owners is along one or more
of the following well defined lines of forestry activity: Protection
from forest fires, planting and nursery work, forestry extension, tree
disease control, forest insect control, legislation, research, economic
and forest surveys.
It is to be understood that these services, or the part considered
here, are those which are performed or financed directly by State (or
local) governments and which extend outside the boundaries of
publicly owned lands and accrue to the benefit of the private owner.
State forestry aid, according to its character, may be of direct or
indirect assistance to the private owner. Thus, in fire protection,
owners receive direct aid through State forces or State funds which
1177
1178
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
help them to bear the cost of protecting their holdings, while the re-
sults of research aid indirectly by providing information that may or
may not be applied by the individual owner in the improvement of
forest practice and returns.
An effort has been made to ascertain the amount of State, county,
and town funds annually spent for forestry work which aids forest
owners, and the results are shown by regions in tables 1 and 2. On
account of the great difficulties encountered in obtaining these data,
absolute exactness is not claimed. The most that can be said for the
tables is that they represent the most comprehensive survey yet made
in this field. Wide variations in the character and organization of
the many State forestry projects, added to the complexities of evaluat-
ing indirect aid, all contribute to the difficulties of expressing definitely
the monetary value of all aid rendered. The findings must be in-
terpreted under thes£ limitations, which are explained more fully in
the discussion of the various projects.
This discussion will deal first with the broader aspects of State aid
being developed under the eight forestry activities of projects, with
incidental consideration as to regions and States. Following this a
more detailed analysis of activities within the regions will be pre-
sented.
TABLE 1. — Amount of State, county, and town funds expended annually, and
character of projects, of State aid in forestry extended to private owners, by regions
Region
Fire protection 1
Planting and
nursery 2
Forestry exten-
sion3
control 4
New England
Middle Atlantic
Lake..
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain.
South Rocky Mountain-
United States. _.
Dollars
354, 929
863, 743
1, 246, 361
121, 520
313, 341
298, 097
2,867
200, 858
Percent
11.1
27.0
38.9
3.8
9.8
9.3
Dollars
40, 656
180, 512
10, 633
73, 628
25, 339
17, 372
6,349
5,467
100.0
359, 956
Percent
11.3
50.1
3.0
20.5
7.0
4.8
1.8
1.5
Dollars
10, 392
17, 757
16, 287
15,883
24, 324
3,271
2,004
2,800
100.0
• 92, 718
Percent
11.2
19.2
17.6
17.1
26.2
3.5
2.2
3.0
Dollars
106, 126
94,707
9,404
35,750
100.0
245, 987
Percent
43.2
38.5
3.8
14.5
100.0
Region
Forest insect
control e
Forest research
Economic and
forest surveys
All activities
New England
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain. .
South Rocky Mountain. .
United States. ..
Dollars
6 1, 129, 539
8 182, 164
8 7, 734
1, 319, 437
Percent
85.6
13.8
Dollars
5,000
55, 120
43, 260
12,000
15,913
31, 500
13,000
100.0
175, 793
Percent
2.8
31.4
24.6
6.8
9.1
17.9
7.4
Dollars
41.000
~~9,~500'
100.0
50,500
Percent
81.2
Dollars
1, 646, 642
1, 394, 003
1, 366, 945
223, 031
378, 917
403, 224
21, 353
11, 134
100.0
5, 445, 249
Percent
30.2
25.6
25.1
4.1
7.0
7.4
.4
.2
100.0
1 From Forest Service compilations, fiscal year 1932.
2 From Forest Service compilations, calendar year 1931.
3 From compilations of the Forest Service, and other sources.
* Information obtained from Bureau of Plant Industry, fiscal year 1932.
« The States report an addi^nal $15,000 devoted to broad activity of forestry extension but not specifically
so designated. More than this may actually be spent.
« Information furnished by Plant Quarantine and Control Administration, fiscal year 1932.
7 Information obtained from various sources, fiscal year 1932.
s Calendar year 1931.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1179
TABLE 2. — Annual distribution of State, county, and town funds among projects
of State aid extended private owners, by regions
Project
New
Eng-
land
Middle
Atlan-
tic
Lake
States
Central
States
South
Pacific
coast
North
Rocky
Moun-
tain
South
Rocky
Moun-
tain
All
regions
Fire protection
Percent
21.6
Percent
62.0
Percent
91.2
Percent
54.5
Percent
82.7
Percent
73.9
Percent
Percent
25.8
Percent
58.8
Planting and nursery
2.5
12.9
.8
33
6.7
4.3
29.7
49.1
6.6
Forestry extension
.6
1.3
1.2
7.1
6.4
.8
9.4
25.1
1.7
Tree disease control
6 4
6.8
.7
8.9
4.5
Gypsy moth and other forest
68 6
13 1
1 9
24 3
Forest research
.3
3.9
3. 1
5.4
4.2
7.8
60.9
3.2
Economic and forest surveys
3.0
2.4
.9
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
ANALYSIS OF STATE AID BY PROJECTS
Table 3 presents the present annual expenditures for State aid to
private owners in the entire United States, according to the data
available, as distributed among the several forestry activities.
FIRE PROTECTION
PLANTING AND NURSERY
FORESTRY EXTENSION
TRE : DISEASE CONTROL
FOREST INSECT CONTROL
FOREST RESEARCH
FOREST SURVEYS
i
MILLION
2
DOLLARS
FIGUKE 1.— Amount of State aid in forestry extended annually to private owners, by character of projects.
The following amounts are net State, county, and town expenditures
for aid to private forest owners and do not include those of private
owners or cooperative Federal allotments. Figure 1 graphically illus-
trates the amount of State aid in forestry extended annually to private
owners by character of the forestry projects.
1180 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 3. — Annual State aid in forestry to private owners, by projects
Project
Amount supplied
Dollars
Percent
Fire protection
3, 200, 858
359, 956
92, 718
245, 987
1, 319, 437
175, 793
50,500
58.8
6.6
1.7
4.5
24.3
3.2
.9
Planting and nursey work
Forestry extension
Tree-disease control
Forest-insect control
Forest research _
Economic and forest surveys
Total - --
5, 445, 249
100.0
FIRE PROTECTION
The greatest amount of State aid in forestry being provided private
owners in the entire Nation is for forest fire protection. This amounts
to over $3,000,000 annually and constitutes approximately 60 percent
of the total.
Fire protection embraces the employment, organization, and super-
vision of all personnel engaged in preventing, discovering, and sup-
pressing forest fires. It likewise provides for all publicity and educa-
tional efforts and the equipment used for teaching the public the need
and importance of forest-fire prevention. To fire protection is
charged the cost of lookout towers, telephones and telephone lines,
roads and trails, horses, vehicles and motor equipment, and the
employment of personnel and purchase of any equipment and supplies
necessary to the detection, reporting, and suppression of forest fires.
It does not necessarily follow that, simply because a State provides
funds for fire protection, all timber owners within that State receive
direct benefit from such aid. Where fire protection is established on
a State-wide basis, all private owners do receive direct aid from State
funds so spent.
In many States limited funds prevent organized protection on a
large part of the private lands needing fire protection, and in such
cases direct State aid reaches only those owners within the protected
districts. Nevertheless, outside owners receive indirect aid through
the broad forestry educational programs and demonstrations of pro-
tection, management, and the like, conducted by the central State
forestry organization. All States having important private forest
holdings except Arkansas, Idaho, and Montana, now extend aid in fire
protection to all or groups of private owners. Arkansas has no organ-
ized State forestry department. Although State funds for fire pro-
tection are made available in Idaho and Montana, these are spent for
the protection of State-owned rather than privately owned forest
lands. Except in Illinois, which provides fire protection funds inde-
pendently, all State organized protection activities are on a coopera-
tive basis with the Federal Government under provisions of section 2
of the Clarke-McNary law.
The Lake region, embracing Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota,
and Wisconsin, ranks first in the Nation in the amount of State funds
provided for fire protection and suppression. The Middle Atlantic
region ranks second and New England third.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1181
The Lake, New England, and Middle Atlantic regions also rank
high in the proportional amount of State aid extended in the fire-
protection project. In this respect they differ materially from the
Western States, whose laws require the owner to make the principal
provisions for the protection of his lands from fire.
FOREST PLANTING AND NURSERY WORK
Planting and nursery work pertains to the establishment of forest-
tree nurseries, the collection and purchase of seed, the growing of forest
seedlings, and the distribution of forest planting stock by the States
to the private forest landowner. The distribution is now primarily
for the benefit of the farmer owner, and in most States the planting
stock is furnished by the States at cost of production. In this discus-
sion the planting by the States of their own forest lands is not
included.
Of the total State aid extended all private owners in forestry, 6.6
percent is for some form of planting and nursery work. Thirty-eight
States are providing aid of this general description with a present
annual State contribution of approximately $360,000. The extent
and character of the aid rendered varies according to local problems.
All are cooperating with the Federal Government under section 4 of
the Clarke-McNary law in providing aid in the procurement, produc-
tion, and distribution of forest-tree seeds and plants for the purpose
of establishing windbreaks, shelter belts, and farm woodland. Ap-
proximately one half of the total financial aid in planting benefits the
farmer. Commercial planting of cut-over lands by private owners
and the planting of State forest areas are also directly or indirectly
aided — directly by the production of cheap nursery stock and indi-
rectly by advice as to planting methods.
From a national viewpoint the Middle Atlantic region ranks first in
the amount of aid extended by States to private owners in planting,
with the Central States second and New England third.
While State funds spent for planting and nursery work are in part
returned to the States through the sale of planting stock to private
owners, the planting expenditures herein reported are exclusive of
sales receipts.
FORESTRY EXTENSION
Forestry extension includes all public efforts through information,
advice, and demonstrations to promote among private forest owners,
particularly farm owners of woodlands, the proper care and use of
their forest-growing lands.
In most States forestry extension aid to farm timberland owners
is provided in cooperation with the Federal Government under the
provisions of section 5 of the Clarke-McNary law. In addition to the
31 States cooperating on this basis with their farmers, Maine inde-
pendently provides direct extension aid to farmers, and Florida does
likewise for naval stores operators. State aid in forestry extension
to private owners as shown in tables 1 and 2 includes only those
expenditures made on projects organized and conducted primarily for
such work. On this basis, present annual expenditures for extension
activities constitute 1.7 percent of total State-aid expenditures, a low
rating. No attempt has been made to evaluate allocated part-time
1182 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FOKESTRY
activities of State forestry employees performing principally other
duties.
Extension work, which comprises demonstrations of desirable forest
management practices and the furnishing of advice as to thinnings,
management, and care of private timber-growing projects, is a form
of indirect State aid. During the fiscal year 1931 Wisconsin ranked
first among the States with an expenditure of $9,199 for forestry
extension work, Pennsylvania second with $8,657, and Georgia third
with $6,080.
TREE DISEASE CONTROL
During the fiscal year 1932 the States made $245,987 available for
forest-tree disease control for the aid of private owners. The work
financed by States was confined to the New England, Middle Atlantic,
Lake, and Pacific coast regions and was specifically for pine-blister-
rust control. This rust affects only five-needle pines, so that control
work is not needed outside the regions where these species grow.
Control consists in the eradication of gooseberry and black-currant
bushes, the intermediate host of the rust fungus.
Of the total amount made available the States appropriated and
allotted $196,282 and towns $49,705. In the north Kocky Mountain
region (Idaho and Montana) $30,000 of State money was made avail-
able but this amount is not included in the total as an aid to private
owners because it was spent on State rather than privately owned
lands. The annual State tree-disease control expenditures in behalf
of private owners amounts to 4.5 percent of all State aid expenditures
for forestry in the United States.
GIPSY MOTH AND OTHER INSECT CONTROL
Forest insect control embraces all efforts by spraying, dusting, the
breeding and release of parasites, or otherwise, to combat forest insect
pests. Direct State aid in insect control at present is centered on the
control of the gipsy moth, a tree-defoliating insect which has caused
great loss in the northeastern region of the United States.
Large sums have been made available by States in the New England
region and by New Jersey and New York for the control of this de-
stroyer. The Federal Plant Quarantine and Control Administration
reports the expenditure during the fiscal year 1932 by six States
and during the calendar year 1931 by two States of $1,311,703 from
State, county, and town funds.
Control barriers are established within forest areas to prevent
spread of the defoliating insects, but a very considerable portion of
the funds is devoted to spraying and dusting along roadsides and some
for work on shade trees. Since all types of work combine to aid in
preventing spread of the disease to commercial forest areas, the entire
expenditure as reported has been included in tables 1 and 2 as State
aid to private forest owners.
Only one other forest insect control project in 1931 is part of the
present record. In Washington the State, county, and private forest
interests combined to finance a $15,000 project which is described in
the latter part of this section. This makes the imposing total for the
Nation of $1,319,437 spent for forest insect control work by the States
as an aid to private owners, or 24.3 percent of all State aid expenditures
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1183
for forestry in the United States. The northeastern group contributed
practically all of this, as follows :
Percent
New England 85. 6
Middle Atlantic 13. 8
Pacific coast . 6
Total 100. 0
Other forms of forest insect control work are being conducted in
the Western States, but there the funds are raised by the private
owners under State legislation, and no direct State moneys are
provided.
LEGISLATION
Legislation, as here considered, has reference to State enactments
redounding to the advantage of forestry and forest ownership.
Features of certain forest or forest land taxation laws may properly
be considered as an important form of State aid to private owners.
Forest taxation will be discussed here and in part II only briefly,
because the whole subject will be covered in the forthcoming taxation
inquiry report.
Twenty States have enacted legislation granting tax relief to forest
lands regardless of the origin or area of the stand. Louisiana, Wis-
consin, and Oregon have the greatest acreage listed under such legis-
lation. Fourteen States have laws granting tax relief to planted
stands, to limited areas, or to properties leased or deeded to the
State. It is deemed impracticable to evaluate financially this form
of State aid, and therefore no monetary aid is shown under this head.
RESEARCH
Research includes scientific studies, wherever performed, the cost
of all or part of which is defrayed by the State, to determine the life
history of trees, factors and conditions affecting their establishment,
growth, utilization, etc.
State funds allocated to forest research projects are generally pro-
ductive of indirect aid to private forest owners, the value of the
results depending entirely on individual use of them. Information
as to State funds spent for forest research is incomplete, but the
amount ascertainable was in the neighborhood of $175,793 during the
fiscal year 1932, or 3.3 percent of all State funds expended for forestry
as a means of private aid.
Few States conduct extensive forest research projects of their own,
although many devote attention to local forest problems incidental to
other forestry work. These minor research contributions are mostly
in the form of allocated time, and no attempt has been made to have
them evaluated. States which are outstanding in conducting specific
forest research projects are Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York,
Minnesota, and Georgia. Several States contribute funds to outside
agencies, as in California, where the State allots funds for research to
the Federal Forest Experiment Station. Several other States in-
cluding Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, and California are expressing their
interest in research by making funds available for such work in their
educational institutions of higher learning.
1184 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
Several forest schools at other State institutions conduct research
projects and contribute materially to forestry knowledge, but data
are lacking as to the exact amount of such work and the portion which
constitutes a form of State aid to private owners.
FOREST AND ECONOMIC SURVEYS
In order to plan an adequate forestry program intelligently it is of
greatest importance that a State know the character and extent of its
forest lands and resources. Some States are taking steps to inven-
tory their forest lands and resources. The Federal Government is
engaged in a project of this kind which contemplates a survey covering
all forested States in the Nation. The Lake States of Michigan, Min-
nesota, and Wisconsin have undertaken land economic surveys of their
own to find out the present character and use of wild lands and to aid in
determining the best use of such areas for permanent development
This economic inventory is still under way in Michigan and Wisconsin
but has been temporarily discontinued in Minnesota. Of the total
amount spent, $41,000 is estimated here as the 1932 fiscal year expendi-
ture by the State on forest land surveys in aid of private owners. These
economic surveys are of principal value and are of direct aid to the
States themselves in formulating public policies and programs. The
aid of these surveys to private owners is of very indirect nature and it
is therefore difficult to set a true valuation of such aid to them.
In California the State in 1932 contributed approximately $9,500
for a forest-cover map, and this amount is included as a State-con-
tributed aid to private forest owners. Both Oregon and Washington
have allotted small amounts to the Federal forest survey, primarily for
the preparation of forest-cover maps. The total amount of money
listed under the present heading is $50,500, which represents the Lake
States and California items. Several other States, in the past and in
various manners, have conducted surveys or inventories of their
forest resources, but the work has seldom been complete. There is a
distinct need for more work of this nature.
SUMMARY
The following recapitulation shows the regional distribution of an-
nual expenditures for State aid :
Percent
Pacific Coast 7. 4
North Rocky Mountains .4
South Rocky Mountains . 2
Total_. . 100. 0
Percent
New England 30.2
Middle Atlantic 25. 6
Lake 25. 1
Central 4. 1
South __ 7.0
Figure 2 shows by regions and figure 3 by States, the total amount
of State aid in forestry extended anually to private owners for all
projects. To give some idea of the size of areas needing aid in each
region, this amount is contrasted with the area of privately owned
forest lands in need of protection from fire. Since certain States ma-
terially promote accomplishments in fire protection through legislation
affecting private owners, this graph includes also the amounts ex-
pended by all private forest owners for fire protection. The amount
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1185
of acreage as shown in need of protection from all types of damage is
not in itself a true and complete index of the amount of State aid
which it would be proper for the regions to provide. The costs per
acre of forestry work, particularly fire protection, varies very ma-
PRIVATE FOREST LAND
EXPENDITURES
N. ROCKY MOUNTAIN
S. ROCKY MOUNTAIN
25
MILLION ACRES
Private Area
Needing Protection
State Aid
MILLION DOLLARS
I;!;!:!:!:.:-:'-!.1. : I Private
i 1 Expenditures
(Fire protection only)
FIGURE 2.— Regional summary of State aid in forestry extended annually to private owners for all char-
acters of projects, and private expenditures reported by States for fire protection, compared with
privately owned area needing fire protection.
terially between the different regions, and cost rather than acreage is
the true standard of comparison.
ANALYSIS OF STATE AID BY REGIONS
NEW ENGLAND REGION
The New England region comprises the States of Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
The total State aid, including county and town expenditures, in this
region is listed in table 4.
State aid extended owners in this region amounts to 30.2 percent
of all State aid extended in the United States and ranks first among
regional expenditures.
1186
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
20
15 10 5
M I LLI O N ACRES
j Private Area
1 Needing Protection
DOLLARS
S+a+ft Aid
Private Expenditures
(Fire protection only)
FIGURE 3.— Amount of State aid in forestry extended annually to private owners for all characters of
projects, and private expenditures reported by States for fire protection, compared with privately
owned commercial forest area.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1187
Fire protection. — State, county, and town aid provided in the fiscal
year 1932 for fire protection amounted to $354,929 in the six New
England States. The protection afforded is State-wide, and all
private forest owners receive direct public aid from either State,
county, or town funds. In Maine a special fund for fire protection on
part of the area is raised by a levy of 2% mills on the valuation of all
property, while on the remainder of the area towns pay suppression
costs and the State and Federal Governments carry the costs of pre-
vention. In Massachusetts and Vermont the entire costs of sup-
pression, and in New Hampshire and Rhode Island half of these
costs, are town obligations. In Connecticut half the suppression
costs are paid by the counties. In Connecticut there is a small asso-
ciation of private owners, but the general practice in this region is to
protect private timberlands at public expense.
TABLE 4. — Annual State aid to private owners in New England, by projects
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Fire protection
$354, 929
40, 656
10, 392
106, 126
Percent
21.6
2.5
.6
6.4
Gipsy-moth control
$1, 129, 539
5,000
Percent
68.6
.3
Planting and nursery work
Forest research
Total
Tree-disease control
1, 646, 642
100.0
Planting. — All the New England States except Rhode Island own
and operate tree nurseries, and all extend aid to farmers in planting.
Rhode Island solicits planting orders from owners and purchases
seedlings in wholesale quantities from commercial nurserymen.
Massachusetts ranks first in this region in the number of forest trees
distributed to farmers which in 1931 amounted to more than half a
million. Some 2}£ million more are planted annually in the State,
with about 2 million going on State forests and 600,000 on water
companies' lands and other large private holdings. Planting on the
State forests and on water company holdings are reported as nearing
completion.
Extension. — Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and
Vermont all extend State aid to owners of farm woods and are coop-
erating with the Federal Government under section 5 of the Clarke-
McNary law. New Hampshire and Connecticut are especially active
in this extension aid. Maine employs its own extension forester, who
performs both extension and educational work.
Blister-rust control. — The States in this group provide more money
for the control of white pine blister rust than for either planting,
extension, or research activities. New Hampshire leads all other
States in the amount provided for this tree disease control work,
expending in the fiscal year 1932, $55,000.
Gipsy-moth control. — Still larger sums are made available for gipsy-
moth control. During the fiscal year 1932 the six States of New
England, together with their counties and towns, contributed
$1,129,539 to suppress this insect. In Massachusetts alone the sum
of $803,048 was provided. State, county, and town aid for the work
comprises 68.6 percent of the regional expenditures for all forms of
forestry aid to private owners.
1188
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Research. — A sum of approximately $5,000 is provided by this
group of States for aid in forest research. Massachusetts performs
research work on the Swan State Forest. Forestry departments and
educational institutions of the other States are engaged in a limited
amount of silvical research. Entomological research work is worthy
of note in Maine and Connecticut. There is a growing demand in
this region for Federal aid through research on the economic phases
of forestry.
MIDDLE ATLANTIC REGION
The States in this group comprise New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, Delaware, and Maryland.
Annual expenditures for State aid to private owners is segregated,
by projects, in table 5.
Expenditures for State aid in this group constitute 26.1 percent of
those made in the entire Nation and are only exceeded by those in
the New England region.
Fire protection. — State aid in fire protection amounted to $863,743
during the fiscal year 1932, and giving this group second rank in the
Nation in such aid averaged over the past 5 years. By far the greater
proportion of the whole expenditure is for aid to private owners,
although State forests as well as private holdings are protected.
Pennsylvania and New York provide the greatest amount for State
aid in 'fire protection, the former contributing $371,996 and the latter
$281,743 during the fiscal year 1932. The greatest amount spent in
any one year during the past 5 vears by any one State in this group
of five was $574,361 by Pennsylvania during the calendar year 1930.
Since with minor exceptions fire protection is conducted on a State-
wide basis, practically all forest owners receive this aid. Furthermore,
practically all costs of protection are borne by public rather than
private agencies. In Maryland one half the costs of fire suppression
are paid by the counties.
TABLE 5. — Annual State aid to private owners in Middle Atlantic region, by projects
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Fire protection
$863, 743
180, 512
17, 757
94, 707
Percent
62.0
12.9
1.3
6.8
Gipsy-moth control
$182, 164
55, 120
Percent
13.1
3.9
Planting and nursery work
Forest research
Total
Tree-disease control
1, 394, 003
100.0
Planting. — The Middle Atlantic States far exceed any other group
in State aid extended in forest planting and nursery activities.
During the calendar year 1931 they provided $180,512 for aid in
private planting projects. Of the total amount of State planting
aid extended by all States to private owners, this group contributes
more than half. In 1931 New York in aiding private planting
projects alone spent $113,136 of State funds, amounting to more than
30 percent of the total of State planting aid in the entire Nation,
Large additional amounts were spent by Pennsylvania and New York
for planting on State-owned forest areas.
Extension. — Slightly more than 1 percent of the total State aid in
this region is in the form of forestry-extension work, All the States,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1189
except Delaware, employ extension workers and are furnishing State
aid of this nature in cooperation with the Federal Government under
provisions of the Clarke-McNary law. Pennsylvania led in 1931
with an expenditure of $8,657 and New York ranked second with
$5,020. New York, in addition to the extension forester's activities,
furnished extension service to private owners through aid of members
of Cornell, Syracuse, and St. Lawrence Universities. The limited
amount of forestry-extension work needed in Delaware does not war-
rant the employment of a man solely for this duty, but incidental
work in extension is performed.
In New Jersey the extension forester aids owners of small timber
tracts by making general surveys of the properties, marking small
sample areas for selective cutting, and furnishing information in
marketing forest products. For projects that require only a few
days of field work the aid is furnished free to owners. For partial
estimates on larger tracts the State charges owners for the forester's
field expenses.
In Pennsylvania the Department of Forests and Waters gives free
advice to private owners, and particularly to water and mining com-
panies, on forest management, but the extension work among farmers
is not stressed, owing probably to the strong farm-forestry extension
activities of the Pennsylvania State College of Forestry.
Maryland tenders forestry-extension service to private owners
through the aid of both the extension forester and members of the
State Department of Forestry. Information is given on timber
estimating, sample marking, preparation of sale contracts, and pro-
spective buyers. The foresters charge the owners $3 per day plus
expenses up to 3 days' service, and thereafter at rate of $8 per day.
In 1929 examinations were made and plans formulated for 50 forest
properties comprising 13,500 acres of woodland located in 18 different
counties.
Blister-rust control. — During the fiscal year 1932 New Jersey, New
York, and Pennsylvania spent $94,707 of State money for white pine
blister-rust control. This amount, while it comprises only 6.8 per-
cent of the total amount of State forestry aid in the Middle Atlantic
group, was 38.5 percent of all State aid in the Nation for its specific
purpose. New York contributed most of the funds, putting up
$75,000. Delaware does not contain white pine, and the limited
areas of such species in Maryland do not apparently necessitate con-
trol work.
Gipsy-moth control. — State aid for gipsy-moth control was made
available by New Jersey and New York during the calendar year
1931 in the amount of $182,164. This amount comprises 13 percent
of the State aid of all forms rendered by all five States to private
owners.
Research. — In these States some technical employees of the for-
estry organizations devote a portion of their time to research, but
only in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania is this activity
provided for in definite form. Expenditures for research by all three
States during the fiscal year 1932 are estimated at $55,120, or 4 per-
cent of all State forestry-aid expenditures in the entire group. In
Pennsylvania the Department of Forests and Waters maintains a
Forest Research Institute at Mont Alto and allots annually ap-
proximately $21,120 for research activities. In New Jersey consid-
1190 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
erable research has been done along the lines of growth studies and
the preparation of volume tables. New York contributes more to-
ward forest research than any of the other States in the group. The
New York State forestry department is active in research, and in
addition the State budget provides aid in research through funds
allotted the State forest schools at Syracuse and Cornell. New
York's State aid in research amount annually to approximately
$31,000.
Of the total amount of State aid provided in the Nation for forest
research, 31.4 percent comes from the Middle Atlantic group of
States.
LAKE STATES REGION
The States in this group comprise Michigan, Minnesota, North
Dakota, and Wisconsin. Annual expenditures of State aid to private
owners is segregated by projects in table 6.
Fire protection. — State aid in expenditures for fire protection in
this group of States is outstanding in that the amount exceeds that
in any other group and constitutes 38.9 percent of the total State
fire-protection expenditures in all groups. During the 5-year period
1927-31, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin together made an
average annual expenditure of $94 1 ,804 for fire protection. Michigan
leads in the amount of these State expenditures, having spent during
the fiscal year 1932, $523,799 with Minnesota and Wisconsin each
spending approximately $370,000. The^ greatest amount of State
aid provided by any one State in any single year during the past
5-year period was by Michigan in 1930, in the amount of $708,086.
These three States own State forests, parks, public domain, and
tax-delinquent forest lands amounting to several million acres, and
in the protection expenditures allowance must be made for fire protec-
tion on these as well as on privately owned forest properties. From
1924 to the end of the fiscal year 1932 Federal, State, and private
expenditures for fire protection in the three States have aggregated
$8,439,202, segregated as follows:
Amount
Percent
State funds - -
$6, 881, 666
82
Private funds
118,390
1
Federal funds . _- ..-
1, 439, 146
17
Total
8, 439, 202
100
The States themselves are taking leadership in fire-control work.
Private owners do not contribute funds for forest-fire protection in
Michigan and Wisconsin. In Minnesota, where the present private
contribution is but 5 percent of the total, financial cooperation from
owners is becoming less each year as the commercial forests are
harvested. Steady advancement has been made in State participa-
tion by all three States, and increases in the States' budgets for fire
control have been made from year to year.
All forest land within the protection districts in Michigan, Minne-
sota, and Wisconsin is now being more or less thoroughly protected.
It amounts to 55,811,030 acres in the aggregate and is 100 percent
of the forest area now estimated as in need of being protected. Hence
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1191
all private owners may be said to receive direct aid in this respect.
More or less pressure is being brought to bear upon all three States
to extend the protection districts to include regions to the south and
also to give more intensive protection to certain areas within the
existing districts.
Planting. — Planting and nursery work is maintained in Wisconsin
with the State conservation department; in Michigan, with the
State college; and in North Dakota, with the State forester. Be-
cause of legislative limitations, no such cooperative planting work is
conducted in Minnesota. Eventually Minnesota may be led to take
advantage of Federal cooperation by the increasing demand of
farmers for forest planting stock. The State has recently established
a nursery and during 1932 expects to plant a million trees on State-
owned lands largely by contributed time of employees within its
forestry organization.
TABLE 6. — Annual State aid to private owners in the Lake States, by projects
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
$1, 246, 361
10, 633
16, 287
9,404
Percent
91.2
.8
1.2
.7
Forest research
$43, 260
41,000
Percent
3.1
3.0
Planting and nursery work
Economic surveys
Total
Tree-disease control
1, 366, 945
100.0
During the calendar year 1931 the States of Michigan, Wisconsin,
and North Dakota made $13,824 of State funds available for planting
work. Of this amount approximately $10,633 benefited private
forest land owners in their planting enterprises. This extended
expenditure is 3 percent of planting aid extended by all States, but
it constitutes only 0.8 percent of the expenditure for all financial
aid in forestry within the Lake group.
From 1926 to 1931 Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Dakota have
produced and distributed 18,129,189 trees to private owners, about
half going to farmers and half to larger holdings.
In Michigan two agencies are engaged in forest tree nursery work
with a total annual production and distribution of nearly 24 million
trees for planting on State and private lands. The conservation
department produces stock primarily for planting on State-owned
lands and the State college for distribution to the farmers and other
private owners. The year 1931 probably represents a peak in the
public planting operations. The conservation department produced
in that year more than 22 million trees, of which over 21 million
were planted on State land. The total production and distribution
of planting stock in Michigan was exceeded hi 1931 by only one
other State, namely, New York.
The Michigan State College, cooperating with the Federal Govern-
ment under the Clarke-McNary law, distributed in 1931 nearly \%
million seedlings and transplants to private owners and produced
7,140 trees for planting on State lands. The total distribution of
trees to farmers in Michigan increased from 268,376 in 1925 to 1,726,-
926 in 1931. In 1931, 158 farm windbreaks were established.
168342°— 33— vol. 2-
-10
1192 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
In 1931 the Wisconsin forestry program received greatly increased
financial support. Increased planting programs on State forest
lands are planned. Moreover private lumber, pulp, and paper com-
panies in Wisconsin are becoming more interested in planting. One
company in 1931 planted 1,896 acres. Some companies are develop-
ing nurseries of their own.
An urgent planting need exists in the Lake States, both on privately
owned and on State and county lands. The development of State
and county forests and the reforestation of lands being entered under
the forest crop laws, especially in Michigan and Wisconsin, will
necessitate planting on an immense scale.
Extension. — All four States employ extension foresters in coopera-
tion with the Federal Government. During the fiscal year 1931
they expended $16,287 on cooperative extension projects of aid to
private forest owners, especially to farmers for the furtherance of
better forestry practice. This extension work has resulted in an
increase in farm forest planting. Windbreaks and shelter belts have
been established, woodlands improved, and boys and girls encouraged
in forestry through 4-H Club work. The forestry department of the
University of Michigan, Michigan State College, and the University
of Minnesota also furnish free information and technical advice to
owners in regard to the proper management of forest lands. This
includes not only correspondence and interviews but often the exami-
nation of areas and, in some cases, the preparation of management
plans.
Blister-rust control. — During the fiscal year 1931 the Lake States
made available for white pine blister-rust control $9,404 which con-
stitutes a direct aid to certain white-pine owners. Blister-rust control
in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin is organized on a cooperative
basis between the Federal Government through its Division of Blister
Rust Control, the State agency, usually the department of conserva-
tion and /or the department of agriculture, and owners of white pines.
Each owner of white pines desiring protection against blister rust
furnishes the necessary labor to eradicate currant and gooseberry
bushes under direction of a foreman furnished by the State. Private
aid is thus extended by the State in a supervisory capacity and in the
furnishing of advice and information on control methods.
Research. — Research in the general interest of forest owners is con-
ducted by each of the three Lake States proper, but little along this
line is reported from North Dakota. In Michigan the department of
conservation maintains a forest-fire experiment station in cooperation
with the Federal Forest Service, and both the State college and uni-
versity forestry departments carry on investigations for the benefit
of woodland owners and the advancement of forestry practice in
general.
In Wisconsin the State university cooperates with the Federal
Forest Service in the conduct of silvical investigations and in the
maintenance of the Forest Products Laboratory.
In Minnesota the forestry department of the university conducts
numerous investigations, both independently and in cooperation with
the United States Forest Service. It also provides quarters for the
Lake States Forest Experiment Station in St. Paul and, in addition,
maintains an experimental forest and nursery of its own at Cloquet.
The department of conservation formerly spent a considerable
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1193
amount on research, both independently and in cooperation with the
Forest Service, but at present it has discontinued such aid. A rough
estimate of expenditures for research in forestry by the Lake States
follows:
Michigan:
Department of conservation $10,000
State university 5, 000
State college 12,760
- $27, 760
Wisconsin : College of agriculture 3, 000
Minnesota: State university 10,000
North Dakota: Allotted funds to Lake States experiment station 2, 500
Total 43,260
Legislation. — Forest tax laws that may be considered a form of
State aid to private owners have been passed by the three principal
Lake States. The Minnesota law is inoperative, however, owing to
county opposition. The Michigan law is being taken advantage of
to only a moderate extent, while in Wisconsin, owing to a more liberal
interpretation, the forest crop law is more popular. Land listed on
January 1, 1932, under these laws as reported by the forest taxation
inquiry is as follows:
Acres
In Michigan 72, 701
In Wisconsin 278, 275
Total 350, 976
In 1932 a special committee in Wisconsin made a report to the
Governor on Forest Land Use in Wisconsin, from which the following
extracts are quoted :
THE SEVERANCE TAX (FOREST CROP LAW)
The Wisconsin forest crop law provides that forest-growing land be subject to
a limited tax levy of 10 cents per acre, to which the State contributes a like acreage
share and exempts the growing timber from current taxation but levies thereon
at the time of cutting a severance or yield tax fixed at 10 percent of the "stump-
age" value of the products cut and removed. The entry of land under this law
is optional with the owner and subject to acceptance by the State at the discretion
of the conservation commission. * * *
Value to State. — This study indicates a direct financial loss to the State from the
operation of the forest crop law, even when it is strictly administered. It is in
view of the situation disclosed by this report and the fact that in 1930 over 402,000
acres were entered under the law and that in 1931 applications were made for
430,000 acres of additional entry that the conservation commission revised its
more liberal policy as to acceptance of applications for entry. * * * It is for
the best interests of all concerned that land on which there is no present forest
cover or natural reporduction should not be accepted. * * *
Value to local taxing district. — The towns are the direct and principal beneficiary
of the forest crop law. They receive in lieu of the property tax that would be
levied on the acreage entered 10 cents per acre from the State and 10 cents from
the owner. * * *
Value to private owners. — The advantage of entry of lands by the private owner
under the forest crop law is dependent upon successful forestry practice. Under
a misconception of these advantages or merely in the hope of reducing the tax
burden many thousands of acres of land have been entered under the forest crop
law by private owners without any definite understanding of the management
needed to produce a forest crop. While the State's loss on such land is merely a
transfer from one public fund to another, with the compensating advantages
already referred to, the owner, to justify his enterprise, must develop a timber
crop whose ultimate harvesting will return to him more than his accumulated
outlay. Therefore the present policy of the conservation commission in QQII-
1194 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
cerning itself as to the return to the State is also a policy of protection to the
private owner and may save him from entering into a loss transaction.
Although privately owned lands have been under the forest crop law to any
considerable extent for barely three years, and although the conservation depart-
ment is only now considering the removal of lands on which forestry is not being
practiced, many owners are themselves discovering that natural reproduction
will not take place rapidly enough or be of a character that will insure a merchant-
able crop worth the annual tax under the law and in consequence are either
removing these lands from its provisions or are abandoning title by failing to pay
the acreage share.
Wisconsin has definitely stimulated the creation of county forests.
Of all the Lake States, Wisconsin is the only one in which county
areas assume an important place in the State forestry scheme. Tax-
delinquent land after the period of grace reverts to the counties.
From the reverted lands, some 460,000 acres of county forests have
been blocked out into forest units.
The Wisconsin forest cooperative law of 1927 was amended in
1929 to permit the counties to list county-owned land on the same
terms as that privately owned. For every acre of land listed the
State offers to pay 10 cents annually to the township in which the
land lies. The county pays nothing. As a further encouragement,
the 1931 legislature ordered the conservation department to pay the
counties an additional 10 cents to be used in the development of the
county forest units. Thus every acre of county forest draws 20 cents
of State money each year, 10 cents going to the county and 10 to the
township. The State in return is to receive 75 percent of the yield
from the county forests. County forests have been established in
eight counties and others are in the process of establishment.
In order to understand the alacrity in which the counties are creating
forest units, as well as to appraise properly the possibilities of future
accomplishments, it is necessary to look into the fiscal system ob-
taining. In Wisconsin real-estate taxes are collected by the town-
ships, and the portion for county purposes is passed on to the county
treasurers. Some of the county funds are then returned to the town-
ships as county aid for schools and other services. A special law
permits the townships to turn over the delinquent tax lists to the
county in lieu of cash. Thus, from many heavily delinquent town-
ships the county receives no cash or may even be in debt to the town-
ship. In one county in 1931, although the county levy wasji>140,000,
after $40,000 was returned to the townships for school districts, there
was but $1,500 cash for county purposes. The balance was in the
form of delinquent tax lists. The banks have refused further loans,
and the county confronts an ^ emergency.
Although county forests exist only in Wisconsin, the counties may
become a more important factor in the Minnesota situation. There
the title to tax-delinquent land passes to the State after 5 years, but
the State holds the land as trustee for the various taxing units in
proportion to the unpaid taxes. The State's equity in these taxes is
usually less than 10 percent. There is considerable disposition among
local county and town officials to maintain that under these circum-
stances the county, rather than the State, should have the determin-
ing voice in regard to what is done with the land. It yet remains to
be seen what kind of division of responsibilities will be satisfactorily
worked out in Minnesota.
Economic surveys. — Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin have
each been engaged lately in economic surveys to determine the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1195
character and extent of forest and other lands. Such inventories
are very desirable and should prove a valuable basis for planning land-
use programs. It is estimated that these States during the fiscal
year 1932 spent a total of $41,000 on economic survey work of forest
lands, all of which constitutes a form of aid to private owners. The
survey work in Minnesota has been temporarily discontinued.
CENTRAL STATES REGION
The central group of States comprises Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Annual State expenditures in aid to private forest owners in the
region are given in table 7.
Fire protection. — No fire-protection activities are carried on in
Iowa, Nebraska, or Kansas. The remaining six States are all in some
form of protection which aids some forest-land owners, and all except
Illinois are cooperating with the Federal Government.
TABLE 7. — Annual State aid to private owners in the Central States, by projects
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Fire protection
$121, 520
73, 628
15,883
12,000
Percent
54.5
33.0
7.1
5.4
Planting and nursery work
Forestry extension -
Research
Total
223, 031
100.0
The following summary, by States, shows the proportion of the
forest area needing protection which is now being protected from fire :
Percent
Illinois 20. 1
Indiana 16. 7
Kentucky 14. 7
Ohio 47. 3
Tennessee 67. 9
West Virginia 67. 0
Ohio ranks high in this group in its achievements in well-organized
fire protection and other forestry work. In this State all protection
funds are provided from public sources. Part of the effort is devoted
to the protection of State forested areas. In Indiana, forest-land
owners do not, in general, contribute funds for fire protection, but
in a few counties and townships owners voluntarily contribute com-
paratively small amounts for local fire-suppression purposes. Indiana
centers protection on the State forests and extends aid to private
holdings located in the same region of the State forest areas. In
Kentucky a compulsory patrol law is on the statute books, but it is
practically inoperative. Virtually all protected areas in the State
are those in private ownership. In Tennessee private owners con-
tribute some $3,816 a year, which is a negligible amount, the State
furnishing fire-protection aid amounting to more thn $25,000. Most
of the Tennessee forest areas protected are privately owned, a minor
acreage of State forest areas being included. West Virginia has a
compulsory patrol law, but it is not actively enforced. There are two
1196 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
organized fire associations of private owners who contribute approxi-
mately $15,000 a year, and assessments amounting to about $4,000
a year are collected and turned into the State forestry department for
fire-protection work. Active efforts to enforce the West Virginia
compulsory patrol law on a State-wide basis are not deemed advisable.
Most private owners now cooperating in the two associations were
voluntarily doing so before enactment of the law, and the law itself
has not greatly increased the extent of fire-protected areas. The
counties aid materially in paying for fire suppression.
Planting.— During the calendar year 1931 all the Central States
except Illinois cooperated with the Federal Government in forest
planting and nursery work and spent $73,628 of State money. Ohio,
the leader in this project, individually spent $36,999 in raising and
distributing 3}£ million trees, about two thirds of which were planted
on private lands and one third on State lands. Tennessee gives
private owners State reforestation aid by advice and help in preparing
badly eroded land for planting and by furnishing planting stock,
chiefly black locust, at nominal cost.
During the period 1926-31 these eight States have distributed over
23 million trees to private forest owners, approximately three fourths
going to farmers and one fourth to others. State expenditures for
planting activities constitute 33 per cent of the total for all forestry
activities in the group.
Extension. — With the exception of Kentucky and Kansas, all the
Central States extend aid to private owners in forestry extension
through the activities of extension foresters. For the fiscal year 1931
the States themselves spent for this work $15,883 which was 7.1 per-
cent of their expenditure for all State aid in forestry work.
Research. — Indiana is the only State in this group engaged in
specific forest research activities. It is estimated that the Depart-
ment of Conservation spends approximately $4,000 a year of State
funds for forest research and investigations. The forestry depart-
ment of the Purdue Agricultural Experiment Station is also engaged
in a study of the effects of grazing on farm wood-lot management, the
results of which should prove of aid to private timberland owners.
Approximately $8,000 is being spent annually on this reasearch
project. In Ohio part of the time of several technical foresters is
devoted to research.
SOUTHERN REGION
The southern group comprises Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
Annual expenditures of State lunds to aid private owners in the
above States are as follows:
Amount
Percent
Fire protection.
$313, 341
82.7
Planting and nursery work
25, 339
6.7
Forestry extension
24 324
6 4
Forest research
15 913
4 2
378, 917
100
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1197
State aid in this large group of States constitutes but 7.1 percent of
of the total amount furnished for aid of private owners in all States.
No State forestry organization exists in Arkansas.
Fire protection. — Some owners in all these States, except Arkansas,
receive direct aid from the State in the protection of their timberlands
from fire, but such aid applies only to those in organized protection
areas. The percentage of forest land protected in 1931 in each State
was as follows:
Percent
Alabama 43. 3
Florida 8. 1
Louisiana 29. 9
Georgia 8. 4
Mississippi 2. 7
Percent
North Carolina 39. 1
Oklahoma 10. 7
South Carolina 5. 2
Texas 46. 0
Virginia 63. 4
Considering the group as a whole, the State aid extended to private
owners in fire protection differs quite materially from that in the Lake,
Middle Atlantic, and New England States, where all forest areas are
being protected from fire and where practically all protection costs
are borne by the public. Protection in the South has not yet been
established on a State-wide basis. Furthermore, the Southern States
do not make large sums available for protection but rather endeavor
to secure voluntary participation of private owners in sharing the
costs. For example, prevention and suppression expenditures for the
calendar year 1931 were shared between the public and by private
owners in the following proportions :
Percent
States 33
Private owners 23
Federal Government.. 44
Total . 100
The participation and contributions of private owners in fire pro-
tection is all voluntary in the South. In Virginia and North Caro-
lina the counties as well as the State provide public aid to owners.
Planting. — All of the Southern States except Texas and Arkansas
extend assistance to private owners in planting. This aid through
State funds totaled $25,339 during 1931. South Carolina spent
$6,003 which was more than was spent by any other State in the
group. Annual distribution of planting stock to private owners by
all States is approximately 3 million trees, of which about 75 percent
are for farm planting and 25 percent for planting on other private
holdings. Several large paper and lumber companies are engaged in
planting projects on their holdings and operate well-managed forest
nurseries. Advice furnished by State and Federal forestry repre-
sentatives has been of material aid in this work.
Extension. — Eight States employ extension foresters and furnish
private owners, especially owners of farm woodland, with planting
and management demonstrations and advice. Oklahoma, Florida,
and South Carolina do not employ extension foresters. Florida,
however, performs important extension work in cooperation with the
Bureau of Chemistry and Soils by having a technical employee devote
part time in promoting and demonstrating improved turpentining
practices. State annual expenditures amount to about $24,324 in
these States for extension activities, which constitutes 26.2 percent
of the total for all State aid forestry work.
1198 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Research. — During the fiscal year 1932 approximately $15,913 was
spent in Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas for activities in forest research
of indirect aid to private owners. Expenditures were approximately
as follows :
Arkansas $4,000
Georgia 11,163
Texas. _ 750
Total 15,913
In Arkansas a forester is employed by the State University pri-
marily for forest investigations. Georgia is committed to a coopera-
tive research program to ascertain the possibilities of producing
newsprint and white paper stock from southern pines. A special
State appropriation of $40,000 is made available for 1932 and 1933
through the Department of Geology and Forestry in cooperation
with the Chemical Foundation, Inc., of New York City. Of this sum
$11,163 was spent in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932. The
Foundation has set aside $50,000 for this cooperative research project
contingent upon State appropriations. In Texas a limited amount of
research is performed on the three State forests, but no personnel is
engaged for research alone. In several Southern States, State forestry
employees contribute services on research projects conducted by the
Federal Forest Experiment Station.
PACIFIC COAST REGION
The States in this group comprise California, Oregon, and Wash-
ington. Annual expenditures for State aid to private owners are as
follows :
Amount
Percent
$298, 097
73.9
Planting and nursery work . --
17, 372
4.3
Forestry extension -
3,271
.8
35, 750
8.9
Insect control - - --
7,734
1.9
31,500
7.8
Forest survey -- - ---
9,500
2.4
Total
403, 224
100
Fire protection. — State aid in the form of appropriations for fire
protection in this region constitues 9.3 percent of the total expendi-
ture for such aid in all States. Compulsory patrol laws require
private owners to provide fire protection for their forest properties.
State funds spent for fire prevention, suppression, fire-law enforce-
ment, etc., all aid private owners. Private forest owners are aided
to a greater extent when public funds bear a major rather than a
minor portion of the total expenditures. In the Pacific Coast States
private owners share very materially in providing funds for fire pro-
tection and therefore receive a relatively lesser amount of direct
financial aid than in those Lake and Eastern States where practically
the entire costs of fire protection are borne by the States and Federal
Government.
Planting. — These States have not been active in planting and nurs-
ery work. The Pacific coast region has been the last one of our
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1199
great forest regions to be exploited, and protection of mature stands
has been the principal need rather than the reforestation of denuded
areas. However, all three States are at present cooperating under
section 4 of the Clarke-McNary law in the establishment of nurseries
and distribution of planting stock to farmers. During the calendar
year 1931 they put $17,372 of State money into such work, but the
distribution was only 267,000 trees. Oregon led with a distribution
of 198,500 seedlings and transplants.
Extension. — California is the only one of this group of States
employing an extension forester under cooperative provisions of the
Clarke-McNary law. During the fiscal year 1931 it engaged in forest
extension work to the amount of $3,271.
Blister-rust control. — During the fiscal year 1932 all three States
provided funds for coopertive white pine blister rust control work,
spending a total of $35,750, which was of benefit to private owners.
Insect control. — In 1931 the State of Washington, one county, and
certain private forest interests combined to finance a $15,000 project
for the control of a hemlock looper infestation. An airplane was used
to dust 5,000 acres, and the Bureau of Entomology considered the
control project successful. The use of the airplane was unique as a
method of forest insect control. Of the total cost of the enterprise the
State contributed $6,810, the county $924, and the private owners
$7,266.
While these States do not, in general, make direct funds available
for forest insect control, several have provided for means of control
by legislative enactments. When forest insect outbreaks occur, the
States are authorized to declare zones of infestation, and the owners
are required to provide control measures or funds. Pine beetle con-
trol projects under the provisions of the Oregon law have been under
way for several years.
Research. — State funds amounting to $31,500 were made available
during the fiscal year 1932 for research work, a total exceeded only
in the Middle Atlantic and Lake regions. California is outstanding
in the Pacific group in the amount of State aid extended for forest
research. As reflecting both public and private interest in forest
research problems, the State annually allots to the division of forestry
of the State university about $15,000 for forest research, and the
State and various counties cooperate with the Federal Forest Experi-
ment Station by contributing annually approximately $15,500.
A cooperative project in research on fire-fighting equipment was
recently financed by several of the Northwestern States. Washington
and Oregon each contributed $500 last year on this study.
Legislation. — Reforestation legislation which offers aid in the
stabilization of taxes on cut-over lands and second-growth timber is
provided in both Oregon and Washington. While such State aid
cannot be evaluated in monetary figures, its operation is of distinct
advantage to private owners of young timber.
NORTH ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
Only the States of Idaho and Montana are included in this group
and both are extending State aid to private owners. Annual expendi-
tures for such aid are given in table 8.
Fire protection. — State funds that are made available for fire pro-
tection are used for the protection of State-owned rather than private
1200 A NATIONAL- PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
lands. Such State expenditures are therefore not included in this
report. Many private owners in these States provide funds for the
protection of their forest properties in cooperation with the Federal
Government under the Clarke-McNary law, the States themselves
not sharing in this phase of the work.
TABLE 8. — Annual State aid to private owners in North Rocky Mountain region,
by projects
Project
Distribution of
regional aid
Amount
Percent
Planting and nursery work
$6, 349
2,004
13,000
29.7
9.4
60.9
Forestry extension
Forest research
Total
21,353
100.0
Planting. — Both States cooperate with the Federal Government in
planting, and during the calendar year 1931 they spent $6,349 of State
money under this head as an aid to farmers. Montana is doing the
larger share. In 1931 the two States distributed a total of 467,600
trees, of which all but 32,500 went to farmers. Planting projects and
nursery production have been increasing there during recent years.
Research. — The State of Idaho regularly allots State funds to the
University of Idaho Forest School for forest research. The amount
of $12,000 represents the portion falling within the scope of this
report. Research in forest products, pathology, and slash disposal
has been conducted which is for the benefit of private owners.
Montana forest research activities are estimated at $1,000 annually.
The studies there are conducted by technical forestry employees of
the State.
Legislation. — Idaho owns some 452,000 acres of State forest, and
sales of timber, grazing leases, cottage and camp sites, etc., brought
in $135,499 last year. State forest sales funds are held in a trust fund
for educational work within the State. Idaho has a reforestation law
similar in principle to those of Oregon and Washington which may be
considered a form of State aid to private owners. In Idaho the
application of the reforestation law is left to the option of the private
owner and only a relatively small amount of interest has thus far been
manifested in the listing of lands. Only 53,371 acres of private
land has been listed.
SOUTH ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
The South Rocky Mountain Region includes the States of Arizona,
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
All except Arizona and South Dakota provide some form of State aid
in forestry to private owners. Annual expenditures for such aid are
given in table 9.
Fire protection. — State aid in fire protection is extended only in
New Mexico and Nevada. State funds for fire protection are made
available in South Dakota but are used primarily for the protection
of the Ouster State Park. In Utah and Arizona the acreage of
privately owned lands is small, and, since such areas largely lie
adjacent to or within the national forests, protection from fire is
provided by the Federal Government.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1201
During the fiscal year 1932 New Mexico spent $2,762 of State
money for fire protection, and private owners contributed $3,633.
In Nevada, State aid in protection is practically negligible, amounting
to but $105 in 1932, while private owners spent $5,695.
Planting. — The States of Colorado, Utah, and Whoming are cooper-
ating with the Federal Government in planting projects. During the
calendar year 1931 they put a total of $5,467 into the work. ^ A total
of approximately 258,583 trees were distributed, most of which went
for farm planting. Colorado led, with 126,000 trees distributed.
Colorado has a law exempting forest plantations from taxes during
the first 10 years, but it has not proved a sufficiently valuable induce-
ment to advance private planting appreciably. South Dakota has a
similar law providing tax exemption for the first 5 years, but it also
has proved ineffective.
Extension. — Utah and Wyoming cooperate in extension work.
State funds thus spent amounted to $2,800 during the fiscal year 1931.
Farmers also receive aid and information in planting from the horti-
cultural department of the University of Wyoming.
TABLE 9. — Annual State aid to private owners in South Rocky Mountain region,
by projects
Project
Distribution of regional
aid
Amount
Percent
$2,867
5,467
2,800
25.8
49.1
25.1
Planting and nursery work _ . -
Forestry extension
Total - --
11, 134
100.0
CONCLUSION
In reviewing the aid which the States are now extending to private
forest owners, it is pertinent to mention the effect which Federal aid
has exercised on State aid in forestry. Local forestry leadership and
legislative action is principally responsible for present local and State
interest and participation. However, those most closely in touch
with State and private forestry work frankly acknowledge the fact
that every State cooperative forestry function has been either created
or vitally strengthened by Federal aid extended under the Clarke-
McNary law. It is recognized that in many States full realization of
State and local responsibility for aiding in the improvement of forest
practice is far from ultimate attainment. Even in those States,
however, progress would have been still less advanced had Federal
help not been extended. Distinct gains are to be noted under the
existing plan of Federal cooperative aid, which should continue to
stimulate increased State and private aid to and interest in forestry.
State aid to private owners, which now accounts for annual expendi-
tures in the neighborhood of $5,330,000, was supplemented in the
fiscal year 1932 by Federal funds amounting to $1,762,966 for the
specific projects of fire protection, planting, and forestry extension
under the terms of the Clarke-McNary Act.
Great differences both in emphasis on the various projects and in
the extent of State financial participation may be pointed out in
1202 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
widely distant States and regions. When viewed by regions, however,
a general similarity of forestry activities and likewise of interest is
found. Although different States usually extend State aid for
forestry according to the problems needing most urgent attention,
the problem of fire control is quite generally recognized as of the first
importance and as fundamentally necessary to the success of most
others. The establishment of this point of view is in itself an achieve-
ment of the highest significance for the future of forestry. Fire is the
most destructive agent to which our forests are subjected, and the;
general determination to control it finds expression in the large
proportionate sums provided for fire protection by State, private,
and Federal agencies.
Considering emergency activities in the form of State aid, it is
pertinent to note that the States in their efforts to safeguard private
timber resources have provided funds in excess of a million dollars
annually for the control of destructive forest insects and diseases.
At present no standard policy exists among the States as to the
extent to which they should participate in extending direct and
indirect aid to private forest owners.
Most States in the New England, Middle Atlantic, and Lake regions
are now extending aid to private owners to a greater extent than is
found in any other region. Here private aid in fire protection is
extended almost entirely by the public. In the West the common
understanding is prevalent that it is proper for private forest owners
to carry a material part of the load of fire protection, and legislation
has been enacted to bring this about. In the South, State aid is
being extended with the principal objective of building up private
participation of voluntary nature.
Figure 3 shows the amount of all forms of State aid in forestry being
extended annually to private owners and it likewise shows the amounts
which the private owners are expending for fire protection. The
graph also shows the areas of privately owned commercial forest
lands. The acreage of forest lands in itself should not be interpreted
as representing or constituting anything more than a rough correlation
between what the States are doing to aid private owners in forestry
and what they should do. For example, fire protection on a com-
parative acreage basis costs five times as much in some regions as in
others. Likewise States where destructive forest-insect epidemics or
tree-disease infestations are prevalent must include in their forestry
budgets control expenditure items which would not need be part of
the forestry costs in States where such epidemics or infestations were
absent. However, since cost figures are not available for the amount
which each State should provide for aid to private owners the acreage
of privately owned lands rather than cost estimates have been used
as one means of giving the reader at least some idea of the extent of
the forestry job on privately owned forest lands.
The fundamental principles of extending aid to private owners by the
States is apparently now well established. The extent to which present
aid will be supplemented in the immediate future by needed additional
support is problematical. It seems reasonably certain, however,
that State interest and aid as now extended to private owners will be
continued and will be expanded as Federal and local interests in
forestry develop and as the States themselves become better able
financially to meet their broader responsibilities in this field.
FACTORS AFFECTING FEDERAL AND STATE AID
CONTENTS
Page
Federal aid 1203
The Federal interest in State forestry 1205
Erosion and flood control 1206
Factors affecting policy of Federal aid 1208
Financing the Federal aid system 1219
State aid 1223
State forestry legislation and appropriations 1224
State interest in forestry 1225
Factors affecting State action 1225
Conclusions 1227
FEDERAL AID
By FRED MORRELL, Assistant Forester, in Charge Branch of Public Relations
The traditional policy of the United States as to disposition of forest
land is one of private ownership. Through liberal and laxly enforced
laws for private acquisition and through grants to States, railroads,
and other public and semipublic institutions, the largest share of the
forest lands of the country had passed from Federal ownership before
the policy of disposition was in part reversed by the act of March 3,
1891, which authorized the President to withdraw from entry remain-
ing federally owned lands suitable for forestry purposes.
The States had generally followed the Federal policy of disposing of
grant lands to private owners, and large grantors, of whom railroad
companies were the most important, followed a similar plan. There-
fore, when early in the present century public concern was aroused
over the possibilities of a shortage of timber supplies and the con-
dition of watersheds, the question was largely related to land in
private ownership.
Following the act of 1891 approximately 20 percent of the remaining
forest land of the country had been withdrawn from entry and included
in the national forest system. Practically all of this was in the far
western public-domain States. The States still owned a large acreage
of forest land, but this was in general being passed to private owner-
ship as fast as possible under generous disposal policies. A few
States had made small beginnings toward permanent ownership and
management of forest lands, and a relatively small aggregate area was
held by municipalities and minor political subdivisions for the pro-
tection of public water supply. Many owners were actively engaged
in protecting and otherwise managing their forest lands with the
purpose of preserving existing timber values until they could be liqui-
dated through cutting, in creating new values, or in preserving forest
conditions for other reasons. This was being done both by individuals
and by owner associations, the efforts of the latter being predominant
in the Northwest, where owners were carrying heavy investments in
commercial timber that were particularly liable to fire losses.
1203
1204 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
In 191 1 , the public concern in the state of forested lands culminated
in the enactment of the Weeks law for Federal aid in forestry. At that
time 16 States had provided by law for systems of protection extending
over part or all of the forest land within their borders and had set up
organizations for actual protection work. Protection of privately
owned forests as a function of government had thus been firmly estab-
lished.
Since Federal ownership represented the most certain form of
progress, continued protection and improvement of Federal properties,
as well as extension of Federal ownership, was obviously desirable
policy from a forestry standpoint. But it was clearly impracticable
to extend Federal ownership at once to any large percentage of forest
land in which the public was interested. Such a course was barred
both by the enormous sums of money that would be required for
acquisition and management, and by the thoroughly established
system of private ownership. A second possibility was to leave the
land in private and other ownership but to bring about through
regulation such systems of management as would safeguard the
public interest. Most leaders in the movement believed that public
dictation in the management of privately owned forest land would be
contrary to traditional American thought and custom, and hence at
that time impracticable, even where considered desirable.
It was apparent that the existing classes of forest-land ownership
would continue, and that therefore any complete Federal program
would have to extend to all of them. It seemed also apparent that
the easiest and least expensive way, if not the only possible way, for
the Federal Government to exert any wide influence immediately
was through working with the facilities already set up. Through the
medium of Federal assistance conditioned on State assistance of at
least equal amount it was hoped that owners of forest land would be
encouraged to hold it for forestry purposes. It was believed that the
majority would find it to their interest to install such practices as
would satisfy the public need and that eventually public requirements
agreeable to most landowners would follow to insure the results
desired. The legislation embodied in the Weeks Act (March 1, 1911)
followed put these general ideas in creating what is known as the
Federal-aid system.
While the Weeks Act provided for Federal acquisition of forest land
and Federal aid in protecting State and privately owned land from
fire, it expressly applied only to forest land on the watersheds of
navigable streams. There is much evidence, however, that naviga-
bility of streams was not in reality the prime incentive for the legisla-
tion. A review of the statements made by those interested in promot-
ing Federal acquisition, fire protection, and forestry extension indi-
cates that they had in view all of the public values inherent in forestry.
Aid to navigation was but one of the considerations, although in the
minds of some of those who supported the legislation it may have con-
stituted a sufficient single reason for the action taken.
The gains established through the administration of the Weeks
Act have been consolidated and enlarged through the Clarke-
McNary Act of June 7, 1924, the operation of which has already been
discussed in some detail. Briefly, the principle of Federal aid to the
States is now well intrenched, the States have responded with large
contributions to forestry on their own account, and the situation
promises well for the Nation-wide forestry program of the future.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1205
THE FEDERAL INTEREST IN STATE FORESTRY
The most important reasons which foresters and other prominent
advocates have assigned for Federal participation in forestry activities
are the following :
1 . The provision of an adequate timber supply.
2. Erosion and flood control.
3. Safeguarding scenic and recreational interest.
To what degree these objectives are of concern to the Federal
Government is a question deserving a brief analysis at this point.
THE INTERSTATE INTEREST IN TIMBER SUPPLY
In table 1 are shown, by regions, estimates of the present annual
cut of timber, present annual amount of wood used, and the ultimate
annual growth of wood that may reasonably be expected under such
handling of the forest lands as would presumably result if the objec-
tives set up in this report were attained. (See section "Present and
Potential Timber Resources." Subsection on " Timber Growth.")
These estimates afford some idea of what the situation may be when
all or most of our remaining virgin timber has been harvested and the
country is faced with the necessity of balancing its consumption against
production.
Here the interdependence of the various regions of the country is
plainly indicated by the figures of present consumption and present
cut. While the totals roughly balance, in no region are forest demand
and forest supply even approximately equal.
Furthermore, even though a State may produce a total much larger
than it consumes, no one State produces all the forest products that it
needs and uses. In every State there is need for woods of a kind or
quality which it does not produce, and which are more cheaply or
conveniently obtained from other States. The Pacific Coast States,
for example, contain only small quantities of hardwoods and must
secure their main supply from the South and East. Table 2 proves the
reality and magnitude of this interstate dependence. It shows that
in the distribution of all sawed lumber used in 1928 more than half of
it crossed State lines. The problem of timber supply is thus obviously
a matter of concern not only to individual States but to the Nation as
a whole.
TABLE 1. — Present annual timber cut, consumption, and theoretical ultimate future
growth of timber in the United States
Region
Present
cut
Present
consump-
tion
Theoret-
ical ulti-
mate
growth
New England
Million
cubic feet
619
Million
cubic feet
874
Million
cubic feet
748
Middle Atlantic
772
2,567
1,002
Lake States
1,267
1,770
1,773
Central
2,067
4, 113
1,959
South .
6,418
3,970
9,500
Pacific Coast
2,937
1,408
2,059
North Rocky Mountain
287
114
499
South Rocky Mountain . ..- --.._-.
128
248
215
Total
14, 495
15,064
17, 755
1206 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 2. — Sawed lumber derived from other States, 1928
1,000 feet board
Alabama 174,498
Arizona 42, 333
Arkansas 110, 939
California 2, 055, 048
Colorado 185,476
Connecticut 232, 767
Delaware 41, 955
Florida 22,911
Georgia 119, 344
Idaho 67, 203
Illinois 2, 236, 314
Indiana 753,617
Iowa 540, 395
Kansas. _ 404,201
Kentucky 393,410
Louisiana 229, 783
Maine 54,962
Maryland and District of Columbia 503, 389
Massachusetts 627, 141
Michigan '_ 1, 162, 033
Minnesota 533, 844
Mississippi 44, 097
Missouri 678,959
Montana 74, 164
Nebraska 303, 770
Nevada 53,539
New Hampshire 67, 535
New Jersey 665, 869
New Mexico 47, 125
New York 2, 486, 134
North Carolina 206, 229
North Dakota 136, 711
Ohio 1,383,251
Oklahoma 346,644
Oregon 86, 151
Pennsylvania 1, 534, 379
Rhode Island 151, 626
South Carolina 25, 104
South Dakota 137,840
Tennessee 563, 116
Texas 723,643
Utah 120, 443
Vermont 25, 487
Virginia 293, 154
West Virginia 117, 422
Washington and Alaska 153, 832
Wisconsin 561, 165
Wyoming 110, 586
Total 21, 589, 538
EROSION AND FLOOD CONTROL
No quantitative estimates can be cited to indicate the interstate
interest in forests from the standpoint of their value in reducing the
destructive forces of water, but the hundreds of millions of dollars
spent by the Federal Government on levee construction alone affords
some measure of the Nation's concern in flood control as such. In-
vestigations tend to prove that forestry is a basic instrumentality of
flood control hitherto neglected. As to soil erosion, it is known to
have a disastrous eifect through impoverishment of the area from
i Forest Service estimates.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1207
which it comes and sometimes even more through sanding and silting
of the region in which it is deposited. If, therefore, through depletion
of forest cover erosion is accelerated, damage arises to the public to
the extent that it is interested either in soil productivity or in the
navigability or purity of streams.
The interstate interest in forested watersheds from these various
points of view is fully discussed in another section of this report.
For the purpose of illustration here it will be sufficient to call attention
to the vast territorial range of only three of our major drainage sys-
tems. The Mississippi system drains all or parts of 31 States, and its
watersheds include about one fourth of the total forest land of the
country. The watersheds of the Columbia and the Colorado each
include nearly one tenth of the total forest land. The Columbia
drains parts of 6 States, and the Colorado parts of 6 States. Control
of floods, erosion, or any other problem of such river systems is a
matter of Federal no less than State and local concern. And it is a
fundamental premise of forestry that every successful effort made by
the public toward restoring, maintaining, and protecting forest and
vegetative cover is directly reflected in better control of floods,
erosion, and run-off in general.
SCENIC AND RECREATIONAL INTERESTS
The interstate use of forest land for scenic and recreational pur-
poses depends on a proper combination of natural features to appeal
to the outdoor interests of the American public. As a rule, the most
popular vacation areas are to be found in mountainous or lake country
with a cool summer climate.
It is not believed that interstate as against State use of forest land
for recreation should be given too serious weight in determining a
Federal aid policy, particularly if the Federal aid is largely compensat-
ing through similarity of State situations. The relative value of
resources to the State as compared to their value to the Nation as a
whole is particularly difficult to estimate, and the interests of both
parties should be given fair consideration. Some light is thrown on
this aspect of the case by a United States Bureau of Biological Survey
report showing that of some 7 million State hunting licenses issued for
the 1929-30 season, only about 55,000 were to nonresidents. A
prominent example of nonresident recreation is seen in Colorado,
where, according to estimates of the " Colorado Association," 790,000
summer visitors in 1931 spent $72,396,000, paying to the State
$436,142, in gasoline tax alone. A similar report from the "New
England Council" estimates that over $500,000,000 is spent in that
region annually by recreationists, many of whom, of course, cross
State boundaries on the way.
On the other hand, while each national park is visited by people
from every State each year, Park Service reports indicate a relatively
much greater use by people residing near them. For example, about
20 percent of the annual visitors to Yellowstone Park are residents of
the three States surrounding it, although the combined population of
these States is only 1 percent of the total population of the United
States. Of the visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park more than
50 percent are Colorado residents, and at Yosemite more than 90
percent have registered as Californians.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 11
1208 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The pecuniary advantages of the tourist business to States and
communities in which Federally supported properties are located are,
of course, generally recognized, and accepted, where the resources
are of sufficient national interest to warrant the Federal expense in-
volved. But the principle upon which Federal care of areas of out-
standing educational, scenic, and recreational value is justified has
very much less application in determining a Federal-aid policy for
protection of vast acreages of privately and State owned forest lands.
No attempt is made here to evaluate this factor as against cost of
maintaining the conditions that make forest lands attractive for that
purpose. The intent is only to point out that it is a factor that should
be weighed in determining a Federal-aid policy.
FACTORS AFFECTING POLICY OF FEDERAL AID
Some of the broader national considerations pointing to Federal
participation in State forestry affairs, together with the degree of the
Federal interest, have now been explained. The system of Federal
aid in forestry as it operates under present-day legislation and appro-
priations has been described in a preceding section. It remains to
consider as realistically as possible the more specific factors which
condition the usefulness of Federal aid and which must be observed
in the successful administration of its present and future programs.
Against the Federal-aid forestry projects it has sometimes been
argued that a Federal bureau has been put in a position where it can
dictate State policies and procedure by threat of withdrawing funds,
thus weakening State and private initiative and independence; that
States in which the ratio of Federal taxes to allotments is high are
made to pay for forestry in States where the reverse is the case; and
that the bait of Federal funds has caused some States to appropriate
more for the work than they should.
In other words, the issue of Federal aid in forestry is on all fours
with the issue in many other forms of Federal aid. It must be ad-
mitted that there are arguments on both sides, and Federal aid must
depend for justification on whether or not its advantages outweigh
its disadvantages. The position taken by the writer is that the ad-
vantages predominate, provided that the law is administered in a coop-
erative and not a dictatorial way, that a proper balance is maintained
between Federal contribution and Federal requirements, and that
Federal assistance to States and private owners is maintained on a
ratio that properly represents the national as compared with State
and private interest. These considerations are factors in all of the
activities of Federal aid in forestry as now administered. The more
important activities demand separate discussion and will be taken up
in the following order: Protection against fire, establishment of wood-
lands, woodland management, research, control of forest insects,
control of tree diseases, acquisition of lands, and finance.
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
ATTITUDE OF LANDOWNERS
The major interest of owners of forest land in the past has been in
the merchantable wood that it supported rather than in the growing
of another crop of timber. Following the clearing of many millions
of acres of land and its devotion to farming, it came to be the general
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICA^ FORESTRY 1209
belief that most forest land would, after the timber was removed, be
absorbed in agriculture. While there was altogether a large acreage
of timber on soil that was too rocky or too steep to be cultivated, even
that land was thought to have pasturage possibilities. As a rule no
effort whatever was made to preserve conditions that would result in
another crop of timber.
Today, as a result of a long period of adversity for agriculture, the
view is quite different. Owners of forest land have now very widely
accepted the opinion that such land holds small promise of being
valuable for economic purposes other than timber growing. Great
progress has therefore been made toward a general understanding that
fires are a detriment to future values rather than a help in preparing
the land for a better use. That realization has not, however, resulted
in a universally active interest in fire protection on the part of land-
owners. A large percentage of cut-over land now supports no timber
of merchantable size and quality, and contains little young growth
of any considerable size. The possibility of cutting another timber
crop from it is too far removed to be of definite interest to the average
landowner, and the sale value of young-growth forests, except in the
Northeastern States and the naval-stores region in the South, has
been as a rule very small. Hence owners have been deprived of any
financial incentive for protecting such lands.
On the other hand, where forests constitute present marketable
values that are in danger of destruction from fire, the interest of the
owners has been keen, and large sums of money have been expended
by them for protection. But the owner's expenditure will necessarily
be in proportion to what he regards as his risk of loss, and it cannot be
expected that private activity in protecting cut-over forest land will
be great unless increase in values through growth promises more
than enough to offset protection and carrying charges. Owners have
no difficulty in understanding this proposition. It is believed, how-
ever, that timber values are in sight on many cut-over lands, much
nearer than the owners now appreciate. A great opportunity for
Federal aid lies in building up better morale among landowners with
respect to fire protection. The means provided are definitely suited
to the purpose, though not yet adequate, namely, sharing the burden
of costs and pointing out prospective values on the land. At present
the success of Federal aid is severely handicapped by the pessimism
of many owners.
PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD FOREST FIRE PROTECTION
The former indifferent attitude of the resident nonlandowning pub-
lic toward forest fires has changed greatly during the last 20 years as a
result of anti-fire propaganda and the growing opposition of owners
to forest burning as such. Except in some regions in the South, forest
fires are very generally regarded as an evil and their prevention and
suppression as an obligation. There is still not a sufficiently aroused
public feeling, however, or a sufficient feeling of personal responsibility
to make adequate protection possible at reasonable cost in many parts
of the country.
Again, in the regions of larger timber land holdings there may be
found an unsympathetic attitude toward fire protection because of a
rather widespread antagonism to the corporations or individuals
1210 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
holding the land. While it may arise from a number of causes, it
reflects a common feeling of protest against the larger holdings. Too
often the local residents consider that fire is not damaging them but
is putting an opposed group to loss or inconvenience. Therefore,
while they would not maliciously set fires or hinder the efforts of the
landowners to control them, they are not greatly concerned unless
fires assume disastrous proportions. The need here is to intensify
the conviction that forests are a community asset, regardless of who
owns them, and that "everybody loses when fires burn." The diffi-
culty of enforcing fire laws where this conviction does not exist is
obvious.
Federal and State participation in the actual expense and organi-
zation for fire control has been a large factor in improving the point
of view of the resident public. The fact that public agencies are in
partnership with the landowner in fire protection or have taken over
the whole task as a matter of public responsibility is a convincing
argument in favor of care and active cooperation on the part of the
individual citizen, altogether apart from the fear of legal penalties
for acts of incendiarism.
USE OF FIRE ON LAND BELONGING TO OTHERS
Official estimates indicate that more than one third of the fires
occurring on forest lands under protection are caused by smokers
and campers, mostly on land belonging to other people. Through
tradition and custom, the right of the public to make use of the
forests and woodlands in private ownership for hunting, fishing, and
other forms of recreation is well established. While there are laws
in many States protecting landowners against undue use of this sort,
they are generally deficient if reviewed from the standpoint of fire
protection alone, and are especially difficult of enforcement. The
solution of the problem involves questions such as seasons open to
hunting and fishing, and will ultimately require a balancing of benefits
and hazards and an equitable adjustment between public rights and
requirements and those of the landowner. The matter can now be
handled only by the State, even the use of federally owned forest
land being, under the terms of withdrawal, largely subject to State
statutes in these respects.
NECESSARY USE OF FIRE BY LANDOWNER
Fire is an essential tool in logging, land clearing, farming, and
construction projects. It follows that its use by the landowner or
tenant must be legalized under the general rights of ownership,
provided that such use does not infringe on the rights of other indi-
viduals or the general public.
Fires spread easily, and the establishment of practices necessary in
the public interest and not unduly burdensome on the landowner
offers many difficulties. It involves the establishment by law of
seasons during which burning for disposal of debris or for other purposes
is permissible, and of the conditions under which it may be done. In
regions of serious fire hazard, proper protection requires the setting up
of local authority for the issuance of burning permits and provision
for inspection work and law enforcement.
A NATIONAL PLAIT FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1211
Few single causes have been responsible for more disastrous forest
fires than inflammable material left on the ground after cutting and
removal of timber. As a general rule approximately 40 percent of
the tree has been left behind as of no commercial value. In addition
there is often a large amount of dead-and-down material. Owners of
forest land have not been generally willing, of their own accord, to
dispose of this material by methods tha£ insure against spread of
fire, because they have not regarded the loss that they themselves
might suffer as equal to the cost of proper disposal. Most States
have passed laws requiring one form or another of so-called slash
disposal. Some of the laws need strengthening and clarification, but,
generally speaking, the difficulty lies more in enforcement than in
lack of legal authority. Proper slash burning requires careful piling,
the right day for burning, and care and judgment in the operation.
Very commonly the precautionary measures necessary to prevent
the spread of fire from slash or other burnings represent some hard-
ship and expense to the landowner, and many problems are involved
in arriving at and enforcing requirements fair to all concerned. Abil-
ity of a protective organization to solve these difficulties and those
discussed in the caption above depends very largely on the attitude
of the public toward fires. If local sentiment is antagonistic or
indifferent, it can be accomplished only in part and at relatively
large expense.
STATE LEGAL BASIS
The Federal statute requires the State to provide by law for a
system of fire protection before it can participate in Federal appro-
priations for that purpose. All of the States with forest lands in
need of organized protection have made legal provisions which the
Federal Government has regarded as meeting requirements for at
least a beginning of cooperative protection, although in three States
cooperation is not now active. There has been a very gratifying
disposition throughout the States to amend their fire protection
laws or to enact new laws based on the experience of other States
when it has seemed that gains could be made by such a policy.
Federal aid has been influential in bringing such changes about
through the advice of experienced Federal cooperative agents and
through pressure for legislation considered adequate and appropriate
as a condition of continuing the Federal assistance. Nevertheless, an
ideal basis of State cooperation is far from attainment in many cases.
Systems of protection necessarily vary greatly according to forest
conditions and fiscal limitations in the different States, but there are
five principles that should be followed as a standard.
1 . Forest-fire protection, along with other forestry activities in the
State, should be placed by law under the supervision of a nonpolitical,
technically competent, and reasonably permanent department, board,
commission, or other authority, serving in forestry matters alone or in
connection with other conservation activities, and hereinafter referred
to as "the commission."
2. The law should provide for placing responsibility for protection
directly on an official with adequate experience and training, to be
selected by the commission. It should delegate to this official wide
latitude in administration, subject to review by the commission only
in the more important phases of policy, planning, and accomplish-
ment.
1212 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
3. Provision should be made for operation of the merit system in
matters of employment and promotion, and responsibility for proper
discipline and control should be lodged with the State officer above
designated, subject to appeal to the commission.
4. Salary ranges and other conditions of employment should be set
by the commission.
5. In States where private owners are expected to pay a share of
protection costs, the law should make specific provision for and outline
broadly, subject to regulation by the commission, the terms under
which private cooperation is to be recognized.
An analysis of existing State laws shows many failures to fulfill
these various requirements. Likewise performance in fire protection
shows weakness directly traceable to that failure. Continuing allot-
ments of Federal funds to States should be more and more firmly
conditioned on the adequacy and effectiveness of State laws and the
competency of organization under them.
ESTABLISHMENT OF FARM WOODLANDS
Provision for Federal aid in farm tree plantings was made in the
Clarke-McNary Act at the instance of those who believed that a
national program of forestry should include the establishment of wood-
lands and shelter belts on farms, both for wood production and for the
sake of other economic and social returns through shelter to livestock,
shade, and farm beautification.
The farmer who owns submarginal farm acres that might better be
used for growing trees is generally in a better position to plant trees
than the owner of large areas of forest land, because he may be able
to do it in off seasons without extra expenditures for labor. For the
same reason, and because he can utilize his product more closely, he
is able to realize greater net returns for what he grows. However, the
total of resulting wood products that would find their way into the
market, or the savings in timber on other forest areas, is as yet of
much less consequence than the benefits from shade and shelter and
from growing on the farms a limited quantity of needed material
which otherwise would not be available for farmers' use. Whether
farm forest plantations will become a major factor in the Nation's
timber supply remains a question for the future to answer.
Federal aid in the planting of farm woodlands amounts to a small
subsidy to State nurseries. Produced in large quantities under com-
petent management, trees suitable for farm planting can be raised at
prices greatly below those at which commercial nurserymen sell them.
State nurseries for growing such stock can be made largely self-
supporting through sales. Free distribution of stock has not gen-
erally been found as satisfactory as sale at prices approximating costs
of production, because when trees are free many people will ask for
them who have no plans or well-formed intention of properly planting
and protecting them.
One of the arguments that has been offered against this project is
that it furnishes a form of Federal aid to a single class of citizens, and
that there is no more reason why farmers should be provided trees free
or at low cost for planting than other landowners. Much more de-
termined and forceful objections have come from some commercial
nurserymen, who have contended that through Federal encourage-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1213
ment and participation the States have engaged in the growing of
nursery stock in competition with private business, and that since
the State nurseries are in part supported by public funds private
nurserymen are unable to compete.
The validity of both these arguments must be recognized, and justi-
fication for the projects rests on the question whether public interest
is best served through the encouragement to tree planting that the
Federal act provides or through encouragement to business by with-
drawing from this field in favor of the commercial nurserymen.
In the first place, it is believed that no distinction between farmers
and others should be made in the distribution of nursery stock, for
reasons that will be discussed later. On the question of State compe-
tition it is the belief of State and Federal workers acquainted with the
project that it has on the whole stimulated rather than restricted the
business of commercial nurserymen. The general observation of
public officials has been that farmers cannot or will not pay the seed-
ling prices charged by commercial nurserymen for farm planting on an
extensive scale, and that unless they can secure stock at much lower
cost it will not be planted. But an actual or potential increase in
commercial nursery business is seen in the fact that State nurseries do
not generally supply trees for ornamental planting (the Federal Gov-
ernment in no case participates in that), and that the establishment of
forest plantations and shelter belts tends to stimulate this demand.
Commercial nurserymen have also contended that when planting
stock is supplied to farmers at very low prices, the result is much the
same as if it were free. Nurserymen argue that if it costs nothing to
secure the stock the farmer will often order it without any well-con-
sidered plans for planting, and consequently seedling distribution
does not result in the woodlands and shelter belts contemplated by
the law and its sponsors. The validity of this argument is recognized.
It is not believed that public aid should extend beyond furnishing
farmers or others needed technical advice and nursery stock at a
price that will insure their interest if they order and pay for the trees.
There is nothing to prevent the States purchasing the stock from
private nurserymen if they are in position to furnish it at favorable
prices.
Assuming limited basis of Federal cooperation, there would seem
to be no good reason why the privilege of purchasing State-grown
trees should not be extended to all landowners who wish to engage in
the project of planting forests. The Forest Service has several times
reported favorably on proposed amendments of the Clarke-McNary
Act, which, if enacted, would extend its scope as thus indicated.
Federal interests in forest planting would seem to be as well served
through planting by other landowners as by farmers, and many
difficulties of administration would be avoided by the proposed
change. It is not believed that large increases in Federal funds are
called for in any event.
FEDERAL AID IN WOODLAND MANAGEMENT
FARM WOODLANDS
Approximately 20 percent of all the forest land of the country is
in native woodlands on farms. They represent by far the most stable
form of private ownership, and, from this important angle at least,
1214 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
they offer the best field for improvement of private forestry practice
and increase of production and hence are an entirely fitting field for
Federal aid. In many communities and in a number of the most
extensively forested States, farm woodlands are the major source of
raw materials for the wood-manufacturing industries. They supply,
in addition, a very large quantity of the fuel and structural material
that is used on the farms. They are thus a considerable factor in the
national timber supply, and their maintenance and improvement have
important interstate aspects.
Farm woodlands may hold part of the answer to the national
problem of agricultural distress. They offer possibilities in the use
of labor on farms during inactive seasons, which commonly makes it
possible for farm owners to hold forest land and sell from it manufac-
tured or partially manufactured products, the receipts for which are
net, as against sales of products by owners of more extensive forest
areas, which entail a heavy expense for labor.
Total annual public expenditures, Federal and State, for coopera-
tion in farm woodland management approximate $160,000 a year.
This is essentially an extension activity and is administered as such.
The funds provide for the employment of less than one field specialist
for each 3 million acres of farm woodland, or perhaps about one to
each 50,000 owners. ^ Under the plan of organization, the field speci-
alists, generally one in each State, work with the assistance of the
county agents, who are expected to carry on forestry as a part of the
general farm extension work. A large percentage of the poorer
agricultural counties, in which the acreage of farm woodlands is high,
do not employ county agents and so receive no assistance except what
may be extended by the State extension forester direct. In other
counties, owing to the pressure of other work, lack of training, or
lack of interest, the county agents frequently furnish little advice
regarding farm woodland management. While the results obtained
thus far are apparently commensurate with public expenditures for
the purpose, possibilities for greater returns through increased public
activity are relatively large.
WOODLANDS NOT ON FARMS
From the abstract standpoint of Federal interest in the growing of
forests and maintaining the supply of forest products, there seems
to be no reason why farmers, as one class of owners, should be favored
over others in assistance in woodland management. Indeed, the
large commercial owner might make more effective use of the assist-
ance given, since his management applies to a wide area.
Fundamentally, commercial woodland management falls outside
the field of the agricultural extension system as now organized. On
the farm the woodland management is a part of farm management,
which involves many other activities. The farm woodland should
presumably take its place in proper balance with all the other work.
It was for this reason that administration of the Federal act was
placed in the Federal agricultural extension services, in order that
farm advisers in forestry should be fully acquainted with the business
of the farm as a whole.
In other words, commercial woodland management falls more
particularly within the sphere of the Forester. From that aspect it
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1215
may be argued, theoretically at least, that foresters might be detailed
for extension work in that field either by the State or by the Federal
Government, at nominal cost or no cost to the owner.
Arguments in favor of this proposal are that it is in accord with
similar advice and assistance given to farmers regarding production
of agricultural crops, livestock, etc., and to other industries
regarding their particular lines of production. Probably the chief
reason why the case has not been pushed much farther along has been
merely the present lack of active interest in growing forests. The
American people have only hi recent years begun to appreciate that
trees are a crop subject to arts of management and marketing similar
to those of successful agriculture. Even after the word " forestry"
had become firmly established in our vocabularly, it was popularly
thought to mean only the preservation of existing forests or the plant-
ing of new forests. Its primary meaning is not yet commonly grasped ,
namely, the management of forest land so as to provide for both the
harvesting of forest crops and the perpetuation of the forest by natural
processes. Improvement of silvicultural, manufacturing, and mar-
keting practices — in short, improved management — is a most urgent
need. Forest lands in permanent private ownership should be synon-
ymous with forest lands that pay their way. Because we have little
background of experience in forest management, information as to
the best practice is far less general than in the growing of farm crops,
and a far-reaching scheme of aid is greatly needed if forest lands are
to be made economically productive and self-supporting.
Against the proposal for more Federal aid in the form of forestry
extension there has been offered the general argument that forest
landowners should pay for such services, and objections have been
heard from consulting foresters that public assistance at less than cost
would mean unfair competition. The answer to these questions must
hinge on the magnitude of the public interest at stake, and on whether
individual owners can afford to pay for the services.
That the public is interested in keeping forest lands productive is
a truth that might be endlessly reiterated. It is also true that a large
percentage of the country's forest land is now so badly depleted of
merchantable stands and good growing stock that its owners are
unwilling to make even moderate investments in its management. It
is not believed that the majority of forest owners, particularly of
small tracts, can afford to pay adequate fees for the advice needed for
management of their lands. As forest management develops, through
public intervention or otherwise, and where exhaustive examinations
are required or large tracts are involved, there is the distinct possi-
bility that the practice of the consulting forester will tend to increase;
but in the meantime there is a great need that should be met bv the
less intensive and lower-priced services that the public only is in
position to furnish.
Extension work consists, of course, of making known to those in
position to use it the results of research and experience. The Federal
Government may proceed to carry the results of its work into woods
practice either directly or with the help of State extension personnel,
including State foresters, or, preferably, by both methods. Certainly,
it seems that State organizations directly responsible under existing
law for taxation systems, fire control, and other matters affecting the
growth and utilization of forests should properly engage in the exten-
1216 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
sion of knowledge of how to establish and manage forests. On the
other hand, there are phases directly relating to the Federal Govern-
ment's own research and practices in which extension work can prob-
ably be best carried on by the Federal organization.
FEDERAL AID IN RESEARCH
Research is a necessary part of the establishment of forests and the
management of forest land. In every phase of the work — the collec-
tion of seed, the planting of denuded areas, the establishment of
natural conditions favorable to tree growth, the protection of the
stand, the cutting, manufacture, and conditioning of wood for use —
success must depend on definite scientific knowledge. The scientific
data of American forestry are as yet all too scanty. If, therefore, the
Federal Government engages in any phase of forestry, research
becomes properly a part of the effort.
It is not necessary, however, that the Federal Government spend
funds specifically for research in the program of State aid. Present
Federal legislation for aid in protection, planting, extension, and
education allows for research work by the States along the particular
lines of work appropriated for. States cooperating under section 2
of the Clarke-McNary Act can use Federal money in research work
for fire control on the same condition as in fire control itself, i.e., upon
approval by the Federal agency of projects undertaken. The same
is true with reference to research in connection with planting and
extension work. Should any other lines of Federal aid be undertaken,
similar provision should and doubtless will be made. In view of this
probability, there would seem to be little need of specific legal provi-
sion for Federal aid in research as such.
INVESTIGATION AND CONTROL OF FOREST INSECTS
NATURE AND EXTENT OF INSECT ATTACKS
Forest tree insects are usually heard of only when an epidemic
breaks out. Hence they are thought of ordinarily as existing only
in an epidemic stage. Quite the contrary is true. Scattered through
the forests at all times are the same tree insects which form insect
epidemics, but these are normally in a quiescent or so-called endemic
stage. In this stage the insects play a normal part in the life history
of the forest by killing trees weakened by other causes such as old
age, lightning, or disease.
At any time, in either hardwood or coniferous forests, owing to
factors such as a favorable season, dearth of natural enemies, or the
like, some species of forest insect may increase with tremendous
rapidity and change the infestation from an endemic to an epidemic
stage. During the epidemic stage the insects are capable of covering
many square miles or several States before natural causes intervene
to restore normal conditions, after terrific losses have been incurred
in forest values. The pine beetle epidemic in 1910-11 destroyed
timber valued at millions of dollars in the Southern States. The
larch sawfly epidemics practically wiped out the merchantable larch
in the entire Lake States. The spruce bud- worm epidemic has
caused immense losses in the spruce-fir forescs in New England and
Canada.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1217
The great areas covered by individual insect epidemics neces-
sitates something more than action by individual States. It is
obvious that the effort and expenditure of one or more States may
be completely wasted unless adjacent States give needed cooperation
effectively.
CLASSES OF CONTROL WORK
Forest insect control may be divided into (1) investigative work
on life history of the insects and their predators; (2) extensive insect
survey w^ork carried on constantly to locate insect epidemics in their
incipiency and to furnish continuous information on changes in the
various stages of each forest insect infestation; (3) control work
proper, when the insects start or have started an epidemic, to check
the spread of the epidemic.
The investigative work should be carried on by a corps of experts
employed throughout the year. The extensive survey work need
not be done by specialists but could be handled by rangers, wardens,
or others familiar with general woods work, after a small amount
of special training. Many States now have fire protective organiza-
tions in the field that would be useful in this type of insect work.
In addition, some general supervision would have to be provided
through either Federal or State agencies properly coordinated.
Constant extensive insect survey should result in the location of
forest insect infestations in their earliest or strictly local stages. In
this stage local forces should do all in their power to stop them. Such
control work is often very effective. It may usually be done before
or after the fire season and, like the survey work, may be handled to
a large extent by present State and private fire organizations.
CONTROL OF EPIDEMICS
When the epidemic is beyond local control, an emergency is pre-
sented which necessitates cooperation by the Federal Government
with the States affected and threatened.
Whatever work is deemed necessary should be done on the same
basis as fire-fighting work on Government land. Forest insects
during a rising epidemic may increase at a ratio of 10 to 1 between
the brood of 1 year and the next. A ratio of 5 to 1 each year is
perhaps the average during the rise of an epidemic, which may
extend over several years. The economy of doing control work
when, say, 1,000 insects are active as against the next season with
5,000 is obvious.
Control of insect epidemics must apparently be undertaken by
the Federal Government directly if effective action is to be had.
It is impossible to estimate for annual needs of this kind as accurately
as for fire control, because the variation in need is much greater,
and it is therefore hardly logical to expect State organizations to deal
with such epidemics as adequately as with fire or with insect survey
and local control. Insect epidemic control must seemingly be
conducted on much the same basis as control of dangerous infesta-
tions of farm crops by parasitic insects. There are many precedents
for such action, of which the provision of Federal appropriations for
control of the corn borer is well known. Federal appropriations to
date for corn borer eradication approximate $18,000,000. The
work was handled directly by the Federal Government, with such
1218 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
State and private cooperation as could be administratively obtained,
and without any legal stipulation as to S.tate financial participation.
The conditions of State cooperation should be left to the responsible
judgment of the Federal agency administering the act. Usually
they should be so administered as to require substantial cooperation,
both in fairness to the United States and on the general principle
that unless the State or the owners are interested enough to assist
in work for their own benefit, it may not be worth doing at all.
On the whole it appears that continuing Federal aid on a fixed ratio
of cooperation is applicable only to the survey and local or initial
control of insects. Outside these activities, the factors affecting
Federal aid in insect control seem comparable to those influencing
Federal action in other emergencies, with the further proviso that
some insects attack only trees of merchantable or nearly merchantable
size, and in those cases greater emphasis should be placed on State
and private contributions in control projects.
INVESTIGATION AND CONTROL OF TREE DISEASES
A prerequisite for disease control is research. The Federal agency
is in the best position to carry out research on diseases of importance
in several States. This is particularly true for introduced epidemic
diseases, which are more destructive in States other than the one first
invaded. On the other hand for native diseases of particular impor-
tance to individual States, study by State agencies is considered
appropriate. The best solution of some of the more important prob-
lems could be obtained by cooperative research by State and Federal
investigators. While State work on some types of forest pathological
problems may properly be assisted by Federal contribution under the
Hatch, Adams, and Purnell Acts, the central Government under the
provision of the McNary-McSweeney Act proposes to make its princi-
pal contribution to such research by placing pathologists at its regional
forest experiment stations.
There is also particular need for direct Federal aid in protecting the
States from introduced diseases. Federal quarantine against para-
sites from other countries is necessarily a larger part of the protection
system for forest trees than for crop plants. Federal activity is also
essential in handling such introduced parasites as may slip through
quarantine, since such work must often be done in one State primarily
for the protection of the interests of another, and because only the
Federal Government can maintain the mobile force of technical men
necessary for prompt attack on an epidemic wherever it may appear.
But where direct control measures are required, authority to condemn
and destroy property is commonly necessary; this calls for State legal
action, and, therefore, State cooperation. In securing concerted
action against an invader that has already become established, as the
white-pine blister rust, Federal leadership has proved invaluable to
the State and private agencies that do most of the control work.
Native diseases in general do not ordinarily cause spectacular epi-
demics or threaten neighboring lands as do fires or insect outbreaks,
and the application of preventive measures is therefore more properly
a matter for the landowner. But since preventive measures have not
reached the rule-of-thumb stage, there is need for a technical service
force to help landowners translate the results of the research workers
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1219
into practical operation. Such service should be developed on a coop-
erative basis by Federal and State agencies in much the way as in the
case of blister rust; the method is discussed more fully under the
subhead Service Force for Control Application in the section covering
Protection Against Forest Diseases under " National Programs Re-
quired and the Responsibility for Them".
PROPOSED FEDERAL AID IN LAND ACQUISITION
Large areas of land throughout the country, and particularly in the
South, the West, and the Lake States, will apparently come into State
and county ownership for taxes now delinquent. Some of this land
can be sold again only for amounts less than taxes accrued against it.
Most of it is in too poor a condition to warrant serious interest in its
improvement by private owners. If it is held subject to resale, a
continuous impoverishment will likely result through purchasers
removing any values that have accrued and letting it again go for
taxes. Whether or not the States make provision for it, many of
them will be forced into permanent land ownership and management
designed to build up values, or else intermittent public and private
ownership with inevitable destruction of values will ensue.
To accept the first alternative and avoid the second will involve
large expenditures of public moneys, which may be hard to find.
There may likely be large additional areas of land which through
adjusted taxes and public assistance can be held in a reasonably
permanent status of private ownership, but which for administrative
or other reasons should be publicly acquired. This can be accom-
plished through the Federal and State Governments acting inde-
pendently or through joint financing of the acquisition, the subsequent
management title resting with either agency. Programs of Federal
aid embodying this idea are now being prominently advocated.
It is likely that the proposed Federal aid would stimulate State
expenditures for acquisition to some extent. It is also certain that
under present conditions the greater part of any Federal appropriation
made available would be taken up by those States which have made
most progress along forestry lines and which therefore are not in
greatest need of aid, unless provision were made for application of the
funds only to the States which have made less progress along this
line.
The prospect as a whole is difficult and rather unattractive. Recog-
nition of the principle of Federal help to enable States to acquire
forest land might possibly lead to the thought that if it is proper for the
Federal Government to pay part of the cost, it might pay it all, and
this, in turn, to demands from States unable or unwilling to acquire
land that Federal properties be turned over to them if or when they
contain values that can be removed at a profit. Nothing is to be
gained through public ownership unless the public is prepared properly
to care for properties acquired, and the test whether it is so prepared
can well rest on its ability and willingness to acquire it by its own
efforts.
FINANCING THE FEDERAL AID SYSTEM
When the Clarke-McNary Act was under consideration, it was
assumed that with a Federal contribution of 25 percent of the cost of
fire protection, States and private owners would be able and willing
1220 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
to supply the remainder needed. In the aggregate, private owners
were counted on for one half the cost.
Fire protection systems had already been started in the majority of
the forested States. In the Pacific coast and northern Rocky Mount-
ain regions private owners had organized fire protection associations
and had extended protection over a large percentage of forest lands,
being aided only to a small extent by the States. In the New England
and Middle Atlantic regions and in some of the States in other regions,
protection organizations had been set up at public expense and were
giving a degree of protection to part or all of the forest lands within
their boundaries. In some of these States the system of State pro-
tection followed previous partial protection by owner associations.
In States where no protective systems existed or only a beginning had
been made at the time Federal cooperation was initiated, the Govern-
ment has encouraged activity by matching State and private effort
dollar for dollar up to a certain minor percentage of the total amount
estimated as necessary. Under this stimulus much progress has been
made in the setting up of State organizations, the arousing of public
interest, and in actual extension of protection, but there still remains
approximately 190 million acres without any form of organized pro-
tection. Most of this area lies within the States where protection
work has started since the passage of the Federal aid acts, and on a
considerable percentage of the land under organized protection the
quality is far from adequate.
Those familiar with the work are agreed that satisfactory progress
in fire protection may be expected in the New England, Middle
Atlantic, and Lake regions, in those States north of the Ohio River in
the Central region, and possibly in California, with a 25 percent
Federal contribution. In the South and the Central States south of
the Ohio River there is a very large acreage of cut-over lands that
are relatively unattractive for private ownership and investment.
From a careful consideration of the various factors involved, it seems
reasonable to expect that with properly directed public cooperation
the private owners in this part of the country might supply about 20
per cent of needed effort through cash contribution and other direct
aid toward State-wide systems of protection, leaving the balance to
be shared between State and Federal funds.
In determining this estimated percentage, the following factors
have been considered: (1) The area of land containing marketable
forest products; (2) the area of land containing young growth that is
approaching merchantable size; (3) the demonstrated or probable
interest of landowners in the establishment of forest stands on cut
over areas; (4) the risk of loss from fire; and (5) the sums now being
advanced by landowners for organized protection. These factors, of
course, vary greatly by States and the average figures cannot be uni-
formly applied. In the Southern and the Central States private
expenditures for organized protection are much less than the 20 per-
cent estimated as possible. There is in total, however, a large amount
of effort being expended by individual landowners in the South to
protect their own properties, and, with public assistance and encour-
agement, it is believed that this effort can be largely expanded.
The States here under discussion contain about 25 per cent of the
country's population. Their citizens do about 16.5 per cent of the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1221
national retail buying and pay about 6 per cent of the national income
tax.
About 50 percent of all of the forest land of the country is in these
States and to extend thorough protection over the whole area at this
time would probably cost as much as to protect the remaining forest
area. Fires running over forest land generally do much less damage
to commercial stands than they do in the West and in some of the
northern States, and the need to save the killing of young trees in
order to provide a future stand is never as keenly felt by either the
landowner or the public as the need to save timber of larger size.
These States are generally finding it difficult to raise sufficient funds
for governmental and social-service functions, and it appears unlikely
that they can within the next 10 or 15 years provide funds for ade-
quate State-wide protection systems. Until such systems are
definitely set up, the maximum of private effort cannot be developed.
In the Northwest, where about half of the privately owned forest
land has not yet been cut over, private owners have been paying the
larger share of protection expenditures, and it is believed that as an
average about 40 per cent of the needed funds will be supplied from
this source during at least the next decade. Three of these States
are paying for the protection of a relatively large area of State-owned
lands but contribute very little to the protection of lands in private
ownership. The analysis indicates, however, that if the Federal
share is increased to 25 percent of the total fund required, the States
are financially able to supply the remainder.
It must be emphasized that such calculations cannot be taken as
more than very broad indicators of ability to finance protection.
There are many other considerations which will seriously impair their
application to individual States. It is, however, believed that they are
of some value in an attempt to arrive at an estimate of possibilities.
It should be stated also that theoretical calculation of ability to pay
or comparative actual capacity to pay, if it were known, would not
constitute an accurate index of what will be done.
Obviously, what any State spends for care of its forest resources
will depend largely on how it regards the need for such expenditures
in comparison with other needs. It appears that the older States,
whose virgin forest were largely cut over before exploitation in the
South and West began, have more fully realized the need for replace-
ment and care of this resource and are inclined to give it a higher
priority than those States where exploitation of virgin stands is still
going on or has only recently been completed. These indications
serve to emphasize the fact that a Federal-aid system can advance
only at the rate that the cooperating agencies are ready to advance,
and that State responsibility and State participation through tax-
raised funds should be emphasized in future administration of the act.
THE FEDERAL RATIO
In the apportionment of money in all forms of direct Federal aid
to States some general formula has been applied, and it does not
appear practicable to depart from this principle, excepting perhaps
temporarily. Therefore, the rato of Federal to State and private
funds in the underfinanced States cannot well be increased without
also increasing it in those which have demonstrated ability and
willingness to provide needed funds under the present arrangement.
1222 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
A practical question for consideration then is, What would result
through a departure from the concept that the Federal Government
should contribute not to exceed 25 percent of the funds needed in any
State and should adopt a plan whereby the Federal portion would be
increased? Or what if the legal limitation of 50 percent sharing were
itself removed? The problem, it must be remembered is to lay down a
general rule which will be automatic in action and not appear to
involve arbitrary favors to particular States.
The present policy of the Bureau of the Budget is to approve Federal
appropriations for 1 year equivalent to 25 percent of total expenditures
in the last, and recent appropriations have been largely so determined.
In allotting the funds the Forest Service now matches State expendi-
tures dollar for dollar only up to 8 or 9 percent of the adequate amount,
leaving the remainder to be distributed on a pro rata basis.
If it is desired to make the Federal contribution larger in cases
where it is more needed, that could be done either through raising the
basic 25 percent budget ratio or through adopting a plan whereby
each State would be allotted an amount up to the full 25 percent of
adequate funds, as fast as it could match the Federal contribution
dollar for dollar. Under such an arrangement the States could now
match approximately $1,000,000 more than the 1933 allotments. Of
the million dollar increase, approximately half would be taken up by
States that are in especial need of assistance. The remainder would
serve to supply all but 2 or 3 of the other States with the
additional funds needed for protection (as shown by the 1930 esti-
mates), provided they maintained their own last 5-year average
appropriations. A few States might decrease their own appropria-
tions. From theoretical calculations it appears that this possible
decrease in State appropriations might amount to approximately
$250,000. Under this plan, therefore, with a Federal increase of
approximately $1,000,000, total expenditures for protection would be
immediately increased by about $750,000.
If, instead of this plan, one were adopted of allotting to States an
amount equivalent to State and private expenditures but not to
exceed one half of total needs as shown by the 1930 estimates, an
increase in the Federal appropriation of approximately $2,500,000
would be indicated. But the net increase in total State and Federal
expenditures together under this plan would seem to be little greater
than from the other, because the first method would furnish sufficient
Federal funds to bring up to a full adequacy status most of the States
whose expenditures are sufficient to enable them to take full advantage
of it, and it would make available to the others all they could now
take on a share-alike basis with current appropriations.
The advantage of the second plan is that it would allow, under
existing law, the allocation of the maximum of Federal funds to the
States where Federal aid is most needed. Its disadvantages are (1)
that it does not constitute an entirely sound Federal fiscal policy
because it sets up estimates rather than actual expenditures as a
basis for the division of Federal funds between the States, and (2)
that it does not constitute a Federal program for complete protection,
since it would carry protection in the now greatly underfinanced
States only to the point of 50 percent of needed funds. After that
point had been reached, all of the remainder would have to be sup-
plied by the States and the landowners. It would, however, serve
to advance the work during the next decade or more as fast as any
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1223
other plan that has been suggested, and, since there are so many
influences that cannot be accurately appraised as this time, it seems
impracticable to attempt to provide for them too far in advance.
Should the Federal Government desire to participate in protection
to a greater extent than the half sharing now allowed by law, but with
the authorization limit of $2,500,000, the total expenditures in some
of the States could obviously be increased without exceeding estimated
needs. If, for example, a ratio of 75 Federal and 25 State and private
were used, the amount expended would be doubled in the States most
needing protection as compared with results under the first plan
discussed. To do that, however, would require a Federal appropria-
tion of approximately $5,000,000, an amount exceeding that required
under the first plan by about $2,500,000, with a resultant total
increased expenditure for protection of only about $1,000,000. Aside
from this consideration, common business foresight demands that the
ratio of Federal participation in protection should be balanced by
assurance of results from money expended. Assumption of all costs
can be balanced only by complete control, and that can be had only
through ownership or strict regulation of use. Assumption of a high
percentage of protection costs requires corresponding guarantees as
to permanency of the protection project. It is believed that guaran-
tees as to protection alone will not in any case warrant a Federal
sharing of more than 50 percent of the cost, and that as a general
average the Federal percentage should be less than that amount.
Adherence to the latter policy apparently calls for either a large
program of Federal acquisition, or public regulation, Federal or State,
or both, if complete protection is to be reached within the near future.
The possibilities and merits of public regulation and Federal ownership
are discussed in other sections of this report, and conclusions as to a
plan of procedure will be drawn in the program section.
The above discussion of the financial aspects of Federal cooperation
and the comparisons made in it are limited to the subject of fire con-
trol. The Federal aid system now includes planting and manage-
ment of farm woodlands and shelter belts, and other forms of Federal
aid are in prospect. The relative need for those activities in the
different' States does not necessarily conform to the relative need for
fire protection. In several of them, however, the needs are closely
parallel, and in view of this fact and the fact that the total of other
forms of existing and proposed aid is small in comparison to the cost
of fire protection, it is believed that the considerations presented are
applicable to the situation in to to.
STATE AID
By H. J. EBERLY, District Forest Inspector
In the preceding discussion the advisability of and justification
for Federal aid to the States in forestry have been pointed out in some
detail. Passing from the sphere of Federal action to that of the
individual States, it is found that the same considerations apply
largely to the question of State aid to counties and to private owners.
For example, it is good business for the State to have its forested
counties grow timber supplies for its agricultural and industrial sec-
tions. Likewise, a forest insect epidemic originating on one pri-
168342°— 33— vol. 2 12
1224 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
vately owned body of timber will pay no regard to property lines or
county boundaries, and therefore State action becomes necessary to
safeguard the general interest.
STATE FORESTRY LEGISLATION AND APPROPRIATIONS
State interest in private forest resources is not an idea of recent
times. Protection and supervision of forest lands has long been
accepted as a proper function of State government. As early as the
seventeenth century, forestry and timber problems claimed the
attention of our colonial legislative bodies. Prior to the establish-
ment of our National Government hundreds of laws dealing with
the use or care of forests had been placed on the statute books.
Most of the Colonies gave legislative recognition to the menace of
forest fires. These early statutes, however, were of regulatory nature
only and were chiefly directed toward the protection of public and
private property in merchantable timber and improvements.
No State had enacted legislation providing for the establishment
of forestry departments or had provided funds for fire control until
the latter part of the nineteenth century. The States which pioneered
in making funds available for the protection of their forest resources
were Minnesota, New York, California, and Pennsylvania.
Minnesota in 1876 appropriated $2,500 to be expended as premiums
for the planting of forest trees, to aid an association of private forest
owners. In 1895 a forest commission was created, with duties of
preventing and suppressing forest and prairie fires. Expenses of
such work, to be paid by the State, were not to exceed $5,000. New
York in 1885 appropriated $15,000 for fire protection and sundry
forestry purposes. California in 1887 appropriated $15,000, part of
which was directed for use in fire prevention. Pennsylvania in 1897
provided for fire extinguishment, with payment shared equally by
county and State. The county cost was limited to $500 annually.
By 1911, 12 States were expressing interest in their timber resources
to the extent of making available a total of $165,975 for forestry work.
Since that time, interest in forestry has been so largely expanded that
at present 45 States are recognizing certain responsibilities in the work.
Their interest, extending both to private and to State-owned forest
lands, finds its most direct measure in the amount of State funds
made available, which at present amount to more than $7,800,000
annually. This figure is taken from the latest State budget expendi-
ture estimates submitted to the Federal Government. The following
summary helps to visualize the character of the several projects which
the State aid funds support and develop :
Percent of estimated
expenditures
1 . Administration 7. 6
2. Protection:
Fire 41.5
Disease 1- 9
Insects 2. 6
3. Reforestation and nursery work 14. 5
4. Purchase of forest land 15. 7
5. Maintenance and improvement of State forest land 12. 0
6. Research 1. 2
7. Education 1. 6
8. Extension 1. 4
Total.. - 100.0
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1225
Of the above expenditures, the part applying directly to forest
projects on State lands is estimated at 35 percent, which largely
constitutes State forest acquisition, management, and planting.
The character and extent of the aid which is being extended by the
States to private owners is discussed under a separate heading.
STATE INTEREST IN FORESTRY
The concern of the State in the protection and perpetuation of
its private and public forest properties is even more direct than is
that of the Federal Government. This concern is reflected in the
actual amounts of State funds now being made available for fire pro-
tection, planting, extension, forest insect control, etc., which are
considerably in excess of Federal aid. With State and private owner-
ship embracing 82 percent of the Nation's forest area, the States'
responsibilities in doing everything possible to protect and encourage
the most productive use of this large area are clearly evident.
In 30 States the area of State and privately owned forest lands
comprises 25 percent or more of the total land area. In these States
the proper use of forest lands is a major factor of the land use problem
as a whole. The drag of idle, unproductive land affects the economic
welfare of all citizens, and the regrowth of forest crops on cut-over
lands offers at least a partial solution of this difficulty.
It is clearly evident that continuous productive use of forest lands
is necessary to enable the forested States to attain their maximum
degree of economic and social development. In the majority of
States, private forest lands constitute a vital component of the tax
base. To the taxable assets of forest lands and timber as such are
to be added those of sawmills, pulp and paper plants, and kindred
manufacturing establishments, as well as logging equipment, railroads,
and the like, all of which combine to form a most imposing aggregate
of revenue-producing properties.
Employment of labor is recognized as the vital index of economic
health. The harvesting and manufacturing of products from the
forests provide a large share of the employment of labor in practically
all States, and in several States the lumber industrial pay rolls exceed
all others in numbers of men employed and wages paid.
FACTORS AFFECTING STATE ACTION
PUBLIC USE OF PRIVATE LANDS
Public use and abuse of millions of acres of privately owned forests
constitutes one of the major justifications for State participation in
extending aid to private forest owners. Public interest in forest pro-
tection is an obligation commensurate with the use of privately owned
land by the public. In addition to timber production, forests usually
provide hunting, camping, and scenic attractions, which in most
regions extend beyond the owner's immediate advantage and carry
over to the general public. In a State where public use of State and
private forest areas contributes materially to the pleasure, profit,
and well-being of its people or where forest areas are of sufficient
attraction to bring in many citizens from other States, then making
State funds available to insure the continuation of these benefits
becomes at once a desirable and necessary State function of public
service.
1226 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
In most forested States little or no regulation against trespass is
exercised by the private forest owner against the public which comes
to use and enjoy his lands. Such public use carries with it dangers
over which the owner alone has little control, and since the public
has the enjoyment, it is justifiable for the public to pay for such
abuse as may result. Carelessness with fire constitutes the chief
danger and abuse, and it thus becomes a proper function of the State
to extend aid not only to reduce this community hazard by legislation
and police1 functions directed at the origin of forest fires, but also
to aid the landowners in the costs of fire patrol and suppression.
CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH
The geographical distribution of taxable wealth within individual
States is very unequal. Therefore State aid becomes highly necessary
as a stabilizer of State-wide development and prosperity. This fact
is most strikingly evident in States having large areas of cut-over lands.
Many counties once rich in valuable stands of timber, saw mills, lum-
bering communities, and forest pay rolls are now poor. Although they
once produced a large portion of the State's revenues and contributed
materially to its prosperity, they are now unable to carry on their
own functions, and must have State aid. t The burden is therefore
shared by the industrial centers and counties that have succeeded to
greater wealth and prosperity. The fullest recognition of this factor
of State aid is seen today in those northern and eastern States which
were earliest cut over and which are now great centers of wealth
and industrial development in other lines.
RELATIVE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF FIRES
One of the most important factors affecting State interest and aid
is the extent to which forest fires endanger and destroy life and prop-
erty. The damaging effects of fire differ greatly in different regions.
For example, holocausts have occurred in the Lake and Western
States. Towns have been wiped out, people burned to death, game
destroyed, and whole stands of merchantable timber killed. The
fire danger is so great in these regions and so seriously affects the life
and prosperity of citizens and the welfare of the States as a whole,
that public safeguards are generally recognized as essential.
Fire in the Southern States, on the other hand, seldom causes loss
of life, and damage resulting from fires occurring during certain sea-
sons of the year is often not readily apparent. In regions where
fires do less visible damage, the people feel less need for taking public
action than those in States of greater fire danger. Here the damaging
effects of fire become a relatively less important factor of State
concern and action.
The importance of fire protection has been particularly stressed
because it is one of the most pressing forestry problems and practically
all other field work in forestry is dependent for successful achieve-
ment upon the adequate control of fire. However, if States are
earnestly concerned in prompting forest practices on privately owned
lands they should not stop with fire protection. Both financial and
legislative action needs to be provided by the States for other im-
portant forestry work such as forest insect and disease control, forest
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1227
research and extension, planting, etc. The preceding part has dealt
in considerable detail with these other important factors and has
outlined the parts the Federal Government and the States should
play in developing means for promoting and maintaining adequate
measures of control.
TAX DELINQUENCY
Another factor which will undoubtedly have a far-reaching effect
upon State action in forestry is that of tax delinquency. In those
States where large areas of private forest lands revert to the counties
or States because of tax nonpayment, public action in forestry must
necessarily result. This action may find direct financial expression or
it may result in legislative action aimed to reestablish or maintain the
private owners' interest in his cut-over lands. The Oregon, Washing-
ton, and Idaho reforestation laws and the forest crop laws of the Lake
States are samples of this State legislative interest and action in
forestry brought about by tax delinquency of private forest lands.
CONCLUSIONS
In summing up the factors influencing State aid, it appears that the
two most important are, first, the relative damage which fires may do
to life and property, and, secondly, the ability of the State to pay and
to take legislative action necessary for control of the situation. The
factor of fire damage is not here interpreted as constituting damage to
timber values alone, but includes all other damage such as the detri-
mental effects on recreational use, hunting, stream flow, regulation, etc.
As these effects of fire become better understood and appreciated as
detrimental to the propserity and happiness of the people, then public
action may be expected to follow.
The extent of this public demand and financial support will, of
course, not be uniform. In the Lake, Middle Atlantic, and New
England regions, particularly, individual States are manifesting in a
substantial way, both in funds and in legislation, their public interest
in forestry. This public desire appears firmly established and may be
expected to grow and result in future continued and increased public
participation. In the large pine and hardwood areas of the South,
the factors of fire damage are not as striking as in the Lake or Pacific
Coast States, and neither are the States as wealthy and therefore able
at present to manifest as great a public financial interest as some of the
richer industrial States. In the South, as elsewhere, increased State
participation will largely result from a better financial situation and
from a better realization of the use and value of second-growth stands.
NATIONAL PROGRAMS REQUIRED AND RESPONSIBILITY
FOR THEM
The preceding discussions have presented the essential facts of the
forest land and timber supply situations, the status of forestry on
public and private lands, and the present degree of public aid and con-
trol extended to private forestry. The following sections endeavor to
outline the programs of action which must be initiated in all branches
of forestry in the near future if the obvious requirements of land use
and timber supply are to be met successfully. These programs cover
a wide range of activity, but with a unity of purpose that serves to
combine them into a broad national plan. The final section brings to-
gether the costs for all programs, and develops ways and means of
financing public programs. Division of responsibility for forest
activities and needs is discussed, and the legislation needed to carry
out the different forestry programs is summarized.
1229
THE AREA WHICH CAN AND SHOULD BE USED FOR FORESTRY
By C. EDWARD BEHRE, Director, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, and
E. N. MUNNS, Chief, Division of Silvics
CONTENTS
Page
The total area available for forestry 1231
Objectives in forest land use 1233
The land needed for forest uses 1233
The land needed for recreation 1234
The land needed for watershed protection 1234
The land needed for wild life 1235
The land needed for range and livestock 1235
The land needed for timber production 1235
Balancing forest-land use objectives 1238
THE TOTAL AREA AVAILABLE FOR FORESTRY
To estimate the area in the United States that is available for
forestry, it is necessary to review acreage totals developed in preceding
sections. In the section, Forest Land, the Basic Resource, commercial
forest land has been estimated at 494.9 million acres after allowing 11
million acres as reserves for parks and other purely recreational, edu-
cational, or commemorative purposes. Chaparral, open woodland of
stunted trees, and other forest land chiefly valuable for other purposes
than timber was estimated at 108.7 million acres, largely in the terri-
tory bordering the deserts and in the alpine zone in the high moun-
tains. Although this area has little potential commercial value for
timber production, much of it has considerable or high economic
value for the protection of watersheds, as range for livestock, as a local
source of fuel wood, fence posts, etc., or it may contribute substantially
to the scenic attractions of the country. These estimates bring the
total of forest land in the United States at present to 614.6 million
acres. To estimate the total for the future, certain trends in land use
must be taken into account.
For a number of years land used for agriculture has been showing
a net decrease. It is true that even in sections of the East abandon-
ment of some lands is being offset by the clearing and cultivation of
others; but the trend is very clear in all sections east of the Great
Plains. As estimated by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics in
the section, The Agricultural Land Available for Forestry, 51.7
million acres in the forested country of the East now included in the
agricultural classification is available for forestry. About half of this
area (25.7 million acres) is at present classified as crop lands on aban-
doned farms, 11 million acres is idle or fallow crop land on operating
farms, and 15 million is in unplowable pasture essentially submarginal
in character. In addition it is estimated by the Forest Service that 3
million acres of treeless land in the region not covered in the section
referred to will support tree growth if planted and that distinct social
and economic advantages may result from devoting it to forestry.
1231
1232
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
The section, The Agricultural Land Available for Forestry, states
further that, should present trends continue for several decades,
PRESENT CLASSIFICATION OF FOREST LANDS
(IN MILLIONS OF ACRES)
POSSIBLE STATUS UNDER PLAN TO MEET MINIMUM NEEDS FOR
TIMBER AND OTHER PURPOSES (IN MILLIONS OF ACRES)
I Available -for Timber
Production
Reserved
or
Cleared
Chiefly Valuable -for
Purposes Other
than Timber
Extensive
Timber
Management
Simple Protection
Land Favorable for
Timber Management
Simple R-otection
Land Unfavorable for
Timber Management.
POSSIBLE STATUS UNDER PLAN FOR COMPLETE LAND UTILIZATION
(IN MILLIONS OF ACRES)
Available for Timber
Production
Reserved
or
Cleared
Ch.eflyValuablefor
Purposes Other
than Timber
FIGURE 1.— Present classification and possible future status of lands available for forestry, 669.3 million
acres.
another 30 million acres of agricultural land in the East may become
available for forestry in the future. On the other hand to meet the
ultimate agricultural needs of the country no net decline in agricul-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1233
tural area in actual use may be expected. In fact, an increase of some
20 to 35 million acres of agricultural land may be needed if techno-
logical developments do not keep pace with recent trends. The agri-
cultural area probably needed to offset the continuing abandonment
of submarginal farm, land in the East will come in part from extension
of farming in the central treeless region, in part from development of
irrigation projects, and in part from clearing of forest lands on pro-
ductive soils. Most of this clearing will probably take place in the
hardwood lands of the Mississippi Delta, but some may be in the
West, chiefly west of the Cascade Mountains. Such clearing in the
West is continually in progress on a limited scale and since it is not
offset in any appreciable degree by farm abandonment, it is estimated
that a reduction of perhaps 2 million acres should be made from the
present forest area in the West.
Because of these compensating factors and the uncertainty con-
cerning the actual balance in the future, the 30 million acres of agri-
cultural land which may still become available for forestry are not
included in the area definitely available, but may simply be considered
as possible reserve.
When these immediate possibilities are brought together, the net
total area now available for forestry in all its phases amounts to
669.3 million acres. The present classification of lands with respect
to forestry is shown in figure 1, A.
OBJECTIVES IN FOREST LAND USE
The earlier sections of this report, particularly the sections Is
Forestry Justified? and The Present and Potential Timber Resources,
have developed the possibility of two objectives in the use of land for
forest. One is concerned wholly with the ills that grow out of per-
mitting large tracts of idle and neglected land to accumulate, and
envisions converting to some type of forest growth every possible
acre that cannot be used to better advantage for other purposes.
The other objective is determined by the country's need of forest
products and services and involves the determination and develop-
ment of a forestry program that will utilize the available forest area
to the best advantage in producing a sufficiency of products and
services.
If the available land is not sufficient to satisfy the need for all pur-
poses, then the two objectives will be identical. But in a young and
not very densely populated country, it is quite possible that the
second objective may be met without fully realizing the benefits of
the first. If this is the case, an attitude of complacency is likely to
appear and the Nation may be blinded to the ultimate economic
benefits inherent in full utilization of the basic land resource.
THE LAND NEEDED FOR FOREST USES
From the foregoing and because of the great public interest which
surrounds the problem, it is desirable to consider how much land will
be needed to meet requirements for various purposes. The various
uses of the forest will overlap and interlock to a large extent and
in general this is a desirable state of affairs. Only on a relatively
small portion of the entire area will it be necessary to restrict use to
1234 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
a single purpose. The needs are summarized as follows from the
various sections of the report in which the forest uses are dealt with
in full detail.
THE LAND NEEDED FOR RECREATION
Recreation is here taken to include not only the use of the forest
for camping, hunting, fishing, etc., but its preservation and use for
aesthetic or educational purposes as well. This use is increasing,
and will demand much larger areas in the future. In many places
on well-managed forest areas, recreational use and commercial pro-
duction can go hand in hand with only temporary set-backs to recrea-
tion as areas are logged. Near population centers, however, almost
any forest may be so valuable for recreational purposes as to forbid
even the temporary depletion of its aesthetic values that would be
involved in cuttings under the best silvicultural practices. Strips
of timber along roadsides may be reserved from cutting because their
beauty is enjoyed by a much greater number of people than could
possibly benefit by any commodity value they may have. Since any
sort of cutting impairs or destroys many of the educational and inspi-
rational values inherent in the primeval forest, it is also desirable to
set aside certain areas to be kept as nearly as possible in their natural
condition.
Altogether, probably 45 million acres of forest land should be with-
drawn from commercial timber production and devoted primarily
to recreation. Already 11 million acres of this total have been
devoted to this use, leaving 34 million as the total net area of com-
mercial timberlands which it may still be desirable to set aside.
Much of the high mountain country included in the noncommercial
forest area has high scenic value and will serve recreational purposes.
In the West a large part of the commercial area which may be in-
cluded in additional recreational reserves lies high in the mountains
just below the alpine zone. These lands as well as certain swamp
areas of poor timber-producing capacity in the South which are also
likely to be included in the proposed recreational reserve, are of
doubtful economic availability, and relatively unfavorable for timber
production even though classified as commercial forest. Because of
their poor growth or relative inaccessibility the reservation of as
much as 13 million acres of this sort will have little influence on the
timber production situation. The lands set aside primarily for
recreation will rarely, if ever, suffer any reduction in their value for
protection of streams and soils or for the production of wild life.
THE LAND NEEDED FOR WATERSHED PROTECTION
Although the protection of watersheds and the prevention of
erosion constitute perhaps the most important use of forest lands as
far as public welfare is concerned, it will seldom be necessary to set
aside land having other commercial values exclusively for such
protective functions. Under proper control, the use of forest land
for other purposes will generally be entirely consistent with the
conservation of protective values. Steep slopes at the headwaters of
important streams and areas especially susceptible to erosion are the
most important types of land where restriction of commercial utiliza-
tion will be necessary. The noncommercial forest area includes much
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1235
high steep country in the alpine zone, and also large areas in the
transitional zone between desert and commercial forest especially
susceptible to erosion. Careful regulation of other uses, and espe-
cially of grazing, is essential on these areas.
Although some 449 million acres of the total forest area serves to
protect our streams and soils, it will probably not be necessary to set
aside more than 5 million acres from commercial timber use for
protective purposes exclusively. Because of their location in moun-
tainous areas where scenic values are high, possibly 1 million out of
the 5 million acres will be included in the areas where recreational use
will dominate. The net reduction of commercial forest area will,
therefore, be about 4 million acres.
THE LAND NEEDED FOR WILD LIFE
Although increasing attention will probably be given to the control
and protection of the wild life population in the forests, it should not
be necessary to devote any areas to exclusive use for this purpose.
Recreational or watershed reserves as well as noncommercial forest
lands may well serve as special areas for the protection of wild life, or
such special wild life areas may be established as needed elsewhere on
the commercial forests, but this need not interfere with other use. It
may, however, be necessary to restrict the grazing of domestic live-
stock to conserve food for wild life in special cases. Practically the
entire forest area may contribute in some degree to the production of
wild life of social or economic value.
THE LAND NEEDED FOR RANGE AND LIVESTOCK
More than half of the forest lands of the United States is used for
the grazing of livestock. In the West and South most of this is in the
noncommercial forest area or the more open forests of the yellow pine
types. If properly handled, livestock can generally be produced on
such forest areas without detriment to commercial timber production,
protection of watersheds, or recreational use. Scientific control is
necessary, however, to keep grazing within limits consistent with the
maintenance of the other use values.
In the Central States large areas of hardwood woodland have been
seriously deteriorated by grazing of domestic livestock. Although
the practice has been carried to excess and eventually leads to the
destruction of the woods so used, it has a limited place in the agricul-
ture of the region. It, therefore, seems necessary to allow about a
million acres reported as commercial forest land for pasturage of this
sort, which in effect is devoting it to agriculture rather than forestry.
THE LAND NEEDED FOR TIMBER PRODUCTION
About 17.5 billion cubic feet per year may be set up as a reasonable
minimum objective for a national program for timber production.
This covers estimated normal timber requirements of about 16.5
billion cubic feet per year with a margin of safety of 1 billion cubic feet
to provide for possible future calamities, such as the chestnut blight,
which might wipe out entire species, and to provide for holding or
increasing an export trade in forest products. A growth of this
amount would probably yield about 60 billion board feet of saw
1236 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
timber, as against the estimated normal requirement of about 55
billion board feet.
It has been shown that current annual timber growth on the present
commercial forest area, allowing neither for the withdrawals for other
uses outlined above nor for doubtful economic availability of any of
the land, is slightly less than 9 billion cubic feet, or hardly more than
half the probable future requirements. To increase growth to meet
future needs will call for a maximum effort by all agencies concerned.
Part of the shortage will be made up by natural restocking of available
lands now lying idle, part may be supplied by increasing the produc-
tive area still further by planting, but most of it will probably be
brought about by building up the existing growing stock through
better protection and more intensive management. Possible growth
under three plans of using the land available for timber production
is shown in table 25 of the section Present and Potential Timber
Resources. The first of these has no bearing on this discussion, since
it fails to meet either of the major objectives in land use. The second
was based on a possible status of forest lands under the objective of
putting all land to productive use and will be discussed later. The
third outlined a situation under the objective of simply meeting the
Nation's requirements for timber and other uses. The following para-
graphs explain the basis for suggesting the distribution of land shown
in the third plan as a reasonable possibility for producing the minimum
safe requirements in timber growth.
INCREASE OF PRESENT PRODUCTIVE AREA BY NATURAL RESTOCKING
AND PLANTING
What portion of the 117.6 million acres of open agricultural land
and denuded forest land shown in figure 1 A will restock naturally can
at best be estimated only very crudely. A compilation of regional
estimates based on the best judgment of those who are familiar with
conditions in each region indicates that 42.8 million acres, or a little
more than one third of the whole, may be expected to restock in the
course of 40 or 50 years to a degree which will make eventual commer-
cial utilization possible. Much of this naturally restocked area will
bear timber of poor quality only, but eventually this may be brought
into a higher state of productivity. In any event all the land now
open should be given the same protection from fire as other forest areas
in order to give natural reproduction every possible encouragement.
Further extension of the productive area by planting will be desir-
able and necessary. Lands restocked in this way may generally be,
depended upon for relatively high yields and so will contribute sub-
stantially toward balancing the timber budget. Considering the land
available for planting in each region and the relations to national and
local needs, an immediate program for the planting of 25.5 million
acres of agricultural or denuded land is deemed feasible. (See section
The Reforestation of Barren and Unproductive Land.) It must be
emphasized, however, that the planting of this area in any reasonable
period of time will call for the best efforts of all agencies on a scale far
beyond anything that has been envisioned nationally in the past.
Even with the total of 68.3 million acres thus added to the produc-
tive forest area, about 49.3 million acres might still remain open and
nonproductive, divided between agricultural land now available for
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1237
forestry and forest land now denuded, presumably somewhat as is
indicated in figure IB. It is possible that watershed requirements
might not be adequately met on the lands left idle and open in this
way.
POSSIBLE FUTURE STATUS OF AREAS FOR MANAGEMENT
With the available productive area increased by natural restocking
and planting as described in the preceding paragraphs, a total of 459.3
million acres is indicated as the area which will probably be involved
in timber production. As pointed out in the discussion of Timber
Growth in the section on Present and Potential Timber Resources, it
is reasonable to expect that the management afforded these lands will
vary according to the play of economic forces in relation to ownership,
location, and productive capacity of the lands.
In the first place there are included in these 459.3 million acres
considerable areas so remote with respect to economical development
of transportation or of such low productive capacity that it is doubtful
if they will ever become economically available. This comprises
much of the rough and relatively inaccessible land in the high moun-
tains of the West and in the Appalachian region which may not be
included in recreational reserves. These areas for the most part are
not only unfavorably situated with respect to cost of logging, but also
bear timber of poor quality and relatively slow growth. In many
instances, as a result of their treatment in the past, the stands are
scattered, the trees are of poor form, or valuable species have been
replaced by species of little value. Other areas of low productive
capacity, although they may have supported a merchantable stand of
virgin timber as a result of centuries of growth, offer very little pros-
pect of producing another crop soon enough to be of assistance in
balancing the Nation's timber budget. Many of the swamps in the
Lake States, and certain poorly drained or infertile lands in the South,
as in southern Florida, are in this category.
Altogether it is estimated that there may be 82.7 million acres rela-
tively unfavorable for forest management in the present commercial
forest area. Since 13 million acres of this is assumed to be included
in the area proposed for recreational reserves, a balance of 69.7
million acres of this sort would remain in the timber-producing area.
This land will not as a rule justify anything more than protection
against fire and can only be counted on for a nominal amount of
growth, estimated at about half a billion cubic feet per year.
On practically all of the remainder of the timber-producing land
scientific forest management should be applied as rapidly and inten-
sively as possible. But no matter how successful efforts along this
line may be, there will doubtless always remain certain areas upon
which no effort will be made to maintain or increase production. It
may be expected that growth on these areas will be maintained about
as at present by nature aided somewhat by the extension of protection.
In order to give recognition to this situation, 40.7 million acres is
classified as receiving only simple protection although favorably
situated for forest management. Growth on these areas, calculated
at the average rate obtaining at present in each region, amounts to a
little over 830 million cubic feet per year.
Based on the foregoing assumptions and estimates, there would thus
remain about 348.9 million acres constituting the area on which
1238 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
forest management of some sort should actually be applied. Extensive
forestry, which simply prevents devastation through adequate fire
protection and through cutting practices which insure reproduction
adequate for commercial utilization, if applied to this whole area could
be expected neither to yield sufficient growth to meet the indicated
minimum objective for the country's timber needs on a quantity
basis, nor to provide the material of large size and high quality which
constitutes the bulk of interregional and export trade and always
commands the highest price.
It is believed that possibly 25 percent of the total growth should be
produced under intensive forestry in order to yield some 4% billion
cubic feet of saw timber for the more exacting uses. To do this would
require about 70 million acres under intensive forestry, of which
almost nine-tenths would probably be in the East. In consideration
of the desirability of growing as much high-quality material as
possible and the ultimate profit which will probably result from such
a policy, this seems an entirely reasonable objective. The magnitude
of the undertaking, however, may be judged from the fact that
probably not over 10 million acres in the entire country are now
included in plans calling for intensive management.
With the indicated area under intensive management, the remaining
278.9 million acres, if managed under extensive forestry, will make
up the balance of the national requirements. Even this extensive
forestry cannot, however, be achieved without widespread effort and
a radical departure from the unsatisfactory practices which now prevail
so generally. Under extensive forestry it is estimated that present
growth rates will increase 50 to 200 percent in the various regions and
that the total growth on the area which may be under extensive
forestry will be about 11% billion cubic feet.
A hypothetical distribution of area and growth among the various
regions according to the possible future status of forest management
suggested in the preceding paragraphs is given in tables 22 and 23 in
the section Present and Potential Timber Resources. It will be seen
that the growth totals approximately 17.8 billion cubic feet, which is
about the minimum safe objective to meet probable future require-
ments. The plan suggested represents a reasonable balance between
the several means of relieving the shortage of timber growth. Its
essential feature is that every possible means must be taken to increase
timber growth to meet the needs and practical difficulties of the situ-
ation.
BALANCING FOREST LAND USE OBJECTIVES
The possible status of forest lands on the basis outlined in the
preceding paragraphs is shown in figure 1, B. It appears that if
adequate measures to safeguard and develop the resources for the
various uses are made effective, the area available for forestry (667.3
million acres) is ample to provide for actual needs for all purposes as
far as these can be foreseen. In fact, it may be possible to meet these
needs without complete utilization of all the forest land now denuded
or of all the agricultural land likely to be available for forestry.
Presumably, through the operation of the economic factors, the lands
which might be left idle will in general be the most difficult to restock
or the least productive and least desirable of the open lands available.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1239
But, as developed elsewhere in this report — particularly in the sec-
tion Is Forestry Justified? — there are cogent reasons why the Nation
should strive to attain the full benefits of putting all the available
forest land to productive use, even though this offers prospect of
going considerably beyond the minimum requirements for domestic
use. Figure 1, C, shows the possible future status of forest lands, if
all the available area were put to productive use in accordance with
the previously mentioned second plan in table 25 of the section,
Present and Potential Timber Resources.
Utilizing all the available area in this way will affect primarily the
productive timber area. Since natural regeneration was included as
an essential feature of the plan for meeting requirements shown in
figure 1, B, planting will probably have to be resorted to, to bring the
remaining area of idle land (almost 50 million acres) into production.
It may be expected that a large proportion of the areas which may be
planted will receive intensive management, so that if all the land is
put to productive use, it seems reasonable to extend the area under
intensive forestry to 100 million acres. This is in keeping with the
thought that at any stage in development, there will be a certain
economic balance between areas under intensive forestry and those
under crude forestry or simple protection. All the remaining area
available for commercial timber use, except the 69.7 million acres of
remote or poor land which will always remain unfavorable for timber
production, is assigned to extensive forestry in this plan, because by
the time we may succeed in bringing all the land into productive use
it is probable that forestry practice will be generally adopted. Figure
1, C, therefore, represents not only a plan for complete utilization of
the land but also a possible ultimate practical limit in developing
the growth potentiality of the land through forest management.
The only possible objection to working toward full use of the land
is the possibility that this policy may result in an unmarketable surplus
of forest products. But from the detailed discussion of the outlook
for foreign markets as given in the section, Trends in World Wood
Consumption, the likelihood of being able to dispose of a surplus such
as that indicated, at the time when it may develop, is sufficiently
strong to serve as an incentive toward every possible increase in poten-
tial growing capacity. Furthermore, to the extent that reforestation
and the practice of intensive forestry are successful, it will be possible
to take a liberal attitude in regard to the demand for lands for exclu-
sive recreational use.
Another service which may justify public action in the reforestation
of certain lands beyond the actual indicated needs for forestry pur-
poses is the rebuilding of soils to provide for possible future demands of
a larger population. A considerable portion of the area available for
forestry has been used for agriculture in the past and is favorably
situated for such use, but has lost its fertility through either misuse
or erosion. Forest growth on such areas will in time restore the or-
ganic content of the soil and improve its physical condition so that in
the future it may again support profitable agriculture.
But the present growth is so far short of domestic requirements that,
if estimates presented in this report do not prove entirely unfounded,
there is no possibility of developing an exportable surplus from current
growth for several decades. As far as a program for the next 20 years
or more is concerned, it therefore makes little difference which objec-
168342°— 33— vol, 2 13
1240 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEKICAN FORESTRY
live should be the ultimate goal. For either purpose, the need is
clearly to drive ahead in all lines of activity in order to insure an area
of sufficient size being made productive, to build up and maintain
growing stocks which will give an annual yield far in excess of present
growth, and at the same time to make as far-sighted provisions as
possible for other uses such as recreation and watershed protection.
The details and costs of such a program are developed in succeeding
sections of this report. But even under the most favorable conditions
as to public support and effective accomplishment, it is unlikely that
a program sufficient to meet the needs for all purposes can be in full
operation before the end of the present century.
FUTURE ADJUSTMENTS IN LAND USE AND OWNERSHIP
By JOSEPH C. KIRCHER, Regional Forester, Eastern Region
CONTENTS
Page
Anticipated shifts in land use 1241
Anticipated shifts in forest land use and ownership 1242
The need for immediate action 1245
Land classification 1246
Means available for effecting immediate adjustments 1248
Public domain adjustments 1248
Federal acquisition by purchase 1248
State acquisition by purchase 1249
Tax delinquency 1250
Exchanges 1250
Gifts 1251
Adjustments by private owners 1251
Conclusion 1252
ANTICIPATED SHIFTS IN LAND USE
Estimates summarized in figure 1 of the preceding section show
the present forest area of 614.6 million acres to consist of 108.7 million
acres of noncommercial forest, 11 million acres of commercial forest
set aside for parks and other reserves, and 494.9 million acres commer-
cial forest available for timber production. In addition, 54.7 million
acres of agriculture land is shown as available for forestry.
The shifting of land use between agriculture and forestry is an
exceedingly complicated and variable process. In the section, ''The
Agricultural Land Available for Forestry," it was stated that in
most sections in the East clearing of new land for agriculture is going
on at the same time that other lands are being abandoned. In the
Northeast agricultural land has been abandoned on a tremendous
scale during the past few decades, whereas clearing of new lands has
been quite insignificant. In the Central States, an excess of aban-
donment over clearing has developed much more recently. In portions
of the lower Mississippi valley the agricultural area has shown a net
increase up to the 1930 census. The agricultural area now available
for forestry represents an estimate of that portion of the lands aban-
doned in the past two decades which was not already classed as forest,
together with land on existing farms that is now idle and not likely
to be used again for agriculture.
Although the rate of abandonment may have been greatly reduced
by the present economic depression, there is every reason to believe
that a constant shifting of lands between agriculture and forestry
will continue in the future much as it has in the past. The Bureau
of Agricultural Economics estimates that by 1950 another 25 to 30
million acres of agricultural land in the East will become available
for forestry. This cannot, however, be taken as a net increase in
the forest area of the country because it is probable that the total
area devoted to agriculture cannot be further reduced. In fact, it is
estimated that the needs of the population may by 1950 require a
1241
1242 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
larger agricultural area unless technological developments continue
to increase the efficiency of production. The additional 25 to 30
million acres of submarginal agricultural land likely to be in need
of some degree of reforestation by 1950 will be offset, at least in part,
by further clearing of forest land, particularly in the Mississippi
Delta and in the West.
Abandonment of agricultural land is the result of both physical
and economic causes. Loss of fertile top soil through erosion is per-
haps the most important of the physical factors ; others include exhaus-
tion of soil fertility by continued unscientific cropping, rough topogra-
phy, unsatisfactory climate, and the gradual encroachment of brush.
Of the economic factors, changes in the character of agriculture itself
have perhaps been the most important in recent years. The decline
in the use of horses and mules, which makes unnecessary the use of
land in the production of feed for these animals, has been of tremen-
dous importance. In the last few decades there has also been a
marked increase in the efficiency of agricultural production which has
tended to reduce the area required. The growing use of machinery
in agriculture has been another important factor. It has lowered
costs on the level lands and forced out of production rougher lands
where farms are usually broken up into small units. These things
have followed the opening of the fertile level lands of the West, which
gave the initial impetus to abandonment in the East. There has
also been inolved, up to the last 3 years, an attraction of farm popu-
lation to the cities. Finally, agricultural land has sometimes been
forced out of production by a loss of markets, resulting from the pass-
ing of local industries. In the Lake States especially, the decline
of the lumber industry has caused the abandonment of considerable
areas formerly employed in supplying a local market with agricultural
products.
The principal factor which may lead to a permanent shift of land
from forest to agriculture is an increase of population. In many
localities, land-colonization schemes have been important factors
in extending agricultural areas on cut-over forest land and such proj-
ects may be expected to have continued local influence.
ANTICIPATED SHIFTS IN FOREST LAND USE AND
OWNERSHIP
The ownership of the present forest area as estimated in a much
earlier section, Forest Land, the Basic Resource, and the anticipated
shift in ownership as estimated in the succeeding section, The Probable
Future Distribution of Forest Land Ownership are shown in table 1.
The major shifts indicated are a substantial reduction in privately
owned land and a corresponding increase in public ownership. Ad-
justments in use which will be accomplished as a result of these shifts
in ownership involve a considerable increase in the areas reserved
from commercial timber production in order to provide adequately
for watershed protection and for the increasing demand for special
recreational areas. But the productive use of large areas now idle
will be by far the most important result of the indicated gain in
public ownership. The reasons for these changes, discussed in detail
in other sections of this report, may be summarized as follows:
1. The instability of private ownership in the United States is so
great that in some regions it can be properly characterized as a
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1243
breakdown. It is evidenced by tens of millions of acres of tax-
reverted lands, by millions more of acres which are in long-term
delinquency, by a frequent shifting of ownership through tax sale
and mortgage foreclosures, by gift to the public of large areas of
cut-over land, and by sales and offers of great tracts at merely nominal
prices.
TABLE 1. — Estimated present and possible future ownership of forest land
Owner
Present dis-
tribution
Possible fu-
ture distri-
bution
Private:
Farm woodland - ________
Acres
150, 000, 000
Acres
110,000,000
Industrial
294, 400, 000
165, 900, 000
County and municipal .. __________ -
1, 400, 000
State
16, 100, 000
> 106, 800, 000
Federal:
National forests. . . . _ .
107, 800, 000
254, 900, 000
Public domain
23, 500, 000
10 300 000
Other
21, 400, 000
21, 400, 000
Total
614 600 000
669 300 000
No figures on tax reverted lands are available for the whole
country, but in the three Lake States they amount to about 10 million
acres; in the Pacific Northwestern States of Idaho, Washington, and
Oregon to 3 million acres; and in eight Southern States to nearly 10
million acres. In addition there are millions of acres of cut-over
forest lands in various stages of delinquency which have not yet
reverted to public ownership.
The acreage of land with long-term delinquency and of lands that
are actually reverting to public ownership is increasing. The process
has been going on for years. The situation points to the conclusion
that there is a maladjustment of forest ownership — an unwise division
between public and private ownership. (See section entitled "The
Breakdown of Private Forest Land Ownership.")
2. The abandonment of agricultural lands creates many difficult
social and economic problems. Bringing the lands already abandoned
into productive condition through forestry is a problem the solution
of which will depend in large measure upon public ownership. As
agricultural abandonment reaches an advanced stage in any locality
it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the local government and
ordinary social services. Costs of maintaining roads and schools rise
out of all proportion to the number of people benefited; churches are
abandoned and the standard of living may become fully as low as in
city slums. (See the section " Agricultural Land Available for For-
estry.") Public acquisition of land in submarginal communities in
advance of actual abandonment is the logical solution of these
problems. New York is the only State which has thus far recognized
the public responsibility in this situation by comprehensive action.
3. The great areas of devastated and deteriorated forest land
should be reclaimed. Fire and cutting supplemented by grazing and
insects have made 63 million acres of timberland nonproductive of
valuable timber crops. A certain portion of this vast area of unpro-
ductive land, long ago devastated, is gradually coming back to forest
each year, but this gain may be more than balanced by current
1244 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
devastation of some 850,000 acres annually. The natural reforesta-
tion of this devastated land is very slow, and meanwhile millions of
acres lie unproductive for decades. In addition to the devastated
area, 36 million acres are annually subject to deteriorating effects
because of elimination of the better species from the stands through
unwise cutting and fire. Fires alone, in the period 1926-30, burned
annually an average of 41 }£ million acres, causing great deterioration
and devastation. Of the total 495 million acres of commercial forest
area, some 275 million acres, cut over one or more times, are pro-
ducing at only a fraction of their normal capacity. (See section
entitled " Current Forest Devastation and Deterioration.") Kecla-
mation of any large portion of these lands under private ownership
seems remote.
4. The small area of private holdings being maintained in a pro-
ductive state is wholly inadequate. The capital, prerequisite of any
successful business operation and in the forest represented by the
growing stock, has been almost completely removed from about 40
percent of the privately owned forest areas arid seriously reduced in
amount on fully half of the remainder. The cordwood and saw-
timber commercial holdings, on which an effort is being made to grow
timber commercially, compose less than one fifth of the total, and
organized sustained yield management is being attempted on less than
1 percent or 2.3 million acres of commercial forest holdings. (See
section entitled "Status and Opportunities of Private Forestry.")
Building up the growing stock to maintain adequate growth for na-
tional needs will also call for leadership under public ownership on
a large scale.
5. A vast area of forest land at present is inadequately protected
from fire. Although fire control on forest lands has made progress
from year to year, only 54 percent of the total forest area of the
United States needing protection is now under organized fire control,
in spite of the fact that public aid is given many private owners to
the extent that 26.5 percent of the cost is paid by the Federal Gov-
ernment, 55.1 percent by the States, and 18.4 percent by the private
owners. There still remain 191 million acres of forest land in private
ownership on which no organized fire control is in effect. (See section
entitled "Federal Financial and Other Direct Aid to States.")
Public action is needed to assure effective protection. In many
instances public interests will be best served by accomplishing this
through public ownership.
6. Of the 615 million acres of forest land in the United States, some
449 million acres have major or moderate influence on watershed
conditions. The public welfare requires a type of management on
these lands which will maintain a satisfactory forest and vegetative
cover. The measures necessary to make these lands fulfill their func-
tion in the regulation of stream flow and in the prevention of erosion
are (1) adequate fire control (2) conservative management of the
resources (3) special measures for erosion control (4) effective public
education, and (5) research.
The type of management required, in many instances, will cost
money which the private owner cannot afford to spend since he may
reap no direct benefit. In order to meet this situation public acquisi-
tion of an estimated 133.4 million acres now forested and of 21.8
million acres now classified as agricultural but submarginal for such
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1245
use is desirable. (See sections entitled " Program Necessary to
Meet Watershed Requirements" and "The* Probable Future Distri-
bution of Forest Land Ownership.")
7. One of the major adjustments in land use previously indicated
is the anticipated large increase in areas devoted to recreational or
educational purposes. It is obvious that most of the 45 million acres
suggested for such use should be in public ownership. This will there-
fore be an important factor in future shifts between private and public
agencies.
THE NEED FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION
Under the free play of economic forces, land tends to be put to the
use under which it can be given the highest capital value. In the
early stages of settlement of any country or region, land is in general
readily available for all purposes and practically no capital value
exists for the land itself. The development of communities with
increasing demands for food and materials for construction soon
creates competition for the use of land and this in turn establishes
definite capital values. In such competition, value will be attached
to land according to the income which may be derived from its use.
Land to be used for cities, towns, or special uses such as power sites,
will ordinarily have the highest income-producing capacity and there-
fore the highest value. Land for the production of crops will rank
next in value. Only the lands not suited for these uses or not needed
for them will remain in forest or open range. Within each broad cate-
gory the specific use to which the land is put will also depend on its
relative income-producing capacity. Land may pass from one use to
another higher in the scale in a series of successive stages, with the
margin of each utilization class extending further out into poorer or
more remote areas as development proceeds. But frequently land of
the poorest intrinsic productive capacity may be capitalized at high
values for real estate because of its location and so may pass directly
from its original wild condition to the highest industrial use.
Values established in this process tend to rise steadily with increase
in population as long as the resources of the land hold out, unless
affected by factors outside the region or country concerned. Reversal
of the upward trend of values for land in any category may result
from opening up of new territory under conditions where yields are
high and costs of production low, from the development of cheap
transportation from another region previously inaccessible, from major
technological changes such as substitution of the gasoline engine for
animal power, or from the exhaustion of the resources which have
supported the local development without the establishment of new
economic services for the communities concerned. In short, any factor
which reduces the income which the land may produce will serve to
depress its value and may mean reversion to a lower form of use.
Within the past few decades this country has simultaneously en-
countered in one region or another almost all these factors tending to
unsettle land values and economic use. Readjustment under the free
play of economic forces is an exceedingly slow process. It has re-
sulted in some incongruous situations and the creation of conditions
which are often contrary to the best welfare of the people. It would
probably be necessary for conditions to get much worse before con-
structive measures were undertaken on a large scale by private owners.
1246 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
Without public aid, and even with it, remedial measures would be
slow of application. Some measure of long-range planning and social
control is essential to stimulate prompt adjustment to provide effective
coordination of the various uses of land and to insure conservation of
the intangible values which are as important to society as the material
values.
The need for such planning is especially urgent in the present
situation because the prospects of developing new regions are small,
population has spread over most of the productive area, the original
forest resources of the older regions have been largely dissipated, and
the agricultural resource has suffered from unwise management in
many regions. Failure to act wisely now in providing for the future
may result in much unnecessary human hardship^ and may create
conditions fraught with danger for the entire social and economic
structure.
LAND CLASSIFICATION
Land classification surveys have been proposed and are becoming
accepted as the basis for the best fundamental land-use adjustment.
Their objective is systematic land-use planning based upon intensive
physical, economic, and social studies of individual regions. They
are an attempt, in a systematic way and after intensive study of
factors affecting land use and occupancy, to assign each area to that
use to which it is best adapted physically, economically, and socially.
They are an attempt to bring order out of chaos in the use of lands and
to substitute systems based on scientific facts for the hit-and-miss
methods of the past. As such, it is hoped that they will avoid many
of the pitfalls of a "laissez-faire" system with 'its attendant mistakes,
its financial losses, and its human misery.
As the first step to systematic land-use planning, physical classifica-
tion of lands is necessary since without a physical inventory of avail-
able lands and classification by possible uses there is no basis upon
which to plan. Physical characteristics alone, however, do not deter-
mine the best economic use to be made of particular parcels of land
or even of large blocks of land or of whole regions. It is necessary
also to consider the economic and social aspects of land occupancy
and use. Studies of these phases of land use become very complex
and they can be made only after the collection of suitable data. Not
alone must such studies consider the profitable employment of land
for particular uses under present and future economic conditions, but
they must consider also social environment and public welfare.
In dealing with the classification of land for agricultural use, for
example, it is necessary to consider whether the situation in any local-
ity is such as to make the community successful. The probable
returns from the land must be balanced against the costs of maintain-
ing schools, roads, and other phases of local government, as well as
the feasibility of maintaining churches and other aspects of com-
munity life. Classification may prevent many unwise development
schemes and point the way to substantial economies in local govern-
ment.
Land classification surveys should indicate with considerable assur-
ance which areas should be under public ownership and should make
possible the allocation of units for acquisition by State and Federal
agencies. But there are many difficult and perplexing problems to be
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1247
solved before land-use planning based upon classification can be put
into effect. There are problems of tax delinquency, tax assessments,
fluctuating future prices and costs, individual efficiency, changes in
agricultural and forestry methods and practices, transportation, future
markets, and many others.
A large amount of work has been done and is in progress by many
public agencies along the lines of physical classification of lands.
Topographic, soil, forest, and other surveys covering large portions of
the country have been made by Federal and State organizations as
well as climatological and ecological studies. In general, a great deal
of information exists concerning this phase of classification. Many
economic and social studies have also been made, but because of the
complexity of this phase of classification much additional information
is necessary, and there is the large job of coordination and correlation
to make the land-use plans.
Great impetus was given to land classification and land-use planning
as a national undertaldng by a conference on land utilization at Chi-
cago in November 1931, called by the Secretary of Agriculture in
conjunction with the Association of Land Grant Colleges and Univer-
sities. This conference, among other things, provided for the estab-
lishment of two national committees charged with the duty of working
out the details of a national program of land utilization. It was pro-
vided that the membership of the National Land-Use Planning Com-
mittee should consist of a designated number of representatives from
each of the several departments of the Federal Government that are
concerned with land utilization, together with five representatives of
the Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities chosen from
the various sections of the country. The membership of the National
Advisory and Legislative Committee on Land Use wTas specified in
terms of a designated number of representatives from each of 12 non-
governmental national organizations interested in land utilization and
agricultural policies.
Under the leadership of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics the
National Land-Use Planning Committee has been active through
technical subcommittees in bringing the necessity for land-use plan-
ning to public attention, in defining objectives, in developing methods
of procedure, and in general by laying the ground work for broad classi-
fication of lands and systematic land-use planning. Owing to this
committee's work, land classification is becoming recognized as a large
and urgent national enterprise which should be started and pushed to
completion as fast and as systematically as conditions permit.
Classification must be by definite political or other units and its
progress is dependent upon Federal, State, and possibly other coopera-
tive efforts. Necessarily it will be done in widely scattered, irregular,
and often small units with delayed action in some regions because of
lack of appropriations and lack of readiness or ability of the cooperat-
ing agencies. Furthermore, while physical classification of lands is
more or less permanent, this is not true of economic classification in
view of the constantly fluctuating basic economic conditions that
determine the form of land use. Economic classifications must there-
fore be elastic and subject to modification as conditions change, and
it should be undertaken only when it is to form the basis for early
public action in the formation and execution of land-use programs.
1248 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
MEANS AVAILABLE FOR EFFECTING IMMEDIATE
ADJUSTMENTS
The job of land-use planning based upon classification surveys is,
as has been shown above, an exceedingly difficult one. At best it
will take many years to classify the lands of the country and to put
systematic land-use planning into effect. In the meantime, it will
be possible to proceed with desirable adjustments in land use and
ownership where there is no doubt as to the proper classification or
where local surveys have been made.
There are large areas such as rough, mountainous watersheds that
obviously have no agricultural value and where lands are of value only
for watershed protection and timber production. The classification of
many such areas would be simple and could be readily made at any
time. Delay in starting to make such adjustments until results of a
general classification are available is therefore neither desirable nor
necessary. Immediate ameliorative measures are at hand and may
be applied without danger of serious error due to insufficiency of facts.
They are:
PUBLIC DOMAIN ADJUSTMENTS
As of June 30, 1932, the public domain contained 173,318,246
acres located largely in the western part of the United States. As
the remnant of the original large Government holdings, it is, of
course, the poorest part, and it remains without any form of manage-
ment or administration. Most of it is treeless, semiarid land and of
little use for anything except grazing. A total of about 22 million
acres of the public domain should be added to the national forests.
The remainder should be organized into administrative units in
order to conserve the grazing resource and prevent erosion. Legisla-
tion which will effectually accomplish this purpose should be enacted.
(See section entitled, " Public Domain and Other Federal Forest
Land.")
FEDERAL ACQUISITION BY PURCHASE
Western national forests were created from the public domain,
but at the time when the national-forest movement started, little
public domain was left east of the Great Plains. Small areas, how-
ever, were set aside as national forests in Wisconsin, Michigan,
Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida. The participation of the Federal
Government through national forests in the eastern forestry move-
ment can, however, be said to have started in 1911 with the passage
of the Weeks law (act of March 1, 1911, 36 Stat. 961), which author-
ized the purchase of forest lands by the Government on the water-
sheds of navigable streams. Supplementing this, the Clarke-McNary
law (act of June 7, 1924, 43 Stat. 653) extended authority to pur-
chase lands for timber production. Under these laws the Federal
Government has acquired in 19 States in the East, up to June 30
1932, a total of 4,727,680 acres of forest lands which have been
incorporated into national forests. The total national-forest area in
the eastern half of the United States has through acquisition been
brought to 7,217,731 1 acres as of June 30, 1932. The program
under which the Forest Service is now working in acquiring lands in
i Exclusive of 13,824 acres in Puerto Rico.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1249
the eastern United States contemplates an eastern national-forest
ownership of somewhat more than 14^ million acres.
Purchases are made within units established for that purpose only
after approval by the National Forest Reservation Commission as is
described in detail in the section entitled "Public Acquisition of
Private Lands as an Aid to Private Forestry." As lands are acquired,
they are incorporated in the national-forest system, placed under
protection, and rehabilitation begins.
The methods and procedure used in Federal- purchase work con-
stitute, in effect, a system of land classification, since the selection of
a unit is made only after the survey of a much larger area and con-
sideration of the needs and desirability of a national forest in the
forest region concerned. A unit is established only after it has been
determined by these methods that a large part of it is true forest
land which will serve the purpose of watershed protection, timber
production, or forestry demonstration. Agricultural lands within
established units are segregated and not acquired.
Through the years, Federal officers have gained considerable
experience in purchasing forest lands. Methods have been thoroughly
developed and standardized so that increased purchase activity
could be expeditiously handled by the experienced organization
which already exists. In the past, lands have been purchased at
reasonable prices, and under present market conditions large blocks
of additional lands could be obtained upon decidedly favorable
terms. Much of the 134 million acres programmed for national
forest ownership could therefore be purchased and developed by the
Federal Government without awaiting general land classification,
provided funds became available. A greatly increased acquisition
program by the Federal Government would be one of the most
constructive adjustments which could be undertaken.
Two other Federal agencies are acquiring forest lands in the
East. The Biological Survey has inaugurated a purchase program
which contemplates acquisition of about 500,000 acres for game
sanctuaries and wild-fowl breeding grounds. So far it has acquired
254,000 acres, of which perhaps 60,000 acres are water. The Na-
tional Park Service is obtaining 587,000 acres for two national parks
in the Appalachians by gifts from the States of North Carolina,
Tennessee, and Virginia which are purchasing the lands and con-
veying them to the United States. Because of the comparatively
small size of these acquisitions they will have little effect upon the
general problem of forest land use in the East.
STATE ACQUISITION BY PURCHASE
State, county, and municipal ownership of present commercial
forest areas consists of 10,632,000 acres, most of it obtained through
Federal ^ grants but some through purchase or tax delinquency.
Except in New York and Pennsylvania, however, little progress has
been made in State acquisition of forest lands through purchase.
Most of the States in forest regions have been unable to finance
large purchase programs up to the present time. The urgency of
the situation, however, as well as the necessity for the various States
to carry their full share of the responsibility for future forest con-
ditions dictate the advisability of State and local public acquisition
1250 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
programs of 89 to 90 million acres, some of which will come through
tax delinquency rather than purchase. In prosecuting plans of this
kind and in making selections for State forests, surveys for land
classification will, of course, be necessary.
TAX DELINQUENCY
Other sections of this report have shown that tens of millions of
acres of cut-over forest and submarginal agricultural lands are
long term tax delinquent or have actually reverted to counties
and States through failure of sales of tax-delinquent lands. Most
of the forest lands have been cut over and repeatedly burned. Pri-
vate ownership can see in them only heavy expense in carrying
charges with no opportunity for income for many years in the future.
It has lost interest in them, and they are lying there unmanaged and
further deteriorating.
A few States have enacted laws under which tax-delinquent lands
may become State, county, or town forests, but in general it has
been local public policy to return such lands to the tax rolls through
sales or otherwise. The rapidly growing acreage of these tax-
reverted lands shows that this policy is not suited to the handling of
forest lands.
Within their financial ability, it would be a constructive adjustment
in land use if local political units in States in which they get title to
such forest lands would retain ownership, consolidate the lands where
necessary, and manage them as community forests. It is recognized,
however, that local political units would not be able to absorb large
areas of such lands.
Most of the devastated forest lands which have become or are
becoming tax delinquent will stay in public ownership whether they
are wanted or not. Some form of public management must therefore
be devised unless these lands are to be permanently nonproductive.
Where local political units come into possession of them and cannot
or will not manage them, consideration should be given to the pos-
sibility of their transfer to States for State forests, or as a last resort to
the Federal Government as national forests. Primarily, the problem
of tax-reverted lands is one of determining the form of public owner-
ship. Responsibility for the proper administration of these lands is
divided between local political units, the States, and the Federal
Government. The necessity is for careful consideration, based largely
on surveys, as to which unit should manage them; and as far as pos-
sible it is desirable that they be managed by local units or States.
On the other hand, when these units are unable to assume this respon-
sibility, when they desire to convey such land to the Federal Govern-
ment, and the lands fall logically into the national forest system, the
United States should stand ready to accept them. Under such a
policy large areas of forest lands which private owners do not desire
and cannot afford to hold would become publicly managed forests
instead of remaining a " no-man's land" rapidly degenerating into
absolute waste.
EXCHANGES
Federal purchases have not as yet been extended to the West,
where national forests alread}7 contain 53 per cent of the commercial
forest-land area. Authority has, however, been obtained through
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1251
legislation to exchange national-forest lands or timber for private
lands, and under these laws the western national forests are being
consolidated and somewhat extended. Increases in the net area of the
western national forests through such exchanges has so far amounted
to 814,685 acres. Under exchange procedure, many areas of cut-over
land on which forest values will be either protected or restored, are
coming into Federal ownership and at the same time national-forest
properties are being consolidated.
Opportunities for consolidating the western national forests through
exchange are limited both because private owners as a rule are not
interested in exchanging their lands for other forest lands and because
the quantity of national-forest timber available to exchange for cut-
over lands is limited. While considerable additional progress can be
made toward the consolidation of these Federal properties through
exchanges, they cannot be relied upon for the complete consolidation
of forest lands in the western national forests.
Exchanges are of value primarily in consolidating and building up
feasible administrative units where intermingled holdings of several
ownerships exist. Their possibilities have not been generally recog-
nized, but in any large scale adjustment of ownership of forest land
they can be applied extensively. In many regions they are the most
feasible methods by which solid blocks of single ownerships may be
built up for efficient and economical forest management. Extensive
possibilities exist for exchanges between the following agencies:
1. The Federal Government and private owners, to allow each to
build up solid blocks of forest or to permit the consolidation of na-
tional-forest lands at the expense of Federal timber and at a saving of
Federal appropriations, or through the exchange of Federal lands of
higher value for agriculture than for timber production.
2. The Federal Government and States, to allow each to con-
solidate holdings for public forests.
3. The States and private owners, to accomplish the same purpose
as stated for Federal exchanges.
4. Private owners for mutual consolidation of holdings.
No definite program of exchanges can be set down at this time.
As public acquisition proceeds, either through purchase or tax
delinquency, it is safe to predict that exchanges will play an impor-
tant part in consolidations and that many million acres will change
ownership by this method.
GIFTS
In recent years, some gifts of land have been made to public
agencies by private owners. Gifts of forest lands to be incorporated
into public forests, whether to Federal, State, or local governments,
should be encouraged. Through such gifts of land and timber, land
with timber reserved, or of cut-over land, conservative management
and effective protection of the areas involved are assured. Gifts of
land to public agencies are preferable to tax delinquency with no
intention of redemption.
ADJUSTMENTS BY PRIVATE OWNERS
Adjustments in land use are taking place and will continue in con-
nection with the practice of forestry by private owners. There will be
shifts in ownership through purchase and exchange to build up feasible
1252 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
administrative units, to consolidate holdings already acquired, and
to round out farm units.
Some areas of forest lands are now managed under private ownership
primarily for the development of resources other than timber. In this
class come lands held by water power companies, recreation lands,
and lands held as game preserves. In general, such lands are efficiently
protected against fire and are well managed. In addition, coal and
mining companies own estensive timberlands, sometimes for their
underlying minerals and at times for a timber supply. Management
of such lands varies from good to practically none at all.
In general, lands held for these special purposes are a small part of
the total forest area. It is not likely that the area of such lands will
increase rapidly, and because of their comparatively small extent they
will have little influence upon proper land use. For the most part, it
may be said that they are being put to a high use.
CONCLUSION
Land classification, taking into account physical, economic, and
social factors and having as its objective comprehensive land-use
plans, is the most constructive proposal yet made for bringing about
the highest use of land in the United States.
Without waiting for the results of general land classification, how-
ever, many adjustments of advantage to both agriculture and forestry
can be made by local surveys leading to the acquisition and manage-
ment of obviously true forest lands by Federal, State, and local
political agencies either through purchase, tax delinquency, exchanges,
or gifts, and through purchases and exchanges by private owners who
desire to practice forestry. Of these measures, the acquisition of
forest lands as well as the retention and management of tax-reverted
forest lands by States and a largely increased program of Federal
purchase are the most important. They will, faster than any other
measures, take submarginal land out of agricultural use, make pos-
sible adequate provision for public recreation and watershed protec-
tion, and build up a system of well managed forests from the large
existing area of cut-over lands the deterioration of which under private
ownership involves tremendous losses in public welfare.
THE PROBABLE FUTURE DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST LAND
OWNERSHIP
By S. B. SHOW, Regional Forester, California National Forest Region 1
CONTENTS
Page
Stability of ownership prerequisite to forestry 1253
The basis for private ownership of forest lands 1256
The basis for public ownership 1256
The basis for division of public ownership between agencies 1261
Progress to date in public forest acquisition and existing programs 1263
How much forest land will private owners retain and use in accordance
with public interest? 1265
Public ownership and timber production 1278
Public ownership and watershed protection 1286
The multiple-use forest program recommended for public ownership 1294
The probable distribution of forest-land ownership between public agencies _ 1 296
The cost of the public-acquisition program 1299
A suggested immediate Federal and State program 1300
Summary 1301
STABILITY OF OWNERSHIP PREREQUISITE TO FORESTRY
Stability of ownership of forest lands is a prerequisite to the stability
of forestry. The bulk of the commercial forest lands are now in
private ownership, but significant changes in ownership are taking
place with great rapidity, and on a Nation-wide scale. Extensive
tax delinquency in the cut-over regions; failure of any considerable
number of owners to take advantage of the special forest tax laws
enacted by many States specifically to help the private owner remain
in the forest-land business; the rapid exploitation of forests with
scanty provision by the owners for continuing in the forest-growing
business ; and the very large areas of forest land offered at distress
sale to public agencies — all are indicative of existing changes in forest-
land ownership. These trends are even more significant as symptoms
of widespread and imminent changes in the distribution of ownership.
Formerly forested land, now or recently used for farming, is being
abandoned as unsuitable physically or economically for farming, and
is thereby becoming available again for forest production. Major
changes in the character of ownership of such land are obviously
inevitable if it is to be managed for its highest value of forestry.
Other sections of this report bring new information to bear on the
forest situation and the forest problems of the Nation. To a very
high degree, these finally focus on the question of ownership — whether
existing ownership is accomplishing the full conservation of forest
values so clearly needed, whether it is likely to, and whether a realine-
ment of ownership should be deliberately sought, regardless of the
trend toward breakdown of private ownership, and the consequent
1 The subsection Estimated Public Share of Land Ownership for Timber Production is largely the work of
E. I. Kotok, Director, California Forest Experiment Station. The tabulation of census records used in
estimating areas feasible for public ownership in the subsection, Limiting Factors in Establishing Public
Protection Forests was worked out by W. N. Sparhawk, Senior Forest Economist.
1253
1254 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
shift toward public ownership. Other sections of this report in fact
suggest or recommend increase in public ownership as a means to
accomplish such purposes as watershed protection, balancing the
timber budget, and conservation of recreation and wild life values.
Public acquisition programs by some of the States and by the
Federal Government are already established, but with the exception
of a few outstanding States such as New York, Pennsylvania, and
Michigan they are going ahead slowly. These public programs with
few exceptions were based on what today appears to be an under-
estimate of the public values of forest lands, or on an overstimate of
the stability" of private ownership and management, and of the degree
to which private ownership conserves them.
Clearly, a fresh appraisal of the probable distribution of forest land
ownership is needed, one that takes account both of what is likely to
happen anyway as a result of the breakdown in private ownership,
and of what should be done in the direction of public ownership to
meet the known needs of the forest situation. Such an analysis,
which this section of the report attempts, is beset by many difficulties.
Major trends, involving hundreds of millions of acres of land, varying
economic conditions, deeply planted habits of political and economic
thought and tradition, and complex interrelation and conflict between
public and private needs and values, are not to be resolved into
formulae accurate to the last decimal point. Estimates and approxi-
mations have necessarily been used in analyzing the problem, and
great accuracy in the conclusions cannot be claimed. But even rather
wide approximations, and the differing results obtained from various
approaches to the problem, emphasize rather than obscure the con-
clusion that very large shifts from private to public ownership are
both inevitable and necessary.
The present distribution of forest-land ownership, summarized in
table 1, focuses attention on several major questions that are neces-
sarily involved in any appraisal of future distribution of forest-land
ownership. At the start, it is necessary to consider what are the bases
for private and public ownership.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1255
State and
ther pub
lic
8323S
t^ 00 O CO t--
co~ao"5C •^"oo"
- CO O5 Tf iC
S2S
168342°— 33— vol
1256 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
THE BASIS FOK PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LANDS
The bulk of the commercial forest-land acreage is in private owner-
ship. The 127 million acres on farms are held by a multitude of indi-
viduals, in the vast majority of cases, as a mere incident to the pri-
mary purpose of maintaining a farm.
The 270 million acres of private commercial forest land owned by
other than farmers were for the most part acquired by lumbermen and
others whose sole concern was to obtain title to virgin stumpage which
could quickly be exploited and turned into cash, either by operating it
themselves or by selling it to others. This was one of the traditional
means of acquiring a fortune, and in the vast majority of cases, the
individual had liUle interest in the land, except to convert virgin
timber into cash. In this process, it was to be expected that forests
would ultimately be converted into vast areas of denuded and poorly
and partly stocked cut-over land which has accumulated at an ever
increasing pace.
The existing extent and geographical distribution of forest land in
private ownership is a result of the liberal land disposal laws and
policies on the part of the Nation and the States and the desire of
individuals to enter what appeared the very profitable business of
lumbering and timber exploitation. The land was acquired for the
disposal of the standing timber, with no regard for future timber
crops under any form of forest management.
In the pioneer period a particular tract of timber passed into private
ownership when some individual thought he saw a chance to make
money out of it. Now a particular tract of cut-over land from which
the exploitable timber values have been removed remains in private
ownership only when some individual sees in it a chance to make
money either from growing timber or from the production of some
other salable crop.
Public policy was never able to force into private ownership large
areas of low grade or inaccessible timberland. Public policy through
liberal laws could and did make it easy to acquire timberland. Public
policy can make it easier for the owner to hold his land, through
various forms of public aid. But no public action can force forest
lands now in private ownership to remain in that status.
A statistical tabulation of existing distribution of ownership by
States, regions, or the Nation is merely a current record and has
only slight evidential value in forecasting future distribution. Even
the most superficial survey of trends discloses, however, the large
acreage of tax-reverted or tax-delinquent land, and the large acreage
of virgin stumpage and cut-over land now offered for distress sale,
and proves that large numbers of owners have decided or are deciding
that continued ownership is a losing game.
THE BASIS FOR PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
As indicated by table 1, publicly owned commercial forest lands are
widely distributed geographically and make up 20 percent of the
total commercial forest area. The continuing land acquisition
programs of the Federal Government and of many States and local
governments indicate widespread belief that public ownership of at
least certain forest lands is preferable or supplemental to private
ownership. What is the basis for public ownership?
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1257
LEGAL BASIS
The legal basis for forest land ownership is established in many
States and for the Federal Government. As to the latter, the basic
laws of 1891 and 1897 establishing the national-forest system, the
Weeks law of 1911, and the Clarke-McNary law ot 1924, all set up the
purposes of timber conservation and production, watershed protection,
and the protection of navigable or interstate streams, harbors, and
Federal power or irrigation projects as justifying Federal forests.
The laws establishing the national parks make forest recreation a pur-
pose of Federal reservations.
In the States with acquisition programs, watershed protection,
timber production, forest recreation, and wild-life conservation are
variously recognized as justifying State ownership.
The forest land acquisition by the Federal Government is limited
by the legal provision that advance legislative authorization must
be granted by each State before any Federal program can begin.
Under existing Federal law this power of a State to prevent Federal
acquisition, or to limit the area acquired, is not restricted.
ECONOMIC BASIS
In the West the national forests included originally those public
lands which had been unattractive to private ownership. Else-
where— and the same is true with regard to acquisition of private
lands for the western national forests — all forms of public acquisition
of forest lands are to be justified by the fact that the lands possess
values of public importance, protection, recreation, and wild life,
which can be or are depreciated or jeopardized by the practices of
private ownership. Also, the private owner, being almost universally
under compulsion to handle his property lor profit, commonly destroys
or reduces the timber-producing value of the lands, thereby injuring
the public interest in a continuous and abundant supply of forest
products. Other sections of this report detail the degree to which
unrestricted private ownership has done this.
To protect its inherent interest in the maintenance of all values on
privately owned forest lands the public may do several things :
(1) Trust to the free play of private initiative.
(2) Subsidize or assist the owner, in the expectation that his treat-
ment of the forest land will improve.
(3) Regulate the owner's use of his property, either with or without
the assumption of part or all of the additional management costs
thereby made necessary.
(4) Undertake ownership of the land, thereby receiving the income
from ownership as well as incurring the expense.
These alternatives are usually designated as policies of (1) " laissez-
faire ", (2) public aid, (3) public regulation, (4) public ownership.
The traditional attitude toward forest land was that of "laissez
faire" — the classic idea of economics that since it is to the owner's
advantage to keep his property productive he will automatically do
so. This treatment of the forest land arose naturally from the fact
that originally the major problem of the Nation, as the primary owner
of the forest lands of the country, was to get a major share of these
apparently inexhaustible lands into private ownership as quickly and
simply as possible, as the basis for settlement of new territory and for
1258 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the rapid economic development of the country. In this process the
liberal land disposal laws and the generous grants of forest lands to
States, institutions, and railroads played an important part. So, too,
did the traditional "cut-out-and-get-out" practice of timber mining.
For the first century and more of its existence the Nation could well
accept the heavy wastage of forest resources and the wholesale loss of
public lands, which early became an integral part of the rush and
sweep of the pioneer period and typified its spirit. Ownership of forest
land carried no obligation expressed or implied.
But toward the end of the last century the need for national concern
in forest lands became an urgent public issue. The last frontier was
reached; the inexhaustibility myth was exploded; and the cumulative
effects of land mistreatment, resource wastage, and giving away of
public forest lands could no longer be overlooked by the people o± the
Nation and by the National Government. The first major expression
of a newly aroused concern appeared in the creation of the national-
forest system, designed from the beginning to retain and manage
under the principles of forestry the forest lands remaining in national
ownership. In addition thus to restraining somewhat the further
aggravation of the Nation's forest problem it was hoped that the
examples of technical forest management would stimulate similar
ventures by the States and private owners on their forest properties.
The venture marked the end of complete faith in the working out of
the laissez-faire idea.
In 1911 the Nation extended its program of national-forest estab-
lishment to include the purchase of private forest lands located on
headwaters of streams in the East. The need for Federal control of
natural resources through ownership and management of forest lands
was thus early recognized. Along with this development of the
national-forest system went the development of State forests in
several of the States, some antedating the national-forest system,
others stimulated by the example set by the Federal Government.
The inauguration of Federal aid in fire control in 1911 was a
recognition that there was a national interest in all forest lands, that
private ownership needed assistance, and that the forests would
remain largely in private hands. It greatly accelerated the attempt
to solve the forest problem through the second method of public
action — that of public aid. In line with this broader concept of
public obligation most of the forest States developed public aid in
fire control as an assistance to private owners. The degree of aid
given from State funds varies widely, but there has been very general
recognition of State interest in the treatment and condition of private
forest lands.
To date the Federal Government has functioned in forest affairs
in two principal directions:
First, by supplementing through public aid the State and private
efforts, but leaving primary responsibility in their hands, to the
degree necessary to do the job right, and where there is real intent
and effort by State and private owners to do the job. Second,
when other agencies were unable to unwilling to manage private
forest land, by acquiring and managing it as a national enterprise.
In this twofold program there is no abandonment of the Nation's
traditional desire that State and private effort handle the forest
problem to the greatest practicable degree. Many of the States
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1259
have followed substantially the same course — giving public aid to
private owners and at the same time acquiring State forests.
But in another respect State policies have gone beyond the Federal
forest policy in the attempt to solve the forest problem. In many
States laws have been passed regulating the use of private forest
lands in various particulars. This departure has, however, been
hardly more than tentative. In no State are there complete laws
designed to insure good condition of forest lands, and many existing
laws are not enforced. The Federal Government had made no
effort to regulate the use of private forest land. After careful study
of this method, it has thus far elected to expand Federal aid instead.
Public regulation has thus been applied to only a limited degree in
this country, although other nations use it widely.
During this period of trying out alternative methods, opposition
to public ownership has more and more centered on the idea that
private ownership of forest land was essential because through
taxation it supplied the revenues for local government. Private
ownership is not, however, the only way in which local government
may draw on forest land for current income. Two plans have been
worked out to make publicly owned forest land contribute its fair
share. The most widely applied of these is the national-forest
plan under which 25 percent of the gross income is returned to
the counties from which it was derived, in lieu of taxes.
Under the other plan, on some of the State forests, notably in
Pennsylvania, a flat rate per acre per year is returned to the county.
The public ownership method has thus been adopted very widely
because the other methods have been found to fail in guaranteeing
permanently acceptable condition of forest lands. Public owner-
ship of forest lands is then often a last resort device to protect public
interests from damages resulting from abuse by private owners.
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AS COMPLEMENTARY TO PRIVATE
OWNERSHIP
Public forests have been established and managed under appropri-
ate legal sanction by Federal, State, and local governments for the
following purposes :
(1) To protect watersheds from damages resulting from mis-
treatment by private owners. Public ownership of protection
forests of high importance is commonly recognized as a necessity
where the desired condition of forest land cannot be obtained under
private ownership without undue friction. This may be either
because of conflict between public and real or supposed private
interests, or because private owners withdraw from ownership and
refuse to keep the land. The watershed section of this report
details areas and regions in which critical watershed problems now
exist.
(2) The provision on forest lands of recreational and related
facilities open to the public has become recognized as a public func-
tion, accomplished through ownership of the land. Use of forest
lands for such purposes commonly cannot be harmonized with the
needs of private owners. This report (see section on "The Forest
for Recreation") recommends publicly owned forest recreation areas
to ^ the extent of 45 million acres, a very considerable part of which
coincides with areas of high watershed importance suggested for
1260 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
public acquisition. Management of forest lands for recreational
use conserves the watershed values.
(3) The public interest in continued productivity of forest lands
has more and more been recognized as justifying public ownership
where private owners will not keep the lands reasonably productive,
and where the values produced through public management are
likely to equal or exceed the costs. It is shown in detail elsewhere
that for the Nation as a whole, and in many of the important forest
regions, the private lands are in a very unsatisfactory condition as
to growing stock. The conclusion is reached that on a very large
area of forest lands, the growing stock must be built up to safe-
guard the timber supply of the Nation. Clearly, the accomplish-
ment of this purpose through public acquisition and management
becomes necessary and is, therefore, justified only when and to the
extent that private ownership fails to accomplish it. An exact
appraisal at a given moment of the extent to which, and areas and
regions in which, private ownership will adequately redeem the
public interest in forest productivity, is beset by many difficulties
and is, indeed, virtually an impossibility.
(4) A large area of wrecked, denuded, or badly depreciated forest
land, often designated as "no man's land" or "the new public
domain" is a special field for public ownership. Most of such
lands, are permanently submarginal for private ownership, since
they no longer produce current income, and eqruire capital invest-
ment, current expenditures, and a long wait for returns. Through
the process of tax delinquency and abandonment, many are revert-
ing to public ownership.
Other lands in this class drift from owner to owner, each of whom
further depreciates the small values that may remain, and each in
turn gives up the effort. This process is definitely antagonistic to the
public interest and, so long as it continues, postpones any stability of
ownership or systematic attempt to manage the lands constructively
and restore their productivity. In most cases public ownership and
management of such land is coming to be recognized as the ultimate
and desirable solution.
(5) At least 50 million acres of formerly forested land, which has
been used for agriculture, is no longer used for that purpose. Much of
this is likely to require public ownership, if for no other reason than to
remove it from the total of submarginal agricultural land, which is
only occasionally used as it drifts from owner to owner. This threat
to agriculture can be eliminated through controlled use for non-
agricultural purposes in public ownership.
In the main, public ownership comes into the picture to protect
public values and interest on classes of land or in regions where
private ownership and practices have depreciated values, are de-
preciating, or are likely to depreciate them. Demonstration areas
and scenic and recreational areas of particularly significant value are
commonly acquired regardless of the intent or practices of private
owners. Public ownership is not then generally competitive with
private enterprise, but steps in when necessary to obtain results with
a certainty not obtainable otherwise. Traditional political thought
predominately holds that when private ownership applies the same
practices to forest land that public ownership does, the former is in
fact preferable. Public acquisition programs built on this clear-cut
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1261
principle can be scrutinized from the standpoint of what public agency
can best undertake the job, and the feasibility of providing the neces-
sary money, but not with a question as to whether the public should go
in at all.
The break-do wn of private ownership is forcing public ownership of
forest lands on a scale previously not anticipated. In the future,
involuntary public ownership appears certain to be more and more
widespread and extensive regardless of deliberate public acquisition
programs.
THE BASIS FOR DIVISION OF PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
BETWEEN AGENCIES
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Ownership of forest land by the smaller political subdivisions —
towns, cities, and counties — is described in detail elsewhere. The
total area now owned and managed is not large (about 1 million acres)
and is to a considerable extent for park or water supply rather than
forest purposes. Title to the large area of land abandoned by private
ownership through tax delinquency lies in the counties in many of the
States, in towns in others, or in the States directly. For the most
part, counties in which land abandonment is active are little able to
undertake constructive management under the principles of forestry.
Depreciated forest land is generally a net expense for many years and
the very process of land abandonment reduces the local government's
income. Thus at the time when additional expense is required to care
properly for the land, local government usually is least able to under-
take new jobs.
In a few States a systematic effort is under way, sponsored by the
State government, to make management of forests possible for the
counties, and even the towns and cities. But in the main and with
relatively few exceptions, public ownership must be either by the
State or Nation.
As to the division of ownership of forest land between the States
and the Federal Government, the question of what is theoretically
best or most desirable in terms of our history and political thought is
much confused. A strong element of political theory would leave the
problem to the several States. But in most of the regions where
national forests have been managed longest, public opinion supports
fully this Federal venture. Federal forests, even though established
to meet national needs, have come to be recognized as giving important
benefits to the States in which they are located.
In law, and to a large extent in public opinion, forest lands needed
for the protection of navigable or otherwise important interstate
streams have come to be held as a major class of land of peculiar
Federal interest. But in a few States, notably New York, the State
forest programs have undertaken to acquire all of the forest lands of
this character for which public ownership is needed, although the
primary purpose for State acquisition may be something else. In
other States, as for example Pennsylvania, both State and Federal
forests contain lands of similar character and equal value for watershed
protection. Even though Federal ownership of important watershed
areas has become reasonably well sanctioned, individual States have
1262 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
undertaken all or a large part of the public acquisition program for
watershed protection.
Similarly, the general Federal responsibility to insure through land
ownership the stability and permanence of the timber supply for the
Nation as a whole is well established.
The Federal forest acquisition program has during the past 21 years
gone ahead of several well-defined principles :
1. Where States have the desire, intent, and financial ability to
undertake the full job of public forest acquisition, no national forests
have been established, even though forest land problems are present
that are well within the sphere of Federal land acquisition. No real
need for national forests is recognized under such circumstances.
2. Where forest land problems exist, properly within the sphere of
Federal land ownership, and where the State has the desire, intent,
and financial ability to undertake a major part of the job, and is
willing for the Federal Government to undertake part, national
forests have been established. These joint programs have been
carried out without conflict or competition.
3. Where problems exist, and the State is financially unable to
undertake the public forest acquisition job, but is willing that the
Nation do so, national forests have been established. Clearly, under
such circumstances the Federal Government must take over the bulk
of the public ownership job, if it is to be done at all.
4. Where problems exist, and the State lacks the willingness or finan-
cial ability to undertake the job, and for one reason or another is
unwilling for the Federal Government to come in, no national forests
have been established.
Whether or not a State embarks on a State forest program appears
to depend primarily on financial ability rather than on political theory
or desire. A number of the wealthier States have gone further and
have more comprehensive programs than the less wealthy States.
State forests starting with denuded or partly stocked lands, are
necessarily a net expense for many years. Regardless of the need,
the less wealthy States have been slow to start State forest programs.
In several of the Western States, such as Idaho and Oregon, the
remaining portions of the Federal land grants to the States have been
placed under administration as State forests.
In Michigan tax-delinquent lands have been consolidated into
State forests.
DESIRABILITY OF STATE OWNERSHIP
The question of the division between State and Federal ownership
of public forests has slowly crystallized as one principally of State
financial ability and intent. The part falling to the Federal Govern-
ment in order to protect the public interest is that part of the full job
which the State is unable to do, and which it is willing to let the
Federal Government undertake.
A major conclusion from experience to date is that there can be no
true conflict between the State and Federal Governments in forest-
land ownership when the Federal Government comes in with State
sanction to handle through ownership forest lands which States are
unable to manage. The very processes of forest deterioration and
forest devastation are the basis alike of local impoverishment and
national concern. Therefore no question of propriety or of Federal
imperialism can arise, if the expansion of Federal effort in forest land
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1263
management is confined to lands where national interests are para-
mount or where State and private efforts are factually found to have
failed or to be failing. The question of form of ownership is merely
one of what action will obtain the essential result, and what agency is
able to carry it out.
As to the desirability of a large increase in ownership and manage-
ment of forest lands by the States, there can be no doubt. The basic
question between the States and the Federal Government is not one
of competition in forest-land ownership, but of whether interstate or
other national interest is involved and the extent to which individual
States are able financially to undertake the full task on the forest
lands not properly cared for in private ownership.
The problem of whether the State or the Federal Government or
both should handle the additional public forest acquisition in a par-
ticular area is thus in the main a question of determinable fact and
not of abstract theory. What is important, and urgently so, is that
a realistic determination of each local situation be made, as a basis
for effective action.
In individual States, therefore, the best division of public-forest
ownership will range from predominantly State to predominantly
Federal. Sometimes it may be advantageous to have State and
National forests in separate parts of the State. The sole criterion of
the success or failure of the public-forest program is not who does the
job, but whether the full job of management of lands which private
ownership does not keep in good forest production, is done.
From the standpoint of experience to date there is little basis for
arguing for or against State or Federal forests as inherently superior or
inferior. There are examples of able professional management of both.
Continuity of policy, freedom from politics, technical per- sonnel, and
adequacy of funds are the essentials in both Federal and State forestry.
That some of the States are still disposing of their forest lands and
resources without the application of forestry principles no more proves
the inherent incompetency of State forestry as a whole than does the
fact that the United States is disposing of its public domain and rail-
road grant lands in the Northwest, now revested in the United States
without proper care prove its inability to manage Federal forests.
PROGRESS TO DATE IN PUBLIC FOREST ACQUISITION
AND EXISTING PROGRAMS
In table 2 there is summarized the area previously acquired for
State forest purposes, the area being acquired, and the ultimate area
to be owned when present policies and plans have had full effect. The
grand totals under these three captions are 4,396,000 acres, 2,232,000
acres, and 12,770,000 acres, respectively. A few of the Northern
States, notably Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin, account for the bulk of the acreage in all categories. A
considerable number of States have small or nonexistent ownership
or plans for ownership. The section on " State AccompHshments and
Plans" describes in detail the State forest programs.
The New England, Middle Atlantic, and Lake groups of States now
own almost 90 percent of the total area of State forests, and the 3,925,-
000 acres of State forests makes up but 3.5 percent of the total forest
area in these regions. In the South the 45,000 acres of State forests is
but 0.02 of 1 percent of the forest area.
1264
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
When full effect is given to existing plans in the New England,
Middle Atlantic, and Lake regions, the State forests will include about
11.3 percent of the total forest area in these regions, whereas in the
southern group of States they will include not over one sixteenth of
1 percent.
TABLE 2. — Present and prospective area of State forests
Region
Net area
Land be-
ing ac-
quired
Ultimate
area under
present
policy
New England -
255, 838
4,027
500,000
Middle Atlantic
1, 746, 708
120,809
4,400 000
Lake
1,921,068
2 103 400
7 500 000
Central .- -
98,126
3,400
250,000
South
45,006
120 000
Pacific Coast..
125, 803
North Rocky Mountain . _.
203,000
Total . . .--
4, 395, 549
2, 231, 636
12, 770, 000
Less formal plans and programs, based on appraisals of what is
desirable, indicate that if possible the officials of States wish to
increase the eventual^ extent of State forests to 51,000,000 acres.
This is exactly four tunes as much as contemplated under existing
formal plans.
Table 3 summarizes the present ownership in national forests, and
for the eastern States shows the additional areas in formally approved
purchase units, in units known to be urgently needed but not formally
established, and the total national forest area when both these plans
have been carried to completion.
In the East the total area now owned is 7,218,000 acres,1 of which
4,704,000 acres are primarily for watershed protection and 2,514,000
for timber production. The additional area planned in approved and
tentative programs is 7,639,000 acres. The total ownership when
these plans shall have been carried to completion will be 14,857,000
acres, or less than 5 percent of the total forest area of the East.
The present ownership in the West is 132,786,000 acres of which
68,375,000 acres are commercial forest land. This is about 52 per-
cent of the total commercial forest area of the West. It is definitely
planned to acquire about 11,000,000 acres within the forest boundaries
and an additional 7,500,000 acres outside of present boundaries. The
total national forest ownership in the West will then be 151,286,000
acres, compared to 14,857,000 acres in the East.
TABLE 3. — Present and prospective area of national forests
[In thousands of acres]
Region
Net area
To be ac-
quired, def-
inite plans
Total then
owned
New England
566
564
1,130
Middle Atlantic
371
235
606
Lake
1,868
1,932
3,800
Central
730
1,280
2,010
South
3,683
3,628
7,311
Pacific Coast -
42,190
1
North Rocky Mountain
35,507
f 18,500
151, 286
South Rocky Mountain - -
l 55, 089
1 Includes Wyoming.
i Exclusive of 14,000 acres in Puerto Rico.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1265
HOW MUCH FOREST LAND WILL PRIVATE OWNERS
RETAIN AND USE IN ACCORDANCE WITH PUBLIC
INTEREST?
It has already been said that the original basis for private owner-
ship of most forest lands was the accumulated merchantable timber
which could be converted into cash. The widespread breakdown of
private ownership, involving many millions of acres of cut-over land,
shows clearly that forest-land owners are reappraising their proper-
ties from the standpoint of their probable value for timber growing.
FACTORS INFLUENCING PERMANENT PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF
INDUSTRIAL TIMBERLAND
Each owner, if he consciously desires to hold and manage a forest
property, must weigh and appraise a number of economic factors
which influence profits. His motives for holding the land may be,
for example, recreation, grazing, private hunting preserves, or future
speculation values, but in the majority of cases he will look to timber
products as the source of revenue and will measure the profitableness
of ownership in terms of this commodity. Some of the more signifi-
cant factors which must guide him in his decision are enumerated in
the following as illustrating the complexity and variety of a forest
enterprise.
COST OF PRODUCTION
A large group of factors is involved in the marketing of forest
products. Whether the markets for sawn lumber and pulp are close
to the forest property, as in New England, or distant, as in the north-
ern Rockies, is important. So is the question whether markets for
bulky low-value products, such as cordwood, which are harvested
during the saw timber rotation, are generally close, as in the Middle
Atlantic region, or distant, as in most of the Pacific region. In the
South, the production of naval stores of small bulk and high value,
during the rotation, is a favorable factor which many other forest
regions lack. In parts of the South, too, salable by-products are
obtainable from small trees at an early age, an advantage to private
forestry largely absent in the western regions.
Whether regional markets are likely to absorb the future produc-
tion within the region, as in the New England, Middle Atlantic,
Central, and Lake States, or whether export will be necessary, as in
the Pacific region, likewise affects the outlook for private forestry.
The existence of roads, so that intrarotation products can readily be
reached, as in several of the eastern regions, gives an advantage not
found in the West.
Established markets for certain forest products, as in New England,
are a great asset. In a few regions of the East, integrated forest
utilization centers, absorbing all kinds of forest products, have been
established, and give owners of forest lands an assurance of markets
that they lack where products must go long distances to the general
competitive markets. None of these highly important marketing
factors are either greatly or rapidly affected by public action.
Another group of factors is involved in the private owner's con-
sideration of production costs. Whether growth is relatively slow,
as in many of the Central region hardwood forests, or rapid, as in
1266 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the southern pine of the Pacific Douglas fir, is important. The
ability of the forest to restock naturally and rapidly, if given a chance,
as in the South and New England, is a very real advantage when
compared to the more slow and uncertain natural restocking in the
pine regions of the West. Most properties involve planting of
denuded lands; cheap artificial restocking, as in the South and Lake
States, is an advantage over costly planting, as in the western forest
regions.
Cost of protection against fire and other agencies must be incurred
annually, and mount to a major item in the cost of growing forests.
The exceedingly high costs in such regions as the northern Rockies
and Pacific are a marked disadvantage when compared to the
lower protection costs in New England and the South. Many of the
measures to obtain forest production, such as reservation of seed
trees from cutting, protection of young advance forest growth, pre-
vention of loggings fires, must be done as part of the logging opera-
tion. Regional differences in the ease and cost of these are material
and affect the opportunity for private forestry.
Particularly in the Pacific region, careful selection of the high-
quality trees for cutting gives the owner a chance to increase im-
mediate returns — an opportunity less evident in many of the eastern
regions. Notably in New England and the South, the forest owner
can draw on resident, cheap, rural labor, which depends in part on
other than forest work, usually on agriculture. Such regions have in
this respect a great advantage over the Pacific region, where non-
resident imported labor must be depended on largely.
Forest lands in the South often can be leased for the hunting
privileges, and in the southern Rockies for grazing privileges, thereby
reducing current ownership costs. In regions such as the northern
Rockies, where returns from other than forest uses are impossible,
the owner is obviously at a relative disadvantage. The financial
ability of the State to carry a large share of the cost of protection, as
in New England and the Middle Atlantic regions, is an important aid
to the private owner, when compared to lack of financial ability in
much of the South and in the northern Rockies.
AID OR HINDRANCE DUE TO PUBLIC ACTION
The foregoing costs-pf-production factors are not greatly nor
rapidly affected by public action, but other factors of this nature are
so affected. For example, where trespass laws give real protection
to the forest owner, as in the Pacific region, he is more favorably
situated than where he lacks adequate protection, as in the South.
Where local taxation is high in relation to the real income-producing
value of the forest property, the recurring costs necessarily are an
unfavorable factor. In the States of the New England and Middle
Atlantic regions, where the non-Federal share of fire-control costs
are paid by the State from general funds, the forest owner is better
off than in the northern Rockies and Pacific regions, where he is
assessed with most or all of the non-Federal share. States with
regulatory laws regarding slash disposal, reservation of seed trees,
etc., so far quite generally leave the private owner to assume the
extra costs to the degree the laws are enforced. The probability that
costs made necessary through regulation will be assumed by the
State is a factor to be considered by the owner.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1267
A very important consideration is the usual character of fires in
the region, whether highly destructive, as in the northern Rockies
and Pacific regions, or only partly destructive, as in the South. The
conflagration hazard is high in such regions as the Lake and northern
Rockies, even under organized protection, and low in the South and
New England, and the regional differences bear importantly on the
private opportunity. Forest properties under the threat of destruc-
tive diseases such as the blister rust, and insects such as the gypsy
moth and western pine beetles, are naturally less attractive than the
southern forests where such threats are absent.
Besides these factors of inherent risk to the crop, the owner must
consider others which depend on public action. Whether public
opinion toward fire control is strongly favorable, as in New England
and elsewhere, or apathetic or hostile as in much of the South, carries
a good deal of weight. The existence or nonexistence of a State fire-
control organization, and whether it is strong or weak, greatly affects
the likelihood that the growing forest will be protected.
LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRIVATE FORESTRY
Yet another group of factors revolve around the existing opportu-
nity for private forestry. Part of them are not greatly nor rapidly
affected by public action. For example, where a high percentage of
private forest land is seriously depreciated, as in the Lake States, the
cost of restoring productivity and rebuilding a growing stock, makes
the private opportunity less attractive than in the New England and
Pacific regions, where the proportion of depreciated land is lower.
Likewise, where a relatively high proportion of the productive forest
land has saw timber, as in the West, the opportunity is better than
where a very high proportion has only cord wood, as in the South.
Regions with an excessively high installed mill capacity usually
have very active competition for stumpage, and make it difficult for
individual owners to block out their holdings. Lack of this competi-
tion as in some parts of the West, gives a better chance for private
forestry. So, too, where there are large areas of public stumpage
managed to obtain sustained-yield operations, which serve as a
balance wheel for private stumpage, as in the western regions, the
private owner has a far better opportunity than where all or nearly
all the stumpage is in private hands.
Where the key species in the forest are general utility woods, such
as southern pine and Douglas fir, the wider markets available are a
real advantage over those accessible to specialty- woods, such as some
of the soft pines.
In the western regions to date most logging operations have involved
very high capital investments in mills, logging equipment, and trans-
portation systems. Where such high investment operations are nec-
essary, the private owner is at a disadvantage compared with owners
in some of the eastern regions where less elaborate and costly opera-
tions fit the smaller timber and easier topography.
REGIONAL TRENDS
Aside from all of the above factors bearing on marketing, cost of
production, risk to the crop, and existing opportunity, the owner is
likely to be influenced by current regional trends. A strong tendency
1268 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
to land abandonment by other forest owners, as in the Lake States
and parts of the Pacific region, is indicative of the judgment of land-
owners that forest-growing opportunities are poor. General lack of
land abandonment, as in New England, on the contrary, expresses
general belief by landowners that a fair opportunity exists.
Then, too, the social tradition to hold land as the primary source of
wealth is a powerful factor in New England, whereas the more typical
attitude of western owners is to regard land as simply a medium for
the immediate exploitation of the wealth it produces.
Of these factors, and there are many others, some may assume
major importance in one broad type and region and may be inconse-
quential in another region. Furthermore, what may be a true answer
as to a specific factor for a region as a whole, may not be correct for a
given forest property in that region.
BALANCING LOCAL ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The exact value and relative weight of each factor are not readily
ascertainable and even if these could be determined, the relative
opportunity for private forestry in each region could not be stated
with mathematical exactness. Recognizing these inherent difficul-
ties, an approximation of the relative opportunities for private
forestry has nevertheless been attempted by weighing these factors
for each major type and region. Each major forest region contains
two or more forest types, and only rarely do all the types in a region
bear the same rating as to private opportunity. For example, in the
Southern region, the pine type of the coastal plain rates very high,
whereas the oak-chestnut-yellow poplar type of the Appalachians in
the same region rates relatively low and the oak-pine type of the
Piedmont Plateau is intermediate. Similarly in the Pacific region
the Douglas fir type of the northwest rates as superior in private
opportunity to the ponderosa pine type of the same region. Simply
as a matter of convenience in tying the private opportunity ratings
to the classification of forest regions which is used throughout this
report, an average rating for each region has been estimated, weighed
to recognize differences in area of types within regions.
By this means the several regions may be divided into four broad
classes of opportunity for private forestry, as follows :
Class 1. Most favorable: New England, Middle Atlantic, Central.
Class 2. Generally favorable : South.
Class 3. Only locally favorable: Lake, Pacific.
Class 4. Least favorable: North Rockies, South Rockies.
This does not, of course, mean that all properties are a favorable
chance in the regions at the top of the list, nor all at the bottom an
unfavorable chance. Only a detailed rating of each property can
determine its individual opportunity. ^ Any attempt to carry the
interpretation of the rating beyond its significance as a broad average
would be wholly unwarranted. It is a relative, not an absolute
rating. Neither should it be interpreted 'by any private owner,
regardless of the region in which located, as evidence that he cannot
profitably practice forestry. The Pacific region has been placed in
the third class, but yet its fine stands of remaining virgin timber, the
rapid growth of species, and the high quality of the product combine
to present locally some of the most favorable opportunities for private
forestry.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1269
The trend of forest-land abandonment by private owners in all
regions may similarly be rated on a relative scale and classified by
regions, as follows:
Class 1. Little abandonment: New England, Southern Rockies,
Middle Atlantic.
Class 2. Some abandonment: Central, South.
Class 3. Considerable abandonment: Lake, Pacific, North Rockies.
Roughly, the highest rates of land abandonment coincide with the
lack or local limitation of favorable opportunity for private forestry,
and the lowest rates with most favorable opportunity. The small
amount of abandonment in the South is due in part to the State laws
dealing with tax delinquency and to more or less lax administration
of them. The southern Rockies although classed as least favorable
to private ownership, shows little land abandonment. This is due
to the fact that in this region lands can be leased for grazing.
In all probability most, if not at all, owners who have abandoned
land have simply considered the likelihood of any profit in holding
their property in a very general way. It is unlikely that many have
made a detailed factual analysis of their chances. But the mass
effectiveness of the numerous adverse forces, focusing finally in some
regions into a predominant push toward land relinquishment, can
hardly be doubted. The rates at which forest lands are abandoned
through tax delinquency express a gradual decision by scores of
individual owners to give up a struggle which more and more appears
to be a losing one, and which has been accentuated to some degree
by the depression. It is to be suspected, however, that a detailed
analysis would indicate basic reasons for the regional distribution of
forest land abandonment.
It can only be concluded that a trend in the direction of land
relinquishment by private owners of forest land, which is based on
so large a number of inherent factors, may acquire even further
momentum.
EFFECT OF PRESENT PUBLIC SUBSIDIES
Public aid in varying degrees has been given to forest owners in
protection against fire, insects, disease, and in deferred or lowered
taxes on immature, growing forests. These forms of aid and what
they have accomplished are discussed in other sections of the report.
Both kinds and amounts of public aid have varied widely from State
to State, and they are considered here merely as they have influenced
retention of forest lands in private ownership. For example, public
aid in fire control has been given in many States, yet this has not in
itself, so far, materially influenced retention of private ownership of
forest lands. In table 4 present expenditures for fire control and the
amount contributed through public aid are shown.
A comparison of different regions indicates, for example, that in
both the New England and the Lake States regions almost the entire
cost, and in nearly equal amounts, is now assumed by the public.
But in the former, there is very little land abandonment; in the
latter a great deal.
The conclusion is warranted that public aid in fire control is not a
substantial factor in keeping lands in private ownership, even where
the total cost is paid by the public. It is, however, a good public
1270
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
investment insofar as it keeps lands more productive than they
would otherwise be.
The total expenditures from all sources for protecting private
forest lands against fire averaged $5,400,000 for 1926-30 and was
$7,221,000 in 1931. Of the latter amount about 80 percent was paid
by the public, and 20 percent by the landowner. The estimated
needs total $19,828,000, of which public agencies would pay $14,871,-
000 a year, if the same proportionate division is maintained. It
seems at least possible that, as the States and the Nation increase
their appropriations and approach this estimated total of needed
public aid to private landowners, the public may be much more
inclined to assume the additional costs of full ownership and realize
the concomitant powers and benefits.
TABLE 4. — Present and needed annual expenditures for fire control on State and
private lands
[Amounts in cents per acre]
Region
Present
expendi-
tures !
Paid by
public !
Esti-
mated
costs re-
quired
Region
Present
expendi-
tures i
Paid by
public >
Esti-
mated
costs re-
quired
New England
1.94
1.92
2.86
Pacific Coast
3.28
1.60
6.43
Middle Atlantic.—
Lake
2.77
2 01
2.77
2 00
3.35
4 24
North Rocky
Mountain
5.90
1 65
8 39
Central
.40
.40
2.55
South Rocky
South
.43
.34
5.43
Mountain
J.89
1 39
1 Average 1926-30.
2 Incomplete records of expenditures on private land in New Mexico.
Tax-relief laws on forest lands, cut-over stands, or growing forests
exist in about 30 States yet few owners have taken advantage of
them. About one and one half million acres is listed out of the total
forest area in private ownership, the average being below 0.5 percent
of the total area. The maximum is reached in Oregon at 3.1 percent.
The preferential tax, a form of public aid, has not so far influenced
retention of forest lands in private ownership, or modified materially
poor treatment of forest lands. Apparently, judging from present
actions by owners, the preferential tax holds little interest for them.
A very generalized tabulation of costs for a timber property will
show 5 to 10 cents per acre per year for fire control, 15 to 25 cents for
timber management, and 20 to 50 cents for taxes. The public may
go so far as to assume the costs of the first item, but unless the forms
and amount of public aid are greatly expanded the owner will have
to meet the others.
In the main, the conclusion is warranted that public aid so far has been
only a minor factor in keeping forest lands in private ownership . Other
conditions not affected by public action have been far more controlling.
In the analysis of factors affecting permanence of ownership of
private forest lands, some not greatly nor rapidly affected by public
action, and others that were so affected were listed. If there were
nothing to forestry but fire control then public aid would have high
potentialities for keeping lands in private ownership and management.
But since other expenditures are necessarily involved — and such as
are unlikely to be assumed by the public — public aid can hardly be
regarded as a general formula to keep forest lands in private ownership.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1271
Where cash returns must be deferred for years, it seems unlikely
that the owners will regard private forest properties as favorable in-
vestments. It also seems unlikely that public aid will assume all
costs of ownership, leaving title to the land and future income to the
private owner.
The limitation of Federal aid in fire control is indicated by the fact
that over 191 million out of nearly 420 million acres of State and pri-
vate forest land are still without organized fire control. At the recent
rate of progress it will require 22 years to get organized fire control
extended to all forest lands needing it. Whatever the reasons for
this lack of progress, it has to be recognized that public aid has sharp
limitations.
PROBABLE ACREAGE OF INDUSTRIAL TIMBERLAND RETAINED
IN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION
On a previous page the opportunities for private forestry by regions
have been roughly classified by means of the examination of the factors
which ordinarily affect profits in timber growing and manufacture.
The analysis indicated several of the major regions in which the pri-
vate forest landowner generally has a relatively good chance. But
it does not follow, even in such a region as New England, which was
rated very high, that all forest land now in private ownership will
remain there. Public interest may justify and dictate ultimately a
policy of considerable area in public forests. Several of the States
in this region have acquisition programs for State forests and State
parks, and some of the forest land will probably come into public
ownership because of high watershed and recreation value. Where
land abandonment occurs in New England, further extension of public
forests may be expected. Other forms of public ownership, such as
town forests, are already in existence and seem destined to expand.
On the other hand, in the regions with the least favorable chance
for permanent private forestry, it is very unlikely that all lands will
pass to public ownership. Some forest properties will be far superior
to the regional averages for permanent private enterprises and some
lands will possess peculiar values for income-producing recreational
use that will make them acceptable private investments for such pur-
poses as country estates and game preserves. Thus, even in the least
favorable regions some of the private land may be expected to remain
in that status.
In regions shown in opportunity classes 2 and 3, that is generally
favorable and locally favorable, a larger proportion of the area is
likely to stay in private hands than in the least favorable regions, and a
smaller proportion than in the most favorable regions. In 1 93 1 a group
of State forest officials of the New England States studied the question
of the ultimate extent of public ownership of forest land in that region.
Their conclusion was that 15 percent of the total forest area would
be acquired by the public, in addition to that now owned. This
determination has been accepted as a measure of the probable extent
of additional public ownership in regions where the most favorable
opportunity for private forestry exists. In the North Rocky Moun-
168342°— 33— vol. 2 15
1272
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
tain region an analysis of the probable plans of the owners of the
larger tracts of private forest land indicated that not over 10 percent
of the forest land was likely to remain permanently in private owner-
ship. In the regions least favorable for private forestry, this figure
has been used. It has then been assumed that in the intermediate
classes (2 and 3) 60 and 35 percent, respectively, will remain in
private ownership. On these broad assumptions an approximation
of probable future private ownership of forest land, exclusive of farm
woodlands is attempted. In table 5 are presented the acreages now in
private ownership, the opportunity classification for private fores-
try, and the percentage and area likely to remain in private ownership.
The indication is that, for the United States as a whole, more than
40 percent of present private holdings will go into public ownership,
involving an acquisition program of some 115 million acres. Of this
total 73 percent will come out of the eastern regions, but will represent
only 36 percent of the present private forest land area in the East.
The 27 percent from the western regions, on the contrary, represents
81 percent of private holdings.
TABLE 5. — Possible future distribution of ownership of commercial forest land now
privately ownedt exclusive of farm woodlands
Eegion
Present
commer-
cial pri-
vate land
Oppor-
tunity
class
Commercial forest
land to remain
in private owner-
ship
Total
public
acquisi-
tion
New England
Million
acres
19.6
15.5
34.8
31.3
129.4
27.9
5.9
5.1
1
1
3
1
2
3
4
4
Percent
85.0
85.0
47.5
72.5
60.0
22.5
10.0
10.0
Million
acres
16.7
13.2
16.5
22.7
77.6
6.3
.6
.5
Million
acres
2.9
2.3
18.3
8.6
51.8
21.6
5.3
4.6
Middle Atlantic .
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast -
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Total
269.5
57.2
154.1
115.4
Although this estimate can be regarded only as having an indi-
cative value, it does signify that unless several miracles occur shortly,
the problem of public ownership of forest lands will have to be recog-
nized and attacked on a very much more comprehensive scale than
has been previously envisioned.
DISTRIBUTION BY GROWTH CLASSES OF INDUSTRIAL TIMBERLAND
The problem of future ownership distribution can be approached
by another method, namely, the present condition of the land. The
private forest land owned by other than farmers is thus classified
in table 6. Here the areas that may remain in private ownership
are estimated on the basis of realizable and more immediate prospec-
tive value. Thus it is assumed that private ownership would retain
the bulk of the 91 million acres still possessing realizable timber
values, and in the main offering a business opportunity to private
ownership to practice private forestry. In addition it may retain
about two thirds of the cordwood area, about one third of the fair
to satisfactory restocking area, and only a small fraction of the 54
A NATIONAL PLAN" FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1273
million acres now so devoid of forest values, owing to destructive
logging and fires, that before it can again produce a forest income it
must be planted with trees and protected against fire and other
destructive agencies for 25 to 100 years.
Even with liberal public assistance in planting and protection, the
cash expenditures needed to restore realizable crops on the "poor to
nonrestocking " areas, and the period of waiting for a cash income,
make the bulk of such lands exceedingly unattractive for private
ownership. Public ownership of one kind or another appears in-
evitable for a very large part of this acreage. Whether it is pur-
chased, or whether the public agencies wait to acquire the land
through the slow process of tax-delinquency, the eventual outcome
is likely to be the same. It will come into public ownership because
nonproducing forest land is a liability to private owners and neither
eventual possibilities nor immediate public assistance are likely to
offset this stubborn economic fact.
TABLE 6. — Possible future distribution of ownership on the basis of present condi-
tion of private land (other than farm woodland)
Condition of land
Total
present
area of
private
land
Area remaining private
Total saw timber
Million
acres
91
62
63
54
Million
acres
91
40
20
5
Percent
100
65
32
9
Total cord wood - - - -
Total fair to satisfactory restocking
Poor to nonrestocking
Total acreage
270
155
About 125 million acres of the privately owned forest land other
than farm woodland has been cut over but has a partial reserve of
unmerchantable trees and young growth or trees of cordwood size.
The stocking varies greatly, and the attractiveness of this class of
forest land as a permanent private ownership opportunity varies
just as widely. On millions of acres of pine land in the South, for
example, cash returns can be obtained when even a partial forest
stand is both young and small. Naval stores, posts, poles, and pulp-
wood can be sold readily, and most of the land is readily accessible
so that scattered trees and products can be harvested.
In much of New England likewise an income can be obtained
from the young, partially stocked forests through sale of cordwood,
posts, poles, and other special products of small trees. Under such
circumstances, and where markets are close at hand, many of the
partly stocked forest lands offer a possible or even an attractive
return to the private owner. In most of the West, on the contrary,
partially restocked forest land offers little opportunity for current
returns through sale of forest products obtainable from small trees.
Until the trees reach saw-timber size, the owner must pay carrying
and protection costs without in the main realizing any current income.
Transportation charges make it uneconomic to harvest such products
as cordwood and posts.
1274 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
In the Lake States the rapid progress of land abandonment by
private owners indicates clearly that unstocked and partly stocked
forest lands are generally unattractive for permanent private owner-
ship.
Possibly some two thirds of the 63 million acres fair to satisfactory
restocking area and one third of the cord wood area may pass finally
to public ownership. On this basis the analysis indicates about 115
million acres of the 270 million total as the eventual area in public
ownership.
ADEQUACY OF ESTIMATES
These estimates may be materially wide of the mark; the true
answer cannot be determined for many years. But it is essential to
recognize that a powerful and large-scale trend away from private
ownership and into public ownership is already under way and that
it is a natural phenomenon, arising from fundamental conditions.
It is distinctly not an artificial trend, induced by political theory or
by any efforts of public forestry agencies to displace or drive out
private ownership. ^
This conclusion is inevitable as the sharp differences between the
several States and regions are examined. Where forest lands are in
small ownership, close to markets, where the products of young and
small trees are readily salable, and thus where the owner of forest
land can obtain current income at least sufficient to offset current
expense, there land abandonment and distress sales of cut-over lands
to public agencies are not major problems. On the contrary, where
forests and markets are far apart, where only the products of large
trees are salable, and where consequently the owner cannot offset
his current expenses through current income, there the private
owners are getting rid of cut-over lands or intend to do so. The
question, then, is not whether it is desirable that forest land remain
in private ownership to the degree that now obtains, or to some other
specified degree. With or without public policy or financial aid, or
any other conscious and deliberate action, individual private owners
are deciding their own course of action.
It is manifest that past and current abuse of forest land by the
owners has enormously reduced the acreage on which even a gambling
chance of economically successful private forestry remains. These
destructive practices — heedless logging methods, wholesale burning of
slash, clear cutting, and inadequate fire control — have been recognized
for years by forest landowners, conservationists, and foresters. The
remedies recommended and applied so far have consisted principally
of public aid in fire control and, in some places, local regulation laws
requiring fire control and leaving of seed trees. Some private owners
in every forest region have on their own initiative applied forestry
practices to their properties, but only a very small fraction of the total
private forest land has thus been handled. The accumulated 55
million acres of unproductive cut-over forest land taken alone is in
large part the answer to the question whether major changes in land
ownership are desirable.
If public aid consistent with national policy could keep lands now
cut over or to be cut over in privates ownership, under forestry
mangement, and producing forest crops, no problem would exist.
But the conclusion is inescapable that as to a very large area, the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1275
private owner will decline to continue to do much even with present
public aid. Whether the estimated 115 million acres of present private
areas that private ownership will wish to relinquish remains untended
and unmanaged as "the new public domain'' under involuntary
ownership by towns, counties, or States, or is held and managed as
public forest property, it will be public land, and a public problem.
THE PROBABLE FUTURE OWNERSHIP OF ABANDONED FARM
LAND
The area of farm land abandoned for agricultural use (see section
"Agricultural Land Available for Forestry") now totals 51,717,000
acres east of the Plains and, it is estimated, will be increased by per-
haps 25 million acres within the next 20 years. Possibly as much as
one third is on occupied farms. The bulk of this will remain in private
ownership, so long as the farms are occupied. Such land generally
constitutes an integral part of the farms and is favorably situated for
private forestry use. Although most of it will have to be planted to
produce a timber crop within a reasonably short period, this will
require very little cash expenditure. Most of the States furnish forest
planting stock at low or nominal prices for planting on farms, and
the farmer can do the planting himself. Many farmers have planted
waste land during the last few years, and the extent of such work is
steadily increasing.
Private owners are less likely to reforest the idle land on abandoned
farms. In most cases they hope to sell it, usually to some one who
will attempt to farm it. In many cases the reason for abandonment
is erosion induced by bad agricultural practices. Washing away of
the topsoil and gullying are common causes of abandonment.
Most of such land is submarginal for agriculture. Attempts to
farm it will usually result in loss to the individuals and additional
social and economic burdens on the communities. In hilly country,
serious erosion and consequent damage to public and private interests
may result. As long as such land is held in unstable ownership it will
constitute a threat to the community welfare, not only locally but
within a wide territory. The only way to insure stable ownership
and use will be for the public to acquire the land and manage it under
a definite program. In public ownership, the use of the land can be
controlled. It will be possible both to prevent uneconomic use con-
trary to the best interests of the individuals and to society and to
bring about a productive use that will benefit society.
Much of this land will gradually drift into public ownership by way
of tax delinquency, as indicated by the trends in States and regions
where agricultural land abandonment is most active. The processes
of erosion have become so pronounced that on much of the abandoned
area it is too late to remedy the condition through prompt adoption
of such agricultural practices as terracing and contour plowing.
In some regions it is already possible to block up considerable areas
of land that have thus reverted to public ownership, including both
forested and idle land. In general, however, public acquisition by this
method cannot proceed systematically and the process entails great
economic distress to individuals and communities. Systematic and
fairly rapid acquisition by purchase, if necessary, would be desirable.
In this way bad practices can be halted more promptly and restora-
1276 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
tive practices, such as fire protection, planting, and conservative graz-
ing, can be begun.
Extensive land abandonment is an index of local poverty, and tends
to aggravate it. Towns and counties with large areas of idle land are
likely to be financially weak and to require heavy subsidies from the
States for the support of roads, schools, and other public functions.
They cannot, therefore, be expected to invest much cash either in
acquiring forest land or in rehabilitating and managing it even where
it is acquired at little or no cost. Outside capital will be required.
This will have to be supplied by the States or the Federal Government.
Where the area of idle land plus land already in forest constitutes a
relatively large proportion of the total land area, and where agricul-
tural use of the remaining land is generally submarginal and tending
to decline, or is injuring the public welfare through erosion, silting,
and disturbance of stream flow, public forestry is indicated.
Probably at least half of the 50-odd million acres of idle land that is
now available for forestry, and much of the land that may be aban-
doned for agriculture in the future, will eventually find its way into
public forests. It is safest to assume that about 50 million acres pre-
viously classed as farm land will come into public ownership in one
way or another. The regional distribution of this class of land is
shown in table 1.
THE PROBABLE FUTURE OWNERSHIP OF WOODLAND ON FARMS
In addition to the 52 million acres of abandoned farm land now
available for forestry, and the possible 25 million acres to be available
subsequently, about 127 million acres of commercial forest land is
owned by farmers in the form of woodlands. Its regional distribution
is shown in table 1. Some part of this 127 million acres is attached to
the 52 million acres of abandoned agricultural lands. Without
extensive field surveys there is no way even to approximate the
woodland area so involved. It is probably not less than 25 million
and may be 50 million acres.
The fact that most farm woodland is readily accessible to trans-
portation facilities — and that a large part of it is above the average
in potential productivity for timber — favors continued private owner-
ship and management. Woodlands on many farms are closely linked
with the farm economy. The farmer depends on them for firewood,
posts, and other farm timber. They shelter his fields and buildings
and livestock against excessive winds and extremes of heat and cold.
They give variety to the scenery and contribute in many ways to the
pleasantness of his environment. In numerous instances they also
supply a cash crop which he can harvest and market when other crops
fail, or at times when other farm work is slack. They require very
little investment except the farmer's own tune, and the carrying
charges are commonly very small. In many cases, the farm wood-
land constitutes a sort of land reserve, upon which the owner can draw
when he wishes to increase his acreage of crops or pasture.
It is likely, then, that a large proportion of the woodland on per-
manently established farms will remain in private ownership. Its
area will fluctuate more or less, as some forest is cleared and as other
land reverts to woods. For the most part, the owners will have
sufficient interest and opportunity to keep it reasonably productive.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1277
The public can best fulfill its responsibilities by showing the owners
how they can improve their practices by assistance in marketing
forest products and by help in combating pests, diseases, and fires.
The fire risk, incidentally, generally will be much less than in the case
of the larger industrial forest tracts. It would not be practical for
the public to acquire any considerable area of woodland on estab-
lished farms, and there is little occasion to attempt it.
In localities where a large proportion of the land is submarginal for
farming, and where many of the existing farms are consequently on
an unstable basis, the situation may be quite different. There a
large part of the land in farms is woodland (in naturally forested
regions) and the degree of farm abandonment is likely to be high. In
many instances the woodland is fairly well stripped of readily realiz-
able values before it is abandoned, so that there is little incentive for
other individuals to acquire it. In numerous localities of this sort the
maintenance of a forest -cover is important for protection of soil and
watersheds. The existence of widely scattered farms may entail
heavy expense for roads and schools that could be eliminated by
public acquisition of the land. In some localities there is both oppor-
tunity and justification for public acquisition of considerable areas of
farm woodland, along with the unwooded land that should be taken
out of agricultural use. Much of this kind of land is coming into
public ownership through tax delinquency. It may be desirable to
speed the process up and bring it about in a more orderly mnaner —
and one less cruel to the landowners — by deliberate purchase.
An estimate of the probable future distribution of ownership for
woodlands on farms can only be an approximation. It is evident
that large areas of commercial forest land in all regions will eventually
come under public ownership and management. Definite public
forest units will naturally be blocked out, as they are now in the
purchasing of forest lands for State and Federal forest purposes.
Within these units, certainly abandoned agricultural lands and the
woodlands attached to them will come within the price range of
public purchase. It is reasonable to assume that other farm wood-
lands within the units, attached to operating farms, will to a large
extent be on the market, also. Tenant farming of hill farms — those
within the future public forest purchase units — is exceedingly com-
mon. The farm as a whole is of interest to the owner only as a source
of immediate revenue, which comes mainly from the acreage actually
farmed. It is to be expected that once the woodland is of interest
to a possible purchaser, it will be on the market. In many of the forest
regions, the woodland on farms is not an integral part of the farm
itself, and the operation of the farm land does not depend on the owner-
ship of the woodland. None of these general statements is universally
applicable.
One basis for estimating the eventual public acquisition of farm
woodlands is to assume that the public will get the same proportion
as it is estimated to get of other private woodlands. In a very broad
way this means that within public forest units, the public will acquire
about the same proportion of both classes of private forest land
(table 7).
On this basis the total area of private land which may eventually
come into public ownership for forest purposes is 115 million acres
from commercial forest owned by other than farmers, 50 million
1278
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
acres of abandoned agricultural land, and 47 million acres of woodland
on farms, a total of 212 million acres.
The method of estimating used goes at the problem from the angle
of what lands the public will need to take care of because they are
no longer attractive to private ownership. But clearly, the magnitude
of the public acquisition job should also be estimated from the direc-
tion of what is needed to insure realization of the public purposes of
timber supply, watershed protection, recreation, and wild life. Esti-
mates of public ownership for these purposes are made in the
following pages.
TABLE 7. — Possible future distribution of ownership of commercial woodland
on farms
Region
Present area
woodland on
farms
Percent-
age to
public
owner-
ship1
Area wood-
land to
public
New England - ----- -----
Acres
6, 402, 000
Percent
15
Acres
960,000
Middle Atlantic
9, 461, 000
15
1 419 000
Lake
14, 281, 000
52.5
7, 498, 000
Central
32, 158, 000
27 5
8,843 000
South
57, 866, 000
40
23 146 000
Total, East
120, 168, 000
34 8
41, 866, 000
Pacific Coast - -
5, 099, 000
77.5
3, 952, 000
North Rocky Mountain
1, 413, 000
90
1 272 000
South Rocky Mountain _ - __ . . .
43,000
90
39,000
Total West
6 555 000
80 3
5 263 000
Grand total
126, 723, 000
37 2
47, 129 000
1 Assuming percentage of farm woodlands to public ownership will equal percentage of private industrial
forest to public ownership. (See table 5.)
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AND TIMBER PRODUCTION
PRESERVATION OF GROWING STOCK A VITAL CONSIDERATION
Because of their relation to the question of ultimate ownership of
forest lands, it may be well to review here a few of the more pertinent
findings in the detailed discussion of growing stock given in an earlier
factual section, "Present and Potential Timber Resources." Among
these is the certainty that forest land with balanced distribution of
saw timber, second growth, cordwood, and smaller age classes can be
made to contribute indefinitely and in a very large way to the Nation's
economic welfare. So far in our national history, we have merely
been harvesting the stored up old growth of centuries past, and as
this has disappeared we have proceeded with the next process, cutting
heavily and repeatedly into the usually inferior volunteer second
growth and cordwood stands. Excepting where the most destructive
forces have been permitted to sweep a forest, some kind of forest
growth has followed, even where unregulated cutting or promiscuous,
uncontrolled fires have taken place, but with serious impairment of
forest values. This process cannot continue indefinitely without
depleting the forest capital — the growing stock that is the sole base
on which saw timber can be produced — and without depreciating the
forest soil that influences the growth rate of the timber crops. The
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1279
facts that a great deal of our land is suitable for timber production,
that large areas in the West still have considerable stands of un-
touched virgin stumpage, and that some kind of a forest has often
followed even where cutting has been heavy, have masked the critical
situation of a continually mounting deficit in our forest growing stock.
Thus we have the anomaly of great stretches of potentially highly
productive forest lands but a dearth of growing stock both in total
amount and in regional distribution.
In the past few years a further factor has operated to create a false
confidence in the inexhaustibility of our timber supply. Large
blocks of virgin stumpage in the Pacific Northwest have been liqui-
dated under apparently uncontrollable economic pressure, which has,
much too rapidly, forced timber into an already glutted market. At
the same time, second-growth timber in the South, manufactured
into lumber at low costs, entered the same competitive market,
further depressed prices, created discouragement in the timber holder
and lumber manufacturers on the one hand, and gave the public the
false hope of unlimited timber supplies. Only where cutting out of a
forest has been followed by the inevitable complete breakdown of the
dependent industrial life, has there been a full appreciation that forest
wealth can be dissipated. Even where this has taken place over a
wide region, the local effects only have been recognized, and the
national aspects and interests have been largely ignored.
World-wide economic changes have directed public attention to the
need for national planning. How lands and resources are handled,
obviously, must be carefully considered in any major national plan-
ning scheme. Present and potential forest lands make up between
one fourth and one third of our total land area which is capable of
producing abundant timber crops if some rational, Nation-wide plan
of management were applied. If we are to enjoy the sustained and
cheap abundant supplies of raw materials that forests can produce,
we must plan for it in a systematic way.
PRESENT CONDITION OF GROWING STOCK
The data now available, at best approximate, indicate that a Na-
tion-wide plan is needed to insure a continuous supply of timber of
at least 17 to 18 billion cubic feet annually, which is about the amount
now used in the United States. Our present growing stock is defi-
cient in two respects to accomplish this purpose ; it is below the total
needed, and its distribution between important forest regions is badly
out of adjustment.
The regional ratios of present timber stand to actual growing stock
required to maintain a growth of 17.7 billion cubic feet annually are
as follows :
Decimal ratio
New England 0.9
Middle Atlantic . 6
Lake . 3
Central . 4
South .4
Pacific 1. 9
North Rocky Mountain 1. 6
South Rocky Mountain 2. 7
All regions (weighted) .8
1280
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The important southern region, still a factor in timber production,
has only four tenths of the growing stock needed, and cannot con-
tinue to furnish its quota of timber for the national needs under the
proposed budget on the present basis of management and intensity
of cutting. Even in the western regions, unless care is exercised, the
apparent surplus in growing stock can be dissipated unless plans for
careful forest management are initiated at an early date and positive
corrective measures taken. But under any plan there will be a short-
age of saw timber before an annual growth of 17.7 billion cubic feet
is attained unless existing information is later found to be in error.
The western surplus of mature timber, if well husbanded, can partially
bridge this gap.
AREAS NEEDED TO SUPPLY NATIONAL TIMBER REQUIREMENTS
A plan providing conservatively for our national timber needs,
outlined in the factual section already cited, sets up both the land
area of 508.6 acres to be used and the intensity of management, with
which to build up the growing stock and assure an annual production
equal to estimated normal requirements. In table 8 the data are
summarized.
TABLE 8. — Possible regional allocation, by types of management, of area available for
timber use
[Areas given in millions of acres]
Region
Total
area l
Area for
intensive
forestry
Area for
extensive
forestry
Area for simple protection
Forested land,
relatively —
Not like-
ly to re-
stock 2
Favor-
able
Unfavor-
able
New England
23.1
30.1
5.0
6.0
12.0
14.0
1.8
2.1
0.7
3.6
8.0
Middle Atlantic
Eastern regions
53.2
11.0
26.0
3.9
0.7
11.6
Lake
60.7
75.6
205.9
11.0
10.0
30.0
30.2
41.8
131.5
5.0
5.9
14.8
5.0
8.6
17.8
9.5
9.3
11.8
Central
South
Middle and southern regions
342. 2
51.0
203.5
25.7
31.4
30.6
Pacific Coast-
57.4
26.8
29.0
7.0
.5
.5
33.0
10.0
6.4
4.8
4. 1
2.2
8.8
10.4
18.4
3.8
1.8
1.5
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Western regions
113.2
8.0
49.4
11.1
37.6
7.1
All regions
508.6
70.0
278.9
40.7
69.7
49.3
1 Includes the 494.9 million acres of present commercial forest area and the 54.7 million acres of farm land
now available for forestry, with reductions of 2 million acres of forest land to be cleared for agriculture in the
West and of 39 million acres for recreation and other purposes.
2 Residual area of denuded commercial forest land and agricultural land available for timber use, after
allowing natural restocking of 42.9 million acres and planting of 25.5 million acres.
PROBABLE FUTURE DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY BETWEEN
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
The acreage required in the budget is made up of commercial
forests in private ownership, the farm woodlots, and abandoned agri-
cultural lands available for forestry. It also includes forest lands
now in public ownership on most of which some form of forest manage-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1281
ment is already under way. The plan, however, requires considerable
intensification of management even on the publicly owned lands. It
is assumed that the degree of management required in the plan will be
applied to the present publicly owned lands susceptible of and avail-
able for such treatment. If these areas are deducted from the total
areas set up in the budget, the remainder represents the areas for
which further provision of management must be made. In Table 9
these data are given for the several forest regions.
If the 84.6 million acres now in public ownership are handled accord-
ing to the plan, there still remains 374.7 million acres which likewise
require specific forms of management. This means that in addition
to what can be accomplished on lands now publicly owned, intensive
forestry must be practiced on 62.3 million acres, extensive forestry on
243.3 million acres, and in addition adequate fire protection on another
69.2 million acres. The question must be asked: How far can de-
pendence be placed on private capital and ownership to initiate and
carry out a substantial part of such a plan?
TABLE 9. — Total area needing different kinds of management, after deducting
present public forests, by regions
[Value given in millions of acres]
Explanation
New
Eng-
land
Middle-
Atlan-
tic
Lake
Cen-
tral
South
Pacific
Coast
North
Rocky
Moun-
tain
South
Rocky
Moun-
tain
Total
Total «rea needed for intensive
forestry
5.0
6.0
11.0
10.0
30.0
7.0
0.5
0.5
70 0
Area available in present public
forests
.5
1.0
2.0
.4
1.0
2.0
.3
.5
7 7
Additional area required —
4.5
5.0
9.0
9.6
29.0
5.0
.2
0
62.3
Total area needed for extensive
forestry.
12.0
14.0
30.2
41.8
131.5
33.0
10.0
6.4
278 9
Area available in present public
forests
8
.5
2 0
3
2 0
15 0
8 7
6 4
35 7
Additional area required
11.2
13.5
28.2
41.5
129.5
18.0
1.3
0
243.2
Total area favorable, requiring
simple protection
1.8
2. 1
5.0
5.9
14.8
4 8
4 1
2 2
40 7
Area available in present public
forests
.1
• .5
.5
0
.2
2 0
4. 1
2.2
9 6
Additional area required
1.7
1.6
4.5
5.9
14.6
2.8
0
0
31.1
Total area unfavorable, requiring
simple protection
.7
0
5.0
8.6
17.8
8.8
10.4
18.4
69 7
Area available in present public
forests
0
0
.2
0
0
4.0
10.4
17.0
31.6
Additional area required —
.7
0
4.8
8.6
17.8
4.8
0
1.4
38.1
Total area needed
19.5
22. 1
51.2
66.3
194.1
53.6
25.0
27.5
459.3
Total area available in present
public forests . .
1.4
2.0
4.7
.7
3.2
23.0
23.5
26.1
84.6
Additional area required —
18.1
20.1
46.5
65.6
190.9
30.6
1.5
1.4
374.7
The task of providing continuous management for timber produc-
tion on 374.7 million acres of forest land is a huge one. Private hold-
ers of stump age and the farmer with his farm wood lot must be de-
pended on to contribute a large share to the undertaking even if
public agencies. greatly expand their present efforts. How far private
enterprise can go depends not only on present trends, but on the po-
tential opportunities for industrial and farm forestry. On pages 89 1 to
1282
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
985 of this report the opportunities for private forestry were consid-
ered and appraised for each important region.
On the basis of the assumed percentages of forest lands in each
region likely to be retained by private owners as given in table 5, the
374.7 acres now in private ownership and required in the budget for
timber production have been allocated in table 10 into what is likely
to remain in private ownership and management and what must
necessarily be taken up in public ownership.
The figures in table 10 were arrived at in the following manner:
For each region the percentage shown in table 3 was applied to the
areas needed under intensive and extensive forestry. Thus in the
northeast region, it is expected that 85 percent will remain in private
ownership. The present private lands required in the budget for
intensive forestry are 4.5 million acres; therefore, 3.8 million acres is
assigned for continued private ownership and 0.7 million acres must
be taken up in public ownership.
TABLE 10. — Probable division of acreage now in private ownership as between
different kinds of management and private and public ownership
[Values given in millions of acres]
Region
Under in-
tensive
forestry
Under ex-
tensive
forestry
Protection
only — fair
land
Protection
only — poor
land
All manage-
ment
AH
lands
Pub-
lic
Pri-
vate
Pub-
lic
Pri-
vate
Pub-
lic
Pri-
vate
Pub-
lic
Pri-
vate
Pub-
lic
Pri-
vate
New England
0.7
.8
4.7
2.6
11.6
3.9
.2
0
24.5
3.8
4.2
4.3
7.0
17.4
1.1
0
0
1.7
2.0
51.8
11.4
15.8
13.9
1.2
0
9.5
11.5
12.4
30.1
77.7
4.1
.1
0
0.8
.8
2.3
2.9
7.3
1.4
0
0
0.9
.8
2.2
3.0
7.3
1.4
0
0
0.6
0
4.3
7.8
16.0
4.3
0
1.3
0.1
0
.5
.8
1.8
.5
0
. 1
3.8
3.6
27.1
24.7
86.7
23.5
1.4
1.3
14.3
16.5
19.4
40.9
104.2
7.1
.1
. 1
18.1
20.1
46.5
65.6
190.9
30.6
1.5
1.4
Middle Atlantic
Lake -
Central
South .
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Total
37.8
97.8
145.4
15.5
15.6
34.3
3.8
172.1
202.6
374.7
Similarly, 11.2 million acres now in private ownership under exten-
sive forestry are needed in the budget of which 85 percent are assumed
will remain in that category. This gives 9.5 million acres remaining
in private ownership, and 1.7 million acres which must be acquired by
the public. The same process was followed for all the other regions.
For the areas requiring merely protection, it was assumed that for the
favorable lands about 50 percent will remain in private status and 50
percent in public. For the unfavorable areas, 10 percent was assigned
to private 'and 90 percent to public ownership.
The data in table 10 as far as they allocate probable future owner-
ship of lands must be considered only as an approximation and on the
assumption that private ownership will be far more affirmatively inter-
ested in continuous timber management than it has in the past.
Even in the most favorable regions, the present acreage either under
intensive or crude forestry is inconsequential when the total allocated
in the budget for private endeavor is considered.
Forestry by private owners under this plan would require the follow-
ing distribution of the total of 202.6 million acres: 37.8 million
acres in intensive forestry; 145.4 million acres in extensive forestry;
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1283
15.6 million acres under protection on lands favorable for forestry;
3.8 million acres under protection on lands unfavorable for forestry.
Table 11 indicates the regional distribution of the 172.1 million
acres of present private land apparently destined for public ownership,
plus the area now available in public ownership. Public acquisition
of this 172.1 million acres would require the following selection of land
by kind of management: 24.5 million acres suitable for intensive
forestry; 97.8 million acres suitable for extensive forestry; 15.5
million acres favorable to forestry for protection; 34.3 million acres
unfavorable to forestry for protection.
TABLE 11. — Total area destined for public ownership for timber production
[Values given in millions of acres]
Region
Area now
avail-
able '
Addi-
tional
area from
private
owner-
ship
Total
area
New England
1.4
3.8
5.2
Middle Atlantic
2.0
3.6
5.6
Lake States
4 7
27 1
31 8
Central States
.7
24.7
25.4
South
3.2
86 7
89 9
Pacific coast
23 0
23 5
46 5
North Rocky Mountain . .
23.5
1.4
24.9
South Rocky Mountain
26. 1
1.3
27.4
Total
84.6
172. 1
256.7
1 Other lands now in public ownership are so located, or lack the kind and amounts of timber stands, that
they cannot be considered as a factor in timber production.'
In determining how far the public must go in acquiring and manag-
ing forest land the following facts must be given careful consideration :
1. The total forest growing stock in the Nation is insufficient to
maintain a supply equal to present consumption of timber.
2. The regions where the most favorable opportunities for private
forestry exist have depleted growing stock, and cannot produce a
reasonable quota of the Nation's timber needs, unless a combination
of intensive and extensive forestry is applied to a large part of the
commercial timber areas.
3. The regions with a considerable surplus in growing stock are those
only moderately favorable for private forestry.
Obviously, if this seriously depleted growing stock is not built up,
a progressive reduction in timber supply must be expected. This
question has, of course, an important bearing on the amount of forest
and abandoned agricultural land that should be placed in public
ownership. The public has too much at stake to leave the result to
accidental fruition, or to the possibility that a shortage of stumpage
and high lumber prices will attract private enterprise to keep pace
with national timber needs. The safer and sounder policy, and as a
first step, is to place at least the 172.1 million acres in public owner-
ship, and under proper management withthe assumption that private
owners will handle 202.6 million acres. Even on lands where private
forestry can be practiced profitably, but where no private interest for
doing it exists, it will be good national economy to extend public
forests immediately.
The evidence indicates strongly that public forestry on an enor-
mously increased scale is needed in the Southern, Central, and Lake
1284 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
States regions, where growing stocks are most seriously depleted.
These regions are counted on to contribute ultimately a great share
of our timber requirements.
But even in the Pacific region, showing an abundant surplus of
growing stock, failure to treat forests properly, applying at least exten-
sive forestry methods, will bring large parts of this region, as the virgin
s-tands are cut, into the same critical forest conditions existing in the
older regions of the East. This justifies extension of public forests in
the West, particularly to protect the present surplus of growing stock,
and secondly, because private enterprise on the whole is largely
disinterested in a long-term timber management business.
Public ownership of watershed and recreational areas is an estab-
lished procedure for many States and the Federal Government.
Public acquisition of forest lands chiefly for timber production has
likewise been established as a Federal venture. Heretofore Federal
acquisition has been planned to create relatively small and well-
managed units to serve as demonstration areas, rather than to handle
large areas of forest land chiefly valuable for timber production. The
situation now calls for strong emphasis on large-scale timber produc-
tion, particularly as the wastage of forest values has been accelerated
during the process of private ownership breakdown. Through public
ownership existing values can be safeguarded and built up. The
ultimate public cost will in the long run be far less if action for public
acquisition is initiated at once and on a large scale commensurate
with the task ahead.
FEDERAL ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE STUMPAGE AS A MEANS OF
PROLONGING EXISTING TIMBER SUPPLIES
A section of this report ("Public Acquisition of Private Lands as an
Aid to Private Forestry") shows in detail the justification for Federal
acquisition of stumpage as a means of stabilizing the timber industries
and local communities.
In the States of the north Rocky Mountain and Pacific regions it
was shown that an excessive volume of merchantable stumpage is in
private hands, that the accumulated carrying costs on it have forced
many properties to go on an operating basis in order to obtain current
income, that the installed mill capacity and the annual output of
lumber both exceed normal consumptive demands. The excess pro-
duction forces drastic cutthroat competition, both within the two
regions and with other lumber-producing regions, and compels high
grading of the best species, trees and logs. Thus large quantities
of intrinsically useful material are necessarily left unused and the total
drain on the timber supplies is chronically far in excess of the material
needed and used.
The statement referred to indicated that there still remain in the
northern Rockies and Pacific regions a number of nonoperating tim-
ber properties, but that the owners are under very heavy financial
pressure to liquidate. Additional operations would obviously make
an already critical overproduction situation worse, both in terms of
industrial and local economic distress, and in wastage of intrinsically
useful timber supplies.
The analysis of available supplies of stumpage and the rate at which
new growth is taking place shows clearly the urgent need to husband
the stocks of already grown timber that we now have. About 636
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1285
billion board feet out of the total saw-timber stand of 1,668 billion is
in private ownership in the northern Rockies and Pacific regions. Of
this, about 242 billion board feet (excluding farm woodlots except in
California and inferior species such as larch and fir) are in accessibility
zones 2 and 3, that is, so located that no profit can be made in operat-
ing the stumpage, on the basis of average operating costs and selling
prices. Despite this fact, new operations continue to be begun in these
zones, because of the unendurable financial pressure which forces stump-
age owners to risk any gamble in order to obtain some current income.
An analysis of other possible means of controlling the installation
of new operations ended with the conclusion that the surest way to
curb further overproduction was for the Federal Government to
acquire substantial volumes of saw timber on nonoperating properties.
Such a program would enable the Federal Government as stumpage
owner to offer for cutting the acquired stumpage along with existing
national-forest stumpage as it was actually needed. This plan of
management would be simply a continuation of established policies.
If new and large operations could be prevented for even a few years, as
this program would prevent them, old operations would continue to drop
out, as stumpage supplies were used up, and a reasonable balance be-
tween production and consumption demands would become established.
In this way, top, new operations could be organized on a sustained-
yield basis, that is, cutting only the amount each year that could be
replaced through regrowth. Plan-wise utilization such as this is an
established part of national-forest operations, and avoids the worst
consequences of the over-rapid liquidation now characteristic of
lumber operations on private lands.
Even a moderate slowing down of the rate of removal of the private
stumpage of the Northwest would prolong markedly the period during
which it will be available. Moreover, the more stable industrial
conditions which could be brought about through balancing produc-
tion and consumption would make it profitable to utilize large quan-
tities of wood which is not used when cut-throat competition prevails.
The more orderly utilization would have the further desirable effect
of maintaining growing stocks. Stumpage in the East has been
liquidated under private ownership to a point where the growing
stock is only about 40 percent adequate. Too rapid rate of cutting
and lack of attention to keeping the cut-over land productive have
resulted in the job now on hand.
Exactly the same process is now going on in the West on private
forest lands. The increased Federal ownership would surely prevent
an unnecessary reduction in growing stock, but one which is inevitable
unless present western trends are halted.
The need for maintaining growing stock, for husbanding available
supplies, and for augmenting them in effect by more complete utiliza-
tion is so clear that whatever feasible method will accomplish these
purposes is worthy of adoption.
Federal purchase of about 90 billion feet of private stumpage in
zones 2 and 3 would have such an effect. It is estimated that the
purchase price would be about $100,000,000. By withholding the
stumpage from sale until actually needed, this sum plus carrying
charges would certainly be returned to the Federal Treasury. In the
long run the project would at least pay for itself.
The public acquisition program recommended as necessary to carry
the public's share of balancing the timber budget therefore includes
1286
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
saw-timber areas, as well as areas on which timber below merchantable
size is now growing and areas which must be restocked. A balanced
public program necessitates prolonging to the utmost the supplies
now available, besides growing future supplies. Both projects are
covered in this program.
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AND WATERSHED PROTECTION
EXTENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF WATERSHED AREAS
The protective value of forests to watersheds is summarized for the
major regions in table 12. Of the total of 244 million acres of com-
mercial and noncommercial forest land east of the Great Plains exert-
ing a major or moderate influence on watersheds something over two
thirds or 171 million acres has a major watershed value and nearly
10 million acres is in public ownership. West of the Plains 137
million out of 205 million acres possess major watershed value, and
nearly 120 million acres are publicly owned.
PRESENT OWNERSHIP
The forest land with major or moderate watershed value under
public ownership is 69.4 percent of all such land in the West and but
4.5 percent east of the Plains. The total of 296.8 million acres of
priVately owned forest land possessing watershed value are a potential
field for eventual public acquisition, to the extent that private owner-
ship does not now promise to protect the watershed values, or as future
needs develop. This statement does not, of course, mean that any
such plan is recommended as a program. It means simply that
where private ownership fails to conserve public values, the public
may have to acquire the lands to protect itself. Thus, obviously, the
estimation of the immediate or eventual area which the public should
acquire can only be based on an appraisal of the existing condition of
watershed lands, existing methods of treatment by private owners,
and probable trends in use and treatment.
TABLE 12. — Present ownership of commercial and noncommercial forest land having
major and moderate watershed protection value
[Values given in millions of acres]
Region
Total forest
area com-
mercial
and non-
commer-
cial with
major
watershed
value
With major
and mod-
erate value
Total area
with major
and mod-
erate
watershed
value now
publicly
owned and
managed
Public
domain
Private for-
est area
commercial
and non-
commercial
with major
and mod-
erate
watershed
value
10 9
21.3
0.9
20.4
Middle Atlantic
17.2
25.1
4.5
20.6
Lake
3.9
6.1
.3
5.8
Central
39.5
52.0
1.0
51.0
South.. -.
99.8
139.7
3.4
136.3
Total East
171.3
244.2
10.1
234.1
Pacific Coast
56.2
75.3
36.5
2.0
36 8
North Rocky Mountain
17.7
40.6
31.6
1.2
7.8
South Rocky Mountain
62.8
88.7
52.0
18.6
18.1
Total West
136.7
204.6
120.1
21.8
62.7
Grand total
308.0
448.8
130.2
121.8
296.8
1 Exclusive of 0.9 that is not segregated from other public lands in the eastern regions.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1287
In addition to the forest land, fully 50 million acres of the abandoned
farm land previously referred to is estimated to lie within the water-
shed influence zones. The detailed reports on watersheds designate
many regions where a principal watershed protection problem centers
in revegetation and conservative management of abandoned farm
lands. This acreage, therefore, is to a high degree a potential field
for public acquisition, since such land is seldom attractive to private
owners.
DEGREE TO WHICH PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IS CONSERVING
WATERSHED VALUES
The studies of the Nation's watersheds recommend on the basis of
present conditions, the acquisition by the public east of the Plains of
92.4 million acres of private commercial and noncommercial forest
land. These figures approximate the desirable program to meet
urgent public needs as they are appraised today. The suggested
acreage includes only major-influence land that is not being managed,
or that according to all indications will not be managed, in a manner
reasonably satisfactory from the point of view of watershed protec-
tion. In the Northeast, where watershed values are in general sub-
stantially protected on lands in private ownership, only the most
critical areas are recommended for acquisition; in the South, where
little progress has been made on private lands even in fire protection,
a much larger proportion of the major-influence land is included.
Only 133,400,000 acres of forest land (commercial and noncommercial)
out of a total of 202 million acres of private land having major water-
shed value is suggested as the public acquisition program. None of
the 95 million acres having moderate influence or of the 148 million
acres having slight to no influence has been recommended for acqui-
sition for watershed protection. Of the 444,357,000 acres of privately
owned forest land only 30 percent has been included in the suggested
acquisition program. According to repeated indications in the water-
shed reports, unless existing practices are checked or modified, this
estimate may need to be greatly enlarged in the not distant future.
The details of the suggested public acquisition programs by States
and regions are summarized in table 13. The total of 114,200,000
acres for the watersheds east of the Plains, large as it is, includes only
lands of major influence on which public interest clearly will not be
met by private ownership . The watershed reports indicate repeatedly
that existing practices, unless checked or modified, may add largely
to this total in the not distant future.
These figures are necessarily approximations, and would undoubt-
edly be modified by more detailed field examinations. But they
serve to focus attention on the very large area on which public acquisi-
tion and management of forest units is needed at once. Quite evi-
dently, the cumulative effect of many decades of unplanned land use
has created a very large immediate problem, and one in which public
acquisition must be prepared to undertake programs far more exten-
sive than those previously considered.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 16
1288
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 13. — Areas of privately owned forest and abandoned agricultural land of
major influence on watersheds suggested for public acquisition in the 5 eastern
regions
[Values given in millions of acres]
Region
Commer-
cial
forest
Noncom-
mercial
forest
Agricul-
tural
land
Total
New England
3.6
0.2
0.4
4.2
Middle Atlantic '
4.8
.4
1.0
6.2
South
42.0
10.2
11.7
63.9
Central
26. 1
3.0
8.2
37.3
Lake —
2.0
.1
.5
2.6
Total
78.5
13.9
21.8
114.2
The study of watersheds in its broad conclusion, therefore, still
depends on private ownership to safeguard watershed values on more
than half of the eastern watershed areas. This situation may look
differently at some relatively near time in the future, when treatment
of private lands may have changed significantly, or when the cumu-
lative effect of bad agricultural practices may have become fully
operative. Such a situation appears to exist in southern Illinois
where several million acres of formerly farmed land is in process of
going out of agricultural use and is eroding.
As already brought out, continuing or permanent private ownership
of forest lands depends on the opportunity for making a profit from
forestry, and this varies greatly from region to region. A large part
of the most critical watershed areas are on the headwaters of streams,
where the conditions for successful private ownership are often less
favorable than the average for the general region. Dependence on
private ownership to conserve watershed values on important areas to
the degree indicated will certainly not be justified unless a timber-
production program of the magnitude outlined in this section is made
effective.
It should again be emphasized that these are only approximate
areas of major watershed importance, on which private ownership
has most markedly failed to conserve the public values, and where,
therefore, public ownership appears as the most effective solution.
Detailed field examinations are needed as a basis of definite plans for
public acquisition. Other considerations than condition of land
necessarily have a bearing on the feasibility of public ownership as a
remedy for depreciating watersheds.
LIMITING FACTORS IN ESTABLISHING PUBLIC PROTECTION FORESTS
Public watershed protection forests, in order to accomplish their
primary purpose, necessarily must bring into public ownership a
reasonable proportion of the total hill land within their boundaries.
On a mountain slope, for example, if 10 percent were acquired and
well managed while the remaining 90 percent remained in bad condi-
tion, or was subjected to destructive practices, the effect of the public
ownership on the watershed as a whole would be relatively slight.
Quite probably the public effort would not be justified, since the same
expenditures made in an area where a higher percentage of land could
be acquired and managed, would pay larger dividends in watershed
protection.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1289
Public agencies engaged in acquiring forest units for watershed
protection need to know in advance about what proportion of the
total area needing protection can be acquired at reasonable unit costs.
The acquisition of land for forest is limited in the main to woodlands,
either those on farms or in other ownership, and to farm land which
has been abandoned for farming purposes, or is used merely as wild or
uncultivated pasture. With few exceptions, hill farms in active use
for crop land or cultivated pasture, are unavailable for public pur-
chase, simply because unit prices are generally very materially higher
than for other classes of land.
The reports on major watersheds recite numerous areas in which
erosion brought on by cultivation of slopes is not only ruining the
soils for agricultural cropping, but is contributing in a serious degree
to irregular run-off and silting of rivers. The problem of sloping lands
actively used for agriculture is not, however, to any significant degree
one susceptible of immediate solution through forestry. As hill lands
become seriously eroded through the practice of unwise agriculture,
they tend to drop out of any but the most extensive agricultural use,
and come within the price range of public agencies. The basic princi-
ple in public acquisition for watershed protection necessarily has to
be, in general, to acquire the greatest number of acres having high
watershed value, rather than to acquire particular areas.
In analyzing particular watershed areas as possible purchase units,
any public agency must, therefore, reckon the lands potentially
obtainable as including only the three classes mentioned. No
definite and fixed percentage of ownership within a unit can well be
set as marking the minimum public holding which would accomplish
watershed protection to the degree justifying a long-continued public
project. The higher the probable percentage of acquisition, the bet-
ter. A few of the western national forests contain only about 40
percent of public land, and yet are effective in accomplishing the
public purposes for which they were established. Administration of
such forest units, though complicated by the alienations, is feasible.
Units of smaller size, such as parts of ranger districts, commonly have
25 percent only of public land.
It seems reasonable to use 35 percent of potentially obtainable land
as the limit below which public acquisition of lands for watershed
protection would rarely go. This guide is simply an approximation,
useful in analyzing the opportunities for public forestry in some of the
major drainages of the eastern and central forest regions.
Experience to date with public forests shows that the beneficial
effects are not confined to the lands actually in public ownership.
The systematic fire control on public forests is necessarily extended to
intermingled private lands, so that in this respect the entire area
within a public forest is usually treated as a unit. Where grazing of
domestic livestock is a use of the public lands, cooperative arrange-
ments are gradually worked out so that conservative grazing on private
as well as public lands is brought about.
A further factor limiting the initiation of public acquisition pro-
grams is that units need to be of fair size before economical and effectve
administration is possible. A lone unit containing say 50,000 acres
would require a resident forest officer to protect it against trespass and
fire, and handle current business. If a part-time employee was used,
the effectiveness of public ownership might readily be lessened. No
1290 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
inflexible guide can be set up, but in most cases units containing less
than 100,000 acres of potentially obtainable land should be of note-
worthy importance and value to justify consideration as public pur-
chase units for watershed protection. However, in cases where
intensive management for forest production, or outstanding demons-
stration value or recreational value will be combined with watershed
protection value, the minimum size of units can often be materially
lower than 100,000 acres.
In several of the Central States, relatively narrow bands of badly
eroding land along the main rivers offer a problem not previously
met in public forest acquisition in this country. The area of land in
each unit would be relatively small, and new problems of adminis-
tration would develop. Nevertheless, the urgency of stabilizing these
" breaks" is so high that some form of public acquisition and manage-
ment is clearly needed.
THE OBJECTIVE OF PUBLIC FOREST ACQUISITION
The principle that within public purchase units, not less than 35
percent of the total watershed value land should eventually be
acquired, applies with the greatest force to the plans of public agencies
for the individual major watersheds. If a given river has on its
watershed say 30 million acres of land which is depreciating under
private ownership, the highest possible type of public management on
one or two or three million acres can hardly stabilize the watershed as
a whole. In considering a given unit, the public is not justified in
going in at all unless it can expect to acquire a major holding. If the
field for eventual public ownership is sharply limited, public entrance
is probably unwarranted.
The same consideration applies in the consideration of watersheds
of individual streams. Either public ownership should contemplate
an eventual large share in the total area needing protection, or it
should keep out. The objective of watershed protection is to stabilize
the stream as a whole, and is not primarily to stabilize particular
areas of land.
The early concept was that a few public forests on the headwaters
of major streams would do the job of watershed stabilization. Ex-
perience on the western watersheds shows unmistakably that all of
the land on a watershed must be given proper treatment, or the bene-
ficial effects obtained on 50 or 60 percent of the land will be seriously
depreciated. The lower areas are, in several cases, partly nullifying
the effectiveness of national forests on headwaters. The exceedingly
critical erosion on the "breaks" of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Mis-
souri Rivers is by no stretch of the imagination a " headwaters"
problem. All or a very high proportion of the land in a drainage
basin as a whole must be recognized as the field for planned and con-
servative land management.
Clearly the greater the public values at stake, the greater the ur-
gency for public acquisition and management. Where public^ funds
have been or are to be invested in constructing reservoirs or in im-
proving navigation, unrestricted silting due to erosion within the
watershed, will obviously shorten the life of the public improvements,
and wipe out some of the capital investment. Protection of water-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1291
sheds having such costly public improvements automatically assumes
a high priority. The reports of the major watersheds indicate the
location of the high value projects.
EXTENT AND LOCATION OF WATERSHED AREAS FEASIBLE FOR
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
In table 14 are summarized by regions the total acreage of forest
and already abandoned agricultural land which is in units such as
have been suggested as feasible for public ownership. The figures
were derived in the following manner:
For each county indicated by the watershed studies as having
major or moderate watershed importance, the acreage of woodland
on farms, woodland in other ownership, and farm land abandoned for
cropping were combined to give a total figure. This is the area
potentially obtainable for public forests, as explained previously.
The percentage of the total area of the county which the potentially
obtainable land makes up was then calculated, and each county was
thus classified as having less than 20 percent potentially available
land, from 20 percent to 34.9 percent, from 35 percent to 49.9 percent,
from 50 percent to 64.9 percent, and over 65 percent.
The diagram maps then made it possible to determine the location
of groups of countries having 35 percent or over of potentially obtain-
able land, and thus to block out units of not less than 100,000 acres.
The process was applied to the States in the South, Central, and
Lake regions where the individual watershed reports indicated par-
ticularly critical problems of watershed protection.
Not all of the potentially obtainable land can be regarded as actually
available within the price range of public purchase. Some owners of
forest land, for example mining companies, do not figure their property
as timber land but as mineral land. So long as the minerals are being
extracted the property is not on the market.
A certain amount of woodland within the units is attached to farms
which will remain in cultivation. Where the farm land and woodland
on an individual farm are intermingled, the owner would be little inter-
ested in selling the woods only.
In table 14, a reduction of the " potentially available" figures has
been made to give recognition to the fact that certain individual own-
ers of forest land are likely to hold their properties. The estimate of
"actually available" land, which is recommended for eventual public
purchase, is necessarily an approximation. The amount of land finally
obtainable in a given unit can be determined only after many years.
This analysis inoticates that in the Central States region feasible public
ownership units totalling 44.1 million acres of potentially obtainable
land might be blocked out. The great bulk of this lies within the
major influence zone. In the Southern States the total area is 73.3
million acres, and in the Lake States 3.1 million acres, both almost
wholly within the major influence zones. Even these very large areas
are not estimated to take care of all the watershed areas or existing
problems in the regions mentioned. They would, however, take care
of major value areas with important immediate problems.
Most of the recommended units in these regions would be entirely
new, that is not tied into existing public forests. Most of the States
in the Central and Southern regions have no forest acquisition pro-
gram and national-forest purchase areas already established cover
1292 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
only a small fraction of the total area within which public acquisition
is both needed and feasible.
In the New England and Middle Atlantic regions many of the
States have already established forests and parks as well as programs
for additional acquisition. The analyses of opportunity for public
forest units have therefore not been made for these regions.
In the West, an area of 21,800,000 acres of public domain has high
or moderate watershed value, but is not managed. Placing of this
area under management by adding it to existing national forests has
been already recommended as feasible, and since the lands are depre-
ciating seriously through lack of management, this would be the great-
est single step in solving the watershed problems of the West.
Studies of the private forest lands of the western regions indicate
that of the 62,700,000 acres haying high or moderate watershed value,
some 41 million acres are within or adjacent to existing national for-
ests, or are in blocks of feasible size to justify public acquisition. Ex-
tension of national forest boundaries for the purpose of allowing acqui-
sition of private lands has already placed a large area of such lands
within the reach of existing public acquisition programs.
PUBLIC AREAS RECOMMENDED FOR WATERSHED PROTECTION
Table 14 indicates the recommended ultimate public acquisition for
watershed protection for each of the major regions. In the South the
total estimate of 64 million acres is in units in which 50 percent or
more of the land is potentially obtainable, and is with few exceptions
in mountain and piedmont plateau areas classified as having major
watershed value. The units which might be blocked out are generally
large and none are less than 200,000 acres.
In the Central States, most of the estimated total of 37.3 million
acres is in units in which more than 50 percent of the land is potentially
ob tamable, though a few units in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky
have 35 to 50 percent only. Local studies, particularly in Illinois,
indicate that the amount of agricultural abandonment as reported in
the last census are very much lower than they will be within a few
years. The units now estimated to contain 35 to 50 percent of obtain-
able land will probably have a much higher percentage of such land
within a short time. The area recommended for public acquisition
includes units to take care of the " breaks " along the main rivers.
In the Lake States the area in Wisconsin classified as having major
watershed value and within which an area of 2.6 million acres is recom-
mended for public forest acquisition, mostly in units containing 35 to
50 percent of obtainable land. In the New England and Middle
Atlantic regions the recommended additional public forest areas of 4.2
million acres and 6.1 million acres, respectively, take account of pro-
grams already under way. In the western region, the recommended
program will bring into public ownership about two thirds of the
private forest land with important watershed protection value.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1293
TABLE 14. — Private forest land areas recommended for eventual public ownership for
watershed protection
Total pri-
Region
Private
forest land
in units
feasible for
public pur-
Area aban-
doned agri-
cultural
land in
units
Total pri-
vate land
potentially
available
in units
vate esti-
mated as
actually
available
and recom-
mended for
Commer-
cial forest
in recom-
mended
units
public
ownership
New England
0.4
4.2
3 6
Middle Atlantic
1 0
6 1
4 7
Lake
2.6
.5
3.1
2.6
2 0
Central
35.9
8.2
44.1
37.3
26 6
South
61.6
11.7
73.3
64.0
41.6
Total, East
100. 1
21.8
120. 5
114 2
78 5
Pacific Coast
22.6
17 5
North Rocky Mountain
6.2
5 2
South Rocky Mountain
12.2
3.8
Total, West
41.0
26 5
Grand total -
100. 1
21.8
120.5
155.2
105 0
These regional recommendations totalling 114.2 million acres east
of the plains and 41 million in the West are necessarily approximations.
Only a very large additional amount of detailed field work could make
it possible to assert that the figures are accurate. As has been said
previously, existing situations, existing needs, and existing and prob-
able future trends in land use have had to be appraised in a very broad
manner in working out the recommended program. But the approxi-
mations do not obscure the fact that the needed public forest for
watershed protection of important areas in the East total many times
the old concepts and the existing programs of the States and the
Federal Government. The ultimate area of State forests in all of the
States east of the Plains, after full effect has been given to present
policies, will be not much over 5% million acres of major watershed
forests and fully four fifths of this will be in the Middle Atlantic region,
chiefly in New York and Pennsylvania. The national-forest pro-
grams as approved up to June 30, 1932, by the National Forest
Reservation Commission contemplates the purchase of 5,171,000
acres, which will bring the total national-forest area in the East,
managed primarily for watershed protection, up to approximately 10
million acres. This area, equivalent to 5.6 percent of the major-value
area of the East, will have required about 45 years to acquire if the
rate of acquisition to date continues.
Including lands already acquired, the existing State and Federal
programs combined will finally total only slightly over 22.5 million
acres, spread over 244 million acres of major and moderate water-
shed-value land. Whether the recommended areas for public ac-
quisition are too high or too low is not the primary concern. It is,
rather, that we recognize the very large problem of watershed stabili-
zation, particularly in the East, and the fact that private-ownership
practices and unplanned land use have created the problem ; and that
we accept the fact that the public agencies must acquire areas far
greater than has generally been thought necessary.
The program of public-forest acquisition, even if carried out prompt-
ly, will not in itself solve the whole of the watershed problem. Either
1294 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
the practices of agriculture on hill lands will have to be modified, or
agriculture will have to be given up, if the problems of erosion are to
be fully solved. Forestry can not be a means of halting erosion on
plowed lands.
THE MULTIPLE-USE FOREST PROGRAM RECOMMENDED
FOR PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
PRACTICABILITY OF MULTIPLE-PURPOSE PRINCIPLE
The need for publicly-owned and managed forests has been dealt
with as they apply to the protection of watersheds, the conservation
of recreational areas, and the building up of continuous and permanent
sources for timber crops. In arriving at final estimates of the areas
which should be placed under public ownership, fulfilling these three
major purposes, the possibilities of multiple services have been care-
fully weighed. Generally, and with regard to the major portions of
the proposed public forests, it will not be necessary nor desirable to
segregate and dedicate certain areas for timber cropping, other areas
solely as watershed units, and still others as recreational units. A
sikllfully managed forest can serve all these purposes at the same time.
But there will be instances where management will necessarily be
devoted to one dominant use, whether it be timber cropping, water-
shed protection, or recreation.
In the earlier part of this discussion independent estimates were
made for the additional public forest needed to meet our timber,
watershed, and recreational requirements. Thus it was estimated
that 133.4 million acres were required for watershed, 172.1 million
acres for timber, and 21 million acres for recreation. In the light of
the possibility of multiple use, it is necessary to determine how far the
areas in these three categories overlap.
REGIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MULTIPLE-USE
ACQUISITIONS
Three classes of land now in private ownership have been considered
as available— commercial forests, noncommercial forests, and aban-
doned agricultural lands that can be devoted to forestry.
In table -15 the adjustments in areas between uses has been at-
tempted. Under the heading "Net total acquisition" the first
column gives the net total commercial forests now in private owner-
ship which should be placed under public management. This figure
has been adjusted to meet the needs for all contemplated uses. Sim-
ilarly the next column gives the area of noncommercial forests needed
under public ownership, and the third the area of abandoned agricul-
tural lands. All three recommendations are totaled in the last
column. The adjustments and the detailed calculations made are as
follows :
New England region. — The 3.6 million commercial forests needed
for watersheds will take care of the 3.5 million acres set up for timber
growth; the 0.4 million acres of agricultural land needed for watersheds
will be sufficient to take care of the 0.3 million acres required for
timber; the 3.6 million acres set aside for timber and watersheds will
be insufficient for recreational needs, so that 2.3 million acres will have
to be added; the noncommercial areas remain unchanged. Thus, the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1295
total needed is 5.9 million acres of commercial forests, 0.2 million acres
noncommercial, and 0.4 million acres abandoned agricultural lands.
TABLE 15. — Ultimate public acquisition program for all forms of land use
[Values in millions of acres]
Region
Timber acqui-
sition
Watershed acquisition
Rec-
rea-
tion
Net total acquisition
Com-
mer-
cial
Agri-
cul-
tural
Total
Com-
mer-
cial
Non-
com -
mer-
cial
Agri-
cul-
tural
Total
Com-
mer-
cial
Non-
com-
mer-
cial
Agri-
cul-
tural
Grand
total
New England
3.5
1. 1
21.6
19.7
70.0
23.5
1.4
1.3
0.3
2.5
5.5
5.0
16.7
0
0
0
3.8
3.6
27.1
24.7
86.7
23.5
1.4
1.3
3.6
4.7
2.0
26.6
41.6
17.5
5.2
3.8
0.2
.4
.1
2.5
10.7
5.1
1.0
8.4
0.4
1.0
.5
8.2
11.7
4.2
6.1
2.6
37.3
64.0
22.6
6.2
12.2
5.9
5.9
1.4
2.4
2.5
1.8
.7
.4
5.9
5.9
21.6
26.6
70.0
23.5
5.2
3.8
0.2
.4
.1
2.5
10.7
5.1
1.0
8.4
0.4
1.0
5.5
8.2
16.7
6.5
7.3
27.2
37.3
97.4
28.6
6.2
12.2
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain. ..
South Rocky Mountain. ..
Total
142.1
30.1
172.1
105.0
28.4
21.8
155.2
21.0
162.5
28.4
31.8
222.7
Middle Atlantic region. — The 4.7 million acres of commercial forest
needed for watersheds in his region is more than sufficient to take
care of the 1.1 million acres needed for timber requirements, but
insufficient to cover the amount set up for recreation by 1.2 million
acres. The 1.0 million acres of agricultural lands needed for water-
shed plus the 4.7 million acres of commercial forest lands will entirely
meet the needs for timber growth set up for the region. Thus, 5.9
million acres of commercial forest, the 0.4 million acres of noncom-
mercial forest, and 1 .0 million acres of agricultural lands, will be suffi-
cient for timber, watersheds, and recreation.
Lake region. — In the more detailed study of ownership made in the
watershed section, it was shown that in the forested region the ratio
of commercial forest land to abandoned agricultural land in the Lake
States is in the ratio of 4 to 1, that is, the abandoned agricultural land
makes up 20 percent of the total area in large blocks of land. There-
fore, it is assumed that 5.5 million acres of agricultural land is avail-
able for timber growth. The areas in the commercial and agricultural
categories, therefore, overlap comfortably the areas shown as needed
in the same categories under watersheds and recreation. The total,
therefore, needed for the region is 21.6 million acres of commercial,
0.5 million acres noncommercial, and 5.5 million acres of abandoned
agricultural land.
Central region. — In this region the areas required for watersheds
are sufficient to meet the needs of both timber growth and recreation
and hence these values appear as the total of the region.
South region. — In the South the intermingled agricultural abandoned
land available for forestry is approximately 20 percent of the forested
land. Thus, the area set up as needed for timber, being greater in
both commercial and agricultural areas, can in these classes be made
coincindent with the watershed and recreational areas, excepting for
the 10.7 million acres in the noncommercial category. The total,
therefore, needed in public forests are 70 commercial, 10.7 noncom-
mercial, and 16.7 abandoned agricultural lands.
1296 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Pacific Coast region. — In this region the areas needed for watershed
and recreation in the commercial forest class are less than the area
of the same class which must be devoted for timber production.
Therefore, the 23.5 million acres under timber needs can in part be
placed in the watershed and recreational areas. To arrive at the
estimate of total public forests, the 5.1 noncommercial under water-
sheds is added to the 23.5 million acres of commercial timber forests.
North and South Rocky Mountain regions. — In both these regions
the commercial forest areas required for watersheds are sufficiently
large to take care of the timber and recreational needs. No agri-
cultural land is involved. Therefore, the total public forests is
identical with the amounts set up for watershed forests.
These estimates, totaling 223 million acres, form the recommended
program for eventual public forest acquisition. Large as they are,
and much as they exceed existing official programs of the State and the
Federal Governments, they nevertheless are conservative in the
following respects :
1. The estimates for public watershed-protection forests do not
include many of the forest areas of moderate influence now in private
ownership.
2. The areas recommended for watershed protection are assumed
to be used for timber cropping. In many cases especially light cut-
ting will have to be used, and in some cases no cutting can be per-
mitted because it would disturb the stability of the protection.
3. The recreational use, with few exceptions, is assumed to be
filled by areas managed for watershed protection or timber production,
or both. In some areas this will not be feasible, because of intensive
recreational use.
4. Reliance has been placed on private ownership to carry well over
half of the total job of systematic timber production. This is vastly
in excess of the proportion now being produced on the private forest
lands as a whole.
The public program recommended is the minimum that can meet
the public share of the known needs for watershed protection, timber
production, and recreational use.
THE PROBABLE DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST-LAND
OWNERSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC AGENCIES
As has already been brought out, State forests in the West have
been created from grants of Federal land, but in State forest programs
depending on purchase, the major control of State forest-land owner-
ship is financial ability. Unquestionably there are material differ-
ences in various States in prevailing public recognition of forest
problems. There is very much more active interest in some States
than in others. But an analysis of existing effort in all phases of
forestry (see earlier discussions of Federal aid) indicates conclusively
that financial ability is the dominant factor, particularly as to what
is likely to be done in the future.
There are many ways of rating wealth. Clearly the financial
ability of States to go ahead on programs of State forest acquisition
will involve consideration of at least the following factors and their
interrelation: Total wealth, spending power, acres of private forest
land, population.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FOKESTET
1297
Table 16 shows by regional groups of forest States the significant
figures useful in considering the size of the forest problem and the
financial capacity of the State. The regional ratings, which are
entirely relative, are also shown.
TABLE 16. — Relative financial capacity of State groups to manage forest lands
Region
Wealth in relation to private
forest land
Total
wealth
(1922)
Area
private
forest
land i
Wealth per
acre
Actual Rating
Population in relation to area
Total
popula-
tion,
1930
Total
area
Population per
square mile
Actual Rating
New England
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain.
South Rocky Mountain-
Total and average.
Million
dollars
24, 414
82, 280
27,819
67, 344
47, 895
23, 574
3,777
7,907
Million
acres
19.6
15.5
34.8
31.3
129.4
27.9
5.9
5.1
Dollars
1,246
5,308
799
2,152
370
845
640
1,550
Thous-
ands
8,166
28, 131
11, 026
30, 577
28,541
8,194
983
3,412
1,000
sq. mile
61.9
111.9
263.8
363.0
760.5
318.1
229.5
706.4
Num-
ber
132
251
42
84
38
26
4
5
285, 010
2 269. 5
1,020
119,030
2 2, 815. 1
Region
Private forest per
capita
Area Rating
Net retail sales to
United States
average net 3
Ratio Rating
Average
of all
ratings
New England
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain.
South Rocky Mountain.
Acres
2.40
.55
3.16
1.02
4.53
3.40
6.00
1.49
Percent
108
111
106
90
61
127
100
101
1 Commercial, other than farm woodlands.
2 Exclusive of Kansas, Nebraska, and the District of Columbia,
s Editor and Publisher, Nov. 28, 1931.
Relative ratings of wealth per acre and private forest land per capita
agree in detail, and the relationships are particularly significant. The
average ratings in the last column have been used in estimating rela-
tive present ability of State groups to acquire and manage State
forests.
DISTRIBUTION
Leaving aside the relatively inconsiderable ownership of forest
lands by the smaller political subdivisions, the bulk of the future
publicly owned forests will be divided between the States and the
Federal Government. The proportion can be approximated by
answering the questions. How much will the several States be able
to own and manage? and How much, therefore, will the Federal
Government have to own and manage?
1298
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
Table 16 makes possible a broad classification of relative wealth of
the States by forest regions. There are of course differences in rating
of individual States within a forest region, and the predominant rating
has been adopted for each region.
In some of the wealthiest States an active State program or forest-
land acquisition is under way. In these there is every reason to
believe that the bulk of the additional public acquisition will be
handled by the States. But in nearly all, there are areas of water-
sheds on interstate streams, the ownership of which is a Federal
responsibility. On the average, probably 20 percent of the total
land acquired will be by the Federal Government and 80 percent by
the States.
In the least wealthy group of States it is clearly not to be expected
that the States themselves will be financially able to own and manage
a large proportion of the acreage. But selected areas, including those
having great local recreational and other public values, will presum-
ably be acquired and managed by the States. On the average, there-
fore, in these groups of States probably 20 percent of the total public
acquisition will be by the States.
Two intermediate grades of State financial ability are recognized
in which it is estimated that 40 and 60 percent of the total public
acquisition will be by the States.
On the basis of these percentages, an estimate of the division of
the public acquisition job between the States and the Federal Gov-
ernment is given in table 17. In round numbers, the State share is
89 million acres, and that of the Federal Government 134 million
acres. Clearly this is an approximation, but one based on results to
date, current trends, and known differences in financial ability between
different States and regions.
TABLE 17. — Probable future distribution of additional public forests between States
and Federal Government
Region
Total
public
acquisi-
tion
Estimated State
acquisition
Estimated Federal
acquisition
Percent
Million
acres
Percent
Million
acres
New England
Million
acres
6.5
7.3
27.2
37.3
97.4
80
80
60
60
20
5.2
5.8
16.3
22.4
19.5
20
20
40
40
80
1.3
1.5
10.9
14.9
77.9
Middle Atlantic
Lake - - -- -
Central
South -..
Eastern regions
(176)
(69)
(107)
Pacific Coast
28.6
6.2
12.2
40
20
60
11.4
1.2
7.3
60
80
40
17.2
5.0
4.9
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Western regions
(47)
(20)
(27)
All regions
(223)
(89)
(134)
The foregoing estimates of the eventual size of State and national
forests go far beyond the existing official acquisition programs. The
area of State forest will be increased by 8,374,000 acres when present
State policies and plans are fully worked out (table 2).
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1299
Responsible officials in many of the States have prepared estimates
of the ultimate area they regard as a suitable objective for an adequate
State forest policy. These estimates total 51,419,000 acres, a figure
of the same order of magnitude as the estimates worked out in this
report. It is clearly desirable that these tentative State plans go
ahead as rapidly as possible.
The present plans for national forest additions total 10,977,000
acres in the East and 18,500,000 in the West, or 29,477,000 acres
altogether.
The total job of public forest acquisition and management that lies
ahead is so large on any basis of estimation, that exactness in appor-
tioning it between the States and the Federal Government is hardly
necessary. What is important is recognition that there is abundant
opportunity and need for participation by both, that the function of
the Federal Government is to supplement State programs, rather
than supplant them, and that agreements regarding the sphere of
each agency, and carrying out of noncompetitive programs, depend
on acceptance of the public forest undertaking as a partnership.
THE COST OF THE PUBLIC ACQUISITION PROGRAM
Estimates of the probable cost of the acquisition program as here
recommended must also be approximations, even though a very large
amount of experience has accumulated in the national-forest purchase
work to date. But average prices paid heretofore for given classes
of land are almost certain to be reduced in future public acquisition
work, because going prices of wild land are substantially lower than
formerly.
The average price to date per acre for 4,727,000 acres of land
acquired in the East for national forest purposes has been $4.49.
The estimated cost per acre for 7,640,000 acres yet to be purchased
in already established national-forest units in the East is $4.05. When
the trend thus indicated is taken into account in estimating future
per-acre prices for different classes of land in each major region in
the East, over the period of time involved in the purchase of the
176,000,000 acres of public area to be acquired, the total expenditure
is reckoned at $572,000,000, or an average of $3.25 per acre. This
is approximately two thirds the average cost of purchases made to
date, and takes account of lands which are likely to come to the
public through donations and tax delinquency. Needless to say, the
price paid will vary widely between regions and for different classes
of land within a single region.
In the West, similar estimates for the 47 million acres of public
acquisition area total $75,700,000 or $1.60 per acre average. This
estimate likewise takes account of probable donations, tax delin-
quency, and reduced going prices.
The 90 billion board feet of stumpage recommended for Federal
purchase in the West in order to prolong the existing supplies of
stumpage are estimated to cost $100,000,000.
The total capital investment of the entire recommended public
acquisition program, State and Federal, is thus $748,000,000.
Unless going prices change radically during the period of public
acquisition, this sum should be sufficient to acquire the forest prop-
erties which have been indicated as needed in public ownership.
1300 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Of this total sum, the Federal acquisition program, as set forth in
table 17 would cost $347,800,000 in the East, andin the West $100,000,-
000 for stumpage, and $43,450,000 for land, a total of $491,250,000.
The cost to the States, on the basis of division already outlined, is
thus approximately $250,000,000.
A SUGGESTED IMMEDIATE FEDERAL AND STATE
PROGRAM
The recommended Federal program for purchase of forest and
abandoned agricultural land and stumpage may and should be spread
out over a period of years.
The major urgent considerations justifying a large immediate
program are:
1. Most of the areas which should eventually be acquired are
depreciating seriously now. Prompt purchase and administration are
needed to begin the often difficult process of rehabilitation. This is
true equally of watershed and timber-production areas.
2. The stumpage to be purchased should be acquired in the near
future, or much of it is likely to go on an operating basis, and the
opportunity for stabilizing its utilization will be lost.
3. Enormous areas of land and stumpage are obtainable at very
reasonable prices, and it is obviously in the public interest to take
advantage of these without delay.
4. The prompt initiation of the purchase programs would release
frozen assets and put money into circulation, and with no question of
the worth whileness of the public expenditures.
5. Once acquired by the public, the forests, particularly in the East,
would give a very desirable outlet for emergency employment of labor
on the large job of improvements that would be required to develop
and improve the forest property.
6. Acquisition programs of the Federal Government and of many
States are already on a going-concern basis, and could readily be
expanded many times. A rapid expansion could be made without
loss of effectiveness or of economical purchase at fair prices.
The total program should be carried out on a 20-year basis or an
average of 5 percent a year, for land acquisition, and a 10-year basis for
stumpage acquisition. A slower rate of progress would clearly
fail to meet both the urgent needs and the opportunities that exist.
A very much higher rate of speed would go beyond the present capac-
ity to expand effectively. In round figures, this would mean an
annual capital investment by the Federal Government of $30,000,000
for both land acquisition in the East and West, and stumpage acquisi-
tion in the West. Of this an average of $18,000 000 would be for
eastern and $12,000,000 for western purchase.
At the same rate of increase the annual cost for the State forest
programs suggested would be 12.5 million dollars. Clearly this rate
is exceedingly desirable. The current financial situations of many
States, like that of the Federal Government, involves recognition of
sharp reductions in the income obtained from taxes, and this fact is
forcing a more or less comprehensive reappraisal of both State and
Federal projects, of the means of financing public undertakings, and
of the possibilities of reducing public expenditures in general. It
seems altogether probable that in Federal financial managment a
clear-cut distinction may be drawn between true current expense and
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1301
capital investment. Land acquisition is clearly a capital investment;
its management is largely a current expense.
As State finances are reexamined and reoriented from this stand-
point, the place of land-acquisition programs may well be even more
favorable than they are today.
SUMMARY
That major shifts of forest land from private to public ownership
are imminent is shown by the fact that tax delinquency is already
widespread. Farm woodlands, acquired as an incidental part of farm
properties, naturaUy are abandoned when farming is given up, and
this has occurred on more than 50 miUion acres. Other forest prop-
erties, acquired for their immediately exploitable timber values, must
be reappraised by the owner when his income depends on long-term
timber growing, rather than short- time exploitation. The public
must be prepared to take over large areas of forest land as private
ownership withdraws from management or ownership.
For the National Government and many of the States public
ownership and management of forest lands is already established in
law, in public opinion, and in fact. Public ownership has more and
more supplanted the alternative methods of "laissez faire," public
aid, or public regulation. In general, it appears that these other
methods are less certain of desired results than is public ownership.
Public ownership of forest lands for watershed protection, timber
production, recreation, and wild life is already well established, as a
means to protect public values when private ownership cannot or
will not do so.
The basis for division of ownership between State and Federal
Government is not clear-cut. Some of the wealthy States have State
forests of the same kinds of lands and for the same purposes as the
national forests. Less wealthy States have done little or nothing in
forest-land ownership, regardless of needs or opportunities. Finan-
cial ability of the States is the best guide to what part of the public
ownership job each is likely to do, and therefore as to the remaining
part which the Federal Government must do, if it is done at all.
An analysis of the opportunity for private forestry by major
regions indicates, that perhaps 85 percent of the forest land is likely
to stay in private ownership in the most favorable regions and perhaps
not over 10 percent in the least favorable. It is estimated that out
of the 270 million acres of other than farm woodland, about 115 million
acres (84 in the East and 31 in the West) is likely to become a public-
ownership problem because of lack of private opportunity. Even
the most liberal public aid in fire control has not kept unattractive
lands in private ownership.
Existing formal plans of the States and the Federal Government
contemplate eventual total public acquisition of not over 13 million
acres by the former and 30 million acres by the latter. This is very
much less than the area which seems unlikely to be retained and
managed by private ownership.
The Nation's watersheds contain 449 million acres of forest land
of high and medium value in the control of run-off and erosion. The
watershed studies show widespread, and in many regions critical,
depreciation of the watershed lands. A great deal of abandoned
agricultural land as well as forest land enters into the problem which
1302 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
forestry is called upon to solve. The conclusion is reached that to
a very high degree private ownership has failed to conserve water-
shed values and that public ownership will be needed to do so.
Public ownership for watershed protection cannot be very effective
unless at least 35 percent of the total area within a given unit is
within the price range for public purchase. Detailed analyses indi-
cate a total area of 155 million acres of high and medium value
watershed area, in feasible units, which is recommended for public
purchase and management. This very large program would still
leave to private ownership a major part of the forest land possessing
watershed value. In the West a large part of the whole problem
can be solved by adding to the national forests an area of about 22
million acres of federally owned public domain, which is not now
administered to conserve its watershed values.
The needs of the Nation for management of forest lands for timber
production total 509 million acres. After taking full account of the
part existing public forests may take in balancing the timber budget,
and after depending on private ownership to the full extent justified
by the analysis of private opportunity, the conclusion is reached that
public ownership of 172 million additional acres of timber-producing
land is needed. A regional program of public acquisition to that
amount is recommended. The part that reforestation of abandoned
agricultural lands will take in the public acquisition programs for
timber production and watershed protection is estimated.
Existing tracts of saw timber are seriously deficient and should
be husbanded. But in the West, where a very large part of the total
stock is in private ownership, too rapid exploitation is under way,
because of the financial pressure on owners of nonoperating stumpage,
which forces them to go on an operating basis. Federal acquisition
of not less than 90 billion board feet of such stumpage is recommended
as the surest way to prolong the life of existing supplies, through
bringing about a reasonable balance between production and con-
sumption. Such a program is a vital part of the whole program for
balancing the timber budget.
A regional summary of the public acquisition needed for all forms
of land use indicates the total eventual program as 223 million acres —
of which 176 million are in the East and 47 million in the West. The
probable division of responsibility between the States and the Federal
Government is estimated on the basis that the most wealthy States
will be able and willing to take care of 80 percent of the full program
and the least wealthy only 20 percent. The remaining areas will nec-
essarily fall to the Federal Government if the job is to be done at all.
About 40 percent, or 89 million acres, of the total acreage is esti-
mated as the State share and about 60 per cent, or 134 million acres,
as the Federal share.
The cost of the total public acquisition program, including saw
timber, is estimated at $750,000,000. Of this, 500 million is to carry
out the Federal Government's share and 250 million the States' share.
The immediate program recommended for the Federal Government
is $30,000,000 a year, estimated to take care of 5 percent a year of
the total acquisition program or 6.7 million acres of land annually
over a 20-year period. This would also purchase annually about
9 billion feet of stumpage over a 10-year period. This rate of ac-
quisition is both needed and feasible. A corresponding rate for the
estimated State share would require $12,500,000 a year.
OWNERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES, COSTS, AND RETURNS
By E. I. KOTOK, Director, California Forest Experiment Station; EVAN W.
KELLEY, Regional Forester, Northern Rocky Mountain Region; C. F. EVANS,
District Forest Inspector, Division of State Cooperation, Branch of Public
Relations; and BURT P. KIRKLAND, Principal Forest Economist
CONTENTS
Page
Responsibilities of forest-land ownership 1303
National-forest costs 1305
Elements of cost and reasons for needed increase 1308
Summary of needed increases for present areas 1313
Segregation of capital-investment and current-charge increases 1314
Cost of management and protection on new national-forest units 1316
State forest costs 1318
Costs of private forest management 1319
The possible returns from managed forest lands 1320
Sources of returns from forest properties 1 320
Returns from Federal forests 1323
Returns from State and local forests 1326
Returns from private forestry 1327
Summary of costs and returns 1328
RESPONSIBILITIES OF FOREST LAND OWNERSHIP
Forests, whether in public or private ownership, are a basic resource.
Their treatment involves long-time national interests, and ownership
must be considered to imply a responsible stewardship. ^ No State or
nation can prosper for long if it continues to deplete its forest and
agricultural land resources. No matter how rich it may be in man
power or mechanical ingenuity, a country which fails to maintain or
to increase its output of the organic products from land must inev-
itably decline in prosperity or become more and more dependent on
other countries for such prime necessities as food, clothing, and
shelter. Continued productivity of the land, therefore, is essential
to the general welfare.
Generally speaking, the land, as a source of wealth, must last as
long as mankind remains on earth. A so-called owner, whether he
be an individual, a corporation, or a public body, is only a temporary
tenant. His ownership is on an altogether different basis from the
ownership of commodities, which can practically always be replaced
at will. His use or misuse of the land affects a wide circle of society,
in many ways. It may also profoundly affect the welfare of posterity.
Future generations have the same right as our own to receive their
land heritage with its productive capacity unimpaired.
Land ownership, then, must be considered as a trust for the benefit
of both the living and those who come after them. An owner may be
entitled to make the fullest use of all the varied products of his land,
but society may properly expect that its own interests in land pro-
ductivity should not be reduced or destroyed. This is as true of forest
land — which has very little prospect of being used productively for
any other purpose than forestry — as it is of land producing annual
168342°— 33— vol. 2 17 1303
1304 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
crops. The ownership of forest land carries with it an obligation to
use the land productively, if society needs the products. If there is
no immediate need for them, an owner is under an obligaton at least
not to abuse the forest, but to leave it capable of yielding its products
and services as soon as a need for them arises.
To use forest land wisely it must be developed. To hold it
without developing it is to derive less than the full measure of service
which it is capable of yielding. Development requires the expendi-
ture of labor and money. Within reasonable limits, increases in
expenditures for forestry can be expected to more than pay for them-
selves in increased returns. As in Europe in normal times, the largest
net returns will be derived from those forests which are the most
intensively managed.
Expenditures for the development of local transportation systems,
if prudently made, will be more than repaid through the increased
value of the timber and other resources thus opened up, as well as in
the reduction of fire losses and costs of fighting fire. Silvicultural
measures, such as the removal of diseased, misshapen, or otherwise
inferior trees, thinning of crowded stands, and measures for reducing
or preventing the ravages of insects or disease, will result in more
valuable crops of timber. Planting up of denuded spaces in the forest,
or replacement of inferior kinds of trees with better ones, will increase
the yields in quantity as well as in quality and value. Expenditures
for the development and administration of forage resources of the
forest will not only be returned through increased receipts from grazing
but they will help to prevent damage to the vegetative cover that
might result in erosion and undesirable acceleration of stream flow.
Investments in the development of game and recreation resources, if
they do not bring in a direct cash return, will more than pay for
themselves in increased public enjoyment of the forests. When the
economic liabilities and social losses in unproductive lands are con-
sidered on the one hand, as against present and potential returns
from well-managed forests on the other, the essential costs for proper
management appear as a relatively low investment.
Forest-land management entails capital and current expenditures
for some or all of the following :
1. Resource management of timber, forage, water, recreational
values, and wild life.
2. Improvement of property through capital investments and
current outlay.
3. Protection against fire, insects, tree diseases, trespass by man
and animals, and poisonous weeds.
The attempt to arrive at prevailing and future costs of managing
and protecting forest land otiscloses insufficient data on other than
Federal forests. Detailed costs are available for the national forests
covering a 20-year period, but only fragmentary data for forests in
State and private ownership. For this reason the national-forest costs
have been analyzed in detail. These costs may reasonably be as-
sumed to represent costs on other large forest holdings where similar
protection and management are to be applied. Also, existing national
'forests and proposed extensions constitute a large public enterprise
warranting special analysis pf jpresent and proposed expenditures and
.ajxpropriations..
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1305
The present costs given for national forests represent the costs of
current forest practice sufficient to keep these lands productive and
prepared for increasingly intensive management; the proposed costs
approximate a higher standard of forestry practice than this, such as
would produce something like a full timber crop.
NATIONAL-FOREST COSTS
The Federal Government in its management of the national forests
recognizes the obligation of stewardship for these forest areas. Con-
gress specifically establishes this responsibility in the act of 1897 which
states :
To improve and protect the forest — for the purpose of maintaining favorable
conditions of water flows and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the
use and necessities of citizens of the United States.
Secretary Wilson announced the same principle in his policy letter
to the Chief Forester of February 1, 1905, which states:
In the administration of the forest reserves [called national forests since 1907],
all land is to be devoted to its most productive use for the permanent good of the
whole people. You will see to it that water, wood, and forage of the reserves are
conserved and wisely used. * * *
In the following discussion the costs for managing and developing
the national forests are considered on the broad principles laid down by
Congress and Secretary Wilson for Federal responsibility in its assump-
tion of responsible stewardship of these lands.
National ownership and management of forest lands must generally
provide for multiple use wherein all the renewable resources are
developed, improved, and utilized simultaneously. This form of
management requires expenditures for all the major factors of cost
enumerated above. Private ownership, on the other hand, more
often has only a single purpose in the management of a forest property
and needs to provide funds for the development and utilization of
only one resource.
The national forests embrace about 161 million acres of land in 31
of the States and the Territory of Alaska. For the purposes of the
present discussion the small area in Puerto Rico is omitted. These
forests contain a variety of forest and related resources in different
stages of development and of marketable value. They require treat-
ment different in both character and intensity. The proper develop-
ment of these resources significantly affects broad national interests,
although tied in with local and regional needs. Because of these
broad national aspects, all the national forests together may properly
be considered as a single enterprise for the purpose of calculating both
the costs and benefits of management, although a great spread in
.cost may exist between different units.
The simplest way in analyzing the items of cost and in making
broad comparisons between present and proposed expenditures is to
reduce all costs to a unit basis, the acre. This method has therefore
been followed. In table 1 are shown, by major activities, the present
.and probable future per-acre costs for managing and developing the
161 million acres of national forests.
1306
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 1. — Average costs per acre of the protection and management of the national
forests, including Alaska
Activity
Present
cost
Estimated
future cost
Protection:
Current administration and capital investment:
Fire'
Cents
3 374
Cents
4 218
Insects -. ..
070
125
Disease ..
172
193
Timber management :
Current administration..
720
856
Capital investment:
Stand betterment- . _
084
954
Planting.
019
131
Grazing:
Current administration .
705
742
Capital investment.. .
200
443
Recreation:
Uses, administration ._
178
184
Wild life, administration
090
185
Capital investment
077
174
Lands: Administration . -
401
441
Improvements: Capital investment
865
1 872
Undistributed overhead
124
124
Total
7 079
10 642
1 These fire costs differ from those given in the section, Protection against fire, since the latter are spread
over only the 95 million acres of national forests requiring special provision and expenditure for protection,
whereas in this table the total costs are spread over the entire national-forest property. Fire costs per acre
on only the 95 million acres protected are 5.72 cents for present expenditures and 6.853 cents for proposed.
Programs of different time intervals have been set up for completion
of essential capital investments and increases in current expenditures,
depending on the resource, the necessity for completing the jobs to
prevent losses, trends in prospective resource requirements, and the
magnitude of the task. For example, planting work must be planned
a long time ahead; the job is big; therefore expenditures have been
figured on a 20-year program. Immediate capital investments to
hasten better practice where important values are jeopardized are
set up in a short 5-year program, whereas large scale improvements
have been set up in 10-year programs. The calculations were made
as follows :
The usual accounting procedure of segregating current expenditures
from capital investment charges was followed. The current costs
represent the usual annual recurring expenditures for protection,
resource management, and maintenance of existing improvements.
They include such items as salaries, wages, and expenses of personnel
and labor employed in protection, resource management, and main-
tenance of improvements, roads, and trails. The total annual
current expenditure for any activity divided by 161 million acres,
gives the per-acre cost for current administration of that activity for
the national forests.
A different procedure was followed in calculating the annual cost
per acre for capital investments. The total current expenditure
for any capital investment does not represent the annual carrying-
charge. To arrive at the correct figure, it was first necessary to sum
up the total money spent for each capital investment under each
activity. The next step was to depreciate or write off the sum
expended, converting this figure to a total annual carrying charge.
Interest was not included. This total divided by 161 million acres,
gives the annual per acre carrying cost for capital investments. The
depreciation and write-off periods used were based on the best
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1307
data available as to the probable life of improvements or the time
at which a given cultural job will no longer be repeated on a given
area. For example, the construction costs of roads and trails were
depreciated in 40 years, giving a 2.5 percent annual carrying charge.
In this instance, the rate of depreciation is rather high, because with
another charge already included for maintenance, roads may be
expected to give service longer than 40 years. Buildings, depending
on kind, were depreciated in 15 to 20 years, which gave an annual
carrying charge of 6.7 and 5 percent.
Stand betterment, planting, and other cultural operations were
written off in a 100-year period, representing the average long rotation
likely to be used on the national forests, or at the rate of 1 percent
per year. Since hi Federal finances an amortization or sinking fund
is not usually employed, the write-off and depreciation method was
substituted, to ascertain the actual costs of a given activity.
The present and proposed average cost per acre for the existing
national-forest system merely represents the average for 161 million
acres. Costs for a single national forest unit may vary considerably
from this figure, depending on the number of activities administered
and the intensity of present management and development. For
example, nearly 83 million acres of the 161 million acres in the na-
tional forests are grazed by livestock, and if the grazing costs are
charged directly to this acreage and not to the entire property, the
present per-acre grazing cost is 1.76 cents instead of 0.90 cents.
Similarly the total acreage on which timber sales are now made or
likely to be carried on during the next 40 years is about 50 million
acres or only 31 per cent of the gross area. Present timber-sales
cost on the total area is 0.823 cent per acre, but, if based on the 50
million acres, would be 2.650 cents.
The wide spread that may appear between costs for different na-
tional forests is illustrated in table 2, where costs for actual acreage
covered are given for four typical units representing different combi-
nations of resources. Present costs vary from 6.6 cents per acre in a
unit with a predominant grazing resource to 19.3 cents per acre, where
heavy utilization is being made of many resources.
TABLE 2. — Average costs per acre of resource management and fire protection on
representative national forests
Character of use
Activity
Present
cost
Estimated
future cost
/Resource management
1 Firp
Cents
9.653
9 660
Cents
15. 955
10 774
19.313
26.729
Timber predominating, no grazing business
/Resource management
\Fire
6.033
6 490
14. 642
7 290
12.523
21. 932
Grazing predominating, no timber business...
/Resource management
1 Fire
4.953
1 660
8.099
1 600
6.613
9.699
Predominate watershed and recreation, no timber
/Resource management
\Fire
4.830
7.160
6.195
9.483
and no grazing business.
11.990
. 15. 678
1308
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The timbered forests, where active business is now carried on, have
generally the highest cost, both in fire control and resource manage-
ment, and correspondingly yield the greater revenue. The lower
costs are found on the units where grazing is the major resource, and
both resource management and fire control require minimum ex-
penditures.
The per-acre costs cited above are based upon the total national-
forest area of the United States (Puerto Rico excluded). If the
Alaskan forests be excluded, as their alienation from many of the
economic and environmental conditions that affects costs in the
national forests of the States might warrant, the per-acre costs will
be somewhat higher, as shown in table 3. These higher costs are
somewhat more appropriate for estimating costs that may be in-
volved in future additions to national forests in the States and for
State forests.
TABLE 3. — Summary of present and proposed expenditures per acre for national
forests in 31 States only
Activity
Present
cost
Estimated
future cost
Activity
Present
cost
Estimated
future cost
Protection
Cents
4.159
Cents
5.215
Improvements .
Cents
0.989
Cents
2.153
Timber management
.914
2.205
Undistributed overhead
.143
.143
1 034
1 349
Recreation
.408
.564
Total
8.106
12.221
Lands
.459
.592
ELEMENTS OF COST AND REASONS FOR NEEDED INCREASE
In the management of forest lands as with any other property, a
balance must be struck between expenditures and returns. Fre-
quently inadequate expenditures will fail to show any returns while a
very sfight increase in costs may turn an unprofitable venture into a
good paying investment. The maximum returns from forest lands
require definite plans for sufficient current expenditures and outlays
for capital investment to insure future income. In the administration
of the national forests, returns and public benefits are of two kinds —
those directly salable and producing revenues and others, as for
example watershed protection, which add to the general public welfare
but for which no service charges are made. Expenditures on the
national forests have been progressively increased in the past few
years. Further increases are urgently needed if the property is to be
built up to its potential possibilities in returns and public benefits.
The increases in expenditures suggested for the national forests are
discussed in some detail, to indicate why such expenditures are war-
ranted in a national enterprise of this character. This discussion,
however, may also be helpful in appraising costs that other owners
of forest land may have to make to secure maximum returns from
forest-land management. The elements of cost for each maj or activity
are therefore briefly summarized.
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
The need for increasing the average per-acre expenditure for pro-
tection against fire is fully discussed in the section " Protection Against
Fire." Briefly, adequate fire control is the first essential step in
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1309
forestry and, like all other objectives in any positive form of manage-
ment, will not be reached without providing additional finances.
While the fire problem has been successfully met on many national
forests which require but little additional expenditures, there still
remain 30 million acres in the national forests where the situation is
critical and intensified protection effort is of paramount importance.
These areas represent the most accessible timber-growing sites, the
most valuable watersheds, and the most intensively used recreational
forests. On the present scale of protection these areas will retrograde,
but adequate funds can reverse the process.
PROTECTION AGAINST INSECTS
Protection against forest insects, as pointed out in other sections of
this report, must be provided not only for the normal year but also
for the years when attack becomes abnormally high. The proposed
expenditure for insect control is raised from 0.07 to 0.125 cent per
acre and is largely to be devoted to handling bark-beetle attacks in
the most valuable pine stands. A proposed $200,000 annual expendi-
ture doubles the present allotment for this work and will be merely
sufficient to hold in check the building up of epidemic attacks in the
commercial timber belts of ponderosa, sugar, white, and southern
pines, and lodgepole pine on the national forests. Further increases
will be needed if the less valuable stands of lodgepole pine are to be
protected or if endemic losses in any valuable species are to be entirely
curbed. Unusual epidemics are not predictable, but wThen they do
occur, control work must be handled with dispatch. No provision is
made in these calculations for the control of abnormally high epidemics
of bark beetles or for serious attacks by new insect pests or for insects
whose work is only occasionally very destructive. Protection against
insects is set up as current annual charge.
PROTECTION AGAINST TREE DISEASES
Few tree fungous diseases are specifically treated in the national
forests at present but these are partially controlled as a result of other
activities. Disease induced by indigenous fungi generally spreads in
a forest stand after a fire and can be partially checked as fires are
successfully excluded by adequate protection. Cutting under silvi-
cultural methods and consequent stand betterment remove diseased
trees and thus reduce sources of further infection. These costs are
included under fire protection and timber management, but do not
appear in protection against disease. As sound silvicultural treat-
ment proceeds, each rotation should as a general rule find stands in
healthier condition and a checking of disease may be possible. For
example, in some of the western virgin stands the first cutting shows
averages of 10 to 25 percent cull, while in the second cut the cull will
be reduced to only 5 percent.
It is otherwise, however, with exotic fungi. These once trans-
planted in a new environment, on a new host, may almost completely
exterminate a species. And this, in fact, is happening with the chest-
nut in the East. In the West, the white-pine blister rust, a virulent
and destructive disease of the five-needle pines, is reducing the valuable
white and sugar pine in both quantity and quality and may eliminate
1310 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
them as a species of commercial importance. Fortunately the blister
rust, because of its double host, offers an opportunity to protect the
pines through the removal of one host (Ribes). In the light of Euro-
pean experience with intensive forestry, systematic forest manage-
ment brings on its own disease problems, more or less different from
those of our virgin or culled forests, but which will nevertheless
require measures of control. These are not provided for in the
calculation.
The proposed increase raises the present per-acre expenditure from
0.172 to 0.193 cents (table 1), devoted mainly to the control of the
blister rust. A total sum of $2,000,000 a year for 5 years will safe-
guard the white and sugar pine from extermination but on 3 million
acres only. It will leave exposed about 10 million acres on which
5-needle pines make up a small portion of the total stand, and which
can be replaced by other species now found in mixture.
The proposed cost has been calculated as follows: The total
$10,000,000 needed for eradication is considered as a capital invest-
ment to salvage and perpetuate the white and sugar pine on selected
and important commercial areas. This sum has been charged off for
an entire rotation or at the rate of 1 percent per year, giving an annual
carrying charge of $100,000. In addition 7 cents per acre per year will
have to be spent on the 3 million acres treated to prevent reinvasion
of ribes, which will cost $210,000 per year. Therefore, $310,000 is
the annual carrying charge.
TIMBER MANAGEMENT
It is estimated that timber sales will be made on about 50 million
acres in the national forests of the United States and this area will
require definite silvicultural management for timber production during
the next half century, the remaining area for the present needing only
to be given adequate protection against fire. Timber management
requires a group of technicians to prepare management plans, deter-
mine sale policies, administer sales, and carry out silvicultural work
and stand betterment. Provision must be made for current jobs as
well as for development and preparation for future sales.
The proposed expenditures for current business in timber manage-
ment are estimated at 0.856 cents per acre, an increase of 0.136 cents
over present cost (table 1). This is to take care of the administration
of sales of timber, which will progressively increase in amount during
the next 20 years. This increase in expenditure need not be made in
one step, but annually, as anticipated increased business actually
materializes. It is expected to involve finally an increase of $215,000
annually.
Stand betterment is being effected at present largely in the course
of regular timber sales. Since the national forests were established,
timber sales have been made on about 1,874,000 acres of land on which
area betterment and improvement of the stand was possible. In the
next 40 years it is estimated that about 8,500,000 acres of national-
forest land will probably be cut over, which also will require silvi-
cultural treatment in connection with sales. On national-forest
timber sales we start with virgin forests or culled stands which are not
producing up to their capacity and the silvicultural task is to increase
volume or quality growth in the next rotation. The cost of doing this
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1311
work is now allowed for in fixing the sale price of the sturapage; no
Federal cash expenditures are involved and no appropriations are
needed. To show actual costs, these additional expenditures have
been included in the calculations and charged off at 1 percent per year,
or as a capital investment in the land on a 100-year rotation. Since
the cutting on national forests will be materially larger in the future,
the cost for stand betterment in the course of selling and cutting
stumpage has been likewise increased; but this will not involve any
cash outlay, as it will be taken out of the sale price of stumpage.
Many stands not in current timber sales need work that can
profitably be done and should be provided for. Thinnings of crowded
stands, girdling and removal of weed trees, elimination of hazards and
many other cultural improvements have all an important place in
forestry. Frequently such cultural operations will pay for themselves
currently. In many places, particularly in the eastern forests,
outlays for such work, even where no immediate returns are possible,
will pay big dividends in increased growth and quality increment of
the stand. Practically no expenditures are now incurred for such
activity. Recent preliminary estimates of the national forests show
that about 2 million acres can immediately be given cultured treat-
ment at an estimated cost of about $4,000,000. Detailed surveys will
undoubtedly reveal large additional acreages on which similar cultural
operations can profitably be made. This investment, amortized and
spread over the entire 161 million acres, would amount to about 0.248
cents per acre, and is considered as a capital investment. In the East
such treatment has been already initiated profitably by a number of
private timberland owners.
A mere start has been made in planting on the national forests.
To bring unproductive lands into use and to provide additional
needed growth on sustained-yield units, 2,100,000 acres should be
planted during the next 10 or 20 years. The work wall cost about $10
per acre on the average, and will involve a total expenditure of about
$21,000,000. The cost for this work is charged off at the rate of 1
percent a year, and is considered as capital investment in the land
itself. Annual appropriations in the past few years have averaged
about $210,000, but to meet present needs five times this schedule is
a minimum requirement. The proposed cost per acre will be about
0.131 cents as against 0.019 cents at present, which represents the
amortized cost of planting work to date (table 1). This estimate
applies solely to existing national forests. Planting costs on possible
extensions of national forests is included in a later discussion.
GRAZING
Forage is an important and salable resource on 83 million of the
161 million acres in the national forests. When well regulated and
managed, the grazing of domestic livestock makes feasible the
harvesting of an annual crop which would otherwise go to waste;
it frequently reduces the fire danger by cropping inflammable fuel,
and thus lowers the cost of fire control. When properly controlled
it adds a fair annual income to a forest property without jeopardizing
other values in timber, watersheds, or recreation. This compara-
tively cheap forage maintains an important industry, adds value to
dependent farms and grazing lands outside of the national forests,
1312 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
and is the basis of the production of low-priced beef, mutton, and
wool. Present current administration costs are 0.705 cent per acre,
spread over the entire national-forest system. An increase of
$50,000 is needed annually, making the proposed rate 0.742 cent
per acre. This annual increase is particularly needed for additional
personnel to perfect and put into operation better range manage-
ment plans so as to insure progressive improvement of the resource,
solve vexing problems existing on many national-forest units, and
secure proper utilization consistent with the safeguarding of other
resources. In addition, there is urgent need for capital investment
for range improvements, so that present range resources in them-
selves can be permanently safeguarded against abuse and that new
areas may be developed for extending the grazing business. Capital
investment charges in such range improvements will have to be
advanced from 0.2 cent to 0.443 cent per acre. Proposed annual
expenditures will provide for the following essentials on the basis
of a 10-year program:
1. Range improvements — development of water and fences:
$150,000 for capital investments and approximately $30,000 for
maintenance.
2. Poisonous plant eradication — initial and follow-up work cover-
ing 100,000 acres on badly infested valuable range: $50,000 the
first year, up to $500,000 in the tenth year.
3. Rodent control on 5 million acres, where permanent damage
will ensue unless action is soon taken — initial and follow-up work:
$50;000 in the first year, up to $68,000 in the tenth year.
4. Revegetation of 810,000 acres of depleted ranges, which will
require $2,500,000 expenditure in a 20-year program.
RECREATION
In other sections of this report the importance of recreation and
the necessity for providing increased facilities have been discussed.
In every forest region recreation is becoming a pressing problem,
and there is every indication that it will as time passes be greatly
aggravated and accentuated. Present per-acre costs are 0.178 cent
for general administration, 0.090 cent for wild-life management,
and 0.077 cent for capital investment for essential improvements
(table 1). The proposed expenditures are but slightly increased,
involving costs, respectively, of ^0. 184, 0.185, and 0.174 cent per
acre. In contrast to other activities, recreational use occurs on
practically every national forest. The total increases needed for an
indefinite period are: For administration, $100,000 annually; for
wild-life management, $153,000 annually. For capital investment, a
total of $2,250,000 is needed, available at the rate of $450,000
annually for a 5-year period. Estimates for wild-life management
presupposes that forest officers will continue to act as agents of the
State; but under complete Forest Service management, including
intensive control of hunting, the costs would average from 1 to 2
cents more per acre.
LANDS
This activity involves the tasks that go with the acquisition of
lands, surveying boundaries, and the management of all commercial
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTEY 1313
special uses. Proposed per-acre costs are 0.04 cent higher than pre-
sent costs, involving an increase of $64,000 in the annual appropria-
tions for this activity for an indeterminate period. These costs do
not provide for additional work under any enlarged program of
acquisition. If any plan for extensive purchase of lands for national
forests is undertaken, additional appropriations will be needed for
the current item considered above.
IMPROVEMENTS
This item includes expenditures for general miscellaneous improve-
ments, development roads, trails, and such parts of forest highway
appropriations as are chargeable directly to the development of the
national forests. Roads, trails, buildings, telephone lines, pastures,
and other physical improvements are the tools for adequate adminis-
tration, sound development, and proper utilization of the numerous
forest resources. Good transportation systems on a national forest
will give opportunity for closer administration, for increasing sales of
mature timber, for better cultural treatment, and for the better dis-
posal of unused forage and other products or services. Expenditures
for stream improvement either to control erosion or to facilitate trans-
portation of forest products are not included.
In the proposed increase over present expenditures for improve-
ments of 1.017 cents per acre, miscellaneous improvements are depre-
ciated at 10 to 20 years and roads and trails at 40 years. Appro-
priations in the past for the development of roads, trails, miscellaneous
improvements, and forest highways have varied considerably in
amount, because of special unemployment relief funds made available
for these purposes. The program recommended for this work will
insure the completion of the essential transportation, communication,
and physical improvement systems as far as can now be foreseen.
The new annual appropriations recommended are :
Development roads (to continue for 10 years) $1, 500, 000
Trails (to continue for 10 years) 40, 000
Miscellaneous improvements (to continue for 5 years) 300, 000
Forest highways (to continue for 10 years) 3, 300, 000
Only part of the forest highway expenditures contribute directly
to forest development, a part is for community service in the States
where the national forests are located.
SUMMARY OF NEEDED INCREASES FOR PRESENT AREAS
A summary of additional needs over and above present appropria-
tions to cover an immediate program for the existing national forests
is given below. These appropriations are annual and continuing
unless otherwise shown.
Protection:
Fire— roads and trails (for 10 years)1 $3, 700, 000
Improvements (for 5 years) 780, 0000
Man power (progressively from $80,000 in 1933 to $625,000
and to continue at that rate annually) 625, 000
Insects 100,000
Disease (5-year program)2 1, 700, 000
1 Fire roads and trails. The amount is the new annual total recommended.
2 The amount needed annually is $2,000,000 from which has been deducted an average expenditure of
$300,000.
1314 A* NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Timber management:
Current general administration $215, 000
Stand betterment 1, 000, 000
Planting (20-year program)3 840, 000
Grazing management:
Current general administration 50, 000
Capital investments (10-year program) :
Range improvements 4 180, 000
Poisonous plant eradication (progressively from $50,000
to $500,000) 500, 000
Rodent control (progressively from $50,000 to $68,000) 68, OQO
Artificial reseeding of depleted ranges (20-year program) 125, 000
Recreation:
Current general administration 100, 000
Capital investment (5-year program) 450, 000
Wild life — current administration 153, 000
Lands : Current general administration 64, 000
Improvements:
Development roads ( 1 0-year program) 5 1, 500, 000
Trails (10 year program)6 40,000
Miscellaneous improvements (5-year program) 300, 000
Forest highways 3, 300, 000
SEGREGATION OF CAPITAL-INVESTMENT AND CURRENT-CHARGE
INCREASES
Forestry, from its very nature as a long-time enterprise, requires
heavy initial expenditures in capital investments to put the property
into shape for producing continuous and sustained incomes. In
timber production, for example, a proper distribution of growing
stock must be attained so that continuous cropping can be assured,
which can contribute amply towards all current expenditures.
Both the western national forests, which in the main are the rem-
nants left after the best timber both in quality and accessibility had
been privately acquired, and the eastern national forests, which are
largely made up of culled-over forests, poorly stocked cut-over areas,
and only partially productive lands, are producing only a small
fraction of their potential capacity in income and in other public
benefits. The greater portion of expenditures up to the present time
has therefore been devoted to capital investments, for improvements
and better protection of these forests. These appropriations, both
for capital investment and current administrative needs, have been
progressively increased, but they still fall considerably short of what
must be spent to bring the property to something approaching its
full potential capacity for returns.
In considering costs, it is important, particularly in the initial
stages when a forest property is being converted from a poor income
producer to a sustained-yield producer, to distinguish between capital
investments and current administrative charges. Ordinarily current
administration and protection charges will be covered by income even
on a poor forest; but expenditures for capital investments must be
recognized and accepted as an investment to insure future returns
and income.
For the purpose of illustrating and analyzing these two distinct
classes of costs, the national-forest appropriations for the fiscal year
1933 have been segregated between capital investments and current
charges.
3 The amount needed annual is $1,050,000 from which $210,000 now appropriated has been deducted.
4 This excludes outlay now made in the form of contributed time by forest officers.
4 Development roads and trails. The amount here given is the new annual total recommended.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1315
Only the items that apply directly to national forests have been
included; items that cover other functional services of the Forest
Service, as for example State aid, extension, and general research,
have been omitted. The costs broadly segregated are:
Capital investments $12, 036, 689
Current charges.. ___ 7,384,275
Total 19, 420, 964
This capital investment charge includes an item of $5,905,000
appropriated for forest highways, part of which only is of immediate
and direct value to national-forest administration. Forest-highway
appropriations are made under special acts of Congress to provide
for public travel between communities and towns within or adjacent
to the national forests and tying in with transcontinental highway
systems. The appropriation in 1933 provides about 4.5 cents per
acre for current administration and protection. An analysis of the
summary of additional needs on page 1313 in comparison with appro-
priations for the fiscal year 1933 may illustrate further the differences
between current charges and capital investment.
The average annual increases in current charges up to the end of
the tenth year as the proposed program is put into effect will consist
of the following:
Protection $725, 000
Timber management 215, 000
Grazing management 50, 000
Recreation management 253, 000
Lands management 64, 000
Total - 1, 307,000
This total, added to the present appropriations of $7,384,275, would
give an average annual expenditure for current work of $8,691,275.
To get a better comparison of capital investment as included in the
fiscal year 1933 appropriation and the proposed amounts, the forest
highway appropriation is excluded, since unlike the other items, it
has another special service feature and is not solely a direct expendi-
ture for protection and improvements on the national forests. The
fiscal year 1933 appropriations show a capital investment expenditure
minus the forest highway item of $6,131,689. The increases needed,
exclusive of that for forest highways, is estimated at $4,953,000 for
the tenth year, making a proposed total capital investment during
that year of $11,084,689. This sum of course will progressively and
steadily decrease as each step in the program is completed. After
the tenth year the total amount needed for capital investment,
excluding forest highways, will be $4,465,000.
Briefly summarized a comparison of present and proposed appro-
priations are as follows :
Fiscal year
1933
Proposed av-
erage annual
appropria-
tions
Current charges
$7, 384, 275
$8, 691, 275
Capital investment (minus forest highways)
6,131,689
11,084,689
Forest highways.- _
5, 905, 000
1 3, 300, 000
19, 420, 964
23, 075, 964
^Estimated share of total forest highway appropriation chargeable directly to national forests.
1316 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The apparently large increase in capital investment is, in the light
of the information given in other sections of the report, well justified,
if the national forests are to be brought up to their full productive
capacity for future returns and public benefits,
COSTS OF MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION ON NEW NATIONAL-
FOREST UNITS
A program of acquisition has been set up in the section, The Prob-
able Future Distribution of Forest Land Ownership, which provides
for the addition of 134.2 million acres to the present national-forest
system. Acquisition costs of the land itself are treated elsewhere.
Here it is intended only to consider, in brief summary, the costs for
management and protection of the new units, excluding outlays for
land purchase.
On the basis of present knowledge, it is reasonable to assume that
the per-acre cost for management arid protection on the new units,
after the purchase program is entirely completed, will be approxi-
mately identical with the figures recommended for existing national
forests. But these costs will not be approached until a 20-year
period has passed, when all of the basic investments are completed
and protection effort is confined solely to Federal lands. Immediate
costs and those for the next 5 years depend on many 1 actors, including
the rapidity of acquisition and the concentration of purchase areas.
The acquisition program proposes an annual addition to the national
forest of 5,355,000 acres in the East ard 1,355,000 acres in the West.
In the West these additions in the main are already within or reason-
ably adjacent to existing national forests. This fact has a material
bearing on the amount of money which must be immediately expended
for protection and administration of new units. Capital investments
especially for protection on existing national forests, contribute con-
siderable value to the intermingled and adjacent private lands, which
are to be acquired, and hence, in part such investments will not have
to be duplicated. The per-acre costs as well as per-acre appropria-
tions for management and protection on proposed western additions
will, therefore, immediately more nearly approach those on present
established forests.
In the East on the other hand a more difficult problem is presented.
Present national forests totaling more than 7 million acres and spread
over 19 States form but a fraction of the final national-forest system
proposed. Many of the units, particularly those acquired in the first
5 years, will be in new territory, distant from existing forests. The
proposed annual purchase of 5,355,000 acres in the East cannot
logically be concentrated in a few units. If the total area set up in
the acquisition program is to be completed within a 20-year period,
even if sizeable purchases can be made, these will have to be spread
over many States according to need for meeting whatever exceedingly
critical situations of national import may exist. In the first 5 years
or so of acquisition the result will undoubtedly be skeletonized national
forests, in which Federal ownership will be scattered through and
intermingled with a large percentage of privately owned land, later
to be acquired. Later acquisition will round out the property and
will permit concentration of effort. Until this is done, particularly
in eastern purchase units, appropriations must provide for capital
investments and fire protection for areas that approximate the final
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1317
size of the unit rather than for the fraction acquired. This means
that if 5 million acres are purchased in one year, protection must be
given to an area nearly twice its size, first to safeguard the acquired
land from encroaching fires, and then to prevent deterioration of
values on land subsequently to be purchased. Likewise capital
investments in improvements cannot be confined solely to the lands
purchased, but must of necessity go through intermingled and
adjacent forest property.
There are other reasons for advancing expenditures for capital
investments with great rapidity on new purchase units. Time is an
essential factor in the national-forest program. Every acre imme-
diately placed in productive condition, whether for timber growth to
build up the national growing stock or for improvement of watershed,
will the more promptly return income and public benefits. Delay,
on the contrary, does not merely mean a deferred program. In the
process of delaying protection and proper management, the forest
property which is to come under public management is likely to
depreciate and deteriorate from neglect and abuse and the ultimate
costs to the public will be correspondingly higher. It is therefore
important to provide adequately for expenditures required in capital
investments and at least extend protection to the areas surrounding
the land already purchased and ultimately to be acquired. Table
4 gives approximately the area which is recommended for acquisition
and the appropriations needed for capital investments and current
administration for the first 5 years of the acquisition program.
The following method was used in the calculations involved in
table 4:
For the East: Capital investments needed are approximately $2
per acre, or for the entire area to be acquired $214,200,000. As
explained before, the rate of construction must be planned in excess
of the area purchased in any given year. It has been assumed that
in the first year 1 percent of the total needed in capital investment
will be made, 3 per cent of the total in the second year, 4 percent in the
third year, 6 percent in the fourth year, 8 percent the fifth and sixth
years, and thereafter at the rate of 10 percent per year until the capital
investment needed for the entire plant is completed. Direct current
expenditures for protection are estimated at 5 cents an acre, but pro-
tection must be applied to about twice the area actually purchased in
any one year until the entire acquisition program is completed. Cur-
rent administration, outside of protection, is estimated at approxi-
mately 5.6 cents per acre for the areas actually purchased; with, of
course, no allowance for privately owned adjacent areas.
For the West: Capital investment per acre, as has been seen, will
not be as large as in the East, amounting to about $1 per acre, or a
total of $27,100,000 for the entire acquisition program. In the West
it is suggested that appropriations for capital investments be made at
the rate of 5 percent of the total the first year, increasing 5 percent
each year including the fifth year, 10 percent the sixth and seventh
years, and 5 percent the eighth year. Protection in the West need
only be applied to the areas actually purchased. The current cost of
protection and administration, which need be applied only to the area
purchased each year, is estimated at 10 cents per acre.
1318
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 4. — Cost for first 5 years of maintaining acquisition program, capital
investment (exclusive of land} , and current expense l
Region and item
First year
Second
year
Third year
Fourth
year
Fifth
year
Eastern purchases:
Capital investment
2 $2, 142, 000
$6, 426, 000
$8, 568, 000
$12, 852, 000
$17, 136, 000
Current expenses:
Protection
535, 500
1, 071, 000
1, 606, 500
2, 142, 000
2, 677, 500
A dministration
299,880
599,760
899, 640
1, 199, 520
1,499,400
Total-.. ---
2, 977, 380
8, 096, 760
11,074,140
16, 193, 520
21,312,900
Western purchases:
Capital investment
1,355,000
2, 710, 000
4, 065, 000
5, 420, 000
6, 775, 000
Current expenses:
Protection - . .. - -- --
67, 750
135, 500
203, 250
271,000
338, 750
A dministration
67, 750
135, 500
203, 250
271,000
338, 750
Total
1,490,500
2, 981, 000
4, 471, 500
5, 962, 000
7, 452, 500
Total annual expenditures
4, 467, 880
11,077,760
15, 545, 640
22, 155, 520
28, 765, 400
1 5 percent of total area acquired each year. Eastern program, 107,000,000 acres; capital investment, $2
an acre; protection (double acquired area), 5 cents an acre; administration, 5.6 cents per acre acquired.
Western program, 27,000,000 acres; capital investment, $1 an acre; protection, 5 cents an acre (land adjacent
to national-forest land); administration, 5 cents per acre acquired.
2 Capital investment includes planting costs.
STATE FOREST COSTS
As more of the States enter into the venture of acquiring forest
lands with the purpose in mind of permanent management, they will
undoubtedly assume the full obligation of responsible stewardship and
the costs that go with it. Otherwise, no particular reason exists for
the creation of a State forest system.
No detailed data are available for analysis of present costs of State
forests. Their management and development will iindoubtedly
follow closely those worked out in national-forest experience, where
provision is made for the protection, development, and utilization of
all the resources as local exigencies dictate. Multiple-purpose
management will feature the State forest as it has the national forest,
with here and there one resource singled out as dominant — partic-
ularly watersheds and recreation. In the case of watershed forests,
all other uses may be considered of secondary importance and some-
times restricted or excluded entirely. Where recreational demands
are high, some of the State forests (as has already occurred) may be
set aside for exclusive use as State parks. But in the main, if multiple-
purpose management is skillfully carried out, alt of the resources in
State forests can be equally utilized or enjoyed.
The public benefits involved in stream-flow regulation or erosion
control may not produce direct revenues, but they will promote the
economic welfare, and are one of the chief reasons for the creation of
State and national forests. Costs for the development and manage-
ment of public forests, whether in State or national ownership, will
probably be about the same, and the costs estimated for the national
forests can be applied safely to the State forests. It was estimated in
the first part of this section that State forests may reach a total area
of approximately 100 million acres — and States must be prepared, if
management is to be applied, to spend about 12 cents per acre for
protection and administration and to make a total capital investment
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1319
of $2 per acre. Costs of acquisition will vary and will involve an
average expenditure of about $2.75 per acre for all lands to be acquired,
including those obtained through tax delinquency.
COSTS OF PRIVATE FOREST MANAGEMENT
Only meager data are available for estimating the costs of handling
forest lands held at present in private ownership. Forests in farm
woodlands are held incidentally in conjunction with farm land under
crops and? excepting for taxes, ordinarily carry no financial burdens.
On many farm woods, however, a reasonable expenditure per acre
should bring a greater and more continuous return, making the wood-
land a source of sustaining reveune to the farmer and possibly con-
verting an otherwise unprofitable farm into a profitable venture.
Conscious effort in the direction of a continuous and sustained
cropping of timber is made today on only a mere fraction of the total
forest land held in private ownership. The great bulk of the privately
owned virgin and even second-growth forest, as reported in other
sections of this inquiry, is being rapidly exploited under pressure for
immediate liquidation. Only in a few favored sections is there
sufficient interest among private owners to invest in forest lands as a
long-term enterprise. To practice forestry, whether by private or
public endeavor, requires immediate and continuous investments if
future continuous returns are to be insured. Rapid exploitation or
liquidation is incompatible with the long-term rotations demanded in
forest management and with the nonrevenue-producing periods which
must pass while depreciated areas are converted to productive forests.
The costs that the private owner must consider in any intensive
system of forestry are as follows: Taxes, carrying charges, protection
(fire, insects, disease), silvicultural practice, stand betterment, plant-
ing. In contrast to the public owner, he need make no investment for
nonrevenue-producing public benefits such as recreation, although in
some parts of the East, where hunting privileges can be leased, costs
for game management may be justified.
The possibilities for private ownership and management of forest
lands are discussed in other sections of this report. The costs for
private forestry must be determined for each property under one
individual ownership and general or average figures can be indicative
only. Where the convertible cash values on a forest have been largely
removed and a long period must expire before current incomes become
available, private ownership may not be attracted, even by the
prospect of large profits, if too long deferred. On the other hand,
where a property produces a steady current income, private enter-
prise may be attracted to make the necessary investments in silvi-
cultural treatment, fire protection, and capital investments, because
the current income can be made to carry expenditures. Some of the
more recent logging and milling studies show that what appears at
first hand as added expenditures for silvicultural treatment of a
forest may be in reality a blessing in disguise. Case after case has
been investigated where such treatment not only gives higher current
returns but offers the best opportunity for fuUy and adequately
depreciating heavy capital investments.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 18
1320
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Illustrative costs for forestry under private ownership are given in
table 5. These figures are based on present costs on national forests
and other available data but cannot be safely applied to any one
individual operation, although they may represent fair averages for
very large properties.
TABLE 5. — Representative costs for intensive private forestry, in cents per acre
per year 1
Type
Taxes
Other
charges
Protection
Timber management
Total
Fire
Insects
and
disease
Cutting
Stand
better-
ment
Plant-
ing
Spruce-fir hardwood
Cents
25
60
40
40
20
25
50
Cents
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Cents
2.5
5
12
8.5
7
6
8
Cents
0.2
10
11
2
Cents
4.5
15
12
10
3
3
3
Cents
13
17
1
1
4
3
1
Cents
2.5
4
3
2
1
2
1
Cents
49.7
113
81
65.5
37
41
65
Eastern white pine
Western white pine
Ponderosa pine (California)
Longleaf 2
Central hardwoods
Douglas fir ( Pacific coast)
1 These are generalized costs for forest properties, in which at least half of the stand is assumed in either
virgin forests or in merchantable stands. Silvicultural cutting charges, stand betterment, and planting
charged off at 1 percent per year — as a capital investment.
2 Typical second-growth turpentine forest in the South.
THE POSSIBLE RETURNS FROM MANAGED FOREST
LANDS
SOURCES OF RETURNS FROM FOREST PROPERTIES
Timber, whether in the virgin forest, or grown as a crop tended by
man, has always been considered the principal source of revenue to an
owner of forest property. Such secondary crops as turpentine, forage,
game, and recreational values, have, however, under favorable
conditions, produced greater incomes than the timber crop itself.
Indeed in many places the timber has been maintained solely to
perpetuate and increase these auxiliary forest values.
Under ideal conditions, and through multiple-use management, all
the resources of the forest are husbanded and developed for use and
for revenue. Even where the maj or returns in income must come from
the timber crop, the sale of other products often furnishes sufficient
funds to pay a great share of the current operating expense. There-
fore good forest management must give consideration to all uses as
possible sources of revenue and as lightening the burden of carrying a
long-time timber crop. In the United States many of these tangible
values of forest lands, regardless of ownership, have not been exploited.
In some instances, markets have not been sufficiently developed to
provide sources of revenue, in other cases unrestricted free public use
has been permitted by custom and tradition.
There is, however, another important group of forest values which to
date are not marketable and yet which contribute benefits to special
groups and the general public. Among these, watershed protection,
as it affects water supplies and water power, is the most important.
Recreational use of the forest, likewise, is for large parts of the
country a nonre venue-producing resource. If the forest is in public
ownership, the general taxpayer pays for these nonrevenue-producing
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1321
values; and if it is in private ownership, the owner is the public
benefactor. The possibility of realizing returns from these less
tangible forest values will be considered later on.
Forest properties held especially for timber, either as virgin forest,
second growth, or artificially grown stands, have so far in the United
States appeared unattractive as sustained revenue producers. One
important factor which has contributed to this is the manner in which
the markets for timber products have been supplied, mainly from
overrapid exploitation of virgin stands rather than from continuous
production of organized forest properties. The resulting com-
petitive marketing of the forest capital from the more accessible areas
has not only prevented conservative cutting on much of the lands in
private ownership, but on public forests has prevented the relatively
inaccessible timber from coming into production and has thus deferred
financial returns from it.
If a sustained-yield policy of cutting should now be adopted on
virtually all private lands, the nation's timber requirements are
sufficient to absorb the products from all of the forests which still
contain a sufficient growing stock to yield a current cut of timber.
If there is delay in the adoption of sustained yield operations by
private owners on accessible areas, general application of sustained
yield on less accessible private and on public forests will necessarily
be delayed until liquidation has been completed on operations which
are able to monopolize present markets.
For this reason no very definite estimate can be made of the time
when sustained annual yield can be extended on all privately owned
forests and all public forests. Probably such action will not be de-
layed more than 20 to 40 years. Even then the normal annual re-
turns from sustained yield management will come only from those
properties endowed with sufficient growing stock. The national
forests in the West with large areas of virgin stumpage and young
stands resulting from a quarter century of protection should be in full
production within 40 years. The existing national forests of the
East and those to be acquired in the future will entail a long process
of building up the growing stock. State forests will generally lack
sufficient growing stock and take still longer to come into production.
Direct experience in continuous-yield forestry in the United States
is limited, but data for forecasting rates of forest growth and stump-
age values of leading species are reasonably satisfactory for most
regions. In table 6 the estimated gross timber returns per acre under
intensive and extensive timber management on public forests are ob-
tained by applying stumpage prices based on 1928-1930 experience
to the annual rates of timber production. The production rates,
which include a budget cut based on growth, are those presented in the
section of this report entitled, " Present and Potential Timber Re-
sources." The stumpage rates used are based on numerous regional
logging and milling studies as reported on table 4 of the section of this
report entitled, " Status and Opportunities of Private Forestry."
The assembled data in table 6 show the possible financial returns per
acre from intensive and extensive timber culture on public forests.
Since the returns shown in table 6 are based on conservative growth
rates and on stumpage prices already attained, the average results
are likely to be conservative as applied to operations wilich will come
into full production some years in the future. They also apply im-
mediately to some of the more favorable situations.
1322 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 6. — Possible gross income from forestry on public forests by regions
Region and mini-
mum diameter
limit of timber
From intensive forestry
From extensive forestry
Growth
rate per
acre
Net sale
value
saw-
timber
stump-
age !
Saw-
timber
returns
Sal-
vage
and cul-
ling re-
turns 2
Total
returns
per acre
Growth
rate per
acre
Net sale
value
saw-
timber
stump-
age !
Saw-
timber
returns
Sal-
vage
and cul-
ling re-
turns 2
Total
returns
per acre
N. E.-12 inches. ...
M. A.— 14 inches
Lake — 16 inches
Central— 18 inches...
South— 18 inches. . .
P. Coast— 34 inches
N. R. M.— 22 inches.
S.R.M.— 22 inches..
Ft.b.m.
307
275
268
217
365
559
348
126
$6.75
6.75
6.91
6.75
7.02
4.16
6.97
6.97
$2.07
1.86
1.85
1.46
2.56
2.33
2.43
.88
$0.50
.50
.50
.50
.50
.50
.25
.13
$2.57
2.36
2.35
1.96
3.06
2.83
2.68
1.01
Ft.b.m.
166
185
179
140
257
213
175
79
$4.50
4.50
4.60
4.50
4.68
2.78
4.64
4.64
$0.75
.83
.82
.63
1.20
.59
.81
.37
$0.75
.83
.82
.63
1.20
.59
.81
.37
1 Taken from species figures (mostly 1928-29 values) given in section, "Status and Opportunities of
Private Forestry" (table 4), with a deduction of 25 percent under intensive management to allow for profits
in logging and milling. In determining the possible realization values, interest and risks on the investment
were not included in the costs. In the case of New England, Middle Atlantic, and South Rocky Mountain
regions the absence of local logging and milling studies necessitated setting up figures based on results under
similar conditions elsewhere. The timber under extensive management is more remote and costs more to
get out than that under intensive management. The sale value is therefore computed at only 50 percent of
the realization values in logging and milling studies on more accessible areas. This allowance also covers
profits to private operators. Returns usually will come from saw timber alone.
2 A usual attribute of intensive forestry is utilization of intermediate returns from thinnings and returns
from salvage of timber killed by insects, fire, etc., together with tops of trees cut for saw timber. These
items are estimated at one half cord per acre with 50 percent stumpage, except in the South Rocky Moun-
tain region where they are estimated at one eighth cord per acre, and in the North Rocky Mountain region
at one fourth cord per acre.
The program of timber growing set up by this report is only suffi-
cient to provide for permanent national timber requirements. The
enlarged national forests will provide only about 35 percent and the
State forests 15 percent of these requirements. There is great doubt
whether the 50 percent left to private forest management will be real-
ized. Under these conditions it is a reasonable assumption that within
the period of 20 to 40 years, forests still having growing stock coming
into production, may have a ready market for all higher grade forest
products and that the estimated returns will be realized. Gross in-
comes from extensive and intensive timber management are likely to
be reasonably comparable whether under private or public manage-
ment, except that the private lands, being generally the more access-
ible and of higher quality, will give somewhat higher returns when
equally well managed, furthermore, since public stumpage is sold
to private operators, the returns average less than the private operator
can obtain through careful cutting operations carried on by himself.
Returns other than from timber may vary more with ownership, and
are discussed under each type of ownership.
In dealing with privately owned lands where harvesting and manu-
facture of raw material is normally done by the owners it can be as-
sumed that they receive full realization value. The returns per acre
from intensive and extensive private forestry as estimated in table 7
are based on full realization values without deduction for operating
profits allowed in national forest stumpage prices.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1323
TABLE 7. — Estimated gross returns per thousand feet board measure per acre on
private forests under intensive and extensive forestry
Region
From intensive forestry
From extensive forestry
Growth
rate per
acre
Stump-
age re-
aliza-
tion
value '
Saw-
timber
returns
Sal-
vage
and cul-
ling re-
turns 2
Total
returns
per acre
Growth
rate per
acre
Stump-
age re-
aliza-
tion
value '
Saw-
timber
returns
Sal-
vage
and cul-
ling re-
turns 2
Total
returns
per acre
New England ..
Ft.b.m.
307
275
268
217
265
559
348
126
$9.00
9.00
9.21
9.00
9.36
5.55
9.29
9.29
$2. 76
2.48
2.47
1.95
3.42
3.10
3.23
1.17
$0.50
.50
.50
.50
.50
.50
.25
.13
$3.26
2.98
2.97
2.45
3.92
3.60
3.48
1.30
Ft.b.m.
166
185
179
140
257
213
175
79
$9.00
9.00
9.21
9.00
9.36
5.55
9.29
9.29
$1.49
1.67
1.65
1.26
2.41
1.18
1.63
.73
$1.49
1.67
1.65
1.26
2.41
1.18
1.63
.73
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast.
North Rocky Moun-
tain -. . .--
South Rocky Moun-
tain
1 From section "Status and Opportunities of Private Forestry" (table 4).
2 See table 5, note 2. Under extensive forestry only saw timber returns are included.
RETURNS FROM FEDERAL FORESTS
The gross returns attainable from timber stumpage from Federal
forests include the estimated annual returns (reasonably forecast)
within a period of 20 to 40 years on forests having growing stock, and
within 50 to 80 years on those where the growing stock has to be
built up. The variation in economic conditions and the rate at which
the various improved practices outlined in this report are put into
effect cannot be forecast very far ahead, and thus a precise estimate of
how long it will be before full returns are attained cannot be closely
made. The major portion of the Federal forest area is subject to
multiple use in which many resources are revenue producers, through
sale or use. The estimated returns from each type of use are given
below under their respective headings.
TIMBER RETURNS
The program of Federal acquisition contemplates adding approxi-
matety 134 million acres to the 140 million now in the national forests,
excluding Alaska. These 274 million acres will of necessity include
enormous areas on which private ownership has destroyed or reduced
the growing stock. It will include also lands which experience has
shown are economically unadapted to private ownership. These are
the major reasons for allocating only about 20 million acres to intensive
and 90 million acres to extensive (or " crude") timber management
under Federal ownership. When the intensive area has been placed
in full utilized production through an adequate growing stock, the
gross returns from timber sales may be about $50,000,000 annually.
In like manner the 90 million acres under extensive timber manage-
ment might eventually produce a gross return of some $80,000,000
annually.
Less complete data indicate that an additional 10 million acres under
extensive forestry in the Alaska forest might yield a gross return of
$4,000,000 annually. This brings the estimated eventual total timber
returns under the expanded national-forest system in the continental
United States and Alaska to a possible $134,000,000. The speed with
1324 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
which this program is carried out, as well as unpredictable economic
conditions and other variable factors, will determine the rate at
which such returns can be realized both in time and amount.
RETURNS FROM GRAZING
The forage resource is now more completely used than any other
revenue-producing resource on the national forests. Unlike the
timber, which for the most part is sold to the highest bidder, the
grazing has been so far administered to stabilize the grazing industry,
giving preference to the small farmer and grazier. This policy has
been justified in numerous localities to preserve the value of small
ranch properties dependent for summer forage on the forest ranges.
Under the present system and scale of charges the average return
for the 5-year period 1925 to 1929, inclusive, was $1,626,388, exclusive
of Alaska. The acquisition program when carried out will add mate-
rially to these re turns. Careful appraisal of ranges on existing
national forests indicates that the actual normal commercial value of
the forage is far in excess of the present rates charged. The future
returns from grazing will be contingent on the economic position
which the industry dependent on the national forests may eventually
attain and the public policies which may be developed regarding
disposal and charges for grazing use. It seems logical to expect an
increase in demand for use of these resources as the population in-
creases. Grazing with a fair charge for privileges may yield as
much as $4,000,000 annually in the course of time.
SPECIAL USES
These include all present revenues from occupancy of forest lands
other than timber and grazing use. The average revenues from 1925
to 1929 were $370,000. These revenues may be expected to show a
gradual increase. It is reasonable to assume that within 20 to 40
years they may grow to six times the present income or approximately
$2,000,000.
OTHER SOURCES OF REVENUES, NOW USED WITHOUT CHARGES
RECREATIONAL USES
The recreation program proposes a withdrawal of some accessible
timber areas from commercial use, and a considerable acreage classed
as poor and inaccessible commercial timber forests, and their reserva-
tion primarily for recreational use. In addition, a large acreage of
noncommercial timberland and nonforested land would be made
especially available for recreation, including wild-life conservation.
All these areas will require outlay for protection against fire, insects,
and disease. The administration and protection of such areas costs
considerable sums. To this must be added costs for maintaining and
increasing the fish and game supply, development and care of camping
sites, and the construction of roads and trails. It has been the policy
to make no charge for these se'rvices in the past. It is not unreason-
able to suppose that eventually consideration must be given to the
possibility of offsetting the cost of providing the special facilities
required by .the recreationist through reasonable charges.
As shown in the section, "The Forest for Kecreation" (table 1),
the number of visitors to national forests has steadily increased and
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1325
has reached a figure of 32 million, of whom 24 million are transients.
Considering the increased area needed for recreation and which must
be provided by further extension of national forests, it is safe to esti-
mate that within 20 years the total number of those using the national
forests to hunt, fish, or camp will exceed 5 million annually. The
possibility of a license fee of $2.00 for adults hunting, fishing, or
camping on national forests would provide an annual revenue of
$10,000,000. This sum would provide for the necessary skilled
administration demanded by increasing public use. Such a fee is
not exorbitant, and may well be considered as a possible source of
revenue. There are, however, many obstacles, both in public attitude
and in difficulties of administration, which may prevent this principle
from being applied in the near future.
WATERSHED RESOURCES
As shown in the section of this report entitled, "Watershed and
Related Forest Influences", watersheds maintained with a suitable
coyer of forest and other vegetative growth render special services to
irrigation, domestic water supply, power, and navigation projects.
The evidence clearly indicates that large expenditures will be required
to improve and thereafter maintain watersheds of immediate benefit
to these projects. Under the "benefit theory" for the purpose of
providing necessary funds for this work, the possibilities of a tax or
fee might be considered. For example, a tax of $1.00 per horsepower
of water-power development would eventually provide on the basis
of 10 million horsepower of development a return of $10,000,000 per
annum. Public policy must of course determine whether such a plan
for financing is feasible and in best public interest.
SUMMARY OF POSSIBLE GROSS REVENUE
The revenues from national forests under a program of full develop-
ment may be summarized as follows :
Revenues at present charged for:
From 20 million acres intensive timber management $50, 000, 000
From 90 million acres extensive timber management 80, 000, 000
From extensive management Alaskan forests 4, 000, 000
From grazing management 4, 000, 000
From special uses 2, 000, 000
Total 140, 000, 000
Resources now not subject to charge:
From recreational uses 10, 000, 000
From water-power revenues 10, 000, 000
Total. _ 20, 000, 000
All possible returns . 160,000,000
Possibly as much as a forest rotation will be required to build up
forest revenues to full possibilities. There are, of course, many
justifications that can be advanced for the public's undertaking the
development and management of forest lands, the social and economic
aspects being paramount. To assume that the expenditures made on
public forests will be self -liquidating in the sense that for every dollar
spent a dollar's worth of goods will be sold to amortize investments
may be neither sound economics nor sound social policy. It is
1326 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
important that expenditures made give returns either in direct
income or direct public benefits commensurate with the investment.
But this does not in any measure preclude the possibilities of creating
sustained incomes from public forests sufficient to cover costs. Public
policy now recognizes that timber, forage, and similar direct products
or uses should be paid for by the immediate beneficiary. We have
not yet established the principle that other services such as water,
recreation, etc., which are products of the forest, be likewise paid for
in large part by the direct user. This latter source of income is
suggested merely as a possible plan of financing the public forest
enterprise.
It must be again reiterated that the estimated revenues are based,
if the full program is consummated, on forests built up with growing
stock capable of a sustained-yield income. The possibilities are that
income for current expenses may be reached as early as within 15 to
30 years, but incomes to retire capital investments must in the nature
of the enterprise be deferred almost to the end of a tree rotation.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE STATES
Under the existing practice 25 percent of the direct gross revenues
from the national forests are returned through the State treasurers
to the counties in which the forests are situated. The net return to
the Federal Government would therefore be 75 percent of the above
gross income.
RETURNS FROM STATE AND LOCAL FORESTS
The section, "Probable Future Distribution of Forest Land Owner-
ship", shows the prospective regional distribution of State and local
forests. Out of about 100 million acres in State and local public
ownership, the probable portions of the areas which are expected to
be under timber management are about 10 million acres under
intensive and 35 million acres under ^ ex tensive management. The
acreage costs of State forestry were estimated earlier in this section to
be comparable to those for Federal forestry, and it can be likewise
assumed that returns will be similar. The aggregate intensive forestry
return is estimated on this basis at about $24,000,000; the extensive
at $30,000,000; making a total of possibly $54,000,000 from timber
production if and when this program is carried out. Owing to the
expectation that much State acquisition will arise through tax delin-
quency of lands which have previously been stripped of their timber,
it is to be expected that a long period, often a tree generation, will
elapse before productivity can be fully restored. Eventually, how-
ever, these areas can be counted on to yield large revenues as well as
to perform the important functions of supporting local industry.
On State properties, opportunity to lease grazing rights is the same
as on Federal lands, but in those regions where range Evestock raising
is an important industry, few State forests exist or are expected to be
created, and consequently not much return can be expected from this
source. ^ States may, however, control important sites for water
power, irrigation, and domestic water supplies. In such cases the
decision will be whether to obtain a revenue from such development
or to grant free public use. No doubt, use of State-owned sites for
such purposes can be made a source of revenue. Recreational use of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1327
forest properties will be under full State control. Since the States
usually control fish and game, whether on private or public lands, they
are in a position to collect substantial revenues from fishing and
hunting licenses. It would be reasonable to collect a higher license
fee where the State controls not only the fish and game but the lands
as well on which fishing and hunting is pursued.
Procurement of revenues from all forest uses is most effectively
accomplished in States where conservation activities are coordinated.
The variety of State policies and practices regarding such uses pre-
cludes any accurate forecast of the probable revenues therefrom. It
is reasonable, however, to look forward to constantly increasing returns
not only from timber but other values existing on forest lands. If a
general policy is followed of collecting from beneficiaries of these
services, it is conceivable the revenues may grow to as much as
$10,000,000 from the anticipated 100 million acres in State ownership.
Since the areas are already reasonably suitable for game, fish, and
"other recreational uses, this revenue is available much earlier than
the returns from the timber crop.
RETURNS FROM PRIVATE FORESTRY
The section of this report entitled, " Present and Potential Timber
Resources" (table 22) contains an estimate of the areas necessary for
operation on a continuous-yield basis in order to provide an adequate
national supply of timber. Deduction of the sum of the foregoing
Federally and State managed areas from these totals leaves to private
operation approximately 40 million acres for intensive and 150
million acres for extensive timber management. This share of the
prospective national timber production and the corresponding area
allotted to private operation involves a vast expansion of private
forestry effort over what is now taking place. Unless expansion takes
place the requisite national supplies will fall short as soon as the
present liquidation of the private merchantable growing stock
approaches completion. Since the present growing stock is far
under the quantity necessary to yield full production, a long period of
building up growing stock, particularly in the eastern regions, must
biter vene before full production can be attained.
The respective areas under intensive and extensive forestry in each
region multiplied by the gross returns (table 7) shows the estimated
gross returns from stumpage production. On this basis the total
returns might be as much as $140,000,000 from intensive and
$300,000,000 from extensive timber management, a total of $440,-
000,000. This is a return from growing timber and does not include
returns from logging, manufacturing, and other ramifications of the
wood-using industries.
The close attention which private owners are able to give to their
holdings may result in many returns from uses other than timber.
Grazing use in some areas yields a considerable revenue. Since the
private forest lands include farm woodlands, the value of grazing per
head of stock here reaches the highest level. Undoubtedly the timber
returns from the forest are often curtailed by the grazing use, but
under proper restrictions it constitutes a legitimate source of revenue.
Recreational use of private forests is increasing and where the forests
can be protected from trespass, it is beginning to yield actual
1328 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
revenues. If public forests are sufficiently extended to provide
adequate public hunting and fishing facilities, it will be possible to
relieve private owners of the burden and cost of protection against
trespass, fire, and other losses. Under these conditions it should
become increasingly profitable for forest owners to build up the game
supply and obtain revenues from this source.
Watershed values are generally not of a nature to yield private
returns except as private owners may own power sites or in some
States riparian rights. These sites and rights constitute on the
whole a resource distinct from the forest, as in the case of mineral
rights. These and mineral rights on some areas constitute the chief
reason for ownership of large forest areas but these revenues have not
been considered here.
Revenues from naval stores and minor forest products are large in
some localities. There is no very definite basis for estimating all
these returns but everything considered it is probable that they
amount to $50,000,000 per annum on all the private forests of the
United States.
SUMMARY OF COSTS AND RETURNS
The scope of the program outlined in this report is so extensive that
no one agency is called upon to carry the entire responsibility.
Federal, State, and private agencies must be relied upon to go far
beyond their present activities in their respective field. It is urgent
that within the next 20 to 40 years the plan, with such modifications
as experience proves necessary, should be brought to complete
realization. It must be realized, however, that depleted areas cannot
be brought back to full production in that time. A period of 50
to 80 years of protection and care will be necessary to restore full
production.
From the foregoing conservative estimates of returns from forests
handled under methods which will insure high rates of productivity,
it may be concluded that the forests of the United States, maintained
at a level of productivity sufficient to meet fully the national require-
ments both for timber and other services should produce a gross
return of about $700,000,000. This is in terms of stumpage values,
with a partial allowance for recreational, watershed, and other more
or less intangible values. It includes no allowance for the great
spread of industry dependent on logging, manufacturing, trans-
porting, selling, and utilizing forest products. After the costs are
deducted from the gross returns, there remains a net of $400,000,000
to $500,000,000 as an earning on the investment in all forest proper-
ties, public and private. This is sufficient to restore and sustain a
capitalized value in the neighborhood of $10,000,000,000 for the
forest resource. This resource being susceptible to continuous
renewal and in fact to continuous upbuilding, is thus visualized as a
permanent part of the national assets, supporting as long as the
Nation lives its quota of business activity, employment, and the
manifold services which no other resource can replace in full.
A PROGRAM FOR DIRECT FEDERAL AND STATE AID
CONTENTS
Page
Principles underlying public aid 1329
Indirect Federal and State aid 1330
Aid in protection against fire
Aid in protection against insects : 1336
Federal aid in planting 1336
Federal aid in extension 1337
Costs summarized 1338
PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING PUBLIC AID
Public aid, both Federal and State, to private owners is based
in part on the public interest in obtaining the full economic and social
benefits from the productive forest.
On the one hand, the public must recognize such factors as the fol-
lowing in granting aid :
In fire protection, the public use of private land, public carelessness
with fire, and the fire hazard which is beyond the control of private
owners ;
In insect and disease protection, the irregular epidemic character
and special control methods which may make efforts by individual
owners ineffective; and
For some classes of forest research and where many small owners
of land are involved, the greater effectiveness of combining efforts
and acting through public agencies rather than individually. Advice
in forest management, etc., is governed by similar considerations.
So also is the production of nursery stock for planting.
On the other hand, private owners must recognize such factors as
the following in asking and receiving aid :
That the public has the right to expect commensurate returns from
its expenditures — it has, in fact, the right to expect that, in the long
run, private owners will in their forest management go beyond what
the public actually helps to pay for;
That public aid should not go beyond the point of public interest
into the pork-barrel category;
That if costs of aid to the public are too high and the returns
through ineffective or limited efforts are too low, it may become better
public policy to obtain full control of the land by outright ownership
and be in the position to receive direct as well as indirect returns; and
That, in other words, the public interest in trying to keep land in
private ownership by means of aid may if net costs become excessive
have to give way to the public interest by means of direct ownership.
The following program attempts to recognize these considerations
and to balance Federal, State, local, and private ownership interest
and obligation in determining what aid public agencies should give.
1329
1330 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
INDIRECT FEDERAL AND STATE AID
It should be emphasized that, excepting cash income for sale of
raw materials, the States derive the same benefits from Federally
owned lands as they would from State-owned. Therefore, unless cash
returns exceed investment and administrative costs, the State profits
more through the Federal activity than it would if the project were
conducted by the State with Federal financial assistance. Before
presenting a program for carrying out the plans for direct financial
aid to States that have been proposed in the several sections of this
report, therefore, it is desirable to review briefly the other forms of
Federal aid that have been recommended.
Although justified primarily for its contribution to the national
interest, the largest of the other forms of aid, present and proposed,
is in the national-forest project. It was shown in the section of this
report entitled "The National Forests as a Form of Federal Aid to
the States" that, during the years 1923-1927, there was a net gam to
the States and counties concerned of $10,000,000 a year from present
Federal ownership. Without the national-forest system, the States
would have had to spend an equal amount for equivalent develop-
ment and care of the land, or to suffer corresponding depreciation of
the land and forego corresponding improvements. It was also
shown that the States receive the same indirect social and economic
advantages with the land in Federal ownership that they would
receive were it in State ownership.
Provision is made in this program for Federal aid to States in the
survey and local control phases of insect control. This, if carried out,
would very substantially reduce insect epidemics, affecting large areas
of forests and spreading over State lines. But when this epidemic
condition does exist, it calls for emergency action that cannot be left
to the local interest — which may often be a minor one — to take the
needed action. Therefore, Federal leadership will often be necessary.
In addition to the plan for a cooperative survey and control organiza-
tion, provision is made for Federal control activities at an annual cost
of $700,000 and State activities at a cost of $1,250,000. Both fall
within the aid classification.
Control of forest-tree diseases falls into two classes. Control of non-
epidemic diseases has so far been approached through the cutting and
the marketing of the trees affected. Technical advice would un-
doubtedly make such action more effective.
Disease epidemics present an entirely different problem. The
spread of such diseases as the white pine blister rust, for example, can
only be checked by vigorous action on the part of the Federal Gov-
ernment with such assistance as may be administratively obtained
from the States and private owners affected. The occurrence of epi-
demics is so irregular, and the methods of control so different and so
highly specialized that a satisfactory cooperative control service
offers some difficulties. In any case provision should be made for a
Federal-control service, which would be an enlargement of the existing
blister rust-control organization. It would be available for control of
other epidemics and it would also have advisory functions which
should be very helpful in both epidemic and nonepidemic diseases.
The annual cost would start at $554,000 and rise to $719,000 at the
end of 5 years.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1331
Somewhat similar State services would also be necessary from time
to time and in different parts of the country, starting with organiza-
tions built up to handle current epidemics. State costs are estimated
at $537,000 to be increased to $695,000 at the end of 5 years.
It is also true that the present Federal program of forest research,
and the larger one proposed, constitute definite aid and benefit to the
States and private owners since the results are available to all and the
expenses of similar State programs for comparable results is thereby
saved. This is true despite the fact that these programs are limited
to work on national and regional problems and are extended to local
problems only where Federally owned or managed lands are involved.
Another form of Federal aid that has been tentatively proposed else-
where in this report (see Federal aid in organizing Forest credit facili-
ties) is the extension of the existing Federal farm-loan system to forest
projects.
A plan for Federal and State cooperation in advice in forest manage-
ment to both farm and industrial forest owners is discussed later. In
addition, a recommendation is made for a fund which would be built
up to $225,000 for direct expenditures by the Federal Forest Service.
This, for example, would permit Federal extension where State coop-
eration could not be obtained and a material strengthening of this
activity.
Still other Federal activities that will aid owners of forest land and
accomplish the same results as w^ould direct financial aid to States
(were that form of assistance practicable in these activities) are the
testing and certification of forest tree seed (see section The reforesta-
tion of barren and unproductive land); the existing service by the
Weather Bureau in forest fire weather forecasts; and the work in
control of predatory animals and injurious rodents by the Bureau of
Biological Survey.
Although it is recognized that State action might be stimulated
thereby, Federal gifts of funds to the States for the purchase of State
forests is not recommended. One reason for this is that the Federal
Government will have about all the financial load it can assume if the
full plan recommended in this report is carried out. Beyond this, it
is believed that it will be a sounder principle for any public agency to
undertake the acquisition only of the land which it can subsequently
finance. Greater efficiency in expenditures can probably be expected.
The poorer States would probably need further aid pending the time
when forests acquired became self-sustaining. Aid is not needed by
the wealthier States. The wealthier States which will have to furnish
the funds might prefer, for acquisition outside of their boundaries, to
have Federal rather than State forests because of the possibility of
obtaining an accounting. Finally Federal gifts for the acquisition of
State forests might soon lead to a demand that the existing national
forests be turned over to the States.
Federal aid to the States in the form of loans is not recommended
for similar reasons. Uncertainty as to payment makes it possible that
loans may actually become gifts.
It is considered highly desirable, and has been so recommended in
the several sections of this report, that the States engage in most if
not all of the forest-aid activities carried on by the Federal Govern-
ment. It is anticipated that as the Federal program advances there
will be increasing State participation, both through independent State
action and through cooperative effort administratively arranged.
1332 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Whether the Federal Government shall engage in forestry activities
designed to promote the public welfare through the medium of State
functioning or through that of direct Federal functioning, or through
formal agreements outlined by Congress, or through informal arrange-
ments, depends on the exigencies of different situations. In any case,
the objective remains the same. The real question is simply of the
best way to get the job done.
It is again emphasized, therefore, that the following suggested pro-
gram for direct financial aid by the Federal Government to the
States and private owners and by the States to private owners in-
cludes only the smaller part of the whole program, and covers far
from all of the cooperative undertakings that it is expected will be
carried on. Neither does the private owners' share, as indicated by
the attached tables, indicate all that they will do under the program.
In protection against fire, for example, the interested private owner
supplies a large share of the protection effort, although that does not
appear as a cash expenditure. It cannot, therefore, be accounted for
in a cooperative fiscal arrangement, or in a statement of moneys
expended.
The sections of this report entitled "Federal Financial and Other
Direct Aid to States" and " State Aid to Private Owners and Local
Political Units" set forth in considerable detail the accomplishments
to date under the Federal and State-aid systems for fire protection,
planting, and management of farm woodlands. Similarly, the section
entitled " Factors Affecting Federal and State Aid" discusses the
several factors that have affected these accomplishments, their rela-
tion to each other, and their bearing on past and probable bearing on
future progress.
AID IN PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
The Federal program of financial aid to States and private owners
begun in 1911 under the Weeks Act was designed to insure the con-
tinuous production of timber on the bulk of forest lands. It was
hoped that a Federal contribution equivalent to 25 percent of current
national needs for fire protection with an equal amount from the
States would lend sufficient encouragement to private owners that
they would go forward with plans to retain and manage their forest
lands as continuous timber-producing properties.
Sufficient time has not elapsed for full realization of benefits from
the act of 1911 and the Clarke-McNary Act of 1924, particularly
since Federal appropriations have averaged only about 50 percent of
the amount contemplated in the Clarke-McNary Act. In most of the
wealthier States, however, fire and other protection measures have
been advanced at a rate that indicates a healthy situation as to pro-
tection, very largely at State expense. All but one of the forested
States have organized fire protection work with some contribution
from public funds, but in many of those with relatively large acreages
of forest lands the funds so far provided are very far from adequate
for the job.
Owners of commercial stands of timber in the Northwest have con-
tinued to give a fair degree of protection to these properties with such
aid as they have received from the Federal Government and the
States. In the remainder of the country private expenditures for
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1333
organized protection have been small, although there has been some
increase in protection effort by individual landowners that does not
appear in the record.
All in all the possibilities of attaining in the near future an adequate
Nation-wide system of protection do not look promising under the
present system of Federal aid. While the aid extended to owners of
forest land through public assistance in protection has had an appre-
ciable effect in encouraging them to retain and manage their lands for
continuous crops of timber, the total results along this line have not
been large. Many other factors have determined and will continue
to determine policies of private land ownership and forest culture.
These limitations on its present effectiveness do not make public
aid in protection any less desirable or necessary. Pending the instal-
lation of other forest management practices by private owners or
through acquisition of forest land by public agencies, it is of para-
mount importance that young and old growth be saved from de-
struction or serious injury. Granting even that other forestry prac-
tices may never be installed, protection should still be provided, since
on most of the forest lands it is one of the largest single influences in
forest production.
It has, therefore, been the plan in this report to recommend exten-
sion of Federal aid to States in financing forestry programs to the
full extent that seems practicable under the principles established by
the act of 1911, i. e., that Federal funds for State use should be con-
ditioned under ratios that require active State participation and
under conditions that insure reasonable returns for moneys expended.
After exhausting these possibilities, it has appeared that the Federal
interest required a greatly expanded program that could be attacked
only under the plan of Federal acquisition, rehabilitation, and re-
search that has been recommended elsewhere in this report.
The program section entitled ''Protection Against Fire" defines
the protection needs for all forest land now in Federal and also in
non-Federal public and private ownership, sets up objectives for
future accomplishment, and estimates the funds that will be required
to attain these objectives.
Because of the difficulty of making an entirely satisfactory estimate
for private and non-Federal public lands in the South and the uncer-
tainty of reaching the full objective set up, an intermediate objective
which would more nearly represent the possibility of the next 15 to 20
years was specified. For the entire area of lands of this class it re-
mains to outline a more detailed program for the participation of all
agencies concerned.
In the section of this report entitled "The Probable Future Dis-
tribution of Forest Land Ownership," recommendations are made for
the acquisition by the Federal Government of 134 million acres of
forest land now in private ownership and for the acquisition of 90
million acres by the States. Should these recommendations as to
Federal purchase be carried out, the size of the job to be accomplished
through the direct Federal- and State-aid systems (direct financial
assistance to the States and landowners for protection by State
agencies) would be reduced accordingly. But public acquisition of a
large area of land will necessarily extend over a long period of years,
and be subject to a great many delays. One of the most urgent
present needs, as has been pointed out above, is to preserve existing
1334 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
stands and to create conditions that will result in the maximum
natural restocking and growth and the minimum drain from fire,
insects, and disease. Another most important need is the encour-
agement of cutting practices for the dual purpose of increasing pro-
ductive capacity of the land and income from it. It is not believed
that these needs can be fully satisfied without largely increased
public ownership or public regulation, or both, but pending accom-
plishments through these means it is important at once to extend
the necessary protection to all forest lands regardless of ownership.
The system of cooperative protection inaugurated by the Weeks
Law of 1911 and expanded by the Clarke-McNary Act of 1924 has in
the main worked out well and, as shown by previous sections of this
report, great progress has been made under it; but, as also shown,
the progress has been unequal in the different sections of the United
States.
Obviously, any Federal-aid system which matches State funds on a
definite ratio applicable to all of the States will result in a Federal
contribution to the better-financed States larger in proportion to total
needs than that to the poorer or more backward States. The extreme
of this in fire protection is illustrated by a comparison of State and
private expenditure in the middle Atlantic and southern regions. In
the middle Atlantic region State and private expenditures were in 1932
equivalent to about 90 percent of total average needs; to this was
added Federal participation equal to 17 percent of the total current
protection expenditures, thus providing funds more than equivalent
to the average needs for an adequate system of protection. In the
South, State and private expenditures do not exceed 8 percent of the
present needs (intermediate objective), and if Federal funds were
allotted in the same ratio to actual expenditures as in the Northeast,
Federal allotments would in 1932 have equaled only about 3 percent of
needs as compared with about 17 percent in the Middle Atlantic
States. Thus the large share of Federal appropriations would have
been spent in the States best able to take care of their forest lands,
and a smaller share in those whose forest acreage consists in large part
of cut-over lands which in their present condition are not attractive
to private interests and furnish a meager tax base on which the State
can raise needed revenues.
The above situation has been in part met in the past by the Federal
system of allotting to each State up to 8 or 9 percent of its total needs,
provided that it is spending enough annually to match the Federal
allotment on a 50-50 basis. Federal funds remaining after this allot-
ment is made are then divided among the States in which fire-protec-
tion expenditures go beyond this minimum, in the ratio that their
further expenditures bear to the total of all of the States.
Under the policy of limiting assistance to 25 percent of total current
costs, the Federal Government has lagged behind rather than led
the States and private owners in protection effort. So long as Federal
appropriations are held to 25 percent of total actual expenditure,
instead of being adjusted on the basis of total needed expenditure,
Federal assistance at the higher ratio which some State needs require
can only be given by the method of allotting less than 25 percent to
other States. On the other hand, if the ratio of Federal to total
expenditure were to be increased from 25 to 50 percent or any higher
percentage, the result would be, as was pointed out in Factors Affecting
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1335
Federal and State Aid, to call for an increased Federal appropriation.
For the present at least the same results can be attained through the
method of allotting to each State 25 percent of its total needs as fast
as the States can match such allotments on a 50-50 ratio. Tables 1
and 2 propose a financial arrangement for putting all forest lands
under protection during the next 20 years and are in accordance with
this plan.
It is, of course, obvious that such a program would result in a ratio
of Federal reimbursement higher in some States than in others for a
long time, possibly in some cases permanently. It is also recognized
that such a plan would not necessarily result in adequate protection
for all forest land in all of the States, because to bring that about the
States and private owners would have to provide all of the cost after
the halfway mark had been reached. It is a question of recognizing,
first, that the rate of reimbursement would be unequal, and, second,
that no perfect or perhaps no permanent scheme can be devised at
this time.
The situation with reference to State aid to private owners is
comparable to that described above, with a wider divergence in the
degree of public assistance rendered. In a large percentage of the
States protection of forests from fire has been recognized as a public
responsibility, the expense of which is met from general taxes. On
the other hand, several of the Northwestern States have not recog-
nized the principle of public aid in cost of protecting privately owned
forest land but make appropriations for protection of State-owned
properties.
The plan here proposed is to continue whatever scheme is in effect
in the different States, recognizing, however, that changing conditions
of forest cover and economics will affect the amount that landowners
can and will pay for protection of their properties, and that, after
making allowance for what it is estimated the landowners can pay in
those States where they are expected to contribute, and after adding
the Federal share, the States must provide the remainder if the job
is to be done.
Under the above-described plan, the State share of the total cost
varies from 75 percent in those States that have adopted systems of
protection wholly at public expense to 35 percent in some States
where it is estimated that as much as 40 percent of the total cost can
be obtained from the landowners.
In setting up the amount to be obtained from private owners,
E resent State systems of protection have been followed. In those
tates where the system of State-wide protection is in effect with the
public paying the entire cost, no estimate of private expenditure
has been included. In States whose systems of protection provide
for sharing the cost with the landowners, there has been included an
amount which it is estimated private owners would voluntarily
contribute if the States extended their protection systems as indicated.
Under the system now in effect, and of which the continuance is
recommended, the Federal amount remains the same regardless of
the source from which the States raise the remainder.
It is, of course, obvious that under any system of Federal aid,
which requires the matching of Federal by State funds on a given
ratio, progress can be made only at the pace set by the States. It
168342°— 33— vol. 2 19
1336 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
is therefore possible to indicate only the total possible requirements if
all States were to cover present needs in full and not the exact amounts
that Congress should make available from the Federal Treasury from
year to year. How much can be used must be determined as the
States gradually increase their appropriations for the work. Tables
1 and 2 show what the requirements may be for the next 5- and the
next 20-year period.
Likewise, in those States which make State aid contingent on a
definite showing of the expense by the landowners, the amount of
public funds called for will be contingent on what the owners are
prepared to match.
AID IN PROTECTION AGAINST INSECTS
The general situation as to insect attacks and a plan for meeting it
are discussed in the section of this report entitled " Protection Against
Forest Insects." Some phases of this job are on all fours with that of
protection against fire. The work logically divides into four main
classes; research, survey, local control, and control of attacks of
epidemic character.
It is believed that public appropriations for survey and control
work should be so worded as to make them available for assistance in
the necessary research work.
The survey and local control can be done largely by the field
organizations maintained for fire control, through extension of the
time of seasonal employees, provided men especially trained in insect
work are available for training and directing the fire control organiza-
tions in this work.
Control of insect attacks that have reached epidemic character
call for emergency appropriations and special emergency forces.
These can be best directed by Federal agencies, because of the infre-
quent occurrence of such attacks in any given State and the interstate
aspects of such attacks.
It is believed that the survey phase of insect control should be
financed by the public under the Federal aid system, with the Federal
Government and the State sharing expenditures at a ratio of not to
exceed 50 percent Federal. In actual control work on private land,
the owner will usually contribute to or pay the entire cost of the work
with supervision furnished by the State; and since insect attacks are
to a large extent confined to trees of merchantable size it is not be-
lieved that private expenditures should be recognized as reimbursable
by the Federal Government. No estimate of the private expenditures
involved are, therefore, included in the direct Federal and State aid
program. Estimates by experts in the Bureau of Entomology and
Forest Service men familiar with field conditions indicate the need of
approximately $500,000 annually for work of this kind on State and
privately owned lands. The organization needed for the work now
exists in part, and could be expanded to meet the situation within a
5-year period.
FEDERAL AID IN PLANTING
In the section of the report entitled " Reforestation of Barren and
Unproductive Lands" the need is shown for a very greatly expanded
program of Federal, State, and private planting if all of the forest
lands of the country are to be made productive and are otherwise to
measure up to their full possibilities in social and economic service.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1337
It is not believed, however, that the Federal and State aid system
is as fully applicable to the program of reforestation by planting as it
is to protection and extension. As was brought out in the section of
this report entitled " Factors Affecting Federal and State Aid," it has
been found impracticable to furnish private owners planting stock
free of charge. To do so results in a large wastage of money, since
many people ask for the trees who have no well-formed plans for
planting them, and who, in fact, may fail to plant them.
It has been pointed out that planting stock raised in large quantities
in State-owned nurseries can be furnished at low cost. It is believed
that all practicable public stimulus should be given to planting on
privately owned land and that as a general rule the public should
contribute one half the cost of producing nursery stock, this expense
being shared equally by the Federal Government and the States.
It is not believed to be desirable for the public to assist the landowner
in the expense of preparing the site or in the actual planting.
The planting program proposes a very large increase in planting on
State-owned lands. There are not the same objections to large
Federal financial participation in this that have been raised against
it on privately owned lands, but it is believed that the Federal Govern-
ment's financial participation should nevertheless be only nominal.
Here as in the case of land acquisition it is a question of investment in
publicly owned properties. It is not necessary or desirable that the
Federal Government and the States go into partnership with title and
control resting entirely in the one or the other. It seems more logical,
and less confusing, for each agency to spend whatever money it has
for planting on its own lands. Federal-aid to States is not therefore
proposed either for the growing of nursery stock for planting on State-
owned lands, or for its actual planting.
Recommendations have been made for broadening the scope of
section 4 of the Clarke-McNary Act in order that it may apply to
planting on other than farm woodlands. To carry put this and the
largely increased farm woodland planting would require the establish-
ment of many new nurseries, the expansion of present plants, and the
enlargement of present technical and supervisory staffs. It is in this
phase of the work that the Federal Government now participates,
and a continuation of such participation in a greatly enlarged program
would require some increase in the Federal and State appropriations.
A maximum annual Federal appropriation of approximately $350,000
and an equal amount by the States are indicated to carry out the 20-
year program.
FEDERAL AID IN EXTENSION
The section of this report entitled Forest Extension, an Appraisal
and a Program constitutes a discussion of the need for technical
advice and assistance in the management of forest lands, both on
farms and elsewhere. It proposes an increase from the present public
expenditures of approximately $160,000 per annum to a maximum
of $800,000 per annum under the Federal aid system, one half of the
funds to be supplied by the States and one half by the Federal Govern-
ment. The report proposes further that $500,000 or five eighths of
the total shall be used for advice and assistance in the management
1338 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
of farm woodlands and the remainder for lands in State and in other
forms of private ownership. It is believed that the importance of
this phase of forestry warrants the building up of an organization for
it as fast as qualified men can be provided, and that this can be done
within a 10-year period.
COSTS SUMMARIZED
Table 1 shows what is being accomplished now (1932) and what
might be done during the ensuing 5-year period if the proposed pro-
gram were put into effect immediately. It should be noted that
comparisons based on expenditures for any one year or for a period of
years are not an exact representation of protection effort. In most
of the States expenditures are very substantially increased during bad
years but, since conditions are never equally critical over the whole
country in any one season, the maximum of available protection
funds for the United States as a whole is never reached in any one
year. Thus in 1932 had the conditions in all regions been relatively
as critical as they were in the Middle Atlantic States, the total ex-
penditures for that year would have been nearer to 60 percent of the
adequacy figure, than to the 40 percent which they actually averaged.
Table 2 constitutes an estimate of possible accomplishments by
5-year periods for the ensuing 20 years.
In making up these tables, it has been the aim to suggest a plan
that would provide for a reasonably complete system of protection
and extension activities over all of the privately owned and the pub-
licly owned lands (other than Federal) by the end of the 20-year
period. The plan has also been to suggest a rate of progress fitted
to the relative possibilities of financing the program in the different
States so as to proceed as rapidly as possible toward the accomplish-
ment of the whole national program. This applies particularly in
fire protection where present systems vary from 15 percent to 100
percent of the needs in the different regions.
Obviously those States whose protection systems are already nearly
adequate can make the additional effort needed before many of the
others can have under way even a fair percentage of what is needed. It
is probably a safe prediction that, without the interposition of more
extensive forms of Federal aid, those regions in which consummation
of the protection program is indicated within 5 years will more nearly
accomplish that result than will the other regions complete their
programs in 20 years.
It should be emphasized that anticipated difficulty in financing
the fire-protection program is the only reason for indicating a gradual
progress in any region for more than a 5-year period. All of the States
have made the necessary legal provision for Federal aid in fire control.
All of them either have existing protection organizations that could
be sufficiently expanded within that time, or could create the organ-
izations needed.
The organization needed for insect control and extension activities
could be provided within a 10-year period if necessary funds were
available, although many States do not at the present time have any
basic legislation providing for such activities.
It is for such reasons that emphasis has been placed on the desirabil-
ity of the Federal Government increasing its participation in such ways
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1339
as will lend greatest aid to the States most backward in their protec-
tion programs. What is urgently needed is an extension of the pro-
tection system to State- wide or near State-wide proportions. After
that is done and the benefits from protection receive State-wide recog-
nition, it should be much easier for the States themselves to intensify
protection to the point of adequacy.
The planting program probably could likewise be pushed faster
than is proposed if funds were available. It involves, however, some
land classification, public acquisition, and a development of a plant-
ing technique that is more difficult, and consequently more time con-
suming, than is the case in protection from fire. The aim here has
been to indicate a rate of progress that would bring the activity up
to the average needed within a 20-year period.
1340
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
£ I
I <
J 1
09 OT
^ a
•8 §
«a S
e ^
35
1
Q
-e
Ills
n
ss
IsS
SI"
CM IO Tf
SS8
ss
88
si-
88
8
8
88
SI8
s
te
T
8S
§8
State
Priva
111
III
Total
Adeq
A NATIONAL
ll
<» fl
FOR AMERICAN
[8
FORESTRY 1341
S3 88 SS 88
88
ss
8
wt-'ei
i-i
~
OO
as
ll
8
»o o
"5
i§
S8
II
1|| || HI || If!
2 -3
A POSSIBLE PROGRAM OF PUBLIC REGULATION
By W. N. SPARHAWK, Senior Forest Economist
CONTENTS
Page
Division of responsibility 1343
Scope of State regulation 1345
Scope of Federal regulation 1347
Public obligations accompanying public regulation 1 349
Cost of program 1351
Conclusion 1352
As has been shown in preceding sections of this report, it is a
matter of deep public concern that our forests be maintained in
such a condition that they can continue to furnish timber, protect
watersheds, check erosion, and contribute in other ways to the
welfare of society. It has also been shown that there is a consider-
able degree of apparent conflict between the interests of society
as a whole and what individual forest owners conceive to be their
own interests, so that in pursuing his own objectives an owner may
frequently do great harm to other individuals or to the public.
Any public policy of forest conservation, whether it is built around
public ownership, public assistance to private owners, or regulation
of private owners, is based primarily upon the public's responsi-
bility for protecting the public values of forests. The imposition
of restrictions upon the handling of privately owned forests has
further basis in the universally recognized duty of government to
protect its citizens and their property against injury by others.
It is probable that the public interests can be served most effec-
tively and economically, and with a minimum of interference in
private enterprise, if the public owns a substantial portion of the
forests. On the basis of present trends, great expansion of public
ownership appears to be both desirable and inevitable. However,
it is to be expected that considerable time will elapse before the
public acquires all of the forest that should eventually be owned.
Moreover, a considerable area is likely to remain in private owner-
ship indefinitely. It may be desirable, therefore, to provide for a
moderate degree of public regulation in order to protect the public
interests and to redeem government's responsibility for protecting
lives and property. A program of public regulation which might
accomplish these purposes is outlined in the following pages. It is
presented here as a suggestion for the form which public regulation
might be expected to take, rather than as a program for immedate
adoption in all particulars. Even such a moderate program is likely
to be adopted only gradually, although several States have already
made a considerable start.
DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY
The minimum degree of regulation under which the public can
redeem its responsibilities is that which will prevent abuses which
directly injure other individuals or the public. Under our form of
1343
1344 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
government, the responsibility for preventing such abuse is shared
by the Federal Government and the States. Under certain condi-
tions the Federal Government clearly has jurisdiction; under other
conditions, although the national interest is also involved in a general
way, the responsibility is primarily the States'.
THE STATES' RESPONSIBILITY
Individual States have ample authority under the police power,
and it is their proper function, to prohibit practices on privately
owned forests which will harm the public or other individuals besides
the owner. In addition to such regulation as may be undertaken in
cooperation with the Federal Government for interstate or inter-
national reasons, each State should exercise such control as may be
necessary :
(1) To prevent injury to persons or property within the State, or
to property of the State or subdivisions thereof (including land or
other property which the public intends to acquire).
(2) To promote the public health, including prevention of stream
pollution, stabilization and protection of municipal water supplies,
preservation of recreation values, etc.
(3) To protect roads, railroads, waterways, and streams used for
irrigation and power purposes.
(4) To protect game and wild life in general.
(5) To promote the general welfare within the State by preventing
depletion and waste of resources and the consequent ruin of business,
industries, and communities, within the limitations established by
the constitutions of the State or the United States. States individ-
ually or jointly through compacts can probably act to prevent the
waste of forest resources, as California, Oklahoma, and Texas have
attempted to do in the case of gas and oil.
FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY
The Federal Government's interest in and responsibility for con-
serving forests have been recognized repeatedly by the Congress.
The act of 1897 provided for reserving and administering the
national forests "for the purpose of maintaining favorable conditions
of water flow and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use
and necessities of citizens of the United States." The Weeks Law
of 1911 provided for acquiring and managing forests, and also for
cooperating in the protection of private forests, to protect the water-
sheds of navigable streams. The Clarke-McNary Act of 1924 pro-
vided for contribution from the Federal Treasury to assist in the pro-
tection of forests in general, and for promoting forestry on private
lands, because the maintenance of forests was recognized as essential
to the national welfare.
Beyond question, the authority of the Federal Government is
paramount in the protection of forests or other property belonging
to the Government (including forests which the Government intends
to acquire), in the prevention of damage of an interstate or interna-
tional character, in maintaining the navigability of streams and har-
bors, and in the promotion of the national defense. Within these
limits jurisdiction of the States and the rights of individual property
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1345
owners are clearly subordinate. There can be no reasonable doubt
but that the Federal Government has the responsibility and the legal
right to exercise such control over both public and private forests as
may be necessary to accomplish these objectives. If the Federal
Government has the power to spend Federal funds in purchasing
forest land for these purposes and in restoring a forest cover on such
lands, it is logical to conclude that it also has the power to prevent
the destruction which will make such acquisition and reforestation
necessary.
SCOPE OF STATE REGULATION
FORESTS IN GENERAL
It does not seem to be practicable for either the States or the Fed-
eral Government at this time to require that private forests be man-
aged on a sustained-yield basis or under the supervision of foresters.
It is desirable, however, that each State should follow the example
already set by several States and adopt the following minimum
requirements with respect to all private forests except those so small
in area or so isolated that their destruction can harm no one but the
owner. It may also be desirable for States, groups of States, or the
Federal Government to cooperate with the forest industries in regu-
lating output so as to prevent waste of the resource and insure its
perpetuation through sustained yield.
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
(1) The creation of abnormal hazards should be prohibited.
These include large accumulations of slash; extensive clear cutting
where topography, soil, and climatic conditions favor excessive drying
out or rapid spread of fire; and careless use of fire, such as brush
burning or operation of railroad and logging engines without taking
due precautions against the start and spread of fires.
(2) To the extent that fire hazard arises from the activities or
negligence of owners or operators, they should be required to bear a
large share of the cost of prevention and suppression, either directly
or through support of organized associations, or preferably through
contribution to the State (special fire-protection assessment). They
should be also required to construct and maintain suitable firebreaks
around slashings or other areas where there is special danger of fires
starting or spreading. Protection of forest property against fire
hazards which do not result from action or negligence of the owners
should as a rule, be a responsibility of the public. An owner of a
forest, or any other sort of property, who pays taxes, is entitled to
protection against damage by outside agencies, at public expense.
PROTECTION AGAINST INSECTS AND DISEASE
In the case of serious insect or disease infestations which threaten
to spread to the forests of others, the State forester or other official
should be authorized to prescribe preventive or control measures,
where effective measures are known, and to require the interested
owners to cooperate in their execution, up to a specified maximum
cost per acre.
1346 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
NOTICE OF CUTTING
Owners or operators should be required to notify the State enforce-
ment authority in advance of any commercial cutting (i.e., except a
thinning or improvement cutting) of more than 5 acres. Advance
notice might be dispensed with where the operation follows a pre-
viously approved plan, but in that case the appropriate authority
should be notified on completion of the cutting, in order that the area
may be inspected to see that requirements for slash disposal, etc.,
have been complied with.
REGULATION OF CUTTING
Timber cutting far in excess of market requirements is contrary to
the interests of the individual timber owners as well as of society as
a whole. It tends to depress prices of forest products so low that the
owner gets nothing for his stumpage, and in many instances the
operator does not even recover the costs of logging, manufacture,
and distribution. Industrial chaos results. Much of the timber that
is cut is wasted, and the growing stock which is essential for con-
tinued timber production is unnecessarily depleted. Owners then
have neither the incentive nor the financial resources to keep their
land productive, and much of it, after being so badly wrecked that
it can produce nothing of value for many decades, sooner or later
reverts to public ownership. Consumers reap very little benefit from
the lower prices while they last.
It is obvious that orderly production, adjusted to the growth ca-
pacity of the forests as well as to the demand for forest products,
would in the long run be best for the timber owners and producers as
well as the consumers and the public as a whole. General public con-
trol over production is not advocated at this time. However, it may
be practicable for States or groups of States, or, preferably, for the
Federal Government to cooperate with the industry in working out
methods for stabilizing timber production and marketing which will
safeguard the interests of producers and consumers and the general
public. Cooperation of this character would be especially desirable
for the purpose of preventing waste of resources and demoralization
of industry in the Pacific northwest and in the South. Such an
arrangement should involve a sufficient degree of public control over
the allocation and rate of cutting and the management of the forest
to insure permanence of the industries in given economic units and
also might include public assistance to both operating and non-
operating timber owners.
PROTECTION FORESTS
Each State should provide for the classification of forests where
the maintenance of a continuous forest cover is essential in order to
prevent damage to persons or to public or private property.
The State should require that these forests be handled in such a
manner as not to jeopardize their protective value or endanger the
property or welfare of others. In general, this would mean merely
prohibition of deforestation, guarantee that cut-over areas will be
reforested by natural or artificial means, and maintenance of a forest
cover. Sustained yield management would not be required, but
should be encouraged.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1347
The decision as to classification should preferably be handled by a
State board, composed of qualified experts. It should be initiated
either by the board itself, or upon application of an interested State
department or of municipalities, associations, or individuals.
The general requirements should also be formulated by the State
board. Both in the classification of protection forests and in the
formulation of restrictions on their management, the board should be
required to consult the forest owners as well as representatives of the
local communities or other parties whose interests may be involved.
The State forestry department should be charged with the specific
application and enforcement of the law, subject to appeal to the
board.
Some, but by no means all of these protection forests will also be
classified as Federal protection forests, as provided below. In such
cases there should be no conflict of authority. Both State and
Federal governments should have concurrent jurisdiction to enforce
their respective requirements. Generally, however, the State and
Federal requirements will be similar. Where the State laws and
enforcement organization are adequate, the enforcement of Federal
requirements can be delegated to the State agency, subject to Federal
inspection and with appropriate Federal contribution toward the
costs.
SCOPE OF FEDERAL REGULATION
PROTECTION FORESTS
CLASSIFICATION
The first step in a program of Federal regulation would be to pro-
vide for classifying and listing the forests that should be subject to
Federal control because of their relation to navigable waters, to
national defense, or to national forests, national parks, or other
national property, or in order to prevent damage to persons or property
beyond the boundaries of a State. These might be termed "Federal
protection forests." Appropriate legislation should prescribe the
general principles upon which the classification is to be based and the
general methods of procedure, and should set up a suitable agency
with authority actually to carry out the classification. The classifi-
cation itself is a quasi-legislative task. One method would be for
Congress itself to designate protection zones by law, somewhat as
additions to the national forests in certain western States have been
handled since 1907. This method has certain merits, but probably
would be unnecessarily cumbersome. A better way would be to
authorize a suitable impartial commission or board to decide upon
the classification.
The National Forest Reservation Commission, which passes upon
proposed Federal purchases of forest land, might be reorganized as to
functions so as to become the classifying agency, under the name of
National (or Federal) Forestry Commission (or Board). This would
be appropriate and logical because the protection zones will correspond
in a general way to the areas within which the Government owns or is
acquiring forest land, and because a considerable portion of the pro-
tection forest now in private ownership may eventually be acquired
by the Government.
The Board should classify protection zones on its own initiative, or
upon application by the Forest Service, the Bureau of Chemistry
1348 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
and Soils, the Reclamation Service, the War Department, Federal
or State power authorities, a State, a city, an association of water
users, or any other group or individuals whose interests would be
affected by the treatment of forests in a State other than their own.
So far as practicable classification should be carried out under a com-
prehensive and systematic plan, rather than in a hit-or-miss fashion
on the basis of individual applications. Those areas should be classi-
fied first which the most obviously have protective value of more than
local significance. The classification should be made only after an
examination by experts, and after all interested parties have had an
opportunity to be hea,rd in support of or in opposition to the classi-
fication.
Logically, the Federal Government should have authority to prevent
devastation of any forest within a classified Federal protection zone,
regardless of its ownership. Ordinarily, a forest owned by a State,
county, or municipality would be conservatively managed without
Federal interference. In the comparatively few instances where this
might not be done, it is probable that a sufficient degree of control
would readily be^ relinquished to the Government in return for equi-
table assistance in fire protection, reforestation, and road building.
This contingency could be taken care of by authorizing the Federal
Board to enter into cooperative agreements with States, counties, or
municipalities under which their forests within Federal protection
zones would be handled in a manner approved by the Board and would
then be entitled to the same Federal contributions as those granted for
private forests.
RESTRICTIONS ON MANAGEMENT
Restrictions should be based on the general principles, which should
be incorporated in the law, that the forest must be maintained in such
a condition that it will continue to afford protection against erosion,
floods, and drought, and that it may not be handled in such a manner
as to jeopardize its own continued existence or to endanger neighboring
protection forests, forests belonging to the Federal Government, or
forests in other States. The same principles would apply in the case
of forests along the Canadian border, where mismanagement might
cause injury to forests or other property in Canada.
Methods of handling which tend to increase risk of fire, windfall,
insects, etc., should not be allowed. Deforestation of more than a
very small area (perhaps 5 or 10 acres) of these protection forests
should be allowed only by special permission of the enforcement
agency (with right of appeal to the Board). Such permission should
be granted only after examination on the ground, public hearing, and
agreement by the owner to reforest the land within a definite period
if it ceases to be utilized for other purposes. In case the land is par-
ticularly susceptible to erosion, permission to clear should be contin-
gent upon the owner's agreement to adopt preventive measures, such
as contour plowing or terracing.
Detailed regulations and restrictions should not be prescribed in
the law. These should be worked out for each locality by the enforce-
ment agency, in consultation with State or local advisory boards com-
posed of forest owners, State forest officers, representatives of munici-
palities, and other interested parties. The Federal Board should
decide in case of disagreement between the local boards and the
enforcement agency. The regulation should cover such matters as
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1349
fire protection, slash disposal, methods of insuring natural or artificial
restocking, methods of cutting (percentage of stand to cut, conditions
under which clear cutting is permissible, etc.), and restrictions on
grazing. Provision should be made for the reforestation of land which
is already denuded, including abandoned crop and pasture land, where
a forest cover is needed for protective purposes.
Within the limitations prescribed, an owner would be free to cut
when, where, and as he pleased, and no permit would be necessary.
Sustained yield management would not be required.
To facilitate inspection of the cutting, the authorities should be
notified each year in cases where an area larger than 5 acres is to be
cut over. In order to protect the operator, at least in the larger
operations, he should be allowed to submit a plan of work covering
method of cutting, slash disposal, provisions for fire protection, etc.
Upon approval of this plan, with such modification as might be agreed
upon, and as long as he operates in accordance with it, he should be
considered as complying with the law and should be free from further
restrictions. The Board should reserve the right, however, in case of
any material change in conditions, or in case the operation should be
evidently resulting in destruction of the protective value of the forest,
to require changes in methods, after due notice and hearing. Cutting
operations should be inspected regularly, and the inspectors should
have power to stop operations where the requirements are not being
complied with.
ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
The application and enforcement of public control over Federal
protection forests, other than those owned by the Federal Government,
might be carried out by agents of the Federal Board. In Sweden the
foresters attached to the county boards (local boards also) are respon-
sible for seeing that the regulations are complied with. They are
entirely independent of the State forest service, which confines its
activities to management of the public forests. In this country,
however, it would probably be better to have the Forest Service act
as the enforcement agency. The Service already has a certain degree
of responsibility for the promotion of private forestry and maintains
a staff of inspectors in connection with cooperative fire protection and
distribution of planting stock under the Clarke-McNary law. More-
over, the protection forest zones will embrace not only a large propor-
tion of the existing national forests but also large areas now in
private ownership which probably will sooner or later be added to
the national-forest system. It does not seem to be either necessary
or desirable, therefore, to create a separate agency whose functions
would to some extent parallel or overlap those already performed by
the Forest Service.
PUBLIC OBLIGATIONS ACCOMPANYING PUBLIC
REGULATION
As has been pointed out, a forest owner is not legally or morally
entitled to compensation for refraining from acts which would directly
injure the persons or property of others. Elimination or avoidance
of fire hazard resulting from his own operations should be entirely at
his own expense. At the same time, however, he is entitled to expect
1350 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
that the public will help to protect his property against fire and other
damage caused by others.
Protection forests, moreover, are in a sense quasi-public forests,
even though the private owner retains the title. The owner may be
required to sacrifice income or undergo expense purely for the benefit
of other individuals or the public as a whole. The cost of carrying
out such requirements, so far as they do not return a direct benefit
to the owner, should be recognized as an obligation of the public.
Public funds contributed for these purposes should not be regarded
as a bonus or gratuity, or as a bribe or bait to induce the owner to
adopt the desired practices. Adoption of these practices should be
mandatory; but the public, which enjoys the benefits, should pay the
costs.
THE STATES' SHARE
FIRE PROTECTION
Each State should provide fire protection for all forests within its
borders, except those owned by the Federal Government. The cost
should be paid partly from the State treasury (with such contribution
by towns or counties as may be agreed upon), partly by Federal con-
tribution (see below), and partly by a contribution from the owners,
either in trie form of a special fire-protection tax or in some other form.
Except for the costs of eliminating hazards resulting from operations,
all of which should be borne by the owners or operators, it would be
reasonable to expect the public (Federal Government, States, and
smaller units) to pay at least 50 percent of the protection cost for
ordinary nonprotection forest and 75 to 100 percent in the case of
protection forest. Where the owners are in no way responsible for
the fire hazard, public agencies should pay the entire cost of protection.
The States' share might be 25 to 75 percent for nonprotection forest,
25 to 50 percent for State protection forest, and 0 to 25 percent for
Federal protection forest.
In order that owners may know fairly definitely what protection
will cost them, in case they are required to contribute, it might be
desirable to provide that the assessments shall not exceed a fixed
sum per acre in any one year, and that the actual amount to be col-
lected in each year shall be determined by the State forestry board,
subject to this limitation. It might be desirable in some instances
that the State also collect a small assessment from the owners of
nonforest property which benefits directly from the maintenance of
the forests (e.g., water users, recreation interests, etc.). This is done
now by several California counties.
FOREST PLANTINGS
The State should furnish planting stock and technical advice and
supervision at nominal cost for afforestation in classified protection
areas, except where the land has been denuded in violation of the
regulations. In cases where owners may be required for reasons of
public interst to afforest land already denuded, the entire cost should
be borne by the public.
FOREST TAXATION
The State should provide that the assessed valuation of protection
forests (Federal or State) for purposes of taxation shall take into ac-
count any reduction in value due to restrictions on their management.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S SHARE
1351
Inasmuch as the necessity for preserving Federal protection forests
is based on national needs, and since the benefits will accrue primarily
to the inhabitants of other States rather than to the owners of the
land or to the States within which the forests are situated, it is equita-
ble that the Federal Government should bear a considerable share of
the costs of maintaining these forests, even where it does not own
them. It is proposed, therefore, that the Federal Government should
pay a large portion of the protection costs in addition to providing the
enforcement personnel (inspectors) and paying the costs of classification.
The Federal Government would be justified in paying 50 to 100
percent of the cost of fire protection for forests within the Federal
protection zones — the proportion to depend upon the relative benefits
from protection to the landowner, to the State or local community,
and to the Nation as a whole, and upon the extent of hazard due to
other causes than the owner's operation. The owner should bear
the full cost of slash disposal and other measures designed to avoid
the creation of hazard. The entire cost of protecting federally owned
land should, of course, continue to be borne by the Federal Government.
Because of the relation of forests outside the Federal protection
zones to the general welfare of the country, the Federal Government
is justified in continuing the present policy of contributing toward
the cost of protecting these. A reasonable ratio would be 50 percent
for forests within classified State protection zones and not more than
25 percent for ordinary nonprotection forests.
The division of protection costs would then be as follows :
Federal
Govern-
State
Private
Percent
Percent
Percent
Ordinary nonprotection forest
25
25-75
50-0
State protection forest . . -..
50
25-50
25-0
Federal protection forest
50-100
25-0
25-0
This arrangement would recognize the responsibility of the Federal
Government for insuring the protection of forests of interstate sig-
nificance, regardless of action by the States or the owners. At the
same time, it would respect the principle of cooperation with the
States in protecting forests in general, and hence would retain the
stimulus to State action that is provided by the Clarke-McNary law.
The above Federal contributions should apply not only to private
forests, but also to those owned by States, counties, or municipalities
and located within the designated protection zones. In the case of
such publicly owned forests, however, Federal assistance should be
granted only if and so long as the forests are managed in a manner
satisfactory to the Federal Board.
COST OF PROGRAM
The cost to the public of a program of regulation such as that out-
lined above can be estimated only very roughly, and with a very wide
margin of error. It would depend on how large an area should be
168342°— 33— vol. 2 20
1352 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN
classified as protection forest, and on the division of costs between
the public and the forest owners. The public would have to pay as
much or more if the forests were brought into public ownership. A
large portion of the costs would also be borne by the public under a
policy of public assistance to private owners, even if no regulation
were involved.
The major costs peculiar to a program of regulation would be the
expenses of the Feaeral and State forestry boards or their agents in
classifying protection forests and formulating regulations, and the
costs of maintaining a force of inspectors to see that regulations are
complied with. The work of the boards would be heavy during the
first few years, until the bulk of the classification is completed; after
that the task would be considerably smaller. Expenses of the Federal
board might be about $50,000 a year, and of the State boards about
$100,000 a year altogether. The preliminary task of classification,
which perhaps would be spread over a 5-year period, might cost alto-
gether $250,000 for Federal protection forests and $150,000 for
State protection forests. Enforcement of the law might require 50
to 60 Federal inspectors, at a total cost, including salaries, travel, and
clerical assistance, of about $500,000 a year. Additional cost to the
State forest departments for enforcing fire laws and restrictions on
State protection forests might aggregate $150,000 a year.
At a rough estimate, possibly 160 million acres of the present pri-
vately owned commercial forest area might fall within Federal protec-
tion zones, and 65 million acres additional within State protection
zones. This would leave about 172 million acres of privately owned
nonprotection forest. If the costs of protection should be divided
somewhat as proposed above, and if the total cost of protecting pri-
vately owned forests should be about $20,000,000, as indicated in
another section of this report (" Protection Against Fire")? the Fed-
eral Government would pay approximately $9,500,000 a year, the
States about $6,750,000, and private owners about $3,750,000. This
does not take into account the noncommercial forest area, a relatively
small proportion of which is privately owned, nor the abandoned farm
land that is reverting to forest but not yet classed as forest land.
CONCLUSION
The plan outlined above is in line with the policies which have been
worked out by a large number of countries that are in approximately
the same stage of economic development as the United States. It
recognizes the fact that a large proportion of our forest land will
continue for many years in private ownership. It seeks to avoid
interference with private property beyond what is necessary to safe-
guard the rights and welfare of the public. Except for requirements
designed to prevent the spread to other property of fire, insects, and
disease, mandatory regulation would be limited to classified protec-
tion forests, and there only when such interference is necessary. The
Federal Government would have jurisdiction over protection forests
where the injury threatens to pass State boundaries or to affect
Federal property or interests within the State. Beyond this, control
would be left in the hands of the individual States. In either case,
the control measures would be formulated largely by boards or
commissions in consultation with forest owners.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1353
The plan does not contemplate that the cost of maintaining the
protective values of the forest would be imposed upon the private
owners. It proposes to apportion the costs of the program in an
equitable manner between the Federal Government, the States, and
the forest owners, as nearly as possible commensurate with the bene-
fits to be derived. It endeavors to retain the principle of cooperation
in a form which would induce the willing acceptance of regulation by
forest owners, and which at the same time would insure that the
public expenditures in aid of private forestry will accomplish the
results that are intended.
As stated at the beginning of this section, a program of public
regulation such as has been described would supplement an acquisi-
tion program. It would aim at preventing the devastation of forests
which the public might later acquire, and at protecting the public
interests, to the extent that might be necessary, in forests which will
remain more or less indefinitely in private ownership. Public regu-
lation is not advocated as a general substitute for eventual public
ownership of a large proportion of the Nation's forest land.
ENLARGING THE CONSUMPTION OF FOREST PRODUCTS
By CARLILE P. WINSLOW, Director Forest Products Laboratory
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction: the changing demand for forest products 1355
The importance of maintaining and increasing consumption 1356
Action proposed and recommended 1357
Industrial organization and practice 1358
Transportation 1 358
Selective logging and sustained yield 1360
Integration of industries 1360
Production from small timber holdings 1361
Improvement of production 1362
Merchandising 1 364
Research in forest products 1365
Better use of wood in construction and fabrication 1367
More marketable products and lower costs 1372
Pulp arid paper 1379
Wood — its structure, composition and properties 1386
Cooperation in forest products research 1391
Meeting the challenge of consumption trends 1393
THE CHANGING DEMAND FOR FOREST PRODUCTS
There is the same call for aggressive, farsighted action in main-
taining the consumption of forest products that there is in providing
for the growth and protection of timber stands.
Upon the unparalleled timber resources of the United States hitherto
have been built industrial, financial, and commercial activities of
enormous magnitude, which in capital invested, in value of products,
and in labor employed, rank collectively in the foreground of our
national developments. Such facts, considered alone, might be taken
as a guarantee of the permanent place of forest commodities in our
civilization. But present industrial trends outweigh the past in ob-
taining a realistic picture of forest industry and its economic importance
to the country.
Wood in the past has for many purposes been practically the only
available material for use, and this has been a controlling factor in
pioneering and in the middle period of development in the United
States. Under primitive conditions, wood is the only fuel. Hun-
dreds of logs make the dwelling.
Even for crude machinery, wood serves as a ready makeshift. At
a later stage, with railroads opening up new farming, forest, and
mining territory, forest and sawmill products came into their own
for the settlement of the countryside and the rapid erection of whole
towns, with their full complement of stores, warehouses, and first
industrial plants. The wooden house becomes in a measure stand-
ardized and is then often elaborated as an expression of wealth.
Such developments are perfectly familiar to Americans. They mark
a very recent period of our history. Continuing to some extent even
now, they help to explain our relatively high per capita consumption
1355
1356 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
of wood. But the projection of an unlimited and uncontested use of
wood into the future is a matter of uncertainty that must be frankly
faced.
The declining trend in lumber markets since 1906 is amplv pre-
sented elsewhere in the chapter of this report entitled " Timber
Resources and Requirements." We cannot overlook the facts that
had the per capita lumber consumption from 1899 to 1909 continued,
the 1929 gross consumption would have been almost twice what it
was, and that in an era of prosperity and building activity perhaps
never reached before (1920-29), when the consumption of all other
major building materials was greatly increased, gross lumber con-
sumption actually decreased or barely held its own.
A review of present facts and tendencies of the market situation
leads to the inevitable conclusion that without positive and deter-
mined action to enlarge them, our requirements for forest products
in the future may not be what they have been in the past, either in
form or in quantity; that a high per capita consumption of forest
products in the past is no guarantee of high consumption in the
future; and that new forms and economies in the use of the basic raw
materials, such as are represented by developments during recent
years in steel-skeleton construction, veneered coverage, and large-size
structural units of light weight, may upset the most exact predictions
based on past experience. We must recognize that uses long held by
wood are being contested both by old materials refined by science and
by new materials of scientific origin, promoted with the aid of exten-
sive technical knowledge of their properties. Metal lath and window
sash, synthetic boards, all-metal automobile bodies and airplanes,
steel desks, metal doors and trim, composition floors, concrete bridges
and piling, asbestos and tile roofing, metal poles and posts, synthetic
wood alcohol — these are but a few illustrations of the prevailing
tendency toward substitution. The real and constant quest of
modern Americans for technical progress and improved products
and service are factors that must be candidly faced in planning for
the future. If in the case of any material, wood included, it is
assumed that it will stand for all time on the strength of its past and
present state of perfection, there is almost a certainty, because of the
increasing interchangeability of materials, that its use will diminish..
There is an essential distinction to be drawn here between the need for
wood as a cheap raw material for conversion by industry into salable
commodities in a highly competitive field, and wood or forests
essential in themselves for other purposes.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING AND INCREASING
CONSUMPTION
In future plans for forestry, persistent effort must be put forth
to retain, to recapture, and to expand the market for forest products,
which means the use of modern competitive methods that have come
into play in the development of other materials; nor is the motive
solely one of profits to particular forest-using industries.
Forest markets are an essential factor of land use. With action
which will bring assurance of future markets large enough, diversified
enough, and profitable enough, we can look forward to the permanent
and profitable use of millions of acres of land for commodity forest
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1357
purposes — land that seems to be suitable for no other purpose than
timber growing, or for timber growing in connection with other
services that a productive forest can render. Future supplies of
merchantable timber need not be sacrificed in hasty efforts to liqui-
date the entire forest wealth of the country. Wood, a resource of
basic importance in a wide variety of uses and one that is indefinitely
renewable, can be kept available for the American public, thus
insuring the advantage of possessing an abundant raw material
upon which to draw both in normal times and in national emergencies.
Through assured markets for forest products, hundreds of thousands
of workmen will be benefited both by a continuing wage and by the
social values of employment in a settled location. Huge investments
of capital in timber lands and industries can be kept productive.
Local governments can be assured a steady basis of tax revenues, and
States and communities can benefit from a continuing source of
wealth. A vital problem of farm land can be solved. In farm wood-
lands there are over 126 million acres, an area nearly one fourth
as great as the acreage of improved farm lands.
Beyond and in addition to the foregoing, there is one consideration
that alone would justify public interest in the broadening and stabili-
zation of forest markets. This is the investment that the Govern-
ment has at stake in its 140,000,000 acres of national forests in the
United States. With an ownership of more than 550 billion board-
feet of timber, worth, at a conservative estimate, half a billion dollars
on the stump, every 10 cents per thousand feet change in stumpage
value means a $50,000,000 change in the value of these holdings.
And stumpage values, of course, will go up or down as markets for
forest products go up or down.
ACTION PROPOSED AND RECOMMENDED
In the effort to hold, recapture, and expand the market for forest
products, definite accomplishment along four distinct lines is impera-
tive: First, a lowering of costs to the consumer; second, an increase
in satisfaction in the use of the products through improvement of
properties and qualities; third, the development of new products or
modified products; and fourth, the promotion of popular acceptance
and use of the products by all legitimate contributory means that may
be effective.
Fortunately, there are many favorable opportunities for such efforts.
In the first place, markets for forest products have been proving un-
profitable or unsatisfactory, at least in part, because of improper
selection of material, improper preparation for use, and improper
design of the commodity or structure, and not because the material
lacked the intrinsic properties desired. In the second place, chiefly
because of an abundance of raw material, the forest-using industries
have in the past utilized only from one third to one half of the actual
material grown or available on the stump. The remaining one half to
two thirds, which costs as much to grow as the portion heretofore
used, has been put to no economic use. This so-called waste material
holds great possibilities for the production of commodities which can
return an added profit to the production costs of stumpage. Further,
for any given production, efficiency in utilization means reduction in
forest cut. Such reduction of cut becomes at once translated into
1358 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
increased forest supply. This increase is of a form and character of
immediate rather than potential value. It is cumulative without
additional expense. A saving made today is repeated tomorrow and
perpetually thereafter. A board foot saved by improved utilization
becomes a board foot saved annually, thus augmenting our waning
timber supply, while also lowering production costs.
In the light of these objectives, the retention and enlargement of
forest consumption and markets is a problem of industrial efficiency
in production and distribution, of scientific and technical advance in
the improvement of forest products, and of general attitude and policy
reflecting public interest and support for the economic success of
forestry. The specific lines of action that are proposed here will be
taken up in that order.
INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION AND PRACTICE
Low production costs and a high degree of satisfaction to the con-
sumer call for important changes in organization and practices with
respect to forest holdings. In the face of a rapidly shrinking supply
of standing timber, the wood-producing and wood-using industries
from New England to California are confronted chronically with
flooding of markets and a profitless and demoralized price structure.
The results are seen in wasteful cutting and conversion of timber
stands, in sacrifices of quality strongly reactive upon the reputation
of the product, in hurried liquidation of present properties, and in
short-sighted disregard of regrowth. Examination as to the actual
prevalence and seriousness of such conditions is important, but the
facts are already sufficiently known and acutely enough felt to justify
study of remedial measures. Lumber is the principal commodity
from the forest and presents the most aggravated marketing problems.
Consequently major attention at this point will be devoted to that
product, although many of the requirements with respect to lumber
apply with equal force to other forest products.
TRANSPORTATION
Forest products are at a distinct disadvantage in the struggle for
lowered costs because of the heavy transportation factor. Lumber
carries a railroad freight cost averaging $283 for every $1,000 value,
compared with $263 for cement, $198 for common brick, $79 for iron
and steel, and $58 for wall board. In the decade 1914-1924 the aver-
age length of haul from mill to place of use increased from 360 miles to
725 as the nearer sources of supply approached exhaustion.
Improvement in transportation costs lies along three lines: (1)
Adjustments in freight rates, (2) elimination of unnecessary cross-
hauling, and (3) putting into maximum production those forest areas
closest to centers of use.
The principal action thus far to cope with transportation costs has
been that taken by the forest industries in securing more favorable
rates from the railroads and in utilizing the water route via the
Panama Canal. Kailroad rates are, of course, subject to further
change. Existing freight rates for commodities in general are the
resultant of slow adjustments over long periods of years as between
competing industries, sections, and public carriers. Lumber tariffs
have probably not reached the same degree of stability that exists in
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1359
the case of other commodities, because of the shifting centers of lumber
production. Active study may disclose that it is to the advantage of
both railroads and industry as well as to the public served to bring
about changes in the rate structure for lumber in particular. How-
ever, revisions large enough substantially to change the relation be-
tween competitive commodities seem unlikely. The possibility of
reduced transportation costs by means of inland waterways, such as
the Lakes-to-Gulf route, warrants careful scrutiny by timberland
operators.
The eKmination of the hidden but nevertheless heavy burden arising
from crosshauling is a factor to be taken into account. The National
Lumber Manufacturers' Association estimates that, of the annual
freight bill for lumber of half a billion dollars, one tenth is for cross-
hauling that is unnecessary. Few deliberate steps have been taken
actually to cope with the situation. It is axiomatic that to realize the
advantages of home markets the standards of efficiency in production
methods must be kept abreast of those in the regions most aggres-
sive in reaching out for distant markets. The concentration of sales
and promotion activities in those zones nearest to source of supply is a
logical thing for the forest industries to work out, as systematically
and energetically as possible. As each producing region studies its
full possibilities, considerable reduction in crosshauling should follow.
Important as reductions in freight rates and crosshauling are, basic
improvement can come only as the supply is brought closer to the
centers of consumption. Much land in the East from which timber
was cut in the earliest days is still forest land, but the growing stock
on these forests close to centers of population has not been adequately
maintained. Nevertheless, even the diminished output that has con-
tinued in this region has kept down the transportation factor to some
extent.
The bulk of high-grade lumber must necessarily be supplied by the
West until eastern and southern forests are thoroughly rehabilitated.
Meanwhile the large uses for lumber, at present at least, are for
sheathing, framing, concrete forms, boxes and crating — uses served
by such material as is now being produced in substantial quantities
from second-growth forests of the eastern and southern region and can
be relatively easily supplied in the future. Certain measures that may
confidently be anticipated to improve the competitive status of lum-
ber, such as treatments against decay, insects, fire, and shrinkage, are
as well met by second growth as by virgin growth. Also, for many of
the industrial uses of lumber, the increasing trend toward cutting of
the parts direct from the log at the point of production rather than
from lumber at the factory removes many of the present objections
to smaller second growth.
It is the production of the common grades of lumber from the East
and South that keeps the price of western lumber down, and of the
high grades from the West that keeps the price of eastern lumber
down. This competition is at the expense of "skinning" the growing
stock in the East and the leaving of tremendous waste in the woods in
the West. Building up the older age classes in the forests in the east-
ern half of the country is essential in the interest of eventual lower
costs. The owners of eastern timberlands have difficulty in compre-
hending this fact in the face of continued shipment of cheap western
timber. The need for measures looking to the wider acceptance of the
1360 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
facts is obvious, but reliance on education as now conceived is not very
promising.
Holding back the cutting of growing stock to safeguard future pro-
ductivity means, it is true, a higher average transportation cost for
the immediate present as a larger percentage of lumber comes from
the West. The loss in competitive position of lumber products that
might arise from this cause should be resisted by the development of
improved and economical timber products such as mill-fabricated
items, plywood for sheathing, concrete forms, siding, and the like.
From the single standpoint of minimum transportation costs it is
obvious that the North Atlantic States, the Lake and Central States,
and the South, by their greater accessibility to the chief centers of use,
warrant first attention in intensified forest management.
SELECTIVE LOGGING AND SUSTAINED YIELD
Markets are being supplied with lumber from private holdings at
higher production cost and of lower average grade than would be the
case if selective logging were generally practiced. It has been con-
vincingly established in every producing region that the smaller tim-
ber is handled at a loss in most lumber operations. In southern pine,
for example, the small trees are often cut at a loss of approximately
$10 per thousand board feet, which adds to the price at which the
larger timber must be sold to yield a profit.
Three important steps toward lowered costs become possible as the
principle of selective logging and sustained yield is put into effect:
(1) Elimination of material that fails to pay its way; (2) saving the
investment in plant, mill town, and forest land that in the case of
migratory operation must be charged off in the price of the products at
a rate as high as $2.50 per M for typical southern mills; (3) realiza-
tion of lower raw-material costs by making possible the stable opera-
tion of integrated secondary industries. The last point is considered
in more detail under the next heading.
From an economic point of view, timber owners can now hardly
afford to neglect the practice of selective logging wherever the charac-
ter of the timber permits. But often important obstacles to its
practice or privately owned lands remain to be overcome. Further
discussion of measures that are required to realize the benefits of
selective logging and sustained yield occurs elsewhere in this report.
The fact that needs to be borne in mind at this point is that substan-
tial reductions in current production costs are made possible by
selective logging.
INTEGRATION OF INDUSTRIES
Integration of the sawmill with pulping plants, veneer and dimen-
sion mills, and the like, is a major requirement for lowered costs. For
the most part, forest industries have been specialized, and each has
made its independent draft on the raw material supply. The result-
ing wastes are proverbial. However, enough has been accomplished
thus far by industrial integration to point out possibilities of improve-
ment. Within recent years the pulp industry on the West coast has
come to operate to a large extent on the waste from logging and saw-
milling operations, with the result that pulp mills 2,000 miles from
Chicago can compete with those 200 miles away. In the Lake States,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1361
in a few instances, the full run of the forest is sorted under an inte-
grated scheme of operation according to its suitability for the sawmill,
dimension plant, veneer mill, and distillation plant; or, in other forest
types, for the pulp mill, sawmill, box factory, and specialty plants.
In certain operations in the southern pine region, integration of
sawmills, pulp mills, and veneer and plywood plants has been accom-
plished. Large holdings that are being developed primarily for pulp-
wood contain saw timber or medium-sized trees that will grow to saw
timber size before the stands are cut for pulping. The plans call for
cutting the high-quality logs into timber products to defray a large
part^of the cost of stumpage, instead of pulping all material indis-
criminately. In Sweden the close integration of lumber and pulp
industries results in close and flexible utilization in accord with market
conditions, a diversification of product, and maximum value from the
raw material. Basically such developments are sound and, other
things being equal, are the way to minimum costs.
Integration is not necessarily confined to large plants and heavy
capital investments. Partial integration already exists in the small-
scale operations of sawmill, turning plant, and novelty factory in New
England ^and of tie mill, flooring plant, and spoke and handle factory
in the Middle West. For the most satisfactory functioning, however,
we must look to adequately financed and fairly large units.
It has been through integration of sawmill and pulpmill operation
that the greatest advances have been made thus far. It is between
these units that great progress in the immediate future may be looked
for in the virgin forests of the West and in the second-growth forests
of the South, although there are limits as to the part that the lulp mill
can play. There are good grounds for anticipating also a much wider
integration, on a smaller investment basis, between plywood manu-
facture and lumber production in regions where virgin timber is still
readily available and between pulpwood, naval stores, and timber
products in the Southeast.
It is not to be assumed, of course, that all production from the forest
will be on an integrated, diversified basis. Lumbering on a small
scale lends itself to individual effort, particularly in regions where the
timber supply is scattered, and account must be taken of the fact that
small independent operations will always play a part in the ultization
and marketing situation. Integration in this country has not pro-
gressed to the point where it is more than an indication of the part
that it must play if large-scale markets for forest products are to be
maintained. The way to the realization of its benefits must be kept
open through continuing research and organizing and management
effort.
PRODUCTION FROM SMALL TIMBER HOLDINGS
Portable sawmills share responsibility to a greater degree than
large ones for putting out substandard products which undermine
confidence in lumber. By stressing cheapness, small mills have
played strongly into the hands of those elements in the building trade
that have engaged in speculative building and shoddy construction.
So unskillfully has the product been marketed that it has constantly
disturbed the equilibrium of the entire price structure. A large
proportion of the remaining saw timber, particularly in the eastern
half of the country, is in farm woodlands for much of which the small
sawmill is the strongest bidder in sight.
1362 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Fortunately, there is now a strong trend toward improved quality
from the small mills, so far as accuracy of manufacture is concerned.
It is becoming recognized that small mills properly designed and
operated and cutting good timber can produce good lumber. In a
growing number of instances capable business men directly or in-
directly are managing the operation of groups of small mills. But it
is the existence of large numbers of both good mills and poor mills
that brings up for serious consideration the small mill as a factor in
future marketing developments.
Small mills have always shown a marked sensitiveness to business
conditions. Their credit is generally limited, and, while they increase
rapidly and their added production tends to hold down prices on the
ascending side of the business cycle, on the descending side they
reach their credit limit quickly and drop out. On the assumption
that flexibility of quantity and stability of price are desirable, limited
credit may here seem to be beneficial. On the other hand, in strength-
ening the competitive drive in the lumber market, limited credit
appears as a detriment by forcing a glut of products on the market.
Measures for strengthening the credit of small sawmills have been dis-
cussed by the industry. It is important to realize, however, that
measures that do not also work to the benefit of the owner of the stand-
ing timber will merely foster the increase in output of the least
efficient mills.
The key position in adjusting small-mill production to requirements
of orderly manufacture and marketing is held by concentration plants
buying rough lumber from these local units. In the case of softwoods,
practically all the lumber produced by portable mills is finally seasoned,
surfaced, graded, and put on the general market by concentration
plants. In hardwoods, which are commonly sold rough, the output is
but infrequently graded or marketed through comparable central
units. The nucleus around which improvements can be put into
effect are thus present in the one case but lacking in the other. The
small-dimension-stock plant appears as the most logical unit to take
the place among portable hardwood mills that the concentration
plant now holds with softwoods. Fundamentally, control must be
hinged upon demonstrating to the concentration units the advantages
to them of improved operating practices.
A measure of the effectiveness of counsel, demonstration, and
education will be available from what the Southern Pine Asso-
ciation is now attempting among small-mill operations in its
territory. The program of this organization is more systematic and
extensive than any other thus far undertaken. The aim is to aid the
small mills in their weakest spots with higher standards of manu-
facture, seasoning, grading, and, particularly, marketing. Success in
this industrial program will indicate that similar measures can be
depended on for small mills in other producing regions; failure would
suggest that control must be worked out by more drastic measures.
If the small mill continues to hold its present position, the best
markets for lumber cannot be protected in the future unless marked
improvements are put into effect.
IMPROVEMENT OF PRODUCTION
Much dissatisfaction with lumber is due to shortcomings that are
onder the control of the manufacturer and that technical research
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1363
has already shown how to correct. There are three lines of improve-
ment entirely beyond the experimental stage that are clearly capable
of putting production on a sounder basis: (1) Moisture content control
through better seasoning; (2) improved selection and grading; (3)
making decay-resistant lumber generally available.
The shrinking of lumber after being built into a finished product
provides one of the most prolific sources of dissatisfaction with the
performance of wood. In one part of the country the point has been
reached where a group of building and loan associations refuse to
finance homes constructed of a species that is customarily shipped
green and undersize into that region. The remedy — to use only
seasoned wood — is clear but too frequently ignored by producers who,
more than the other groups involved, have a controlling hand in the
matter.
The moisture content at which lumber for different building pur-
poses is stabilized with reference to shrinkage is known. Com-
mercial shipments of building lumber as a rule deviate widely from
the plain requirements. Practical methods to measure the moisture
content and drying equipment to produce uniform seasoning are
readily available on the market. The necessary improvements need
only to be put into effect. For its own protection, the lumber in-
dustry should see to it that seasoned lumber is made more practical
to obtain and that the use of unseasoned lumber is limited to places
where its subsequent seasoning and shrinkage will not be harmful.
The present principles of grading, so far as the bulk of the lumber
output is concerned, are essentially those of years ago, when com-
petition between building materials was less keen than at present.
Despite the degree of progress registered in the adoption of American
Lumber Standards, the prospective buyer of lumber is now faced with
a bewildering array of species, specifications, and conflicting claims.
Furthermore, the lumber grades bearing the same name in different
species often differ widely in quality. Confused and skeptical, the
prospect often turns to other materials easier to specify and offering
more satisfactory guarantees of quality. Architects, with whom
rests to a large degree the choice between wood and other materials,
have strongly criticized the present lumber grading system. While
leaders in the lumber industry recognize this dangerous situation and
are taking steps to remedy it, market requirements call for prompter
action. The Timber Conservation Board has recommended some-
thing in the nature of a "pure food law" for lumber that would re-
quire shipments of lumber and timber in interstate commerce to be
graded and indentified in accordance with publicly recognized
standards of grading and inspection. The desirability of careful
selection of species and grades for the more exacting uses can hardly
be overemphasized.
Resistance to decay and insects is a property in great demand for
material that must be used in damp places, in contact with the ground,
or wherever moisture tends to accumulate in the wood. While resist-
ance can be provided to some extent from the heartwood of naturally
durable species, it must frequently be provided artificially by impreg-
nation with suitable preservatives. Properly preserved timber, with
few exceptions, is not easily obtained by the rank and file of lumber
users. Attempts are being made in several parts of the country to
make suitably treated timber available through retail lumber yards.
1364 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
They will no doubt succeed in the course of time, but they need to be
expanded and strengthened. Much care is required to assure that
only well-treated material is provided.
MERCHANDISING
Lumber, the principal forest product, has thus far largely "sold
itself." Several factors, unnecessary to enumerate, have contributed
in the past to a strong position for lumber and obviated the necessity
of strongly organized merchandising effort. But conditions of the
past no longer prevail. Lumber is contesting with other materials
for practically all its markets, and there is now imperative need for
promotional effort in the broad sense. Until up-to-date merchandis-
ing has had a chance to show its full effects, previsions of permanently
inadequate markets lack realism from the economic point of view.
In the long run, merchandising effort must be based, first, on sound
foundations of quality and technical control, as discussed in preceding
paragraphs, and, second, upon coordinated sales policies that insure
to the consumer material of the type and quality to meet his particular
requirements.
The groundwork has already been laid in American Lumber Stand-
ards for fundamental improvement that is well within the hands of
the trade to put into effect, either by itself or with the aid of public
agencies in certain respects. Standard grading and grade marking
are measures that are particularly needed as a guaranty of quality in
which the consumer can put his confidence. It is even more essential
that the lumber industry itself take cognizance of the species and
the grades and qualities within a species that are inherently suitable
and justify promotion for a given use.
Organized demonstrational and educational effort must be applied
to focus attention of the buying public upon the merits of wood prop-
erly prepared and selected, and how to avoid dissatisfaction in its use.
Mistakes of design and construction to be avoided — as, for example,
the use of untreated wood in damp locations, or lack of measures for
fire-resistance — must be made plain to the users.
Many prejudices against lumber will disappear as the producers
take a firmer grasp of quality control and preparation of the product.
Others will be removed only by educational work. For the technical
buyer, especially, data regarding the properties of wood and its use
in engineering structures must be made available in manuals and
textbooks comparable to those available to him in the use of other
materials.
The merchandising that will be effective in holding and extending
markets for lumber products involves not only attention to the major
established outlets but also recognition of new deeds and latent wants,
and provision of ways to meet them through the use of lumber. For
example, good roads and the automobile (still too largely unhoused)
open to the masses opportunities for recreation, which in turn offer
new possibilities for lumber if satisfactory cottages and camps can
be made available on a low-cost basis. Only active merchandising
can develop such possibilities. The widespread desire of home owners
for wood paneling and finish presents another challenge and oppor-
tunity that only effective merchandising can meet. City dwellers are
still inadequately housed, and farms are getting but a fraction of the
buildings and repairs that they need.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1365
Only when lumber and other wood products are presented to the
consuming public in the best possible condition, with adequate demon-
stration of their merits, with a catering to unsatisfied desires, and in
accord with the findings of research, will it be time to consider whether
the national market for such products is indeed " inadequate".
RESEARCH IN FOREST PRODUCTS
It is submitted here that scientific research in wood and wood
products, steadily prosecuted and the results applied, can be followed
up to large practical gains in the production and marketing of the
forest yield — in the lowering of costs, in insuring greater satisfaction
to the consumer in the service of the product, and in opening the
way to new products and enlarged uses.
Other products have felt its influence ; in fact, scientific research is
the foundation and pattern of the industrial age. Through research,
products have been refined and diversified, new materials developed,
mass production in old and new lines made possible with consequent
cost reductions, and mass consumption awakened beyond the con-
ception of past generations. Most of our modern industries — steel,
aluminum, and other nonferrous metals, alloys, glass, ceramics, re-
fractories, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery, textiles, plastics, cement,
chemicals, electricity, etc. — have come to depend on the research of
the scientists and the technician for their continued progress and the
expansion of their markets.
With iron and steel, for instance, it was primarily the lowering of
production costs through the development of the Bessemer process,
followed later by the development of the open-hearth process, which
enabled structural steel to be marketed at prices which have resulted
in the use of millions of tons. It was the microscopic and phase-rule
studies of the coarser and finer crystal structure of steel that enabled
research to correlate crystal structure with strength properties, and
that have guided the development of steels of such innumerable
different properties as manganese steel, which is hard and tough and
used in grinding machinery; tungsten steel, which is self-hardening;
vanadium steel, which withstands shocks better than other steel;
chrome steel, indispensable in cutting tools; nickel steel, which resists
corrosion; duriron, which resists the attack of acids; and stainless
steel, containing chromium, which retains a mirrorlike surface in-
definitely. Without these successful efforts to lighten, strengthen,
and cheapen the material, our sleek and satisfactory automobiles of
today would still be the lumbering tractorlike vehicles of the early
nineties, and our rapid-fashioning machinery would be impossible.
Aluminum, industrially speaking, is a comparatively "new"
metal. For years it was known that it was the most extensively
distributed of the metals, making up about 7 percent of the earth's
crust. It only awaited a means for obtaining it cheaply in metallic
form from the clays and rocks in which it occurs. One hundred
years ago it sold for $160 a pound. Research had brought down this
cost by successive stages to $4 a pound in 1886, at which time the
present electrolytic process was discovered. This discovery finally
placed aluminum production on a remunerative commercial basis
and was responsible for an output of more than half a billion pounds of
1366 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the metal in 1928. Today, through continued intensive research, the
cost has been further reduced and the quality and strength have been
improved to such an extent that aluminum and its alloys are already
competing with steel in important structural uses, while wider
markets are being opened up in paints, coatings, welding, sheet uses,
and machinery.
Research in glass composition and manufacture has brought about
three revolutionary developments in the last 20 years — the pro-
duction of Pyrex glass, improved optical glass, and shatter-proof
glass — all to the great advantage of American industry. The present
rayon industry, with production values at $150,000,000 in 1929, is a
direct outgrowth of research carried out with the purpose of duplicat-
ing the product of the silkworm. The development of cellulose
lacquers has opened up an entirely new chapter in automobile and
furniture finishes. To cellophane, another new research product in
the cellulose group, has been awarded the credit for a considerable
share of the financial success of one large corporation during the
depression. Research in the preservation and refrigeration of foods
has practically "reversed the seasons" and has been the foundation
of enormous industrial developments of late years. Long and
patient research in the fixation of nitrogen has at last made it possible
to extract from the air the most essential fertilizing element for our
soils.
Over against the large body of American industries that have
enjoyed significant progress and profit through research, the majority
of wood industries seem to occupy a place apart. Scientific standards
have rarely been the controlling factor in logging, for instance, or in the
production and use of lumber. The use of wood is guided less by
modern technology and more by traditional business practice and
artisans' rules. It is a fair assumption that, in the strenuous com-
petition of industries for present-day markets, neglect of funda-
mental and applied research on a given material will impose a severe
handicap on its use. Only in certain fields of chemical utilization —
such as pulp and paper, rayon, and plywood — has wood maintained
or improved its position as a basic material, and it is in these par-
ticular fields that research has been most actively supported and
applied.
Along with the development of scientific and technological re-
search, there must be increasing attention to all of the economic factors
involved. Without such information, authentic in source and com-
prehensive in scope, neither the selection of specific research projects
nor the effective application of the results can be guided most soundly.
As an example, in the field of pulp and paper research the proper
choice of species for first study and the adoption by industry of the
results, if successful, both depend on knowledge of the cost and future
supply of these and competitive species, as well as knowledge of pro-
duction costs, transportation costs, and their relation to and effects
upon competing production. Problems of this nature are so im-
portant and complex that they must be recognized and adequate
research organized for their solution. To be most effective, such
research should be closely coordinated with the scientific and tech-
nological phases of the work.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1367
BETTER USE OF WOOD IN CONSTRUCTION AND FABRICATION
Research must show the way to radical improvements in wood con-
struction. The convenience, low cost, and other advantages of wood
must be combined with simplified, efficient, and cheap design and
erection, and better preparation and maintenance of the material, to
produce more durable and economical structures. Wood has lost
ground competitively because of insufficient technical progress in its
use. Since more than 60 percent of the lumber produced in the
United States is used in the construction of buildings, it is especially
important that this market be retained and expanded. Intensive
research vigorously prosecuted offers the only practical way to keep
wood abreast of the continuous technical progress being made by its
competitors and thus to avoid unnecessary substitution of com-
petitive materials for wood.
UNIT CONSTRUCTION
Wooden houses cost too much. Present designs and methods of
building coupled with the normal tendency toward higher wages and
shorter hours have reacted to discourage building. The obvious
answer is mass production of wood units that can be assembled
quickly and inexpensively, in line with similar developments that are
occurring in steel and concrete housing. The progress that has been
made thus far is entirely inadequate.
Research therefore has an urgent practical objective in seeking to
develop practical forms of wooden-unit construction for dwellings and
larger buildings. Full-scale tests of special forms of wall, floor, and
roof units should be made. One type of material that offers itself
for use in large units is plywood. Ready-made plywood wall sections
embodying self-contained insulation may prove an economical and
satisfactory replacement for the present composite wall of wood and
plaster. The development of such untis involves several phases of
research — practical and efficient design; tests for strength and weather
resistance; the production of a cheap, permanent, water-resistant
glue; and of sightly, weather-tight joints. Another possibility is the
development of built-up lumber units of an interlocking type. In any
kind of unit construction, the design of the structure as a whole
requires adequate architectural study to insure acceptable variety,
appearance, and convenience.
ENGINEERING RESEARCH
Great improvements in building construction can be made without
waiting for the development of mass production. Built-up wooden
columns and glued laminated arches and beams should replace much
expensive solid timber. They permit better selection of the wood for
quality, favor refinement in design, conserve the large sizes of timber,
arid make possible the utilization of smaller, cheaper units of lumber.
Laminated wooden arches are especially suitable in the construction
of halls, hangars, and other buildings of large open span and are
finding extended use in Europe. They need thorough testing and
adaptation to American use. The Forest Products Laboratory has
investigated the problem of the built-up column and determined a
168342°— 33— vol. 2 21
1368 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
form of construction that is cheaper and approximates the strength
of solid timber. At present, effort is directed toward the production
of a glued laminated beam that will require high-grade lumber only
at the top and bottom, where stresses are highest, and can utilize
low grade and short-length material to fill in. Accomplishment of
this objective will make available beams of better and more uniform
quality and will lead to closer design, lower costs, and increased
markets for low grades of lumber.
Conventional joints and fastenings in heavy timber construction are
inefficient. Modern engineering efficiency and high costs of material
will no longer permit lavish use of material to obtain strength and
rigidity. Methods must be improved so that joints of greater du-
rability and reliability can be made at less cost and with more efficient
utilization of the strength of the wood. Marked progress has re-
cently been made in determining strength values for nailed and bolted
joints and correcting previous handbook figures that varied as much
as 600 percent. Further work for research lies in determining the
holding power of screws in different woods and in developing metal
jointings in the nature of dowels or keys to supplement bolt bearings
in structural members. Experience abroad indicates that wood
adequately jointed may successfully contest the market in large
and increasingly important uses, such as radio masts, transmission-
line towers, and higheay bridges.
The basic design factors of wood structural members are not
sufficiently knowTn. Timber structural design at present is a process
of approximation. In the average wooden structure there are parts
vastly oversized for the strength required and others inadequate to
resist racking, bending, compression, and other live-load effects.
Since we must consider three axial directions in wood there are 3
Young's moduli, 3 shear moduli, and 6 Poisson's ratios, or 12 elastic
constants to be taken into account. To compute rightly the elastic
behavior of wooden members under stresses requires experimental
determinations and the development of engineering formulas far in
advance of those now available.
An example of the practical benefits to be gained today by a revalua-
tion of design factors in wood members is the more satisfactory and
economical design of bridge beams in shear advocated by the Forest
Products Laboratory and recently adopted by engineering profes-
sional bodies. Acceptance of the new rule means that railway and
highway bridge stringers can be sized to meet actual shearing stresses
rather than the stress figures formerly used, which often exaggerated
the actual condition by 50 to 100 percent. Wooden bridge design
has been made more exact and the sizes of beams have been brought
more closely within the range of commercial production, so that
there is less reason to turn to more expensive material.
Greater attention must be paid to designing wooden structures
for appearance. The very great economy of treated wood for high-
way bridges and similar purposes is frequently ignored because
other structural materials are believed to produce more pleasing or
imposing structures. Introducing art into wood-bridge design will
serve the double purpose of expanding the markets for wood and
getting larger returns on public expenditures.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1369
FIRE RETARDANTS
The development of a complete, inexpensive fire-resistant treat-
ment would do much to regain immense markets for wood that are
now closed. Building code and underwriters' requirements limit the
use of wood for exterior walls in residential, industrial, and com-
mercial buildings in urban areas. To a less extent wood framing
is handicapped in competition with less combustible materials.
Fire-resistant treatments are now available but too expensive for
general use. Recent studies encourage hope for marked improve-
ment. Several highly effective chemicals are known, and combina-
tions of certain chemicals give promise of even better results in
respect to economy, noncorrosive effect, permanance, and other
advantages. A combined treatment ^ embodying fire resistance,
decay and insect resistance, and reduction of shrinking and swelling
properties is a major objective that may ultimately be attained.
PREVENTION OF SHRINKAGE
A successful treatment to prevent shrinking and swelling would
do more than any other single accomplishment to simplify and
cheapen the use of wood in doors, sash, trim, furniture, floors, and a
host of other wood products. It would also result in so much better
service and satisfaction that the popularity of wood for these pur-
poses would increase, and expanding markets would inevitably
result. Chemicals have already been found that reduce the shring-
age as much as 90 percent, but the wood so treated shows a decided
tendency to become wet and drip in a very damp atmosphere. The
problem is to find new chemicals of high effectiveness that are free
from this and other disqualifying objections or to find ways to change
the injected material to nonhygroscopic forms. Increasing knowl-
edge promises that the desired result is by no means impossible.
PREVENTION OF DECAY
Decay is a major menace to the permanence of wooden structures.
Unprotected wood in service is being lost through premature decay
at a rate comparable hi magnitude only%with the destruction caused
by forest fires. Research and experience have shown that decay
prevention is possible by the proper use of preservatives and often
by improvements in design and construction to avoid the conditions
that favor decay. Railroads and other public utilities annually treat
millions of cubic feet of ties, poles, piling, construction timber and
miscellaneous lumber with creosote, zinc chloride, and other preserva-
tives. The serviceable life of the wood is increased two to ten times,
and enormous financial savings result. Wood is thus enabled to re-
tain large markets which would be closed to it if only the relatively
short life of untreated wood under decay-producing conditions were
attainable. The sphere of research in the continued development of
wood preservatives and treating processes is very large, necessitating
the collaboration of the engineer, the physicist, the chemist, the en-
tomologist, the plant pathologist, and the toxicologist.
The desirability of lower treating costs is obvious. The danger of
reducing the strength or causing unsightly defects during treatment is
very real. The total recognized loss in value from this source amounts
1370 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
to a large sum annually. The unrecognized losses undoubtedly are
still greater. Refinements in treating technic resulting from research
and the development of milder but effective treating schedules can
eventually reduce these losses to an insignificant amount. These
same improvements can also decrease the very appreciable losses that
result from inadequate or ineffective treatments and can lengthen the
average life obtainable from treated timber.
Adequately treated timber is not readily available to the average
small consumer. The undesirably high cost of thoroughly treated
timber and the lack of adequate distribution machinery have limited
its use principally to consumers who can purchase in large quantities.
Greatly expanded markets await the developments that will overcome
this obstacle.
A special need for research is in the development of effective but
inexpensive decay-resistant and insect-proofing treatments of lumber
for dwellings and general building construction. The preservatives
must be substantially odorless and colorless, satisfactorily paintable,
cheap, permanent, simple in application, and harmless to man. The
definite progress that has been made in this direction must be greatly
extended. Public demand is already insistent.
Proper design and construction can eliminate much of the decay
and insect attack in dwellings that is now costing home owners large
sums of money. Investigations have already shown that contact of
wood with the ground must be avoided, adequate ventilation pro-
vided around all wood near the ground, and all practical precautions
taken to keep the wood dry. While the application of present
methods of control will aid materially, a survey of existing conditions
followed by an evaluation of the factors affecting decay and insect
damage is badly needed to indicate the most efficient methods of
eliminating building losses that are all too prevalent at present.
PAINTING AND MOISTUREPROOFING
The painting of houses and other woodwork constitutes an expen-
sive item of maintenance that must be reduced. It is often the factor
that determines the choice of other building materials in preference
to wood. The Forest Products Laboratory has shown why the paint-
ing problem is more serious with some woods than with others. The
general remedy, however, is not yet at hand, because our most
abundant construction woods are the ones hardest to keep painted.
It seems necessary to find paint vehicles more permanent than any
now known. In the whole storehouse of nature and modern science
some combination of pigment and vehicle must be possible that will
cling to wood like part of its own substance and furnish the artisan
with a material he has never dared hope for. If such a combination
is possible it remains for chemical research to find it.
There is a constant demand for moistureproof coatings for wood.
No simple costing process has yet been found that is more than about
75 percent effective in preventing moisture changes, and this degree
of effectiveness gradually decreases upon continued use or exposure.
Highly effective and durable coatings would find extensive use and
would greatly improve the performance of wood in such products as
boats, airplanes, furniture, and a wide variety of factory products.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1371
GLUING
The development of a cheap glue that will be as strong, as reliable,
and as permanent as the wood itself will enormously expand the
opportunities in the economical and profitable use of wood. The
glues thus far developed by research from blood, animal tissue, casein,
vegetable proteins, and phenolic resins are excellent in many ways
and a great improvement over those available in the past. As yet,
however, they all fall short of the ideal in several respects. Today
the woodworker takes great pains to dry his lumber carefully and to
bring it to the proper moisture content for gluing with minimum
trouble. Then, with most of the glues available, much of this tedious
work is undone by putting back into the wood a large amount of
water along with the glue. Not only must time be taken to dry the
wood again, but many perplexing difficulties of woodworking arise
from the sweeling and shrinking of fine surfaces and carefully made
glue joints owing to glue moisture changes. Glues that contain no
water are being developed. The active aid of research is needed to
make them cheaper, better, and more generally adaptable to all kinds
of gluing.
DESIGN OF FABRICATED PRODUCTS
The most efficient design of shipping containers is handicapped
because of lack of specific knowledge of the hazards of transportation.
The work of the Forest Products Laboratory in the design of wooden
boxes and crates has been largely instrumental in bringing American
containers and packing methods from recognized inferiority to
recognized superiority and in reducing freight damage claims by
millions of dollars annually. But this is not sufficient. Further
study and surveys are necessary to determine the nature and causes
of damage to containers and their contents in both domestic and
export shipment and to translate the needs of shippers into terms of
wood. properties. The importance of this work is measured by the
present consumption of wood in shipping containers, which takes one
sixth of our lumber cut and a large and increasing proportion of our
pulp production.
In the same way as for boxes and crates, the available data on
wood properties should be applied to the fundamental design problems
of other fabricated wood products. To almost every manufacturing
industry using wood, a more perfect knowledge of the material and
its properties and better means of turning its properties to account
in service would conduce to improved wood products and markets.
In the auto-body industry, for example, keener selection and evalua-
tion of wood for posts, sills, and rails would avoid defects of weakness
and brashness now sometimes encountered, would perhaps extend the
range of usable species, and would retain the elastic riding qualities
of wood coachwork, while suitable preservative treatment would
eliminate the decay hazard, and better gluing and jointing would
guarantee strength and long service life. Wood is and has been
used in thousands of manufactures, from barrel staves to Pullman
interiors, but its supremacy for these uses is by no means permanent
or assured. To maintain or increase the market for wood obviously
calls for more competent technical knowledge of the material and
better use of that knowledge by the designer.
1372 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
MORE MARKETABLE PRODUCTS AND LOWER COSTS
Like all other materials, primary wood products are susceptible
to improvement through research in form, properties, and costs.
Assets capable of withstanding strong competition lie latent in the
present forms in which wood is marketed — high strength per unit of
weight, integrally bonded structure, impregnating qualities, non-
conductivity, working and finishing qualities and chemical deriva-
tives, all in supplies that are continuously renewable. But other
materials in recent years have established standards of service
which necessitate changes hi wood products.
Improvement, in order to yield maximum benefit, must be based
first of all on better compliance with the requirements of the consuming
market. Refinement of product with lowered cost is unquestionably
the outstanding consumer demand and the largest factor controlling
the future markets for wood. Refinement beyond an elementary
stage involves also diversification of product to deal with the inherent
variability in the wood itself and in the trees and forests from which
it is cut, and diversity in any adequate degree involves the integration
of producing units. The main lines through which improvement is
to be worked out, discussed under a previous heading, call for factual
information, some of which is already at hand, but much of which
still is to be obtained. Further research in this field consists chiefly
in working out the means of applying in practice the results from
more fundamental scientific knowledge.
THE FORM OF PRODUCT
Research has advanced the use of materials competing with wood
through the development of sheet or fabricated units of large size,
high strength, and light weight. The advantages from the stand-
point of both structural and architectural design and installation
costs have given rise to a consumer demand that is permanent and
irresistible. Forest products have given partial recognition to such
demand, but the possibilities have only been touched and are limited
only by the amount of research that is devoted to them. The
possibilities and actual developments in pulp and cellulose products in
this field are well recognized. In the field of plastic and molded
products there has come to partial realization a method whereby the
cellulose and lignin of wood are combined with aldehydes to form a
product which can be molded under pressure to give a hard material
very resistant to moisture change and with no tendency to shrink or
swell.
Since the lignin, cellulose, and aldehyde can all be obtained from
the wood, the process may be considered as self-contained, and only
the small amount of mineral acid needed to effect the reaction need
be supplied from other materials. If the results thus far obtained are
substantiated by further work, large-scale production of new products
from what is now waste material is made possible. Additional
possibilities lie in the discovery of a satisfactory binder for consoli-
dating fine particles of wood and also in the glutinizing of the sur-
faces of wood particles to produce adhesion when pressure is applied.
Plywood as a major wood product commands attention on account
of the possibilities it holds in units of large size, high strength, and
lightweight ratios, in low cost treatments to guard against fire,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1373
decay, and shrinkage, and in full utilization of the log. Plywood
already is changing from a product for decorative purposes to one
that has wide possiblities in the structural and fabrication fields.
Great significance lies in the fact that its consumption, like that of
of pulp, paper, and cellulose, is rapidly increasing, whereas that of
other forest products has been on the decline. The development of a
good water-resistant glue and of commercially practicable methods
of using it have put plywood into entirely new uses, as in concrete
forms and wall and floor construction, in which lumber has been
losing markets to other materials.
The present conception is that only large-size clear logs can be
used economically for the manufacture of plywood. Research is
needed to determine whether relatively poor and small logs may not
also be usable through the development of improved cutting methods
and machines. Methods may be found for cutting veneer from logs
now suitable only for lumber so as to make the saving in kerf com-
pensate for the loss in speed of cutting.
Even failing the development of radically improved cutting meth-
ods, further attention to veneer production is almost certain to bring
to light the practicability of using in structural plywood timber of
lower quality than is now used.
Dimension stock has been proved by factory studies and actual
practice to meet the requirements of many of the wood-using indus-
tries better than lumber. These facts have led to the shifting of
machining operations from the factory in the distant city to the saw-
mill near the supply of timber. This has been particularly the case
in the auto-body industry and to a less extent in the production of
furniture and sash and doors. The saving in freight on waste and
the better advantage in the cutting of the material from the log have
proved to be important factors in reduction of costs to the user. It
has been found from production studies in the Lake States that the
use of improved operating methods and specially designed machines
result in a higher material and monetary return from second-quality
timber for null-cut dimension stock than cutting the same quality or
even a better quality of material into lumber. The further develop-
ment of methods for producing high-quality dimension stock, includ-
ing sawing, seasoning, and bundling, is required. Modifications need
to be worked out not only to meet the requirements of consumers but
to apply to different classes of timber and size and character of hold-
ings. The need is particularly urgent to meet conditions in New
England, because dimension stock production affords the key to the
management of hardwood timberlands in that region and to the sup-
plying of an important market with home-grown material of good
quality. Especially important also is the development of dimension-
producing units to serve as concentration plants for the output of
hardwoods from farm woodlots in the North, South, and East.
SELECTION AND GRADING
In addition to the new and improved forms of wood that should be
developed to meet modern demands, lumber itself through various
improvements near at hand or in prospect can become almost a dif-
ferent product and thereby strengthen its own position both in cost
and in quality.
1374 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
In the case of a highly variable material such as wood, it is quite
obvious that selection is the key to refinement, but in the case of
lumber the basis of selection has never been adequately developed.
Use requirements are met at present largely on the basis of the species
and rather arbitrary grades determined by the occurrence of knots
and the like. But a species possessiong high average shock-resisting
properties, for example, has been proved by tests to yield substantial
proportions of material no higher in shock resistance than species of
much lower rating. The same applies to all the other properties of
wood. For any assurance of getting qualities required, the consumer
has had to rely heavily on the reputation of the supplier and of the
locality of growth. In the noncompetitive era for lumber such prac-
tice may have sufficed, but it can hardly be expected to serve for the
future. Research has established that the specific gravity test, which
can be readily applied, is a good working index of many strength
properties and a sound basis for classifying material of any species
into high, low, and intermediate groups. New values will be realized
as wood of low density is sent to those that want low density and
wood of high density to those that want high density, rather than a
mixture of all kinds to all users.
Experiments are under way to develop a strictly portable instru-
ment for getting an instantaneous measure of the hardness of wood
as an index of specific gravity. Such an instrument in the hands of
a commercial grader will pave the way for radical improvements in
selection to meet use requirements. Within the last 2 years an in-
stantaneous tester for moisture content has been developed from
fundamental work on the physics of wood. This instrument, now
being sold by several makers, has led to marked improvements in
providing consumers with properly seasoned lumber. Its further
adaptation, together with a fuller development of moisture-content
specifications, holds promise of removing many complaints against
lumber.
Other reliable commercial tests are needed to measure and select
for decay resistance, freedom from swelling and shrinking tendencies,
toughness, resistance to abrasion, and many more properties in which
wood exhibits a great variation. Aside from selective tests, science
needs to provide ways of evaluating all the properties of wood so as
to suit it more exactly to the purposes intended. The facts recently
established as to the characteristic defects of the important softwood
species need to be taken into account in the fuller development of
use grades.
SEASONING
Poor seasoning has been the cause of much dissatisfaction with
lumber and has resulted in heavy loss of markets. Great advance
in recent years has been made as a result of research, but many prob-
lems still remain to be solved before seasoning is put on a basis that
permits lumber to compete to its best advantage. Both artificial
seasoning in dry kilns and natural seasoning in the open air are
involved.
The need for kiln-drying arises from two main requirements. One
is economic — to reduce freight costs, to reduce the quantities of lum-
ber held and hence the investment, to reduce seasoning losses, and
to fill orders on short notice. The other is physical — the necessity
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1375
of having lumber drier than can be obtained by air seasoning in
regions where the products are used in heated houses. For such
regions and purposes lumber must of necessity be kiln-dried even if
it is first air-dried.
Comparatively large and unnecessary losses are still incurred in
current kiln-drying processes. Investigations to determine the causes
and remedies for such losses have been under way for a number of
years. A reasonably satisfactory empirical understanding of the
manner in which seasoning defects are brought about and of ways
in which they can be avoided or remedied has been obtained. The
general effect of variations in the controllable conditions is sufficiently
understood to make it possible to draw up reasonably satisfactory
drying schedules. For the more common lumber products such
schedules have been developed in the Forest Service for about 50
important American species, and additional schedules are being
worked out.
An important cause of present poor drying practice lies in inade-
quate kilns and equipment. Research on drying schedules has
carried with it the development of several new types of kilns and
the perfection of control apparatus which have become standard
equipment in the industry. As the drying of special forms, shapes,
and sizes becomes more common, corresponding progress in drying
equipment will have to follow.
A number of important seasoning problems still remain unsolved.
Most of the work hitherto has had to do with lumber and other
comparatively thin material. But ties and timbers of most species
suffer excessive degrade during seasoning, with a corresponding loss
in value. Many special sizes and shapes of dimension stock of various
species still require study before satisfactory drying methods can be
had. Certain groups of species cannot be satisfactorily seasoned by
any known methods. Among these are southern swamp oaks and
some of the other southern hardwoods. It becomes necessary, there-
fore, to develop some new and radically different method of seasoning
which will permit this material to be seasoned in a reasonably satis-
factory manner. Experiments now under way give some promise.
It is quite within the realm of the possible that new methods may
become applicable to all classes of wood products and may revolu-
tionize the entire art of seasoning, with tremendous benefit to pro-
ducer and consumer alike.
A large percentage of lumber and other timber products will for
many years to come be air seasoned despite any conceivable develop-
ments in the kiln-drying processes. Commercial air seasoning is
exceedingly variable, has a large rule-of- thumb element, and has
been too largely without investigative basis. While it is obviously
impossible to vary the conditions to which the stock is exposed, it
is possible to control the extent to which these climatic conditions
affect the stock by varying such factors as the size and shape of the
lumber pile.
The development of antiseptic chemical dips to minimize stain and
decay, particularly during air seasoning, is a matter of immediate
practical importance. The extent to which air seasoning loss can be
reduced by such means and by proper yard practice varies consid-
erably with the type of mill. Large mills can feasibly reduce damage
to a negligible point if they so desire ; small mills, on the other hand,
1376 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
frequently are faced with the lack of any practically available method
of preventing deterioration and consequently must suffer much larger
unit losses than the larger operations. Since the smaller mills cut a
large proportion of lumber that is subject to blue stain and are becom-
ing production factors of increasing importance, especially in the Gulf
States, the problem of devising efficient control methods for their use
is one of real importance. Recent tests of antiseptic solutions give
promise of yielding effective treatments that will be applicable to the
use of small as well as large mills. Further work of this type is
essential to insure the maximum satisfaction to the user of wood and
the best returns to the producer.
The shipment, handling, and storage of lumber is another wide
channel of loss for lumber values. Stock that has had the most
careful manufacture and seasoning may suffer unaccounted increase
in moisture content and attack by stain and even decay in its transit
to the consumer via train, ship, and storage yard. The service of
research can assist industry here by surveying the conditions of ship-
ment and storage and recommending the proper safeguards against
deterioration, similar in general to the measures which are effective
in air seasoning.
CONVERSION
So many chemical and mechanical processes are involved in the
conversion of logs into marketable products that they cannot be
profitably discussed together. No consideration of products and
markets is possible, however, without special recognition of the part
these processes play. Conversion has received the greatest attention
from within the forest industries themselves. It has undergone
immense improvements, but it still stands to benefit greatly from
continuing research. In the case of pulp, plastics, plywood, and
dimension stock, conversion problems are touched upon elsewhere.
Reference is made at this point only to lumber.
The larger sawmills operating on high-quality virgin timber have
kept abreast of the most modern developments in machinery and
methods. The losses in slabs, edgings, trimmings, and kerf are still
substantial, but they have been reduced to the point where further
reductions are extremely difficult. The pressing problems lie in the
development of efficient units for the conversion of timber of a low
quality and the smaller, scattered stands of virgin timber and second
growth. Experiments indicate the practicability, under certain con-
ditions, of an improved gang-saw mill and of a portable band mill to
replace the present small circular mill. It has been shown that pro-
duction costs can be reduced and the recoverable yield substantially
increased through the use of these recently developed units. The
possibilities in the portable band mill, in particular, need to be
developed to the fullest extent and as rapidly as possible.
In all mills, improved technique for smooth dressing and surfacing
is needed. Factors affecting the smoothness of surface, highly im-
portant to many uses, have been found to lie in the moisture content
of the wood at the time of dressing and in differences in density and
growth-ring structure. But only hints are now available as to the
real solution of smooth surfacing free from tendencies toward raised
grain and "fuzziness." Paint has been found to adhere better upon
exposure to the weather if the lumber has been so cut that the bark
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1377
side is machined as the face for painting. As practical ways can be
worked out for taking into account the peculiarities of wood as they
come to light, the aggregate effect in satisfaction to the user will be
distinctly beneficial.
LOG GRADING
Preparatory processes and conversion largely determine the degree
of consumer satisfaction, but the log supply is of primary importance
in production costs. To put different classes of logs into the product
to which they are best suited and to exclude unprofitable logs are
basic to low production costs. The logs coming from any forest vary
greatly in size and freedom from defect. Judgment alone has been
the basis of the sorting process to date, but it has not been sufficiently
accurate to prevent large losses to manufacturers attempting to use
unsuitable material. Rules of thumb can hardly be expected to
show whether veneer, lumber, dimension, piling, or pulp is the product
into which a given quality of log should go to net the largest return.
The little amount of systematic study that has been given to this
subject has shown that attractive prices for veneer logs, for example,
have encouraged millmen to sell their best logs for that purpose, not
realizing that the extra yield of high-grade lumber from those same
logs would often net more than is obtained for them as veneer logs.
As the production of diversified products becomes more common, it
is particularly important to have a basis for sorting the raw material
according to the product.
The need for the development and commercial adoption of log
grades is becoming more urgent as time passes not only for lumber
but for pulp and dimension, veneer, and other products cut from logs.
The increasingly important part played by logs cut by farmers for
sale to lumber, pulp, and other mills emphasizes the need for log
grades. In the case of pulpwood, grading on the basis of weight
rather than volume is a fertile field for improvement.
Rough log grades have been in use for some time, notably in the
Douglas fir region, where logs are bought and sold on the open
market. Preliminary investigative work has been done to improve
these grades, as well as to develop log grades for southern hardwoods,
but no really systematic program has as yet been undertaken in any
case.
Closely allied to the grading of logs is their protection against
deterioration from discoloring and decay fungi. Under poor con-
ditions of storage and handling that frequently exist, injury occurs
which may continue undetected into the finished product. While the
immediate conversion of logs into lumber offers the surest way of
avoiding deterioration, storage of logs in the woods or at the mill is
common practice. Storage of logs in water or rapid seasoning by
piling on high skids has been used with varying degrees of success in
attempting to avoid fungus attack. The need for developing more
effective methods of control was apparent, in the Gulf States region
particularly, from a recent survey in which more than 50 percent of
the mills visited had from 5 to 50 percent of their logs infected at the
time of sawing. Recent tests of antiseptic sprays and end coating
materials offer promise of yielding treatments that will combine
fungicide with insect-repellant properties and will be commercially
practical.
1378 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
SELECTIVE LOGGING FOR SUSTAINED YIELD
Broadly speaking, all lumbering operations are carrying on without
definite information as to which qualities and sizes of logs are yielding
a profit and which are entailing a loss in conversion. Small trees that
are being felled and logged at a loss would comprise the nucleus for a
new crop if left to grow. A new complexion is given to present values
when only logs and trees which pay their way are harvested. In-
tensive studies of Lake States hardwoods, southern pine, and western
softwoods bring out clearly that operators are logging and milling
timber which carries hidden losses as high as $10 per thousand board-
feet. When current costs and returns are considered along with the
facts coming from silvicultural studies as to rate of growth and proper
methods of cutting, the way is open to markedly sounder economic
practices than now prevail, and means are provided for decreasing
the current overproduction of low-grade material and in giving so-called
cut-over lands new values readily recognized by timber owners and
bond and banking institutions.
The industry can make distinct improvements by operating on the
basis of facts already brought to light. However, questions are
involved that cannot be answered from present information. The
investigations that have been made have dealt almost entirely with
lumber as the product and with operating equipment designed pri-
marily for large timber. Basic operating guides to the forest in-
dustries need to be worked out in the way of time-output values for
each timber product as produced from different sizes and qualities of
logs and trees. They need to be in such terms that varying wage
scales, overhead charges, and market prices can be applied to them
to give exact figures applicable to the individual operator.
LOGGING EQUIPMENT AND METHODS
Realization of the full economies in selective logging calls for cer-
tain changes in logging equipment. Despite the great advances in
logging methods that have been made in recent years, particularly
in the West, research has shown that the ultimate has not been
reached. Large reductions in cost become possible when more
flexible methods are used in connection with selective logging. From
the detailed information already obtained it is found that tractor
logging can be used to a larger degree than at present to reduce heavy
expenditures for closely spaced railroad spur lines and for heavy
skidders. Only a start has been made in the accumulation of detailed
knowledge along these lines, but it is sufficient to show what may be
expected as full information becomes available. Power saws also
for woods operations have already made their appearance as a means
of reducing costs, but their real merit over present methods remains
undetermined.
The heavy loss in breakage in felling large timber in the West has
been found susceptible of considerable control. Accurate examina-
tions have shown that the breakage in the merchantable volume of
Douglas fir and western hemlock varies from 3 to 16 percent accord-
ing to the felling methods and the topography. Appreciable
reductions in breakage can be realized, as the influencing factors of
slope, bedding, direction of felling, methods of payment, and super-
vision are singled out and individually dealt with.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1379
HARVESTING OF NAVAL STORES
The harvesting of the resin crop from the pine forests of the South-
east stands to gain greatly through the modernization of methods
that science can contribute. Naval stores products have held their
own in commerce and industry up to this point in spite of the unneces-
sary waste and the crude practices ^applied to their production. But
it is now widely recognized that if they are to continue longer as
profitable industrial commodities, radical changes must be made
throughout the processes of production and handling.
The scientific study that has already been applied has shown the
practicability of maintaining the flow of oleoresin by light, narrow
chipping at as high a yield as by heavy chipping. The establishment
of this fact makes possible longer working and greater returns per
tree. Two to three successive workings for periods of 5 to 8 years
each now result in less damage to subsequent wood products than
resulted from the shorter workings commonly carried on in young
stands. To a considerable degree these improved methods have
already been adopted in commercial practice. That further modifi-
cation might be made by changes in the frequency of chipping also
give promise of future important developments. The size of the tree
has been found to influence greatly the yield of gum, and the dividing
line between profitable ane unprofitable sizes for working has been
fairly well established. The vitality of tree growth is known to have
influence in the yield of resin, but vigorous-appearing trees which
might be expected to give high yields sometimes prove to be low
producers, and small trees to be large producers. Thus, there are
factors at work affecting the yields that have escaped detection. It
is highly important to the intensive management that must hence-
forth determine the profits of naval-stores operation to avoid cum-
bering the ground with low yielding trees, which reduce the profits
from the normal and high yielders. The question of the proper
number of trees per acre is being given intensive study, since the
spacing of the stand influences crown size and other basic factors
responsible for the best yields of both oleoresins and wood.
Timber products as well as naval stores must be relied upon as the
crop from forests of the Southeast, and the proper integration of all
products becomes a matter of primary concern. Piling, poles, pulp-
wood, staves, and excelsior have been produced from the timber
operated for resin. Continued outlet is threatened, particularly in
the case of staves, whereas in pulp the outlet promises to increase.
The margin, however, is so slight, even with substantial gains in
pulpwood, that no outlet can be lost without serious consequences.
The system of management which takes into account the varied prod-
ucts so as to make each contribute to the maximum net return from
the forest has yet to be established. The facts required as a basis
of such management are complicated and difficult to obtain, but the
importance of getting them as rapidly as possible is obvious.
PULP AND PAPER
The production of pulp and paper deservedly ranks as one of the
most important uses of forest material, and its importance seems
destined to increase. As shown in the section "Timber Require-
ments", the total national consumption of paper and boards increased
1380 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
steadily to 13% million tons in 1929, and predictions made by various
authorities place the annual requirements for 1950 anywhere from
24 to 30 million tons. Such a consumption would require an annual
cut of pulp wood amounting, roughly, to 15 percent of our present
annual cut of timber for all purposes. As a profitable use of large
land acreages, the growing of pulpwood on a sustained-yield basis
thus offers great promise for the near future.
It is not only as a quantity use of wood that pulp and paper manu-
facture takes an important rating. The quality and refinement of
the product gives the industry a high labor and conversion factor, and
the relative stability of its operations contributes to permanent com-
munity values. A recent study has shown that in the conversion of
1 million cubic feet of timber into lumber, planing mill products and
boxes, 75 men were employed, $75,000 in wages was paid, and the
resulting products were valued at $250,000 ; whereas, in the conversion
of the same amount of wood into pulp and finally into a good grade of
paper, ^the employees numbered 150, the wages were $200,000, and
the finished products were valued at $900,000. The increasing de-
pendence of the United States on foreign sources for its pulp and
paper production is of considerable significance in this connection.
As pointed out under " Timber Requirements", the quantity of
foreign wood used in producing the paper consumed in the United
States has increased steadily, until in 1930 the proportion had risen
to 56 percent. In terms of wood use, the 1930 paper and wood pulp
consumption of the United States was equivalent to approximately
13 million cords of pulpwood. Of this quantity, the equivalent of
nearly 7,300,000 cords was imported. In terms of land use this means
that perhaps 12 million acres of forest land in the United States were
deprived of not less than a $50,000,000 contribution to the national
market. In terms of labor employed, our 1930 imports of pulp and
paper could be considered as equivalent to the " exportation" of
full-time jobs for 70,000 American citizens.
Two main reasons may be assigned for this situation. The first is
the present dependence of the paper industry upon a very few species.
The second, which is related to the first, is the tenacious and long-
standing concentration of the pulp and paper industry (the sulphate
pulping group chiefly excepted) within easy transportation distance
of the eastern spruce and hemlock forests and the large pulp and
paper consuming markets. As the native supplies of northern and
eastern spruce and hemlock have been progressively depleted, the
natural tendency of large established industries has been to rely more
and more on imports of these species from abroad (chiefly from Can-
ada) or to move their mills over the border, rather than to migrate to
distant regions of the United States and utilize new stands of similar
or of different woods.
In view of the foregoing, the task of research in furthering the
interests of our domestic pulp and paper production is clear. This is
to increase the possibilities of economical production, higher yields,
and better pulp quality from our native woods, both those now pre-
ferred for pulping and those not now used extensively or not used at
all. Its accomplishment must be based on a varied research attack,
for which the following lines are suggested :
1. Improvement of present pulping processes or the development
of new processes to mcrease the usefulness of present pulpwood
species.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1381
2. The application of pulping processes to new species.
3. Increase in efficiency and knowledge of the fiber processing
operations — beating, bleaching, refining.
4. Investigations of the variables of paper manufacture and of the
mechanical factors underlying sheet formation and the production of
finished papers.
5. Effective utilization of woods and mill waste.
The wood-pulping industry as it exists today has largely been
developed by research, and the difficulties that the domestic producer
has lately experienced in meeting foreign competition can be removed,
not by less research but by more research, better integrated and
consistently followed up in production.
IMPROVEMENT OF PULPING PROCESSES
The so-called standard pulping processes include three of chemical
nature known commercially as the soda, sulphate, and sulphite
methods. The first two are alkaline and the third is acid hi character.
The fourth process is strictly mechanical, disintegration being accom-
plished by means of a grindstone. A large volume of empirical
research underlies the standardization of these processes throughout
the American pulp and paper industry. There is a great need, how-
ever, for more fundamental information on the physical and chemical
laws involved in pulp production by these standard methods than yet
exists. Such objectives require intensive and continued research,
which will coordinate knowledge of raw materials and chemical
reagents with a fundamental picture of the reactions occurring in the
pulp digester and of the effects of the disintegrating agency, such as
the grinder stone. Studies in connection with both the chemical and
the mechanical processes have resulted in material improvements,
with results in increases of yields and improvement of pulp quality.
However, only a beginning has been made, and immense returns
should result from a continuation of this line of effort.
NEW PROCESSES
Studies of established processes logically lead to the development
of modified or new processes. A recent step in this direction is the
replacement of the lime in the normal sulphite method by soda or
ammonia, resulting in the extension of the application of the sulphite
process to more resinous species. This development has required the
working out of a recovery system which will return the more expensive
chemicals cheaply and at the same time alleviate a serious situation
in stream pollution which now confronts the sulphite pulp industry
and is a menace to aquatic life in our lakes and streams. Increases in
the quantity of pulp returned per unit of wood have been effected
through new semichemical pulping processes, which are combina-
tions of chemical and mechanical action on wood. Whereas the
standard chemical methods return only about 40 to 50 percent of the
wood as useful fiber, the new methods return from 55 to 80 percent.
A so-called semi chemical process using neutral chemicals, a semi-
sulphite process using acid sulphite liquors, and a semisulphate proc-
ess using alkaline reagents have all been developed in the course of
work on this problem. On account of their high noncellulose content,
the semichemical pulps are unbleachable by present methods and are
limited in their application to light-colored woods or to the production
1382 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
of pulps in which color is a secondary consideration. Even under
these limitations, however, the processes are finding their way into
important commercial use.
PULPING NEW SPECIES
The need for extending the range of species for pulping has long
been recognized, and a systematic survey has been conducted by the
Forest Service covering about 100 American woods as regards their
adaptability to standard pulp-manufacturing processes. Compara-
tive data have been compiled as to yields, chemical consumption,
bleachability, and other factors of pulp production from the various
species, but the information is necessarily limited and somewhat in
the nature of a " base line " for further intensive studies. The specific
characteristics and economic importance of a given species determine
the special studies to be undertaken.
The principal weakness disclosed in previous efforts to improve
the pulping and papermaking status of particular species has been a
lack of what may be termed fundamental information — lack^ of
accurate knowledge of the chemical composition and minute physical
structure of the wood, of laws underlying the behavior of pulps in
processing, and of the basic factors in paper manufacture. A great
mass of empirical data has been built up at the Forest Products
Laboratory and at the mills that is applicable to a given species or
a given process, but basic information of general application is largely
lacking. Work to supply this need is going forward, but it should be
greatly increased.
From the standpoint of regional distribution, various types of
species have to be considered. In the Northeastern and Lake States,
the prevailing softwood types — spruce, fir, and hemlock — have been
the mainstay of the American wood-pulp industries, and the direction
of progress in the utilization of these species lies in the improvement of
the present standard pulping methods or the discovery of new processes
that may increase yields and cheapen production. The pines and
other species high in resins and extractives that are found in this
region offer the same problem as they do elsewhere, namely, how to
convert them cheaply into light-colored papers of general utility.
The stands of second-growth hardwoods (made up largely of maple,
birch, beech, and aspen) that have sprung up following the logging
of earlier stands of pulpwood and saw timber throughout a vast
acreage in these regions are a potential source of pulpwood. They
are of small diameter and of very inferior commercial value at present
except for limited uses in soda and mechanical pulping. A much
more important use for them is visualized in the form of sulphite or
other pulps of wider usefulness and value. Experiments on these
lines have been carried forward with considerable success, but the
short fiber of the hardwoods still militates against their use in strong
papers. It has been shown recently, however, that in the grinding of
hardwoods, a proper dressing of the stone surface will accomplish
disintegration of the wood with minimum destruction in the fiber
length, thus resulting in improved pulps. It is likewise indicated
that the high pentosan content of these species may be utilized, if
retained in chemical pulps produced from them, to produce much
stronger papers than has hitherto been thought possible.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1383
A vigorous and growing pulp industry exists on the west coast.
The bulk of the raw material used is western hemlock, which enters
into a large production of newsprint, wrapping, and other papers.
In this region the utilization of sawmill waste is an outstanding feature,
but certain major problems of integration between woods operation,
sawmill, and pulpmill remain to be solved. Douglas fir, for example,
stands at the top of western lumber production. Its immense cut is
attended by immense waste, estimates indicating that, in an average
year's logging, 6 million cords of material of pulpwood size or larger
is left in the woods unused. This amount, if it could be converted
into pulp, would nearly duplicate the present annual pulp output
of the country from native sources. If even a third of it could be
profitably pulped, American industry would have an immense resource
of cheap raw material with which to combat foreign competition, and
a commensurate value would be added to our national income. An
approach has been made toward solving this problem. One mill in
the Northwest is successfully producing bleached soda pulp from
Douglas fir for use in book and tablet papers, and several of the
sulphate mills in the same region are consuming small amounts of mill
waste in the production of kraft papers and kraft boards. The
quantity of material thus utilized, however, is insignificant in relation
to the available supply and reflects certain difficulties in the pulping of
Douglas fir which are the subject of investigation at a number of
sources. Some success has recently resulted from modifications of
the standard sulphate process by which stronger and better-bleaching
pulps have been made, but much remains to be accomplished in this
direction.
Additional research on the production of sulphate, sulphite, and
mechanical pulps from western hemlock and from a large number of
other western woods which hold special promise for papermaking
purposes is needed to place western pulps on a full competitive footing
with the imported products in the Nation's markets. Among the
western species important in this respect are California white fir,
Eonderosa pine, Sitka spruce, lodgepole pine, redwood, and western
irch.
In the South the various species of yellow pine hold the premier
position in both lumber and pulp production. Nearly four fifths
of the total capacity of southern pulp mills (1 million tons annually)
is devoted to producing, from pine, pulps of one main type — un-
bleached sulphate or kraft. The successful conversion of these
difficult resinous species is itself a triumph of research and experiment,
but research may have here a more far-reaching result. This is
nothing less than to establish in the South the final and perpetual
margin of independence for the United States from foreign paper
imports.
The South has more than 100 million acres of cut-over pine land
which, given proper forest management, is conservatively estimated
as capable of producing from one half to \% cords of wood per acre
per year — a sufficient volume in the aggregate to match our present
pulpwood consumption 5 or 6 times over. The problem is, from this
potential pulpwood supply, to develop papers of the types required in
our national commerce.
Starting with the established fact of a large southern pulp produc-
tion, the Forest Products Laboratory has evolved a modified kraft
168342°— 33— vol. 2 22
1384 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
process Dy means of which most resinous species can be converted into
strong, light-colored multipurpose pulps. Whether the economic
trend will carry this process into large production at an early date
or whether a still cheaper and radically different process will find
ultimate adoption cannot be foretold in the present state of affairs,
but at least a beginning has been made toward solving the problem
of diversified southern pulps. Furthermore, by taking advantage of
the fact that young-growth slash pine up to about 25 years of age is
free from heartwood and is comparatively light-colored, both of which
factors are favorable to the application of the sulphite and mechanical
processes, there appears a possibility of developing a pulp suitable for
newsprint, cheap book, magazine, tablet, light-colored wrapping, and
similar papers. All of these types of papers have been produced
experimentally from mixtures "of sulphite and groundwood pulps
from young slash and shortleaf pines. Young growth from other
species can probably be similarly used.
Certain southern hardwoods are also apparently potential sources
of pulp and paper. Black gum, for example, has been proved to be
an excellent base for sulphite or semichemical pulps possessing poten-
tial usefulness as a raw material for newsprint as well as for fine papers.
The realization of improvement in use of species now used for pulp
or the increase in the number and extent of species which may be used
in pulp and paper products must be based on a varied research attack.
The following avenues are suggested;
FIBER PROCESSING
Under the head of fiber processing are included the operations of
bleaching, beating, loading, sizing, coloring, refining, and any others
incidental to converting a pulp into a stuff prior to its run over the
paper machine. Each of these operations is virtually a separate
field of technology, in which research and long experience have
developed the art to varying degrees of excellence. Continued and
systematic research is needed to secure higher and more uniform
standards of quality, strength, color, and sheet formation.
Fundamental and detailed investigations of the bleaching process
have been carried on for a number of years. The several aspects of the
problem studied include the effects of temperature, chemical ratio,
and consistence upon rate of bleaching, composition, vield, and final
color of the pulp. The objective of all such work is to place the
bleaching operation on a basis of rational procedure and predictable
results and to clear up the confusion, uncertainty, and empirical
opinion that has cjuite generally made bleaching a craft mystery
instead of a definitely controlled technical operation. Commonly
in commercial operations the pulp is cooked so thoroughly that only
small amounts of bleach are required. A thorough investigation is
badly needed as to the possibility of modifications of both cooking and
bleaching to give higher yields and whiter and stronger pulps. Some
progress has been made in this direction through the development of
two-stage chlorination bleaching procedures. The further com-
mercial development of such methods, particularly as applied to the
pine pulps, would greatly stimulate the use of these pulps and would
distribute pulp wood demand more widely.
Research on the beating of pulp has thus far been limited mainly to
attempts to place beating equipment under control, so that the opera-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1385
tion could be performed in the same way on any given pulp. Methods
of really measuring the effects of beating are lacking and must be
developed. It is not even known with certainty whether " hydration "
as known to the paper maker is a chemical or a mechanical effect.
PAPER MACHINE OPERATING FACTORS
The best-directed efforts to produce a pulp that will make paper
of excellent quality can be defeated by faulty machine operation.
Tests indicate, for instance, that the strength of sheets can be lowered
33 percent and porosity increased 100 percent by draw manipulation
alone. In order to put the papermaking procedure on an engineering
basis as free as possible from purely empirical practice, research
looking to the isolation, measurement, and control of the machine
operating factors is essential.
This is no simple task. At least 75 independent or dependent
variables have been identified on the paper machine, a few of the
more important being consistence of stock passing to the wire,
relative speed of stock and wire, effect of stock temperature, hydro-
gen-ion concentration of the stock, rate of drainage to effect formation,
couching pressure, rate of moisture removal in presses, drying rate,
amount of draw, and calender pressure.
MILL WASTE UTILIZATION AND WASTE PREVENTION
Large opportunities for operating economies and increased returns
await the work of practical research in the utilization of wood-room
wastes and mill effluents. Bark has ordinarily been a total waste in
pulp manufacture. A small amount of investigative work has been
done to develop methods of using bark for fuel or for special products.
There is need for much more. It is estimated that wood fiber to a
value of $10,000,000 goes down mill sewers annually, suspended in
the " white water" discharge. This waste would not occur in the
line of ordinary business if the over-all economy of saying it could be
demonstrated in general practice. A third obvious line of economy
in production is the utilization of spent liquors. The sayings possible
in the reuse of waste sulphite liquors in a second pulping treatment
have been partly demonstrated, and still greater gains lie in the
possible utilization or recovery of sulphite liquors now discharged,
containing as they do all the chemicals of the pulping reaction and a
full half of the raw material.
Determined efforts should continue toward the elimination of
fiber losses due to the decay of pulp and pulp wood. The latter is
subject to deterioration from the time of cutting until it is delivered
to the grinder or chipper for conversion into pulp. Under com-
mercial conditions of handling, deterioration of wood is particularly
rapid in the second and third years of storage. A further source of
loss is the reduction in quality due to the deterioration of the pulp
into which the wood is converted. While the development of anti-
septic chemical treatments and of improved methods of handling
pulp and pulpwood have aided considerably in reducing losses, work
is still needed to insure commercial applicability of research findings.
In addition, the use of new woods and the changing conditions and
methods of handling continue to introduce new problems of deteri-
oration that demand study.
1386 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
WOOD — ITS STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION, AND PROPERTIES
Wood is both a finished natural product and a storehouse of raw
materials. It is a fibrous aggregate containing cellulose and other
carbohydrates, lignin, and extractives, combined in variable quantities
and arranged in a complicated and variable microscopic structure.
There are 150 important species of wood in American forests, each
differing from the others in structure and properties, and each
varying within itself to a considerable degree. The chemical com-
position of wood substance, the arrangement of the constitutent
parts in the wood cells, the size and spacing of the cells, and the
variation of all such characteristics according to species and growth
conditions determine the usefulness of wood as such and its poten-
tialities of conversion into other products. A scientific understanding
of these matters opens the way to success in the silyicultural control
of the material and its properties, in its selection, its seasoning and
handling, its impregnation with preservatives, its use in construction,
and its conversion into pulp and other products.
To visualize and emphasize the complexities and importance of
research that lies ahead in these fields something of the facts at
E resent known and the main lines of further study required will be
riefly reviewed.
STRUCTURE OF WOOD
The structure of wood is so complex and variable that an adequate
conception of it cannot be conveyed in a few words. Essentially it
is a cellular structure, but there may be several different kinds of
cells with different arrangement and different means of intercom-
munication. Most of the cells are arranged longitudinally, parallel
to the tree trunk, but some extend radially. Beyond this cellular
structure, plainly visible under the misroscope, are smaller structural
units. The cell walls are made up of concentric layers, which in
turn are composed of fibrils arranged spirally. The fibrils are the
smallest units that become evident through any simple mechanical
disintegration, but by careful chemical treatment they themselves
may be subdivided into spindle-shaped "fusiform bodies" and the
latter into minute spherical units. The spherical unit — the ultimate
visible component of the cell wall — is about one hundred-thousandth
of an inch in diameter, and beyond it the microscope cannot penetrate.
It is possible, however, by indirect methods using the ultracentrifuge
and the X-ray, to determine the approximate size and arrangement
of submicroscopic units.
The arrangement of these various parts to form the cell wall, the
shape and size of the various cellular structures, and their arrange-
ment and mode of joining to form the wood determine completely
the gross mechanical properties of the material. The submicroscopic
units and the peculiar attractive forces between them give wood its
colloidal properties, such as hygroscopicity. This absolutely basic
field of wood research is largely unexplored. It abounds in hypoth-
eses of colloidal behavior which await experimental verification and
correction. Other more specific structural research is concerned with
the means of communication between the cells. The cell cavities
are separated by thin pit membranes through which there are open-
ings of submicroscopic size that can be measured only by indirect
methods. The number, size, and location of these openings, together
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1387
with the colloidal properties of the membrane itself, are thought to
control all natural or artificial movement of liquids within the wood,
but no satisfactory theory of their action has as yet been worked out.
Even in regard to those types of structure that are readily visible
in wood sections under the microscope, quantitative statistical in-
formation that has a realistic bearing on the properties and utilization
of wood is very meager. Much more research is needed before the
picture of wood structure and substance as an industrial material can
compare, for instance, with that which the metallurgist has obtained
for such materials as steel and copper.
CHEMISTRY
As to the chemical composition of the various structural units of
wood, information is likewise far from complete. It is known that
the structural units of the cell wall are essentially cellulosic in com-
position. It is thought that a small amount of lignin is incorporated
with this cellulose structure, but the details of its distribution there
are not known. Lignin, however, comprising approximately one
third by weight of all wood substance, is the main constituent of the
cementing layer between the cells. There is present in the wood a
considerable percentage of carbohydrates other than the cellulose
whose location in the structure is unknown, and finally there are
extractives or infiltrated substances that are variously distributed,
either in specialized structures such as the resin ducts of certain species
or in the cell cavities, or more or less evenly disposed throughout the
cell wall.
As distinguished from the chemistry of its minute structure, the
general chemistry of wood is fairly well known in terms of the gross
chemical groupings already stated. But even in these limited terms
there is little statistical information on the variations in composition
between species, within species, or within single trees. Moreover,
much additional information is needed as to the chemical composition
of the main groups, cellulose, lignin, etc. The term " cellulose" as
used here comprises a group of similar carbohydrates that make up
about 60 percent of the weight of dry wood. Only about three
fourths of this " cellulose " is true cellulose, however. The remainder
is made up of different sugar units put together in somewhat less
stable form, and our little knowledge concerning their constitution
and the nature of their combination is entangled with a mass of
speculation. Even less is known about the group of carbohydrates
not closely associated with the cellulose that make up about 5 to 10
percent of the wood.
Lignin remains an unsolved mystery. Many isolated facts are
known in regard to its chemical characteristics, but they do not form
any clear or connected picture of its constitution. Probably it is not
a single chemical substance but rather a loose grouping of similar
substances in variable proportions.
The extractives are really matter outside the mechanical structure
of wood, but they are important in connection with many of its
properties. Color, odor, and durability are basically dependent on
extractives, while pulping, painting, gluing, and even strength prop-
erties are considerably affected by them.
They vary widely in both amount and composition, such different
classes of chemicals as resins, terpenes, tannins, gums, carbohydrates,
1388 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
and dyestuffs being common amongst them. While the detailed
composition of the extractives in some few species is well known, it
is incomplete or entirely lacking in most.
MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
The mechanical characteristics of wood — its strength, elasticity,
and related properties — depend on the physical properties of the
structural units, their arrangement, and mode of joining. The
structure of wood is so complex, however, and the structural units
so small, that the mechanical properties have not been actually
determined in any such manner, but instead have been directly
measured by standard engineering testing methods. The various
important strength values of the 160 principal American woods have
been determined and general rules developed for the effects of density
and moisture content. This kind of information is fairly complete,
although more information on the range of values as well as the
average values, and on second growth as well as virgin timber, would
be desirable. There are also two important commercial properties,
resistance to abrasion and workability under tools, for which no
figures are available.
The information that we possess as to strength properties has been
collected with only incidental reference to structure; the direction
(longitudinal, radial, or tangential) in which the force was applied
was commonly known, and one structural characteristic, density, was
always determined. The finer details of structure were not deter-
mined, however, nor were the tests designed to show the effect of
structural variations in any minute degree. This kind of work, only
recently undertaken, has naturally begun with the influence of the
largest unit structures, the two layers of the annual ring, spring wood
and summer wood, upon the strength of the piece. Much remains
to be done even in this field of gross structure, and then more com-
plicated fields of smaller units, such as the thickness of the cementing
layer of lignin and the slope of the spiral angle of the fibrils, must be
developed before scientific knowledge of the relation between structure
and strength can be considered at all adequate.
There are other types of scientific details in wood mechanics,
knowledge of which would be very desirable. For instance, wood is
not truly elastic but has a tendency toward gradual plastic yielding,
and it is important to know whether the plasticity has its origin in
the cellulosic fibers, in the lignin cement, or in shear between the
fibers.
Other physical properties as distinguished from the purely mechan-
ical are also obviously dependent upon the minute structure of wood.
Among these, heat, acoustics, electrical properties, and hygroscopicity
are outstanding. None has received thorough or systematic study.
The handbook figures for heat conductivity of wood are incomplete
as to species, moisture content, direction of the grain, density, and
temperature boundaries. A few accurate determinations have been
made on the effect of some of these factors, but not enough to give
the architect or engineer the specific information he requires in order
to determine what wood to use or whether to use wood. Heat con-
ductivity also has important bearings on the fire resistance of wood
in large sizes, on wood distillation processes, on the preheating preced-
ing impregnation treatments, and on other important industrial
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1389
operations. What little has been accomplished in theory and tech-
nique has not been adequately applied to wood as a construction
material where control of acoustic properties is required. Further
knowledge of the electrical properties of wood might seem to be unim-
portant in direct application to uses of wood, since wood in its un-
modified state is not reckoned as either a good conductor or a true
insulator. Research on electrical properties has, however, been of
great assistance in solving other problems, such as the measurement
of moisture and the determination of the submicroscopic pore volume
of wood, so that, indirectly at least, further knowledge of electrical
properties would be of value.
The great importance of a complete and detailed scientific know-
ledge of hygroscopicity is evident from the fact that it affects every
other physical and mechanical property of wood. The water in wood
occupies two different kinds of cavities, the microscopic cavities and
the extremely small spaces between the submicroscopic structural
units. The larger cavities remain as cavities of the same size whether
they contain water or not, but the smaller cavities decrease in size
according to the amount of water removed from them. The lowering
of the vapor pressure of the water in the latter is the basis for the
hygroscopic property of wood — its ability to absorb water from the
air — and their change in size is the basis for the swelling and shrinking
of wood with change in content of hygroscopic water.
This hypothesis of the cause of hygroscopicity and shrinkage is
tentative and imperfect because there are so few facts from which to
develop it. For a satisfactory understanding of these phenomena,
intensive research is required on such diverse subjects as the hygro-
scopicity of different components of wood, directional shrinkage of
the structural units, hysteresis effects, absorption of other liquids
than water, and diffusion of hygroscopic water.
GROWTH CONDITIONS
The proper and satisfactory use of wood has had to depend on selec-
tion from a widely varying natural product in order to obtain the
different kinds of material required. In this respect it is fortunate
that wood is a widely varying product. From another point of view,
the use of wood would be less a problem if its properties and minute
structure ^could be controlled in somewhat the same manner as the
metallurgists controls the quality of metals in manufacture.
Such control of the raw material, wood, lies in controlling the con-
ditions of its growth. Distinctive species characteristics cannot be
changed, but within the ordinary variations of a species wood of
more uniform and more desirable properties can be grown.
The existing information on this subject is very slight in view of
the wide field to be covered. There are so many species, properties,
and growth conditions that the complete correlation of all or even the
most important of them will take a large amount of research. It has
been found that with longleaf pine the proportion of summerwood to
springwood (and hence density and strength) can be varied within
limits according to the amount of soil moisture available. In second-
growth southern pines the increased rate of growth that accompanies
increased openness of stand causes a decrease in the density and
strength of the wood, and the indications are that this relationship
holds for the softwoods as a class. In hardwoods, on the other hand,
1390 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
it appears that reduction in strength may occur when the rate of
growth is slowed down by crowding of the stand. Thus some of the
most readily controlled growth conditions are found to have important
effects on wood properties.
The effects of growth conditions are brought about through the
physiological processes of the tree, which must be much better under-
stood in order to lay a proper scientific foundation for further work.
The source and nature of the food supply, its elaboration into inter-
mediate and final products, its translocation to point of final use, the
transpiration process, storage of reserve materials, and moisture
and temperature limitations are some of the important physiological
factors about which the existing information is fragmentary.
The special physiological processes involved in resin formation are
of great importance in connection with the production of turpentine
and rosin from longleaf and slash pines. Research on the develop-
ment of the resin ducts in response to the wounding of the tree has
already assisted in improving chipping methods so that better yields
can be obtained with less injury to the tree. Further improvements
depend on more detailed knowledge of the physiology of resin
formation.
WOOD-DESTROYING ORGANISMS
There is another type of fundamental research that is not con-
cerned directly with wood but instead with the various organisms
that attack wood under certain conditions of its use. The three
principal groups of such wood-destroying organisms are the fungi,
the insects, and the marine borers. The fungi are responsible for the
well-known decay and staining of wood, while insects and marine
borers destroy wood in the course of using it for both food and shelter.
Further improvements in methods of protection against these organ-
isms require a fuller knowledge of their life history and habits, and
especially of the conditions favorable and unfavorable to their attacks
on wood. It is known, for instance, that wood may be too wet or
too dry for wood-destroying fungi to attack it, but the limits of
moisture control between which they are active are not known with
any accuracy.
Such fundamental biological research may have fairly direct prac-
tical application, since many if not most of the difficulties with these
organisms are caused by faulty practice in cutting, manufacture, or
storage of the wood or in the design or condition of use of the final
product — faulty practice that can frequently be improved or per-
fected simply and cheaply when there is sufficient knowledge of the
limitations of the organisms. Biological research is especially import-
ant with fungi, because of the multitude of species that attack wood
and the great variation in their characteristics.
Biological research on wood-destroying organisms may also be of
value for the purpose of producing chemicals from wood. Molds
and bacteria have been recently found that under controlled conditions
produce acetic acid, lactic acid, ethyl alcohol, and other higher acids
and alcohols from cellulose, and it is possible that similar products
could be thus obtained from wood cellulose or direct from wood.
Certain organisms attack lignin but, so far as it is now known,
without forming useful products.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1391
FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH AND UTILIZATION PROBLEMS
Fundamental research on wood structure, composition, and proper-
ties is of controlling importance . to improved wood utilization and to
studies having direct practical applications. The relationship is
obvious. For selection of material, knowledge of wood structure
and its effects on strength and physical properties will give a scientific
basis far in advance of existing standards. In the many uses requir-
ing modifications or adptations of the material, such as impregnation,
gluing, and painting, a knowledge of the cell and its parts and of the
movement of liquids from one part to another will make possible
better, more economical, and more efficient processing and better
service of the product.
An adequate knowledge of the chemistry of wood is necessary for
the development or improvement of chemical processes of wood
utilization, including the manufacture of pulp, paper, rayon, and
plastics. In this field lie the greatest possibilities of new wood
products for new uses. Full understanding of the chemistry of wood
as related to biological factors opens the way to processes of conver-
sion that may prove cheaper and more efficient than any now known.
In brief, it is through the methods of fundamental research, largely
neglected hitherto as far as wood is concerned, that we must look for
future significant progress in technical guidance to improved products
and practices and for the development of new products. No one
can gainsay the effectiveness of such research until the undiscovered
world of wood fundamentals has been explored. To this end the
concerted efforts of the chemist, the physicist, the biologist, the
bacteriologist, the engineer, and the silviculturist must be intensively
applied, with all the tools of modern science such as the ultracentri-
fuge, the X-ray, and the ultraviolet ray, and all the adptations of the
new instrumentalities that research is learning to effect in the sphere
of atomic behavior.
COOPERATION IN FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH
On account of the many fields in which forest products research
is needed and the large and urgent problems remaining unsolved in
each, it is obvious that the work ahead presents a responsibility for
many agencies. By no means should it be considered the task of
any single group or organization. The concerted and best-directed
efforts of all agencies that have a defined interest in the forest program
is called for. This means full participation not only by the Federal
and State governments, colleges, and endowed institutions, but also
and especially by private industry concerned with the manufacture,
marketing and use of forest products.
The manufacture and distribution of forest products is all in private
hands. Many concerns are too small to engage in the research
necessary for highly efficient operations, but many are large and have
obligations which are now being met only in small part. The com-
petitors of wood, by using research, force similar action upon the
forest industries. The private operator cannot depend upon others
for all the research he will need. Research organizations sponsored
by industry cannot be created or developed too rapidly.
The States should make a large contribution to forest products
research because of their expanding ownership of forest land, which
1392 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
has already reached millions of acres in State forests and other hold-
ings. In addition, practically every State has its local forest produc-
tion and marketing problems which it cannot expect the Federal
Government or any other agency to solve except in small part. These
include the local problems of unorganized small producers and owners
unable to support research except through their contributions to the
public taxes. The reasons for a substantial contribution by the States
are much the same as in agriculture, and in fact the management and
profitable conversion of the farm woodlot is in one sense a promising
but largely undeveloped form of diversified farming.
State universities and State agricultural colleges, even though they
contain no forest schools, can and should be engaged in one or more
phases of forest products research in their engineering, biological,
and chemical laboratories. What most if not all the forest schools in
such institutions need is larger faculties, from the standpoint of
investigative work alone. It would be an excellent thing if all^such
forest schools could have at least one man with full time or practically
full time and suitable equipment available for products research.
The Federal Government already makes a relatively large contribu-
tion to forest products research, and a question may justly be raised
concerning the obligations of the Federal Government which would
justify any large increases.
Many phases and characteristics of the forest utilization problem
of the United States are interstate or national. Everyone uses wood
directly or indirestly, regardless of the accident of residence. Many
phases of better utilization and waste prevention are national prob-
lems along with timber growing. The multitude of small manufac-
turers and small users, including farmers, involve exactly the same
considerations as in agriculture from the research standpoint. The
national distribution of our pulp and paper manufacture, which
would relieve over-centralization in one or two regions, is merely
one of a large number of problems which are national or regional, or
both. On a realistic analysis, the continued and increased partici-
pation of the Federal Government must be taken for granted in any
far-reaching program of research aimed at stabilizing and expanding
wood consumption in the United States. Government pioneering
and success in forest products research, particularly by the Forest
Service, stands as an accomplished fact.
The opportunities and needs of endowed universities with respect
to forest products investigations are similar to those of State uni-
versities or agricultural colleges. Larger faculties and equipment are
needed, partly for more effective instruction but chiefly to permit
more research. In the various departments of endowed universities
with forest schools, and likewise in universities which do not contain
forest schools, there is still a very large opportunity for faculty or
graduate-student or fellowship research on a wide range of forest
problems. If such institutions will encourage research in forest
products they can in the aggregate contribute materially to our
progress in forestry.
Several research institutions, such as the Mellon Institute and the
Institute of Paper Chemistry, already include in their investigative
field one or more phases of the forestry problem. The field covered
by such institutions should be broadened and the number should be
increased. They can be assured that almost anything in forest
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1393
products research which they undertake will be of benefit directly
or indirectly to forestry, and hence to the public welfare.
In brief, there is room and need for the intelligent effort of all
agencies, public and private, in the too-much neglected field of forest
products research. Cooperation, the broadest possible interchange
of information, and avoidance of overlapping effort should be the
keynote. Each research agency or class will make a more or less
distinctive contribution in this research structure. Private owners
and industry will concentrate chiefly on then- own localized problems
and on the application of more general findings to their conditions
and requirements. The States will necessarily work in part on some-
what more generalized problems, but ordinarily not? beyond those
peculiar to their own territory. An important State function will
be to serve large numbers of small owners and operators who cannot
be expected to support forest products research except through tax-
ation. State institutions should also work on those fundamental
problems which underlie their own needs. The Federal Government
must attack regional, interstate, and national problems, and many
phases of fundamental work. The national forests alone place a
heavy obligation for forest products research upon the Federal Gov-
ernment. Endowed institutions will in most cases work on selected
problems or some phase of fundamental research.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF CONSUMPTION TRENDS
The measures advocated in the foregoing constitute a plea and a
program for placing the whole structure of forest markets on a revised
and modern basis of consumer-service and continuing supply.
It cannot be denied that in certain fields of forest consumption the
recent trends, aggravated by depression, have been discouraging to
producers. They have been prolific of waste, excessive competition,
and reckless liquidation of holdings. The situation presents obvious
problems which are of fundamental importance to the future of
commodity forestry.
On the other hand, it is submitted that changes in demand are to
be recognized, not combated. Old-fashioned exploitation of what
were formerly " exhaustless " timber resources is not and cannot be
the solution of the marketing problem, as both forest demand and
forest supply enter upon the modern era and modern conditions. It
is imperative that costs within the industries be lowered, to give the
consumer the benefit of economical and abundant products and at
the same time to cure the ills of unprofitable production and manage-
ment; that the quality and service properties of the products be
largely improved and better discriminated, to insure maximum satis-
faction in use; that the development of new products be pushed
forward to take full advantage of the tide of modern demands and
preferences; and that sales and promotion policies be intelligently and
aggressively directed in relation to these same objectives.
Some of the ways and means of meeting the modern challenge
have been set forth with at least sufficient clarity, it is hoped, to
indicate the direction of progress. It is believed that management
and marketing activities may well be concentrated with special
reference to transportation costs. The costs of raw material and
manufacture should be reduced and quality of output improved by
1394 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
selective logging, and the productiveness of stands should be extended
through management for sustained yield. In line with technical
efficiency in the use of materials, the trend toward integration of
forest-using industries in favorable locations should be encouraged,
while wastes in all departments must be further reduced. Produc-
tion from small holdings must be improved and adjusted to meet the
standards of orderly manufacture and marketing, and merchandising
must be activated on the modern plane of quality standards and
technical requirements.
The apparent "encroachment" or "intrusion" of other materials
in fields of wood use has been shown to be an inevitable expression
of the modern age and the eagerness of consumers for new and
unproved products and services. The need and the responsibility for
more scientific and technical research in wood and its products have
therefore been specially stressed. Some of the more obvious and
urgent objectives which research should follow have been pointed
out — better construction and fabrication, unit construction, better
treating, coating, and gluing processes, better conversion and harvest-
ing, keener selection and grading, the improvement of pulping pro-
cesses and machine operations in paper manufacture, the develop-
ment of plastics and other new and special products, basic and
fundamental studies of the nature and minute characteristics of
wood, and the cooperation of all agencies, commercial and public, in
the prosecution of these and allied lines of investigation.
By girding themselves to meet modern demands efficiently, forest
industry and forest ownership can look forward to a continued place
of major service in the country's economic life. The public has life-
long need for, familiarity with, and attachment to wood and wood
products. The Nation has a vast program of forestry at stake in the
trend of wood use. The fiscal stability of local governments is bound
up with profitable use of the land. The weight of public preference
will be a mighty factor that may well be cultivated in stabilizing and
enlarging forest consumption and in safeguarding forest markets. It
may be counted on to give wood a "fair deal." In return, forest
industry must make sure that wood shall meet a high standard of
expectation and performance, and that forest resources shall be con-
structively used and the supply continuously developed in accord with
the general welfare.
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
By E. I. KOTOK, Director California Forest Experiment Station, EVAN W.
KELLEY, Regional Forester, Northern Rocky Mountain Region, and C. F.
EVANS, District Forest Inspector, Division of State Cooperation, Branch of
Public Relations
CONTENTS
Page
Brief review of fire situation 1395
Objectives in fire control 1397
How closely have the objectives been reached? 1400
Basic needs in a national fire-control program 1403
The essential parts and functions of an adequate fire-control organization. 1405
Present expenditures for fire control 1407
Additional expenditures needed 1409
The immediate financial program 1412
BRIEF REVIEW OF FIRE SITUATION
The prevention and control of forest fires is a basic requirement
in forestry, whether the purpose of management is timber production,
watershed protection, or game and recreational development. Am-
erican forests in every region show the adverse effects of past forest
fires, in depleted and decadent stands of the virgin forest, in deterio-
rated and denuded condition of cut-over lands, in the impaired con-
dition of important watersheds, and in the destruction or marring of
scenic values and the destruction of wild life.
There is abundant evidence in every forest region that repeated
fires, through an imperceptible process of attrition, have reduced for-
est stands and in many types the loss has been one third or even one
half in value or volume over extensive areas. In some instances re-
peated fires have converted valuable conifer forests into brush fields,
and important hardwood types into ragged forests of unmerchantable
trees. The destruction that follows a spectacular crown fire, which
takes everything in its path, is readily recognized. The less spectac-
ular light surface fire, if occurring frequently enough, may approach
the crown fire in destructiveness to ultimate forest values. In many
regions, tree-killing insects and wood-destroying fungi inevitably
increase their activity following forest fires. Frequently the problem
of protection against future fires is intensified by the very ravages of
past fires.
Systematic and organized control against forest fires was begun in
many forest regions about 25 years ago. Considerable progress has
been made and partial success attained; but taking all the forest
regions together, as reflected in the record for 1926-30, the average
burned-over area of 41}£ million acres annually on national forests,
State, and private lands, fire must be considered as a widespread
national problem. In table 1 is given the average annual burn of
forest lands in the principal regions. This tabulation in part indicates
the relative present intensity of the fire problem. These figures, in-
cluding more than 37 % million acres burned over annually in the
South, over \% million acres in the Pacific Coast region, over \%
1395
1396
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
million acres in the Central region, and more than half a million acres
in the Lake region, conclusively confirm the need for aggressive and
intensified effort in curbing forest fires in the United States.
TABLE 1. — Average annual burn on national forest, and State and private forest
lands, 1926-30 l
Region
Area
burned
over
Fires 2
Region
Area
burned
over
Fires 2
New England
Acres
95,884
Number
3,645
Pacific Coast
Acres
1 283,598
Number
6,898
Middle Atlantic. -.
338,304
6,557
North Rocky Mountain
283,882
2,548
Lake
563, 536
4,941
South Rocky Mountain
23,111
1,289
Central
1 379 076
12 527
South II
37, 571, 504
117,778
Total
41, 538, 895
156, 183
1 For unprotected private lands in general only rough estimates are available. Such estimates are
however, included in this table.
3 Data on number of fires are based on forest area only and are not directly and proportionally comparable
to those shown in table 4, of section entitled "Federal Financial and Other Direct Aid to the States",
which are based on a total area, including (in addition to all forested lands) some areas that are nonforested.
While the general situation is still critical, it must be noted that
there are regions and parts of regions where reasonably adequate fire
control obtains, and steady and favorable progress can be recorded in
better-stocked and improved forests as a result of favorable public
attitude and systematically organized fire control by States, private
timberland owners, and the Federal Government.
No forest regon is entirely immune from fires. There is, however,
great difference in the intensity of the fire problem as between regions
and even between parts of the same region. Regions or parts of
regions where fires are of infrequent occurrence, or where their spread
is promptly checked by natural means, requiring no special organized
effort, are excluded from this discussion of the fire-control problem,
even though in the aggregate they comprise a large area of commercial
timberland. On the other hand important watershed areas needing
fire protection are included even if they contain no commercial timber.
For these reasons the regional and total areas given in this section of
the report are not identical with the areas given in some of the other
sections. According to table 2, about 63 percent of the total forest
and potential forest land requiring protection against forest fires is
actually under some form of protection.
TABLE 2. — National forest and State and private forest areas requiring protection,
and total areas protected, by regions (calendar year 1931)
Region
Area re-
quiring pro-
tection
Area with
some form
of pro-
tection
Region
Area re-
quiring pro-
tection
Area with
some form
of pro-
tection
Acres
28 201 000
Acres
1 28, 614, 476
Pacific Coast
Acres
75, 979, 000
Acres
70, 160, 372
Middle Atlantic
28, 854, 000
27, 723, 539
North Rocky Mountain-
37, 691, 000
i 40, 901, 812
Lake
54, 024, 000
i 55, 817, 295
South Rocky Mountain-
28, 070, 000
i 29, 397, 458
Central -
South
53, 005, 000
206, 321, 000
51, 476, 910
Total
512, 145, 000
320, 757, 192
1 Excess in area due to discrepancies in reported figures for private forest land.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1397
OBJECTIVES IN FIRE CONTROL
Complete fire exclusion in a forest is rarely attainable. Fires
originate from both human and natural causes, and the latter pre-
dominate in many localities of the West. The entire elimination of
human-caused fires, desirable as it may be, can not be expected in
the forest any more than in our homes and cities. Occupancy and
use of forest property involves legitimate need for fire, and some fires
will escape through carelessness, negligence, or intent. Therefore, in
the management of forests, provision must be made to prevent un-
necessary fire from starting and for controlling those that through one
cause or another do start. What degree of protection against fire is
necessary depends on the purposes of management and the damage
that may be expected to occur following fires in a given forest type or
region.
In other sections of this report the damaging effect of fires on forests
is specifically shown. The degree and character of damage varies
widely in different forest types. In each forest type, the age of the
forest, the amount of debris and slash on the ground, topography,
weather conditions, and the season of the year in which the fire occurs,
all have a marked influence on the severity of the damage that a given
fire may cause. Experience proves that if forests are to be main-
tained somewhere near their maximum growing capacity, fires must
be excluded or held to the lowest possible acreage compatible with the
purposes of management for which a given forest is held. One of the
major problems in American forestry is to rebuild depreciated forest
lands that have already suffered severely from overcutting and
burning, and success in recapturing such forest values must be pred-
icated on keeping fires entirely out or within reasonable check.
Partial, intermittent, or deferred fire control in forest types where fire
damage is severe will at best merely perpetuate partially stocked or
unmerchantable forests.
Where timber production is the object of management, it is obvious
that a degree of protection must be assured throughout the timber
rotation which will prevent seriously reducing the yield or value of the
crop. On watershed areas, protection must adequately safeguard the
dependent investment throughout its life. In recreational areas,
where fires may destroy the unique values, a high degree of protection
must be permanently assured even if other resource values would war-
rant less intensive protection. Fire control is an essential factor in the
maintenance of proper environmental conditions for wild life which is
one form or another inhabits all forest land.
Protection against fire must be planned on a reasonably permanent
basis — half-way measures generally will produce less than half-way
results. In most cases, particularly where only a low annual burn can
be tolerated, it will be found that the money spent for partial or inter-
mittent protection will be largely a lost and unrealizable investment.
The major purposes of management of forest land will be the chief
guide in the formulation of the objective in fire control or the limit to
which the area annually burned must be held. There are four
universal criteria that can be applied as a gage in determining what
the objective should be. These are as follows:
1. How much damage will a given fire cause to present and
potential timber growth and other forest values?
1398 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
2. How much damage will a given fire cause to the productivity
of the land (the site)?
3. With what degree of difficulty will a forest be restablished after
fire?
4. Will future protection be increased in difficulty after a fire runs
over the forest?
These criteria, which reflect the major purposes in all forest
management, are interrelated and have been used in this inquiry as
a device to measure the degree of damage that a given forest type is
likely to suffer as a result of fire. In applying them we frequently
find, for example, that a mere surface fire may cause the complete
destruction of a spruce or white-pine forest. A fire of moderate
intensity in the ponderosa pine type will seriously injure the site,
wipe out young reproduction, and take some toll of mature timber.
In the hardwood forests of the Central States, a ground fire will
usually diminish the growth capacity of the forest and stimulate
decay from damaging wood-destroying fungi, seriously depreciating
the quality of timber. In the longleaf-pine type, fires do far less
damage than in the other types mentioned. A fire in the brush-field
watersheds of California seriously threatens storage reservoirs, special
spreading grounds, and dependent agricultural land for 3 to 5 years,
until a new brush cover returns. In a like manner, the damage done
by fire to forage and watershed values, recreation values, and wild
life varies between regions and even within a region. These varying
factors have been taken into account in the determination of the
objective in fire control.
Realizing that complete fire exclusion is not a practicable measure
and in many instances is too costly, an objective in fire control has
been set up for each forest type based on the percentage of the area
that may burn over annually without impairing radically the forest
values as determined by the predominant purposes of management.
This objective of fire control is expressed as the area of allowable
burn, and has been determined for each of the major forest types
(table 3). It becomes obvious that the absolute acreage burned over
in different forest types is not the sole criterion either of the damage
sustained or of how nearly the objective has been met. Tin's annual
allowable percentage index has been calculated by considering how
the four factors influencing damage from fires operate in the different
forest types of the United States. Controlled fires used for definite
silvicultural or protective purposes are not included in computing the
allowable burn.
From these estimates of allowable percentage of burn in forest
types it is possible to compute a percentage for each of the forest
regions. Obviously, this composite regional percentage is only a
very rough estimate of value and a broad indicator of the goal in
view to permit a somewhat more general administrative grasp of the
fire situation. Such figures, computed separately for the national
forests and for the areas outside, are given in table 4.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1399
TABLE 3. — Indexes of effective fire control for various forest types
Type
Annual
allowable
burn
Type
Annual
allowable
burn
White pine
Percent
0 1
Slash pine ... _
Percent
0.7
Spruce
.1
Sand pine -
1
2-. 3
Longleafpine -. -
3
.25
Northern hardwood
.2
Larch-fir-white pine
.15
Appalachian hardwood
.5
True fir
2- 3
Bottomland hardwood
.2
.3
Oklahoma hardwood.
1
Mixed conifers (Calif )
3
Aspen
.7
1
Noncommercial forests
2
.5
Brush and nontimbered
2.5
3
Watersheds ....
. 4-2. 5
Recreation values
0.-0.5
Loblolly pine
1
TABLE 4. — Objectives in fire control on national forest and State and private-forest
land, by regions
Region
State and private areas
National forest areas
Area requir-
**&£*
Allow-
able burn
Area requir-
ing protec-
tion
Allow-
able burn
New England
Acres
27,671,000
28, 485, 000
52, 306, 000
52, 341, 000
202, 904, 000
41,720,000
9, 455, 000
2, 194, 000
Percent
0.16
.35
.36
.59
1.34
.49
1.05
.41
Acres
530,000
369,000
1,718,000
664,000
3,417,000
34, 259, 000
28, 236, 000
25, 876, 000
Percent
0.13
.16
.43
.50
.90
.27
.56
.49
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central- --
South-
Pacific Coast . .
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Continental United States
417, 076, 000
.88
95, 069, 000
.44
The objectives in fire control, as indicated in tables 3 and 4, vary
not only from region to region but also for different sections within a
given region, as determined by forest type. Thus in New England,
whereas only 0.16 percent of the area as a whole can be allowed to
burn over annually without seriously or permanently disturbing a
growing forest, burns in northern hardwoods may safely reach 0.2
percent, or in noncommercial forest 2 percent. In the South the
objective in fire control, expressed as 0.9 percent of allowable burn
annually for national-forest areas and 1.34 percent for the territory
outside the national forests, may in different types vary from 0.2 to
3 percent. The comparatively high percentage of annual allowable
burn in the South is due to the fact that fires in this region affect the
forest less harmfully than elsewhere.
As explained previously, these objectives are the best determinable
approximations in the light of present information, and are subject
to revision as better basic data become available. Differentiations
in objectives will undoubtedly be set up as between areas placed
under intensive management and culture and those that are to be
treated extensively. The trend will very likely be toward higher
standards and reduction in the area of allowable annual burn.
168342°— 33— vol. 2-
-23
1400
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
HOW CLOSELY HAVE THE OBJECTIVES BEEN REACHED?
The 41 K million acres of forest and potential forest land burned
over annually during the period 1926-30, and the 447,000 acres on
the more intensively managed national forests included in this total,
are startling and alarming figures in themselves. The damage to
forest values as a result of these fires can perhaps best be indicated
and measured by comparing directly the annual burn and the objec-
tives in fire control set up for each major forest region, as shown in
table 5.
TABLE 5. — Ratio of actual annual burn to allowable burn outside and within national
forests, by regions (average 1926-30)1
Region
Outside
national
forests
Within
national
forests
New England
1 84
0 015
Middle Atlantic
2.97
3.78
Lake
J 2 70
85
Central
5.36
1.03
South
14 19
1 02
Pacific Coast
4.96
2.78
North Rocky Mountain
.99
.87
pnuth Rocky Mountain,. ._...
.56
.70
United States
11 00
1 07
1 A ratio of 1 or less indicates that objective has been reached.
2 Data incomplete for certain areas in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The data briefly indicate that on the 417 million acres constituting
the major forest regions, outside of the national forests, requiring pro-
tection against fire, 1 1 times as much damage was done by fire as this
area can receive and still retain the desired degree of productivity.
On the 95 million acres of national forest land requiring protection as
a whole, on the contrary, damage was held down practically to the
acceptable maximum. The extremely high ratio (11 to 1) for the
areas outside the national forests is due in a large measure to the
existence of millions of acres of forest land where, because of lack of
funds, no protction is afforded. At the same time, large areas exist
in every region where fire-protection work is fairly adequately
financed and the results are relatively satisfactory.
Of the territory outside of the national forests (fig. 1) only the
South and North Rocky Mountain regions attain their objectives.
The forest regions where greater timber values are at stake are burn-
ing annually considerably more than the desirable maximum. For
example, the South, covering a territory of 206,321,000 acres of forest
and potential forest land, is burning over at the rate of 14.2 times its
objective, in spite of the fact that the percentage of allowable burn
set up in the objective (1.34 percent) is far higher than for any other
important forest region. The large area burned over in the South is
largely attributable to public indifference to the desire of special
groups to fire the woods for one purpose or another, to inadequately
financed fire-control organizations, and to the few large sections of
the region where no protective effort against fire is being made.
But even in forest regions where current expenditures are large, as
for example in the Pacific Coast, Lake, or Middle Atlantic, further
intensification of fire-control effort is needed if the objectives are to
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
1401
NEW
ENGLAND "
MIDDLE
ATLANTIC
LAKE
CENTRAL-"
SOUTH
PACIFIC *
N. ROCKY -
S. ROCKY -
U.S.
'CONN.
MAINE
MASS.
N.H.
R. |.
VT.
AVERA
'DEL.
MD.
N.J.
N.Y.
PENNA.
AVERA
[MICH.
MINN,
wis.
AVERA
'ILL.
IND.
KY.
MO.
OHIO
TENN.
W.VA.
AVERA
'ALA.
ARK.
FLA.
GA.
LA.
MISS.
N.C.
OKLA.
5.C.
TEX.
VA.
AVERA
'CALIF.
ORE.
WASH.
AVERA
^MONT.
IDAHO
AVERA
!NEV.
N.MEX.
S.DAK.
AVERA
AVERAGE
(
LESS THAN GREATER THAN
ALLOWABLE BURN ALLOWABLE BURN
•\r -N
•
mm
\
mmmrn
•
mamas
mm
mmmm
i
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
BOB
mom
mm
mm
—
•
•
%
GE
GE
GE_.
P
&&%&
GE
=
-
.
t
mm
HHB
mm
•
i
I
•
GE _
GE .
__EE
GE_.
B5S
2232
K5«56
J
'SSSSSK
GE
K&&ka%8&
3 &:l >&:! %:' I: 5:1 10:1 20:1 30:1 40:
RATIO OF AREA BURNED TO ALLOWABLE BURN (l 926 -1930 AVERAGE:)
FIGURE 1.— Relation between average annual burn and allowable burn by States, on State and private
land. (A ratio of 1:1 or less indicates a satisfactory condition.)
1402
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
be met. While results on the national forests are on the whole much
more satisfactory, examination of groups of critical forest areas
(fig. 2) discloses the justification for further intensified effort if the
present annual areas burned are to be reduced to the desirable
objective. In table 6 are shown the ratios of annual burn to allow-
able burn on these critical areas for the three regions in which such
areas occur.
SOUTH
PACIFIC
NORTH
ROCKY
SOUTH
ROCKY
15 20
MILLION ACRES
TOTAL AREA
CRITICAL AREA
FIGURE 2.— National forest areas needing protection, total and critical areas, by regions.
TABLE 6. — Ratio of actual annual burn to allowable burn on critical areas l in the
national-forest system (average 1926—30}
Region
Critical
areas
Ratio of
burn
South
Acres
1 451 884
1. 13
Pacific Coast--
20, 412, 000
5.4
North Rocky Mountain
8, 165, 000
5.5
All areas . .
30, 028, 884
4.95
1 The reference here, as in fig. 2, is to considerable blocks of timber where fire risk is high and need of ad-
equate protection most urgent. Excluded, for the purposes of this discussion, are "spots" or small tracts
of high risk, such as may be found in every region.
Thus, of the 95 million acres within the national forests requiring
protection, 30 million acres in tracts of considerable size are subject
to high fire damage and present an unusually critical fire problem.
This 31.6 percent of the national-forest area, during the period
1926-30, suffered 4.95 times the burn set up in the objective.
In the past few years the protective organization in this critical
group has been materially strengthened by added man power, im-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
1403
proved means and methods of fire fighting, and a road-building
program which has made for more rapid and certain suppression of
fires. As a result of these additional protective measures a very
definite reduction in acreage burned has been accomplished during
the past 2 years, and the objectives in fire control have been more
nearly approached (fig. 3).
BASIC NEEDS IN A NATIONAL FIRE-CONTROL PROGRAM
The economic necessity for preventing or controlling forest fires is
not yet universally recognized or accepted in all forest regions of the
LESS THAN
ALLOWABLE BURN
GREATER THAN
ALLOWABLE BURN
NEW
f TOTAL
ENGLAND "^CRITICAL
MIDDLE f TOTAL
ATLANTIC |_CRITICAL
f TOTAL
j_ CRITICAL
f TOTAL
[_ CRITICAL
f TOTAL
[CRITICAL
("TOTAL
(^CRITICAL
(TOTAL
CRITICAL
LAKE
CENTRAL
SOUTH
PACIFIC
S. ROCKY
1 CRITICAL
f TOTAL
0 /4:l Yz:\ 34.:l 1:1 Z:l 3: I 4:1 5:1 6:1
RATIO OF AREA BURNED TO ALLOWABLE *BURN (1926 -1930 AVERAGE)
TOTAL AREA •• CRITICAL AREA
FIGURE 3. — Relation between average annual burn and allowable burn, on total and critical areas of
national forests, by regions. (A ratio of 1:1 or less indicates a satisfactory condition.)
United States. In the development of the country, the very process
of carving homesteads and farms out of the original virgin forest,
the subsequent era of timber exploitation with little or no regard for
the destructive methods used, and other unregulated use of our
forests have all created an unconscious public attitude of disregard
for the forest. Fire was used not only as a means of removing slash
and debris but also for the more rapid clearing of standing forests.
The habit of firing the woods for one reason or another has persisted
in many parts of the United States, although the original purpose or
need for doing so as a rule no longer exists. The very extensiveness
of the original forests created a false assurance of their inexhaustibility.
Thus, through 3 centuries there has grown up a public disregard, dis-
1404
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
interest, and indifference towards the forests. In spite of 25 years of
educational effort the number of human-caused fires is still surprisingly
high. We are still confronted with a severe handicap in attempting to
protect forests against fires, simply because the public has thus far
failed to grasp the nature and extent of the protection problem and
accordingly has made little progress toward eliminating the causes of
fire. Table 7 showing the number and causes of fires for 1926-30,
gives definite evidence of this heedlessness.
TABLE 7. — Average number of fires by cause, national forests, State, and private
lands (protected areas only), 1926-30
Region
All
causes
Lightning
Railroads
Campers
New England
Number
3,645
6,529
4,941
2,882
16, 114
6,864
2,442
1,255
Number
25
35
69
9
177
1,612
1,527
807
Percent
.69
.54
1.40
.31
1.10
23.49
62.53
64.30
Number
683
1,189
617
202
833
339
150
30
Percent
18.74
18.21
12.49
7.01
5.17
4.94
6.14
2.39
Number
87
430
397
222
1,422
670
175
122
Percent
2.39
6.59
8.03
7.70
8.82
9.76
7.17
9.72
Middle Atlantic- -
Lake
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Total or average
44, 672
4,261
9.54
4,043
9.05
3,525
7.89
Region
Smokers
Debris burning
Incendiary
New England
Number
1,063
1,830
1,318
431
2,660
1,620
278
208
Percent
29.16
28.03
26.67
14.95
16.51
23.60
11.38
16.57
Number
555
820
755
527
2,327
502
92
24
Percent
15.23
12.56
15.28
18.29
14.44
7.31
3.77
1.91
Number
165
414
329
814
4,924
907
74
11
Percent
4.53
6.34
6.66
28.24
30.56
13.21
3.03
.88
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central ..
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Total or average
9,408
21.06
5,602
12.54
7,638
17.10
Region
Lumbering
Miscellaneous
Unknown
Man-
caused
fires
New England
Number
25
40
72
160
1,067
337
40
11
Percent
0.69
.61
1.46
5.55
6.62
4.91
1.64
.88
Number
365
614
637
175
1,442
774
59
42
Percent
10.01
9.40
12.89
6.07
8.95
11.28
2.42
3.35
Number
677
1,157
747
342
1,262
103
47
Percent
18.57
17.72
15.12
11.87
7.83
1.50
1.92
Percent
99.31
99.46
98.60
99.69
98.90
76.52
37.47
35.70
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central-
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain . . ..
South Rocky Mountain
Total or average .
1,752
3.92
4,108
9.20
4,335
9.70
90.46
The first task in any adequate fire-control program is to stimulate
by carefully designed educational means a proper and sympathetic
public attitude towards forest values, and to build up among the
leaders of opinion in the community an intelligent understanding of
the damage that fires may inflict and the means whereby their
destruction may be checked.
The next step in the program, which must be predicated upon an
educated public consciousness, involves the enactment of sufficiently
stringent local, State, and Federal fire laws providing for the employ-
ment of reasonable safeguards in the legitimate uses of fire in the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1405
woods and the punishment of carelessness, neglect, and arson. Forest
property, whether in private, State, or Federal ownership, must have
legal protection against the careless or recalcitrant fire setter. It is
true that even the best forest-fire laws are of little consequence unless
there is widespread public support for enforcement. But frequently
the apprehension of the vicious or careless fire setter will bring
forcibly to a community the first gleam of appreciation of the indi-
vidual's responsibility for care with fire.
In the main, three different types of thought stand in the way of
local progress in fire control in each region, and unless they are
recognized and dealt with intelligently, all the physical features of a
fire-control program, no matter how well conceived, will fail to insure
success. There is first the group that definitely approves the use of
fire in the woods and shows antagonism to any fire-prevention pro-
gram. This attitude is usually founded in ignorance of the ultimate
effects of burning or else interest is centered on the advantages to the
burner without regard for community welfare. Second, is the group
that shows no interest in the effort to halt the setting of fires. Third,
are those who may, under careful stimulation, become the leaders in
the community's fight against fire, but who at present condone fire
setting as a necessary or unavoidable evil. Reasonably suitable fire
laws are already on the statute books in practically every important
forest region. Here and there they require strengthening, but what
is needed above all is an urgent demand from the leaders of thought
in each community for their enforcement.
To insure continuous and effective fire control on State and private
land, the third step required is organic laws providing for active and
positive State responsibility for organizing and directing fire-control
effort on a State-wide basis. The States that at present are treating
fires as a common enemy and taking the full financial responsibility,
without dependence on private funds, are generally showing the best
results.
The fourth essential feature in an adequate program of fire control
is the establishment of an assured and continuous financial support
for building and sustaining the protection organization. In all forest
regions funds are required for some or all such specific purposes as
fire-prevention programs, competent executives, a trained field force ;
capital investments for roads, trails, fire lines, lookout houses or
lookout towers, and other physical improvements; equipment and
tools for prevention and suppression of fires; and special workers for
suppressing going fires. Fire fighting is a technical task requiring
preparedness, specialized equipment, and an effectively trained
organization under a high standard of executive direction. It cannot
succeed with haphazard methods; with loose organization; with
unskilled leaders hurriedly assembled when an emergency arises.
THE ESSENTIAL PARTS AND FUNCTIONS OF AN
ADEQUATE FIRE-CONTROL ORGANIZATION
Speed of attack is the essence of successful fire control in city and
forest alike. Once a fire starts it increases progressively in size as
long as fuel is in its path and weather conditions are favorable for
combustion, and the suppression task becomes progressively more
difficult, more costly, and less certain. The ideal protection organ-
1406 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
ization is built on the principle that fires be discovered and reported
promptly to trained fire-fighting units capable of attacking the fire
in the shortest possible time and also of expanding to cope with any
fire-control job that may develop. The frequency and occurrence
of past fires and the rate at which fires spread, as shown by the fire-
history of a forest property, determine the number and placement of a
mobile man power prepared so to function. Provision also must be
made for expanding auxiliary forces to supplement the regular first
line of defense.
To determine what form the fire-control organization will take and
how intensive it will be, full consideration must be given to the local
objective in fire control, the intensity and character of fire risks,
density of population, accessibility of the areas of greatest fire danger,
and the rate at which fires normally spread in a given forest type.
The organization thus perfected will function adequately at critical
times and will meet definite time requirements as to the speed with
which it is prepared to attack a reported fire. On the basis of present
studies, speed-of-attack 1 objectives vary all the way from three
quarters of an hour to 12 hours.
Just what happens when a fire starts in any area under organized
protection? In a critical western forest region the procedure is as
follows :
First must come prompt detection furnished by lookout men sta-
tioned on prominent peaks or high towers, or at other fire-observation
points. The lookout immediately reports the fire to a dispatcher,
who in turn transmits the information to a fireman. To make the
report requires an extensive communication system of telephone lines
in good working order. The fireman, the first line of defense, must
be prepared with tools, equipment, horse, or automobile to proceed
at once to the fire over roads and trails. If speed is to be made in
reaching the fire the road and trail system must break up the terri-
tory sufficiently so that fires can be reached in even as small a time
interval as half an hour. If the fire requires reenforcements, trucks
and additional tools must be dispatched from supply depots and
labor sources over a road and trail system. Then comes the task of
actually extinguishing the fire, involving exacting standards of per-
formance and management.
In the East as a rule a less elaborate system is needed because the
forests usually are more accessible, man power is more readily avail-
able, and the difficulties in the way of suppression are not so great.
West or East, the business of controlling fire must be built up step
by step to meet each special need. Men, whether hired or volunteer,
must be carefully trained for the specialized jobs of fire prevention,
including law enforcement, detection, dispatching, fire fighting, and
use of various equipment from the simple shovel, ax, and saw to the
automatic pumper, plow or tractor. The men must be keenly
interested in their tasks, must be skilled in woodcraft, in firefighting,
and must be capable of assembling unorganized crews, organizing
and directing them, and putting them to work. A skilled fire-control
organization in a single Western ranger district must be prepared to
suppress a small fire, a broadside of even 100 lightning fires resulting
from one electric storm, or a major conflagration requiring the organ-
1 Allowable time between start of fire and arrival of forces at fire.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1407
ization of a thousand men for a week's battle. Above all else a fire-
control organization requires skilled and trained leadership of a
high degree of executive and managerial capacity. This highly
trained organization requires definite physical things if it is to func-
tion properly. It needs for prevention, educational equipment; for
detection, lookout structures; for communication, a telephone sys-
tem; for moving its first line of defense, a road and trail system, ade-
quate transportation, and a supply of carefully selected and in part
specially designed equipment; for its second line of defense in isolated
regions, supply depots with immense stores of tools, food supplies,
equipment, pack stock, bedding, cooking outfits, and trucks.
In forest-fire fighting the plan of organization must provide for the
peak year and for the unusual month or day when adverse weather
whips fires with fury before it. A year or even a 5-year period may
pass by during which even an undermanned or poorly equipped
organization can hold fire in check and within the objective of fire
control. But the test comes in these occasional bad fire days or the
critical fire years when the work of many decades in the protection of
the property may be wiped out. Thus protection must be planned for
at least the average critical year.
The basic needs for adequate fire control may be summarized as :
1. Comprehensive fire-prevention programs designed to create
positive interest and active support on the part of the piiblic.
^ 2. State laws, providing direct State responsibility for the protec-
tion of State and private forest lands.
3. Local, State and Federal fire police regulations and laws.
4. Continuing appropriations for capital investments in trans-
portation, detection, and communication system until an adequate
layout is provided.
5. Annual appropriations for annual carrying charges to provide
capable executives, trained personnel, equipment, and labor for
suppressing fires.
PRESENT EXPENDITURES FOR FIRE CONTROL
Inherent regional differences, such as the character of the forest,
the terrain, the severity of fire weather, and the local public attitude
toward forest property go far toward determining the total expendi-
tures for fire control, but great differences in per-acre expenditures are
evident in regions of closely similar fire danger and equal forest values.
These differences in current expenditures have in many cases slight
relationship to the needs of the job, but often reflect either lack of
interest of the State and private owner in the necessity for fire control
or their financial incapacity to meet it.
In table 8 are given the current average annual expenditures in fire
control by major regions, for all lands in State or private ownership.
The expenditures per acre were calculated by charging the total
expenditures against the total area needing protection, although in
some regions, particularly the Central and South, millions of acres are
receiving no protection.
1408
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 8. — Average annual expenditures for fire protection on State and private
forest land, and cost per acre, by regions (average 1927-80)
Region
Total ex-
penditures
Cost per
acre
Region
Total ex-
penditures
Cost per
acre
New England
Dollars
535, 440
Cents
1.94
Pacific Coast
Dollars
1, 368, 131
Cents
3. 28
Middle Atlantic
787, 755
2.77
North Rocky Mountain
558, 105
5.90
Lake
1, 050, 982
2.01
South Rocky Mountain. .. .
19, 456
'.89
Central
208 900
40
South
871,816
.43
United States
5, 400, 585
1.29
1 Incomplete record of expenditure on private land in New Mexico.
Of these expenditures, the cost per acre rather than the total is the
more significant figure, because it makes possible a better comparison
of unit cost. For the territory outside the national forests, present
per acre expenditure is highest in the North Rocky Mountain, fol-
lowed by the Pacific Coast, Middle Atlantic, Lake, New England,
South Rocky Mountain, South, and Central regions, in the order
named.
The North Rocky Mountain region on the upper end of the scale
(5.9 cents) is spending on its total area needing protection almost 15
times as much per acre as the Central and South. This wide spread
between regions is not, as stated previously, due merely to differences
in the inherent difficulty of the fire-control job but also, and probably
more, to the interest or lack of interest of the private landowner
and the State in fire control and the amount of money they are willing
to spend for such activities. As will be shown later, present expendi-
tures fall considerably short of the needs in every forest region and,
largely, in proportion to the excess in the ratio of present burned-over
acreage to the desired objective in allowable annual burn.
In the national forests, where the fire-control problem has been
progressively met with increased appropriations for intensified pro-
tection effort, present expenditures for the whole national-forest area
more nearly approach ultimate needs. But even here, as indicated
in table 6, about 30 million of the 95 million acres requiring protection
are still burned over to a considerably greater degree than the objec-
tive set up, and in these areas protection costs must be materially
increased.
The present per-acre costs for all national forests given in table 9
are very much higher than per-acre costs on State and private land,
but they include every direct and indirect item of expenditure. The
lowest costs per acre are found in the South Rocky Mountain and
New England regions and the highest in the Central and the South.
The high costs in the latter regions are in part due to the fact that
the units protected are comparatively small and require protection
against threatening fires from outside areas which are frequently
costly to handle. These costs will be reduced as additional territory
is added to round out these properties. The higher costs in the
Pacific Coast and North Rocky Mountain regions reflect the difficul-
ties of fire control in highly inflammable forests on adverse terrain.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1409
TABLE 9. — Average annual costs of protection on national-forest areas and cost per
acre by regions (average 1926-30}
Region
Total cost
Cost per
acre
Region
Total cost
Cost per
acre
Dollars
21 476
Cents
4 05
Pacific Coast
Dollars
2, 569, 394
Cents
7.50
Middle Atlantic
28,525
7.73
North Rocky Mountain
1, 917, 266
6.79
Lake
95 472
5 56
South Rocky Mountain .
419, 553
1.62
68 156
10 26
South
317, 756
9.30
Total
5, 437, 598
5.72
In table 10 the regional costs for the protection of national-forest
areas are segregated by the major elements. It will be noted that
the annual carrying charges and maintenance of improvement roads
and trails forms a Targe item of the fire-control costs in the national
forests, because vast inaccessible areas have to be broken up with a
transportation system for the movement of men and supplies. In
contrast to this, much of the territory outside of the national forests
is in the more settled and developed sections, where existing roads
already furnish the basic transportation system. Besides, new roads
in private and State protective units, even where their use for pro-
tection is important, are, as a rule, built chiefly for such uses as inter-
community travel and utilization and thus are not ordinarily included
in fire-control costs.
TABLE 10. — Annual cost of fire control on national forests, by regions (average
1926-30}
Region
Preven-
tion and
presup-
pression
Improve-
ments-
roads,
trails, and
other i
Fire sup-
pression
Total
New England
$8,411
$795
$12, 270
$21, 476
Middle Atlantic
7,640
3,026
17, 859
28,525
Lake
39,400
28,222
27, 850
95, 472
Central
30, 640
14, 077
23,439
68,156
Southeast
138, 069
54,845
124, 842
317, 756
Pacific Coast
863, 981
853, 049
852, 364
2, 569, 394
North Rocky Mountain
577, 468
759, 548
580, 250
1, 917, 266
South Rocky Mountain
138, 539
67, 278
213, 736
419, 553
Total
1, 804, 148
1, 780, 840
1, 852, 610
5, 437, 598
1 Annual carrying charges.
Recognizing that per-acre costs will vary with the difficulty of the
fire-control job and the skill with which the work is done, and that
these differ between regions, the inescapable conclusion must be
drawn that in the main, where present burned-over areas materially
exceed the objective, the present scale of expenditures is inadequate.
ADDITIONAL EXPENDITURES NEEDED
ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS
During the past decade, painstaking studies of physical factors and
critical investigations of organization and methods have been made
for the national forests to determine both the needs and costs of an
adequate fire-control system. There is now in progress an additional
1410
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
series of transportation, detection, and organization studies which
seeks to supply in detail what ultimate expenditures may be required
for each national forest to meet its objective in fire control. This
material as far as it has been available has been used as a guide in
arriving at the proposed new schedule of costs. Additional expendi-
tures have been considered only for those national forests where the
objective in fire control has not been met or where additional capital
outlay promises to result in a net reduction either in costs of fire
suppression or in damage to forest values. The great bulk of the
proposed increased expenditures as shown in table 1 1 is almost wholly
for the 31.6 percent of the national-forest area classed as critical and
now suffering from severe losses.
In examining the figures in table 1 1 , it will be noted that increased
expenditures are not contemplated in two regions, are less than 1 cent
an acre in 2 others, between 1 and 1.5 cents in 3, and approximately
2 cents in 1 . Of the increases proposed at least 74 percent is for the
cost of additional roads and trails and includes capital investment
and maintenance. In several instances the additional mileage is
needed because of the expanding area of the national forest as the
units are built up by additional land purchases, and, in the case of
the South Rocky Mountain region, to reduce fire-suppression costs.
Since the present net area was used to arrive at the annual charge
per acre for carrying the investment in transportation, the figure will
become less and less as the purchase program is completed. It will
be noted that in five regions the additional expenditure for roads and
trails will make possible reductions in present costs to the point where
the total additional is less than the transportation increment.
TABLE 11. — Present and proposed annual costs per acre for adequate fire control on
the national forests
Region
Present
costs
Proposed
costs
Total addi-
tional
Proposed
for roads
and trails '
New England
Cents
4 05
Cents
4 05
Cents
Cents
Middle Atlantic--
7.73
8.61
2 0 88
1
Lake
5 56
7 035
1 475
647
Central
10.26
11. 378
1. 118
.52
South
9.30
10.33
1 03
6
Pacific Coast
7 50
9 823
2 323
564
North Rocky Mountain
6.79
7.59
.8
.6
South Rocky Mountain ...
1.62
1.56
(3)
025
Average (weighted)
5.72
6.853
1.150
.851
1 Capital investment and maintenance.
2 Additional expenditure for better transportation will make possible a reduction of present cost in other
particulars, resulting in a "total additional" cost actually less than that proposed for roads and trails.
* Slight additional expense for roads and trails would result in a saving of 0.06 cents per acre.
ON STATE, PRIVATE, AND OTHER AREAS OUTSIDE NATIONAL
FORESTS
The ultimate costs of fire control for areas outside of the national
forests, while not as readily ascertainable as those within, are based
on careful estimates made in 1930 by the Forest Service cooperating
with the States. The estimates have subsequently been checked
against comparable costs on national forests in the same regions with
due allowance for differences in accessibility and fire danger. These
comparisons indicate that, in order to attain the fire-control objective
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1411
set up in this discussion on the present area of State and privately
owned forest land within the next 10 or 15 years, an annual expendi-
ture of about $20,000,000 would be required, or the per-acre costs
shown in table 12.
TABLE 12. — Estimated present and proposed costs per acre of fire control on areas
in State, private, and other ownership outside national forests
Region
Present
costs i
Ultimate
costs
Total ad-
ditional
New England -
Cents per
acre
1.94
Cents per
acre
2.86
Cents per
acre
0 92
Middle Atlantic
2.77
3 35
58
Lake
2.01
4.24
2.23
Central
.40
2 55
2 15
South
43
5 43
5 00
Pacific Coast
3.28
6.43
3.15
North Rocky Mountain
5.90
8 39
2 49
South Rocky Mountain.. .. . .. ..
2.89
1.39
3.50
1 Present costs were calculated by charging the total expenditures against the total area needing protection
although in the Central and South regions many million acres are entirely unprotected.
2 Incomplete record of expenditure on private land in New Mexico.
3 This figure subject to change as more complete records of current expenditures become available.
The estimate is not final and is subject to further revision as better
data become available. In the course of time, as antifire sentiment
increases, the cost of protection may be expected to decrease. On
the other hand, the areas of forest and potential forest land as esti-
mated in 1930 will undoubtedly have to be increased in future calcu-
lations because of additions from farm-land abandonment. It should
be noted that these costs, in contrast to those for national forests,
include only small present or proposed expenditures for roads or trails.
In the main, such items will be financed, as in the past, out of highway
and road appropriations as the need for additional community and
State roads arises; whereas, on the national forests the cost of pro-
tection for roads is specifically provided for by Congress.
For the South region it has been extremely difficult to estimate
the cost of adequate protection because of lack of information on the
huge area now entirely unprotected. The $11,000,000 estimated for
this region therefore must necessarily be regarded only as a reasonable
approximation of ultimate cost if the total acreage given in table 4
were to be adequately protected. The task is, however, so great,
and the probability of protection being given to the entire area is
so uncertain, that if $6,000,000 were to be set up as the goal, it would
more nearly represent the possibilities of attainment in the next 15
to 20 years.
The data in table 12 indicate needed increases in every region
varying from 5.8 mills per acre in the Middle Atlantic region to 5
cents in the South. Relative increases are even more striking. In
the South, where it has already been shown that the burned-over
area is 13.8 times the ultimate objective, annual expenditures would
have to be increased at least twelvefold if the total acreage were to
be put under adequate control. In the Pacific Coast region, where the
burn is five times the objective, double the present expenditures will
be required.
In contrast with the estimate of $20,000,000 required for adequate
protection of areas outside of the national forests, total expenditures
1412
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
from all sources have averaged about $5,400,585 for the period
1927-30, and reached $7,220,871 in 1931 (table 13). This wide spread
between actual expenditures and needs is significantly reflected by the
conditions in the South, where current expenditures are slightly
under $944,000 a year and the requirements of the job as indicated in
this study are more than $11,000,000; and in the Pacific Coast region
and the Lake region where 1931 expenditures were over half a million
less than the ultimate required amount.
TABLE 13. — Total present and estimated ultimate annual cost of adequate fire control
on areas outside national forests
Kegion
Present ex-
penditure i
Ultimate
cost
New England
Dollars
511,331
Dollars
792 000
Middle Atlantic
3 1, 165, 859
955,000
Lake
1, 668, 788
2, 219, 000
Central
250 278
1 337 000
South
943, 955
3 11,018,000
Pacific Coast
2, 059, 637
2 684 000
North Rocky Mountain
603 863
793 000
South Rocky Mountain
17,160
30,500
Total
7, 220, 871
19, 828, 500
1 The costs which are for the calendar year 1931 vary considerably from average expenditures over the
5-year period 1926-30, upon which the per-acre costs in table 12 are figured. Nevertheless they serve to illus-
trate in several of the regions that "ultimate cost", or the desired annual expenditure may often be little
more than the unavoidable expenditure in any one year, resulting from large suppression expenditures.
2 The increase in present expenditure over ultimate cost for the Middle Atlantic region is explained by the
occurrence of an unusually bad fire season in 1931 , calling for greater than average suppression costs. Refer-
ence to table 12 will make it clear that ultimate costs are reckoned as at least one fifth higher per acre than
average present costs.
3 Based on the supposition that the total areas given in table 4 is to be given protection.
Expenditures during the fiscal year 1932 in areas outside the national
forests were shared by the private owners of land, the Federal Govern-
ment (through the Clarke-McNary Act), and the States in approx-
imately the following proportions: by private owners, 18 percent; by
the Federal Government, 26 percent; and the remainder, or 56 percent,
by the States.
THE IMMEDIATE FINANCIAL PROGRAM
OUTSIDE NATIONAL FORESTS
The basic steps in a fire-control program have been discussed. If
forests and watersheds are to be made reasonably safe against further
ravages of uncontrolled fires, and if the required objectives in fire
control are to be reached within reasonable time, honest recognition
must be given to the fact that more money is needed for the job.
Total and present expenditures for areas outside the national
forests, as given in table 13, indicate the need of greatly increased
fire control expenditures in order to bring fire losses down to an accept-
able figure. All participating agencies, Federal, State, and private,
should contribute more than at present and the total should be in-
creased as rapidly as the funds can be used efficiently. The Federal
appropriation for the fiscal year 1933 is only $1,611,580 although the
Clarke-McNary Act authorizes an annual appropriation of $2,500,000
for this purpose. Further discussion of principles and policies which
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1413
should govern Federal participation in this. work will be found in the
section of this report entitled " Federal Aid to States and Private
Owners."
ON NATIONAL FORESTS
The increases needed per acre on the national forests, as given in
table 11, represent an objective to be attained not later than the end
of the next 10-year period. To this end the following program is
offered :
1. Roads and trails — annual program for 10-year period (this
includes maintenance) $3, 700, 000
2. Other improvements such as telephone lines, lookout struc-
tures, etc., annual program for 5 years, including mainte-
nance and replacement 780, 000
3. Increased man power — starting with an addition of $80,000
to present appropriation during the fiscal year 1934 and
increasing to $625,000 at the end of the 8-year period when
the road and trail program approaches completion and the
construction crews will not be available for fire control
work 80,000-625,000
These items cover the investment that should be made for the
required transportation system, the physical plant, the essential
equipment, and additional man power. In comparing the proposed
expenditures for roads, trails, and other improvements with the costs
per acre given in table 11 it is necessary to remember that this class
of expenditures represents a capital Investment from^ which the
annual cost is obtained by amortization. For example, it is estimated
that protection roads will last, on the average, 40 years, and the
construction cost is therefore charged off over a 40-year period.
The need for increased man power will become acute as the road
and trail and improvement jobs near completion and this source of
labor is moved out of the country, and this explains the considerable
annual increases in present funds appropriated for fire control up to
a total increase of $625,000 as the road program approaches comple-
tion. To balance this expenditure, however, an annual saving of
some $600,000 in fire-fighting costs may be expected as the system
reaches completion.
IN NATIONAL PARKS AND NATIONAL MONUMENTS
According to information supplied for this report by the National
Park Service there are 8,426,046 acres in national parks and monu-
ments, including parks and monuments in Alaska and Hawaii.
Much of this area is susceptible to damage from forest fires. The
average annual expenditure for fire suppression for the 6 fiscal years
1927 to 1932, inclusive, was $95,324.85, and the average area burned
annually during the last 5 calendar years, 1927-31, was 19,072 acres.
The Park Service estimates that the following additional capital
investment in fire protection improvements is needed, the investment
to be made over a 5-year period :
Lookout houses and towers $48, 600
Telephone lines 42, 327
Tool kiosks and tool houses 18, 550
Guard cabins and barns 18, 925
Roads 65,000
Trails 284, 772
Water development 3, 950
Grand total for 5-year period.. --- 482, 124
1414 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
This would mean an annual expenditure of $96,425 for this period.
The Park Service estimates that a total of $63,214 is needed
annually for fire prevention services and maintenance.
This amount added to the annual expenditure of the 5-year pro-
tection improvement program gives a total of $159,639 which is the
average annual fire protection expenditure estimated as necessary by
the Park Service.
ON INDIAN FOREST LANDS
It has been estimated that approximately 9 million acres of the
Indian lands is actually forested out of a total of 7}£ million acres,
and 8 million acres, respectively, of commercial and noncommercial
forest land. The Director of Forestry in the Office of Indian Affairs
has supplied for this report the following data on forest fires on
Indian lands.
The average annual expenditure for fire control during the 6 fiscal
years 1927-1932, inclusive, was $94,528. During the same period the
average area burned annually was 85,563 acres. The allowable burn
is 40,000 acres annually and the estimated annual expenditure needed
to bring the burned acreage down to this figure is $450,000 including
fire prevention, fire suppression, roads, trails, telephone lines, look-
outs, and other fire protection improvements. This large increase is
largely for capital investments.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
At the request of the Commission appointed by President Hoover
to make a study and report with recommendations for the solution of
the public-domain problem, the Forest Service in 1930 made an esti-
mate of the cost of fire protection for this land. The following acre-
age and costs are taken from the Forest Service report.
The total area of the public domain is given as 173,318,246 acres,
of which 32,244,263 acres is considered as needing some degree of
fire protection. On some of this land, as for example the pinon and
juniper foothills in the West, the fire danger in many places is very
low. The timber values and watershed values are also comparatively
low in some cases. The cost estimates consequently are low compared
with actual costs on high-value and high-danger forest lands.
It is estimated that the cost of adequate protection of this 32,244,263
acres will amount to $723,598. This estimate is based on national-
forest standards of protection and assumes that wherever the public
domain forms logical parts of the national-forest system these areas
will be added to the existing national forests and administered as a
part of them. This of course would facilitate administration and
reduce the cost of protection. Separate administration undoubtedly
would increase the total cost above the estimate given. Further and
more detailed discussion of the public domain will be found in the
section of this report entitled " Public Domain and Other Federal
Forest Land. "
PROTECTION AGAINST FOREST INSECTS
By the Division Forest Insects, Bureau of Entomology
The importance of insect activities in the growth and development
of the forest from the time the trees are planted until they are harv-
ested, and even to the products after they are put to use, has already
been pointed out. To briefly recapitulate, insects cause enormous
losses in mature stands of timber which are being held in reserve for
future needs. They lower the yields and affect the rate of growth of
developing stands. They frequently change the composition of the
forest to such an extent that complete reshaping of the plan of man-
agement is necessary. They create serious fire hazards and take a
varying toll from crude and finished forest products. On these grounds
the consideration of insects in the forest is primarily a matter of
protection to be secured through the early detection and suppression
or the prevention of insect outbreaks, but also of equal if not greater
importance is the matter of the necessary research for developing this
protection. The ways and means of obtaining more adequate results
in protection from forest pests is discussed in some detail as follows:
1 . The prompt control of forest insect outbreaks when such control
is economically sound in the broadest sense must be provided.
Just when, where, and how to do control, and at the same time
secure maximum protection consistent with the economic or aesthetic
values at stake, is the key to the entire problem.
The policy of letting nature work things out in here own way has
some merit. Such a course of action at least involves a minimum of
effort and cost. This policy of " letting nature take its course" is in
fact the one that has been followed too often, with results that are
all too evident. If we accept this as a course of action, we must also
accept the probability of slow or sudden depletion of the older forests,
which as they stand today are ripe and ready for the beetles. If we
are willing to do this and wait for nature to replace these losses by
the slow process of growing a new crop of trees, then the matter of
taking any further steps to expand our present efforts can be dropped
from consideration.
On the other hand if we were to launch out upon the policy of com-
bating all threatening barkbeetle infestations everywhere, the cost
would be enormous. One million dollars would be a very conservative
estimate of what could be spent to advantage in California alone dur-
the present winter and spring for the very good purpose of killing
beetles that are destroying timber of high value; and in the lodgepole
pine forest around Yellowstone National Park over $2,000,000 could
be spent this spring. Such expenditures should of right be carefully
questioned from all angles, and the plans for any large control projects
governed both by economic considerations and the entomological
factors which involve the prospects for successful results. Intelligent
planning should therefore underlie the expenditure of both public and
private funds for control jobs of this character.
There are two distinct classes of timberlands needing protection
from insect pests — those where a present or future commercial value is
168342°— 33— vol. 2 24 1415
1416 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the chief consideration and those where the esthetic values are pre-
dominant. A third class, the so-called watershed or protection forest,
need not be given consideration at this time except when the infesta-
tion threatens other timber of greater value. The commercially
valuable timber includes that on lands of the national forests, Indian
reservations, public domain and private lands. The timber needing
protection because of its esthetic values lies in the national parks,
State parks, and on small areas of the national forests devoted to
recreational use.
A reasonable policy for forest insect protection has already been
adopted by the National Park Service (A Forestry Policy for. the
National Parks, approved May 6, 1931). This adequately meets
present needs and as it well illustrates both entomological and adminis-
trative considerations, it is quoted herewith.
Insect control policy. — It will be the policy to secure and maintain, so far as
practicable, full protection from insect epidemics in areas of the following charac-
ter within the national parks and monuments.
(1) Areas of intensive use, such as camp grounds.
(2) Areas of important scenic or esthetic attraction (unless the partial loss of
the tree species attacked within a mixed stand will not materially affect the general
appearance of the stand and its scenic or esthetic value, nor materially add to the
fire hazard) .
(3) Areas of prospective intensive use within the next 10-year period.
(4) Areas within the national park threatening protected areas within or out-
side the national park.
(5) Areas of unusual fire hazard.
(6) Areas set aside for study and research (unless natural agencies are to be
left undisturbed) .
Complete protection in the sense here used would call for removal of light
endemic infestation in areas of intensive use.
With such insects as the mountain pine beetle in lodgepole pine and the Black
Hills beetle in ponderosa pine, there can be no question but that every outbreak
should be immediately controlled before it develops into a widespread epidemic
costing often thousands of dollars.
Quite a different example is presented in case of the western pine beetle in
Oregon and California. This beetle takes annually a small percentage of the
stand and at intervals of some years a considerably larger percentage. The main
objective in controlling the depredations of this beetle would be to prevent the
peaks of this type of infestation developing and thus prolong the life of the existing
stand over a longer rotation of gradual replacement; in other words, the objective
would be to carry on a certain amount of maintenance control from year to year
in an effort to keep the losses at the lowest possible status all the time.
With defoliating insects, it is possible to readily control them where the trees
are accessible to high-powered pumping equipment such as along main highways.
Within a few years it may be practical to use airplanes for dusting some of these
infestations.
Under the above policy, remote areas of no special scenic value and not of
high fire hazard, little used or seen by the public and not planned for intensive
use within a reasonable period of years, may be omitted from insect control plans
if they will not endanger control in adjacent areas, unless there are other special
factors which make their protection from insects important.
In the national forests or other public lands where timber values
are the main consideration, these values must be weighted against
the probable future time of logging, the possibility of salvaging the
insect-killed timber, the species of insect causing the destruction and
the degree of virulence of the inlestation. These considerations apply
equally to private lands and it can be said in general private owners
have more often taken the initiative in applying control than have
the Federal agencies. It is obvious that with the intermingling of
various classes of Federal and private timber each requiring different
degrees ol protection and the entomological technalities involved
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEEICAN FORESTRY 1417
closest cooperation is required for the successful conduct of control
work. The means developed to meet these complex needs are dis-
cussed under "The Progress in Forest Entomology".
For the fiscal year 1933 there is available for insect control in
Federal services as follows: Forest Service, $100,000; National Park
Service, $50,000; and Bureau of Indian Affairs, $20,000. These funds
are totally inadequate as evidenced by the call for extra money through
various deficiency bills. It is conservatively estimated that in order
to meet present needs for protection from forest insects $400,000 is
needed annually by these agencies administering Federal lands. On
the basis of this same degree of protection $200,000 should take care
of insect outbreaks on private lands, and $15,000 on State-owned
lands. This amount will only be adequate for a few years to come.
As timber now economically inaccessible becomes more valuable,
and as the recreational areas on the national parks are expanded,
more and more of these insect outbreaks must be controlled.
2. A well-organized system of detection is necessary to —
(a) Avoid the introduction of injurious foreign insects;
(b) To detect outbreaks of native insects in the early stages in
order that control work may be initiated when it is most effective
and least expensive.
The need for taking every reasonable measure for the interception
of foreign pests before they become established in the country is
fully appreciated and the dire consequences that can follow such intro-
duction are well illustrated by the destruction caused by the gipsy,
browntail, and satin moths and the European pine shoot moth.
Early detection of insect outbreaks is obviously a prerequisite to
control. The failure of certain control projects has been the result
of tardiness in recognizing an active infestation or in incomplete in-
formation as to its virulence and extent. It is obvious that a well-
executed system of detection, coupled with prompt action in control,
will prevent the development of many barkbeetle outbreaks such as
we are now 'witnessing and powerless to stem. Such a program is
economical not alone because of the timber saved, but as well in the
actual outlay of money for control. Throughout the western States
cooperative detection systems have been set up between the Federal
land administering agencies, States, private owners and the Bureau
of Entomology. These so-called regional surveys are in various stages
of perfection, depending on the values at stake, the degree of insect
hazard and the funds available. These projects should be extended
and carried to the point where the forest areas can be zoned according
to their susceptibility to insect infestations, and each susceptible area
rated according to values, whether for potential lumber or for park
and watershed cover. This will give a basis for decision as to the areas
that the owner or administrator should protect and the areas that
will be deeded over to the insects when the advance guards of the
epidemic appear and present claim to the timber.
3. An adequate program of forest research.
Research is absolutely essential to the perfection of all phases of the
practical application of forest entomology, whether it be direct con-
trol, prevention, or the use of beneficial insects. The extent to which
this application depends on the peculiar habits of each species of insect
has already been pointed out in the section entitled "Progress in
Forest Entomology", Through research direct control methods
1418 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
against tree-killing barkbeetles in the West have been gradually
cheapened and made more effective. With other insects it has been
found feasible to prevent their destructive activities by methods
applied in the management of the stand. Research is also necessary
to use beneficial insects to the best advantage. It has been demon-
strated to be quite feasible to import beneficial insects from one
country or section of a country to another, establish them, and obtain
effective control through their activities.
A great deal of experimental work is needed to perfect methods of
combating defoliating insects. At the present time the use of poison
dust distributed from airplanes seems to be the most practical means
of control but too little has been done in this line to speak with any
authority. Satisfactory poisons have not been developed nor has
the mechanical application over forested areas been perfected. Here
again the spending of large sums of money on work that is not care-
fully planned and is lacking in definite objectives is open to question.
Research must often proceed slowly, following the promising leads
as they are uncovered and carefully checking results before they are
given out. This type of work, therefore, offers the greatest possibili-
ties lor the discovery of new methods and short cuts to effective han-
dling of the problem, and therefore deserves high priority in the
future development of a balanced program.
The first appropriation specifically designated for research in forest
entomology was made in 1902 to the Bureau of Entomology. It was
$5,800. Since then gradual increases have been made to a maximum
of $139,000 for the fiscal year 1931. (This does not include $104,530
expended on the gipsy moth project, which was combined with forest
insect investigations about this time.) In that part of the appropria-
tion applied strictly to forest insects some 50 percent is expended for
extending service in control work to other Federal agencies and on
intermingled private lands.
The needs for the satisfactory expansion of research in this field
have been authorized by Congress in section 4 of the McSweeney-
McNary Act of May 22, 1928 (45 Stat., 699). This provides for a
gradual increase to a total of $250,000 which would take care of the
most imperative studies for which some 5 years to come.
4. An educational program to make more effective objectives 1 and 2.
Although the Bureau of Entomology assumes responsibility for the
decision as to when control is necessary and for the methods to be
applied, it is obvious that the more thoroughly the local administra-
tive officers understand these matters the better will be the results
obtained. For this reason, the Bureau of Entomology has been
devoting some effort to educational work among the field men of
various agencies administering Federal lands. This field personnel
in close contact with local conditions should be able to recognize
insect outbreaks in the incipient stage and report to those competent
to judge the seriousness of the situation. Consequently entomologists
have been dispatched to many of the district ranger camps maintained
by the Forest Service and to the instruction meetings of the National
Park Service. Leaflets of instructions and reports have been pre-
pared and disseminated through the administrative personnel, and
many local contacts have been made with the field men of other
agencies. There is need of much greater expansion of this work, and
there should be available men specially designated to handle arid
enlarge this educational and extension work.
PROTECTION AGAINST FOREST DISEASES
By CARL HARTLEY, J. S. BOYCE, and others l in the Bureau of Plant Industry
CONTENTS
Investigation 1419
Organized control 1 423
Service force for control application 1424
INVESTIGATION
NECESSITY
The first, and for a long time one of the principal, activities in any
program that can be laid down now with reference to forest diseases
is research. There are 180 native timber species in the country of
importance for production of wood, and still others that are of more
or less importance from the standpoint of aesthetics or watershed
protection, in addition to a few introduced species which demand
attention. To distinguish the different diseases which attack any
one of these tree species, determine their causes, find out what con-
ditions or forest management practices affect their spread and what
strains or varieties are resistant to them, requires many years and
the collaboration of mycologists, anatomists, physiologists, etc. To
cover adequately even the 25 most important tree species would take
not less than half a century with a force of investigators as small as
that now active in the field of forest pathology. Superficial studies
reveal ways in which a few diseases can be controlled or avoided, but
to get economically practicable methods of cutting down the losses
from most diseases it is necessary to know the fundamental facts
about them.
SUBJECTS TO BE EMPHASIZED
The State of New York is now beginning an extensive 20-year
program of acquisition and reforestation, by planting of lands suit-
able only for growing trees, involving the expenditure of about
$20,000,000. To a lesser extent, forest planting in the Lake States
may be increased in the immediate future and planting promises
to become more extensive in some of the other forest regions. This
planting will be almost exclusively softwoods and largely in pure
stands. Nursery capacity for providing stock will have to be
increased. Trees grown in nurseries and plantations have proven
more subject to disease than those naturally regenerated, so that in
these nurseries and plantations we can expect not only an increase
in the diseases at present troublesome in the wild stands, but a number
of new or little-known diseases which may cause serious damage.
These will require investigation and control. Furthermore, selec-
tion of seed from healthy mother trees from a locality with climatic
conditions similar to that of the place at which the trees are to be
i S. B. Detwiler and W. W. Wagener, assisting.
1419
1420 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
set out and selection of planting sites adapted to the species are
essential for the development of satisfactory plantations. Experi-
ence shows that in large-scale planting operations this is not now
done consistently, with the result that trees from an improper source
of seed or on unfavorable sites suffer seriously from avoidable disease.
All this demands an increase in the study of nursery and plantation
diseases, and particularly of root diseases and their relation to soil
conditions, far beyond anything that has so far been done.
Directly bearing on nurseries and plantations is an investigation
of the mycorrhizal relations of forest trees already begun in a small
way. Experience in other countries has indicated that the failure
of some plantations is directly connected with the failure of tree
roots to develop mycorrhiza. On the other hand, there is reason to
suppose that some kinds of mycorrhiza or any mycorrhiza under some
conditions are harmful. There is also need to study the correlation
of soil factors with disease on planting sites.
Individual trees of the same species grown under the same condi-
tions vary greatly in their resistance to disease. The basis neither of
their resistance nor their immunity is known, nor to what extent this
character is transmitted through seed to their progeny. This is prob-
ably the most time-consuming problem in forest pathology, yet it is
of fundamental importance in reforestation because of its bearing on
the choice of seed for growing trees. It is already too late for this
line of attack to be of any value to reforestation work for the next
decade, but under a long-time program it should begin immediately.
The marked success attained with agricultural crops is all that is
needed to illustrate the far-reaching results to be expected.
In the West the application of blister-rust control to 5-needle pine
stands and reduction of the damage to softwood stands caused by
dwarf mistletoes are outstanding problems.
Decay in living trees in the future can be largely avoided by cutting
stands before they reach the age at which decay becomes extensive.
Investigations have determined this age for a few species, but it must
be obtained for all defective species and for each of them on different
sites before management can be placed on a sound basis. Further-
more, there still remain extensive stands of badly decayed timber
in which information on the rate of decay and the outward evidences
of decay are essential for intelligent utilization and salvage. Better
knowledge of the relation of decay to wounds is a primary need in
much of the eastern hardwood region. Investigations on the control
of decay must be carried on for years to come.
The proper disposal of slash after logging is important to the de-
velopment of the new forest. Present slash-disposal methods in
managed forests are usually expensive. Investigations by patholo-
gists on the relation of decay to various methods of slash disposal
have already resulted in modifications of method in certain regions,
greatly reducing expense; further extension of these studies should
be made to all regions where slash disposal is a problem.
The use of forests for recreation is increasing greatly. While study
of forest diseases in general will bring out results of value for recrea-
tional forests, yet control measures must differ markedly from those
applied to forests of which the primary purpose is timber production.
New factors will present themselves as investigations proceed; only
by the application of control measures based on fundamentally sound
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1421
information will these huge recreational forest lands adequately and
permanently serve the purpose for which they are so valuable. Con-
sequently specialized study of diseases in recreational forests which
has just begun will need to be continued for an indefinite period.
The most serious threat to our forests is in new parasites, introduced
from foreign countries. In spite of quarantine regulations, we must
at all times be prepared for the introduction of diseases as destructive
as chestnut blight or white pine blister rust. One of the best safe-
guards against sudden and disastrous epidemics from such a cause is
knowledge of our native diseases, and there should be a sufficient
number of forest pathologists in the different parts of the country
and in touch with the forestry workers so that a newcomer among the
diseases will be recognized as such soon after it enters the country
and while there is still time to eradicate it or at least to delay its
spread. The pathological organization should furthermore be suffi-
ciently large to be able to put a number of trained men on investiga-
tion of an introduced disease at short notice without having to take
the workers from other projects which depend for success on con-
tinuity of effort. This means the maintenance of a larger research
organization than would be barely necessary for study of native dis-
eases, just as the country mam tains a larger army during peace times
than is needed, that it may form the nucleus of an expanded organi-
zation in time of war. At times it is essential to make investigations
of threatening diseases in the country of origin, to help in devising
efficient quarantine regulations for their exclusion, or to furnish in-
formation or assistance in eradication efforts against diseases that have
already been imported.
Pathological investigation can make the most immediate contribu-
tion toward maintenance of timber supplies through a study of the
fungi that attack forest products. By the best estimates available,
the volume of our annual saw timber cut which is used for replacing
wood that has decayed in storage or use is equal to about one half of
the annual growth. Our unfavorable timber supply balance sheet
can be most quickly helped by preventing some of this waste. Fairly
satisfactory but expensive methods of preventing decay by preserva-
tives are being applied extensively in the rougher types of use. Cheap-
er methods and methods that can be applied to wood in house con-
struction, that will be free from danger to the occupants and otherwise
less objectionable than present preservative processes, need to be
developed. Timber preservation has already been considered more
specifically in the section entitled " Enlarging the Consumption of
Forest Products."
The chemical methods for prevention of sap stain have been carried
far enough to show that this defect, which aggravates the difficulties
of both wood producer and wood consumer and increases the forest
drain, can be almost entirely prevented by inexpensive procedures.
Preliminary results of the studies on this subject have already been
carried into large-scale practice in some localities. Further study will
be needed to bring the treatments to a point of consistent effectiveness
and adapt them to different localities, timber species, and types of
utilization.
One of the less obvious but no less important research projects is
to simplify the precautions in methods of handling and use of un-
treated wood that are recommended to protect it from fungous attack.
1422 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
There is a good deal of information as to how to dry wood quickly,
how to keep it dry, and how to choose the kinds of wood that will
be most resistant under conditions of decay hazard. Unfortunately,
the knowledge of the relation of these practices to fungous damage is
mainly empirical. There is need for much additional fundamental
study, for example on the fungi that cause decay, on methods of
distinguishing different kinds of decay, on the durability of wood cut
from different species or at different seasons, and on the limit of
moisture content to which wood must be dried to render it safe from
the most active decay fungi.
Following or parallel with such fundamental research, field studies
should be made on the relation of decay to methods of cutting, season-
ing, storing, and using the wood, including sanitation in lumber yards,
and particularly on the so-called dry rot of buildings which often
causes disastrous losses to individual house owners and which does not
always follow the currently accepted views as to which types of
design are safe and which favor decay. The relation between decay
and termite injury in wooden structures is also in need of study.
AGENCIES
It is desirable that Federal, State, and private agencies take part in
investigations of the types described above.
There should be stationed at each of the regional forest experiment
stations of the Federal Government at least two pathologists, to be
supplied and technically supervised by the Bureau of Plant Industry;
isolated workers in specialized fields of this sort are relatively in-
efficient in both quality and quantity of output. Adequate forces at
stations in such important timber sections as the Gulf States and the
Pacific Northwest would consist of not less than 5 or 6 men with
pathological training, and at other stations there should preferably
be 3 or 4. Investigative work of the types now under way at Wash-
ington should be continued at Washington because of the need in
these particular investigations for the library and herbarium facilities
and contact with plant-introduction and quarantine organizations
that can be gotten nowhere else. Studies of the pathology of forest
products, the fundamental aspects of which are best carried on by
pathologists of the Bureau of Plant Industry stationed at the Forest
Products Laboratory at Madison, need to be enlarged both at Madison
and at the Southern Forest Experiment Station and to be begun at
one of the forest experiment stations of the Pacific coast, and probably
later at the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. This would
mean placing pathologists at eight stations not now served, and
enlargement of the pathological staff at the three stations where such
work is now in progress.
The greatest field for expansion in research in forest pathology
seems to be in the States. The small amount of State effort along
this line has been described earlier. While problems of equal impor-
tance to a number of different States can be most logically studied by
the Federal regional experiment stations, it would seem proper that
the States should be more active in solving problems of concern to
them and especially those which are not important to other States.
In many cases the best results could be obtained by cooperation
between Federal and State agencies charged with such investigations.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1423
Private lumbering or wood-using interests should also be expected
to conduct or contribute to the cost of conducting research, par-
ticularly in the pathology of forest products, to a greater extent than
at present. Organizations erected primarily for commercial profit
will rarely be justified in any but the most local and superficial investi-
gation of the diseases affecting forests; they should, however, be
encouraged to employ investigators or contribute funds for the enlarge-
ment of research by existing agencies, whenever they encounter
problems of economic importance in the field of wood utilization,
as in pulp and paper or wood preservation work on which they desire
particularly early or complete information. Experience has shown
that investigations supported by industry can rarely be expected to
have the continuity or disinterested quality needed for fundamental
research and that outside of governmental agencies only endowed
universities and research institutes can be expected to aid materially in
the more fundamental studies. There is some reason to believe that the
State and Federal Governments would do well to devote their investi-
gative energies to a greater extent than at present to the more funda-
mental phases and to require industry to finance to a greater extent
investigations of immediate economic benefit. It will be practicable
to apply such a policy only in cases in which the industry to be
benefited is already organized on a reasonably large scale. The small
sawmill operator, for example, like the small farmer, must continue
to have most of his problems solved for him. Better-organized
groups are ordinarily better able to utilize research results, and can
usually be induced to support experimental work after preliminary
Government investigations in their fields have educated them as to
the benefits that can be derived. Much of the immediately applicable
experimentation and nearly all of the fundamental studies on which
immediate economic investigations must be based will therefore have
to continue to be carried on by State or Federal agencies.
ORGANIZED CONTROL
A control or rather prevention process for which governmental
organization must function is quarantine against diseases from over-
seas. The present regulations of the Federal Bureau of Plant Quar-
antine, allowing the introduction of tree propagating stock, other than
seeds, only under supervision of the Bureau, should be continued.
Particularly stringent regulations, such as those now applying to elms,
should be made against the entry of other especially dangerous
species as fast as studies made by pathologists at home and abroad
make it possible to determine what species and kinds of material
are most likely to carry infection.
The fact that most of the forest-tree diseases present on the Pacific
slope in this country are quite different from those occurring in the
East has caused some study to be given to the possible desirability
of restricting the interchange of forest trees between the two regions.
Protective measures of this kind, if adopted, could be undertaken only
by the Federal Government. One of the developments which brings
such a proposal to the fore just at this time is the accumulation of
evidence of the destructiveness of the western dwarf mistletoes of
pine which do not occur in the East. The feasibility of quarantine
action to prevent their introduction into the Eastern States has been
given some attention by a number of forest pathologists.
1424 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
Eradication of recently introduced diseases that have eluded the
quarantines must be done cooperatively by Federal and State agencies.
A disease that endangers the forests of several States may be first
introduced in a State that has relatively little forest, and which con-
sequently has so little interest in the disease that it cannot be expected
to finance eradication ; but since Federal officers cannot legally enforce
eradication, State authority, and therefore State cooperation, is
needed. To eradicate a new disease completely it must be detected
promptly and attacked immediately by experienced men. The only
way in which this can be made possible is by maintaining not only
the research workers previously mentioned but also more control
workers on forest diseases than are absolutely needed in ordinary
times. Such a force would improve the chances for locating promptly
the new diseases that come in, and if maintained by the Federal
Government would serve as a framework for quick development of
any eradication force that may be needed for a specific disease in any
part of the country. A skeleton control force kept up by the Bureau
of Plant Industry as a measure of preparedness for eradication work
could very profitably be used at times when no emergency threatens
in scouting for new diseases or in such service work in disease control
as is described under the following heading.
For introduced diseases so well established by the time they are
detected that complete eradication is not practicable, an organized
campaign will sometimes be necessary to delay the spread of the
disease or to control its effects locally before it has time to do serious
damage. This should include the prevention by Federal action of
shipment of nursery stock or other infectious material from infected
States to States still uninfected. In the case of such naturalized
diseases for which investigation develops practicable methods of local
control, there should also be developed at the earliest practicable
moment a service force of the sort described in the following para-
graphs.
SERVICE FORCE FOR CONTROL APPLICATION
For the local control of native diseases or established foreign
diseases there is little warrant for active governmental participation.
Such control work is a function of the individual landowner. There
is furthermore at the present time relatively little place for extension
activities of the usual type for disseminating information of forest-
disease control. The methods of lectures, group demonstrations, and
popular publications employed in the extension of information on
diseases of crop plants are not adapted to getting forest-disease con-
trol practices into use. The details of practical application of control
principles have not yet been worked out far enough to allow issuing
rules of thumb that would be easily grasped and that would apply
generally to the timber lands of a region or even of a single locality.
Stands differ from each other in tree species, in age, in stand density,
and in the diseases present, so that it is doubtful if group extension
methods can ever be applied without a good deal of modification. In
order to get the available knowledge in forest pathology into large-
scale use with reasonable promptness, there is need for direct contact
between the timber owner and a technically trained service man in
State or Federal employ. Such contacts are particularly necessary
if the farmer and small sawmill operator are to get the benefit of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1425
scientific developments. For highly infectious diseases, in which the
uncared-for stand in one woodlot will spread disease to those that
are cared for, it is impossible to secure the general and simultaneous
cleaning up of disease that is necessary unless there is a service man
to educate, stimulate and frequently locate the more backward
owners. A service force to supplement the efforts of the investiga-
tors in promoting forest-disease control is believed to be an essential
part of any well-rounded-out forestry program.
The development of most forest diseases, like the growth of the
trees they attack, is inconspicuous, and the owner does not realize
the size of the cumulative losses that they cost him unless they are
demonstrated to him on his own land or that of a near neighbor.
Very few owners realize the amount of decay that is allowed to enter
their hardwoods when they fail to protect the timber from fire and
logging scars. The improvement of the health and timber-producing
capacity of the stand through properly conducted selective thinning
or logging operations with low cost or with actual immediate profit
is something that can be accomplished under ordinary market condi-
tions in many stands, particularly in the more densely populated
parts of the country, if the owner is shown the sanitary procedure
best adapted and most economical for his own holdings.
The proposed employment of service men to secure application of
research results has already been tried out on a large scale through a
number of years in the white-pine blister rust control campaign and
has fully justified its use. Without it there is very little likelihood that
the northern white pine stands as a whole could have been saved;
they certainly would not have been protected in time to have pre-
vented very heavy losses from the disease. This service activity,
supplied by the Division of Blister Rust Control of the Bureau of
Plant Industry and cooperating State agencies, should be continued
until the remainder of the pine land that warrants protection has
been covered and until the control practice has been well enough
established to be continued by local community effort.
Another specialized project in which a similar though smaller
service force would be particularly helpful would be one on the
diseases of forest nurseries and young plantations, on which as the
reforestation movement increases there should be at least one pa-
thology service man in the West, one in the Southeast, one in the
Lake States, and another in the Northeast. Disease control for
stands less than 15 years old in natural reproduction might also
advantageously be serviced by the men assigned to nursery and
plantation work, because of the similarity in disease type. With such
an addition to their duties, two such men would probably be a
minimum in each region.
For both nurseries and plantations their first and perhaps greatest
service would be in helping the forester choose sites on which the
species desired would be in the least likelihood of infection. Local
advice needs to be given at each nursery, and for certain species also
for each plantation, as to the needs and possibilities of removing
from the neighborhood sources of rust and mistletoe infection. At
nurseries already established, nurserymen need technical help in
learning to distinguish between damping off and the very similar
symptoms produced by high soil temperatures or by chemical or
fertilizer injury; and between root rot and the similar symptoms
1426 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
produced by drought. They must often be stimulated and assisted
to test comparatively the various alternative preventive measures in
order to determine which is best and most economical on their local
soils and for their local conditions.
For the general run of diseases of older stands, either planted or
natural, service in control application should be developed, but only
as fast as the knowledge obtained by the research workers becomes
extensive enough to warrant the practical application. The region
in which service men for general forest disease work could be installed
with the most immediate return on the investment is the Douglas fir
area in the Pacific Northwest. The scientific knowledge of decay
in living Douglas fir timber has progressed far enough to serve as a
basis for improvement in the processes of estimating and utilizing
infected stands. With proper demonstration it should be possible
to get into very general use methods of cruising that would greatly
decrease the uncertainty element that decay introduces into lumber-
ing operations, and methods of marking trees for felling and bucking
that would decrease both the waste in money and waste in timber
that occur in the utilization of infected stands.
In the Northeast where proximity to markets favors the utiliza-
tion of small or defective material, much could be done by service
men to stimulate the reduction of disease through the elimination
in weeding, thinning, or logging operations of infectious material or of
trees that would be liable to heavy infection before they could be
utilized in the next cut. Thinning operations, particularly on farm
'woodlots where the work could be done by the owner during slack
seasons so as to minimize the labor cost, could be made in many
cases to earn their way immediately through use or sale of the ma-
terial taken out; the improved growth and soundness of the trees
remaining could thus be obtained without cost. Such sanitation
incident to logging operations can also be accomplished at low cost,
or at no cost at all in many cases where it simply involves a difference
in choice of trees for cutting or where the defective material taken
out can be utilized. For the small timberland owner whose woods
holdings and operations are mainly incidental to general farming or
other activities, service of this sort is particularly necessary if he is
to avail himself of what is known about diseases ; with the numerous
tree species and diseases occurring in mixture in the timber of the
Eastern States, a man must be something of a specialist in order to
know how a particular piece of timber can best be handled for its
future health as well as for immediate profit. The development
of local market outlets for the material removed in sanitation cuttings
is another form of aid by which the service man can facilitate the
practice of disease control in woodlots.
In the field of fungous deterioration of forest products there is
immediate opportunity for service activity to promote the intelligent
adoption by the small sawmill operators of the eastern United States
of the newly developed dipping treatments for preventing sap stain
of lumber. One of these treatments has already been put into
wide-spread use by the larger mills of the South, and should come into
general use among them with only the servicing that can be done by
the research men, the officers of the large-mill associations, and the
manufacturers of the chemicals employed; but the full development
of the use of the treatments by the small operators, who are the ones
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1427
that are most in need of them, cannot be expected without a good deal
of individual attention during the first few years.
The treatments must be adapted to small-mill use on the basis of
numerous practical trials in regular small-mill operations; while the
small operators would probably muddle through into ultimate suc-
cessful use of the treatments, the process would be unreasonably
slow and the cost of unsupervised practical trials of this sort is exces-
sive. A good deal of lumber would inevitably be lost or damaged
during the process, and without technical help in acquiring equipment
there would be both waste of chemicals and very likely injury to
workmen from poisonous action of certain of the chemicals used
without proper precautions. The fact that the new treatments will
not give complete protection unless the lumber is properly handled
in other respects is a thing that is particularly difficult to impress on
the small operator without some personal contact.
The sap-stain problem is a relatively simple one, which should be
sufficiently disposed of by the combination of adequate research and
service activity in a few years' time. Decay in forest products con-
stitutes a much more complicated problem, and research in its pre-
vention by methods other than the expensive and difficult impreg-
nation with preservatives has not yet gone far enough to justify much
active propaganda. It is believed, however, that the service personnel
proposed for sap-stain work, which should preferably consist of at
least 2 men in the Gulf and South Atlantic States, 1 in the Central
and Lake States, 1 in the Northeast, and 1 in the West, could be
gradually shifted into the more difficult decay problems as the sap-
stain situation improves with increased attention to the Southwest.
The problem of dry rot in buildings is a very serious one for builders
and home owners in approximately, the same sections as those in
which sap stain is most serious, and the badly needed service work
on this problem can be done more satisfactorily by men with a sap-
stain service experience than by men without such experience in
control of wood fungi.
The sap-stain problem affords a particularly good example of a
case in which the technical service man could perform a double func-
tion, adapting the research man's results to fit the practical needs of
different groups of users as well as stimulating the use of the adapted
process. Similar practical experimentation has in fact been one of
the important contributions of the blister-rust service agents, and
pathology service men in general would undoubtedly make con-
siderable additions to our supply of useful information along lines
on which the regular research staff would have less opportunity.
The agency that should handle such service activity as has been
proposed would have to be determined separately for the individual
projects. For the seedling diseases, there are no States except per-
haps New York and Pennsylvania that have a sufficient stake in
young trees to be likely to install specialists for either research or
service exclusively on them in the next few years. The four service
men recommended for the different parts of the country in this project
probably must be Federal. It might at first be desirable to attach
them to the Division of Forest Pathology of the Bureau of Plant
Industry in order to give them the full advantage of contact with
the research on juvenile diseases done by that Division, but they would
probably best be located ultimately with the Division of Blister Rust
1428 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Control of that Bureau, the scope of whose service work should be
enlarged to include other diseases. The experience with the blister
rust work, which was originally located in the first-named division,
has shown that research and service work after the initial stages of
development of basic control principles are better handled by sepa-
rate personnel. As a general thing the best research men are not the
best service men; while the handling of a service function by a research
unit usually tends to disorganize and interfere with the indispensable
continuity of the research work.
Service on the diseases of older stands had best be handled as the
blister-rust work is now handled, headed up so far as Federal work is
concerned by the Division of Blister Rust Control, the name of which
should be changed in tune to correspond with its wider function.
Cooperation with State agencies in the principle timber-growing
States on this general disease project should in general take much the
same form as it does now with the blister-rust work alone. Federal
control service on general forest diseases in any State should be con-
ditional on contribution by the State, but part of the expense can
properly be carried on Federal funds because of the interest of the
consumers in all the States, particularly in the Northeast, in the
maintenance of the timber supply. Entirely aside from the question
of financial support, the participation of both State and Federal
agencies in such service work is essential to the success of the project.
Particularly when action is taken against an introduced disease, it is
often necessary to require the cleaning up of infection centers for the
protection of neighboring holdings, a function requiring the authority
of a State officer. Federal participation is essential to make avail-
able to each State the experience in the others, a particularly impor-
tant function during the formative period of the service activity, and
to make part of the force mobile, allowing it to be moved from State
to State and concentrated at any point where emergency need may
arise. The above statements have more than theoretical basis,
having been thoroughly justified by years of actual experience in the
cooperative effort against the blister rust. The direction of the
service work should pass increasingly into the hands of the State
agencies, particularly in States which establish research work on
forest diseases so as to improve the foundation of local knowledge
required for the best service work. In States with less interest in
the subject, it may prove impossible to have special service men in
forest pathology alone, and the pathology service function may have
to be carried by men who are paid partly for general forestry service.
In any case it will often be desirable, in order to avoid duplication of
travel, for the pathology service men to supply advice on control of
forest insects or on general forest management as well as on pathology,
and similarly for service on disease control to be given on occasion
by entomologists or by foresters.
The service men proposed in connection with the control of the
fungi that attack forest products are too few to devote any one of
them to a single State, and State participation is therefore doubtful.
Federal support of such work is justified by its bearing on the national
timber supply. With normal business conditions it should be pos-
sible to secure part of its support from regional lumbermen's organi-
zations, as has already been done for investigative work on sap stain.
HOW TO STOP FOREST DEVASTATION
By R. D. FORBES, Director Allegheny Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction and summary 1429
Measures to be applied in western forests 1431
Douglas fir type 1431
Western larch — western white pine type 1435
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine type 1439
Ponderosa pine type 144 1
Other western types 1443
Measures to be applied in eastern forests
Longleaf -slash pine type 1444
Shortleaf -loblolly pine-hardwoods type 1445
Other eastern types 1446
Net cost of preventing devastation on private forest lands 1451
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
An earlier section of this report, Current Forest Devastation and
Deterioration, states that over 850,000 acres of forest land in the
United States are yearly added by fire, logging, and other causes to at
least 60 million acres already devastated. It describes the deteriora-
tion that has taken place on an overwhelming proportion of the
remainder of the 10 million acres annually cut over, in recent years.
It makes clear, in short, that hi spite of the increasingly effective
efforts of the past 30 to 40 years to protect and renew the forest of
this country, not only thousands but millions of acres that were
productive in January of this year will be unproductive, or at best
less productive, in December. Long-continued fire protection is
making possible a gradual return of the forest to some areas earlier
devastated — partly, at least, compensating for the current devasta-
tion— but the process is extremely slow.
Devastated land has been defined as land that, without artificial
restocking, will not produce a commercially valuable crop of timber
within a tree generation. The major cause of devastation is unques-
tionably fire. Fire in some parts of the United States is capable of
reducing a green and productive forest to a charred waste, and
consuming the very soil that might otherwise have nourished a new
forest sprung from wind-blown or animal- transported seed. When
fire runs through the wreckage of stumps, unutilized branches, dis-
carded logs, broken and uprooted trees, that is the aftermath of com-
mercial logging in the great majority of forests, it is almost certain
to destroy the young tree growth already present, as well as such
seed-bearing trees as may have been left standing by the loggers.
Although fire is the greatest single cause of forest devastation,
other major causes are insects, disease, unregulated logging, and
unregulated grazing. The timber-destroying bark-beetles of the
West, and chestnut blight in the East, are familiar examples of the
first two of these devastating agents. Protection against fire, insects,
1429
1430 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
and disease has been discussed in the immediately preceding sections
of this report, and it will be assumed in the present one that a high
degree of such protection is being given to all forest lands.
Logging alone may devastate important areas of forest land, in
addition to supplying the fuel for slash fires. (Logging, as the term
is here used, includes not only the felling and removal of the timber,
but also disposal of the slash; it covers removal of other products as
well as logs.) Such modifications of logging as are necessary to pre-
vent devastation are by no means always costly. On the contrary,
under many circumstances they may result in a very substantial
saving to the logger, and in the long run increase the return to the
landowner. Painstaking studies conducted by the Forest Service
and others in most of the important forest regions agree in showing
that there are diameter limits below which trees cannot be cut and
manufactured into lumber at a profit. Where such trees are left for
seed, this measure to prevent devastation represents a saving of loss in
operation rather than an added expense. Just as there may be
"boarder" cows in a dairy herd, and " boarder" hens in a flock, that
do not produce enough milk or eggs to pay for their keep, so there may
be "boarder" logs in a sawmill. Such logs have cost more to cut
and bring to the mill, and will cost more to saw into lumber, than can
possibly be recovered from the sale of their products. Boarder logs
should be left standing in the trees. Moreover, trees only a little
above the diameter limit of present-day merchantability will often
grow so rapidly in size and value, if left standing when their neighbors
are cut, as to be worth much more to their owners on the stump than
in the mill. "Economic selection" of trees to be cut, based on full
knowledge of their present and probable future value, will leave most
of the logged-off land in the United States well above the devastated
class. Data steadily accumulate to show that the all- too-common
practice of clear cutting not only devastates most forest land, but
reduces profits and costs money. The fuller discussion of costs which
concludes this section will substantiate these statements.
Devastation by logging is not permitted on the national forests,
or on most other publicly owned land. The following description of
the measures other than general fire ^ protection necessary to keep
forest land productive after logging is therefore confined to those
forest regions where there is an appreciable amount of private forest
land now being logged. In order to give a clear picture not only of
the measures required but of the reasons for them, the more important
forest types are treated separately. The great bulk of the informa-
tion is quoted verbatim from the series of Department of Agriculture
bulletins entitled "Timber Growing and Logging Practice" in each
of a dozen forest regions, or from summaries of these bulletins brought
up to date by further studies.
In addition to thoroughgoing fire protection given all forest land,
the measures chiefly needed to prevent devastation of forest land are :
1. Preservation of young seedling growth already on the ground
at the time of logging, or of such seed-bearing trees as are needed to
reforest the land after logging. This requires care in felling and
other steps in the logging to prevent injury or destruction of the
advance growth and unmerchantable trees of valuable species; and
in some cases deliberate reservation from cutting of merchantable
seed trees, and their preservation in the subsequent logging, In
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1431
some stands, particularly of hardwoods, it may impose a delay in
making final cuttings.
2. Slash disposal, or disposal of the debris of logging by some form
of controlled burning, or other means, on all areas where it constitutes
a serious threat of destructive fires. In few regions will it be neces-
sary to destroy all slash; partial disposal, that is disposal throughout
or surrounding areas of high risk, will be the rule. No disposal is
necessary where utilization is very close. In regions of extreme fire
danger special protection of logged-over land, until the slash hazard
is reduced, will be either a subsitute for, or a supplement to slash
disposal.
3. Prevention of overgrazing on reproducing areas. This requires
consideration in comparatively few forest regions.
4. Miscellaneous measures, such as reservation of seed trees from
turpentining in the South, and girdling or otherwise destroying old
worthless trees which prevent valuable young growth from developing,
in the hardwood forests of the East.
A table summarizes the necessary measures in each important
forest type subject to devastation, and the net cost of stopping
devastation of private forest lands is discussed.
MEASURES TO BE APPLIED IN WESTERN FORESTS
The main timber types of the West which are subject to devastation
are the Douglas fir, the western larch-western white pine, the sugar
pine-ponderosa pine, and the ponderosa pine proper, as shown in
figure 2, in the section Forest Land the Basic Resource.
DOUGLAS FIR TYPE
For purposes of clearer discussion it is necessary to recognize two
subdivisions of this type — the spruce-hemlock fog belt, and the
Douglas fir proper.
THE SPRUCE-HEMLOCK FOG BELT
This subtype is essentially uneven-aged, often 2-storied, and con-
sists of a variable mixture of the high value spruce and Douglas fir
and the low value hemlock, the latter usually predominating. It is
subjected to ocean fogs and rain even in the summer, and the number
of fire-danger days is small. The usual logging practice at present
is clean cutting, with highspeed (generally steam-driven) machinery,
usually followed by intentional broadcast burning. While the fire
danger in uncut timber or selectively cut timber is acute only occasion-
ally, clean-cut areas or burned-over logged land will burn fiercely on a
good many days in any summer.
Natural reproduction of the prevailing species, either in the open
or in partial shade is profuse — provided there is a nearby seed supply.
Hemlock is favored by moisture and protection; spruce, which is
usually in the minority, seems to be favored by light and mineral soil.
Red alder inclines to fill in the moister clean-cut openings and is a
species not to be despised, but rather to be encouraged where it will
make a good stand.
The measures which will insure leaving this type in reasonably
productive condition are simple and quite sure of giving results.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 25
1432 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
CUTTING
Some form of selection cutting should be employed. This may be
either tree or group selection, or a combination of them, which will
remove the major part of the values from the stand, yet leave the
nucleus for a later cut, provide an abundant seed supply of desirable
species, and leave much of the area shaded with its virgin ground
cover so that fires will be controllable.
Logging engineering invention has reached a point where some
such selection cutting in this type is physically feasible. It may be
done with crawling tractors, with some form of flexible, light, cold-
decking machine, possibly reading with large, high-speed skyline
machines, or with a combination of methods to fit the individual
case that will make economic selection as profitable or more profitable
than the present clear cutting.
No trees of which a considerable part is unprofitable to use should
be cut. This leaves standing as full a cover as possible, and a mini-
mum amount of unutilized debris on the ground.
A certain proportion of the tract may be clear cut, depending upon
the composition of the original stand, but openings should not be
larger than 40 acres, and not over half of the total area of the opera-
tion should be clear cut if this limitation on size of openings is to be
effective.
SLASH DISPOSAL
Burning in this type is of questionable benefit, even temporarily.
There should be no burning in areas where tree selection is practiced
and a canopy of trees is left. Whether or not the clean-cut spots are
burned will depend upon local hazard conditions and the oppor-
tunity to burn these spots safely. If their future hazard is high they
should be broadcast burned or spot burned under conditions and
with precautions that will prevent spread to the selectively cut areas.
All snags in the clean cut spots and the taller ones in the selectively
cut areas should be felled.
SPECIAL FIRE PROTECTION
The protection of logged land during and after logging must be
more intensive than is the usual practice, for a period of about 10
years. It will take the form chiefly of preventing man-caused fires,
but there must also be equipment and organization to suppress
fires in their incipiency, and to do the burning that needs to be done
intelligently and safely.
COSTS
The costs of the above measures will vary from tract to tract but
are estimated to be less now in this type than as itemized in 1927.1
Selection cutting is not recommended unless it will give a realiza-
tion per thousand board feet equal to that from clear cutting, or
provide a reserve stand of sufficient prospective value to compen-
sate for the difference. Therefore, assuming that an operator is
organized for selective cutting or that it will pay him to so equip
himself, there is no extra cost to such logging. The indications are
1 Munger, Thornton T., Timber Growing and Logging Practice in the Douglas Fir Region, U.S. Dept.
Agr. Bui. 1493, 41 p., illus., 1927.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1433
that in most operations there will be a definite financial, as well as
silvicultural, advantage.
Slash disposal and subsequent protection on a more intensive and
effective scale than at present should cost not over $1.50 an acre over
present costs, or between 3 and 4 cents per thousand board feet.
This presupposes a good job of disposal and 5 cents an acre spent
annually for extra prevention and suppression measures for 10 years
after logging. It should always be remembered that expenditures
for really efficient protection of a property under operation may save
the owner a much greater sum in standing timber and equipment
preserved against a single bad fire.
THE DOUGLAS FIR TYPE PROPER
This type is ordinarily even-aged, and largely Douglas fir. As the
stands become older they are invaded by shade- tolerant hemlock.
The climate is such that the fire hazard is more acute and of longer
duration than in the fog belt, both in virgin woods and in cut-overs.
This t}rpe is less adapted to tree selection than the fog-belt
forest. Reproduction of Douglas fir is prolific, provided seed is
available and the site conditions have not become too unfavorable;
but Douglas fir must become established in openings, as after clear
cutting. Clear cutting, with high-speed machinery, is the usual
logging practice.
A digest follows of measures which will insure leaving this type
reasonably productive. These are given in detail in Department
Bulletin 1493, already referred to, but are here somewhat modified in
the light of subsequent information.
SELECTION CUTTING
A substantial part of all lands currently logged will be left with
an adequate supply of seed if, under the principles of economic
selection, only those trees, or more often groups and patches of trees,
are selected for cutting that show a proper conversion value. Un-
touched patches of timber, from a few acres to hundreds of acres in
size, will remain. These may be second growth on the border of
merchantability, low-grade old growth, heavy admixtures of species
at present inferior, or inaccessible areas hard to log now. Leaving
uncut islands, strips and sidehills in this way, for economic reasons
alone, has a most important silvicultural effect in that it breaks up
the tract for better protection, provides a seed supply for a consider-
able part of the clear-cut areas, and tends to promote closer utiliza-
tion on the land that is logged, thereby leaving less debris on the
ground.
RESERVE STRIP
In another substantial portion of the Douglas fir type, where
practically all the trees are profitable to cut, economic selection might
result in clear cutting of large continuous areas. Even in the absence
of slash fires many such areas will not reproduce satisfactorily be-
cause of lack of seed. To prevent devastation it is therefore necessary
to adopt one of two alternatives: (1) Such modification of logging
plans — staggered settings, logging alternate spurs, etc. — as will leave
uncut timber standing adjacent to cut-over land long enough to
reseed it; or (2) more permanent reservation (ordinarily for not less
1434 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
than 10 years) of uncut timber, in strips along watercourses or ridges,
or in compact blocks, aggregating up to 5 percent of the area, but
normally much less. In addition to providing seed, this standing
timber, if strategically located, will reduce the chance that fires will
run riot in the slash over great areas, or will reburn land already
reproduced.
SEED TREES
Where areas more than 1,500 feet in width between timber that
will stand for another decade are to be clear cut, a conscious effort
should be made to leave seed trees singly or in clumps. These should
be trees whose real conversion value will not amount to more than
two or three dollars apiece. Where there are defective or low-grade
trees in the stand, economic selection would indicate that these should
be left standing.
SLASH DISPOSAL
The slash on clean-cut areas in this type should ordinarily be burned,
but with precaution and judgment that will enable confining the
fire to the compartment to be burned. Small bodies of logged land
well isolated from causative agencies or well surrounded by uncut
timber or firebreaks may be left unburned. The seed crop of the
previous year should be given consideration when deciding when
and where to burn. Broadcast burning is far from ideal, and steps
should be taken to improve the technique of burning by some form
of spot burning, possibly with machine piling and real control of the
fires.
FIRE PROTECTION AND PREVENTION
All snags over 15 feet high and 20 inches in diameter should be
felled on all logged land in this type. Debris about camps and along
rights of way should be disposed of at the time of clearing to lessen
the chances of fire starting. Protection of logged land during and
after logging must be more intensive than at present. It should
consist of more watchmen, more equipment, more water supply,
more patrol, maintenance of means of travel over the areas, exclusion
of the public, etc.
Colonization of small tracts in great logged-off areas should be
discouraged. Areas to be devoted to timber growing should be classi-
fied as such and no encouragement given to farmers to settle on the
incidental patches of good land that may exist. Such settlement
increases the danger of fires from land-clearing operations and eco-
nomically imposes a needless burden on the timberland owner for
roads and schools.
COSTS
The costs of leaving douglas fir land productive instead of devas-
tated are difficult to state, because of the difficulty of predicating
just how effective the necessary measures will be. If such measures
are not nullified by uncontrolled fires, their cost may be repaid many
tunes over by assuring sustained yield to a company that must other-
wise liquidate. A rough estimate of costs is as follows :
Economic selection cutting. This is a saving rather than a cost.
Leaving blocks or strips of timber to break up a big clear-cut
area. With stumpage at $150 an acre, the reservation of as much
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1435
as 5 percent of the timber might be a very expensive requirement
for a private operator who was not definitely lined up for sustained
yield. For one who was, the cost would simply amount to the delay
in realizing on the reserved blocks or strips.
Four dollars and a half an acre, or the value of a little over 1,000
board feet of stumpage, might be taken as a regional average, between
admittedly wide limits, for the timber so reserved. In every instance
the uncut timber would have a high value as an aid in fighting fires,
and the cost of reservation could not be charged wholly to stopping
devastation. It is not uncommon for one fire to cause a single doug-
las-fir operator $100,000 worth of damage in standing timber and
equipment destroyed. This is more than the cost of leaving strips
of green timber to facilitate the protection of 20,000 acres.
Leaving defective or low-value seed trees. Usually no cost.
Better slash disposal. One dollar an acre, or 2.5 cents per thousand
board feet logged.
Snag falling. Often done at present, at $3.25 an acre, or 8 cents
per thousand board feet logged.
Cleaning up around camps and rights of way. Two cents for each
thousand board feet cut.
Better protection during and after logging. Nine cents for each
thousand board feet cut during the year and about 3 cents additional
for each acre logged in the previous 10 years; total about 10 cents
for each thousand feet of annual cut.
Avoidance of selling small isolated tracts to settlers is undoubtedly
an advantage rather than a loss of revenue to any sustained-yield
operator.
The above costs will vary so tremendously from one operation to
the next that a summation of them for an average operation is largely
theoretical; 22 cents for each thousand board feet cut, or $8.80 an
acre, may be assumed for land on which economic selection is prac-
ticed. Unfortunately, their effectiveness cannot be positively pre-
dicted. Calamitous fires have occurred in spite of the expenditure
by many operators of all that could reasonably be recommended
for one or more of the prescribed practices. On the other hand, the
practice of economic selection and the increase in effectiveness of
fire protection may result not only in immediate savings to an oper-
ator, but also in placing him on a sustained yield basis.
WESTERN LARCH— WESTERN WHITE PINE TYPE
Important differences between the western white pine and the
larch-fir forests of this type make it desirable to discuss them sepa-
rately.
WESTERN WHITE PINE
The western white pine forest comprises an extremely complex
mixture of species. The principal associates of the pine are douglas
fir, western larch, lowland white fir, western red cedar, and western
hemlock. Most of the white pine stands originally came into being
as even-aged forests following fires. At some time between 160 and
200 years later the average stand begins to deteriorate. Decay be-
comes prevalent, and the loss from bark-beetle attacks may be very
great. The white pine drops out more rapidly than most of its
associate species, and by the time the forest is 300 or 400 years old,
1436 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
or even earlier, has generally disappeared entirely, leaving the shade-
enduring hemlock, cedar, and white fir ordinarily very defective at
this age. Most privately owned timber is younger and contains a
high percentage of white pine, which is the most valuable species
in the type.
Utilization of white pine is very close. Practically all trees 10
inches and over, breast high, are cut and logs are taken down to a
5- or 6-inch top diameter. One lumber company, however, with a
considerable acreage of rather young timber has, after careful study,
adopted a tree diameter limit of 12 to 16 inches, breast high. The
utilization of other species is very far from complete because of their
comparatively low value at present. Many operators are taking out
only the white pine and the cedar poles, and leaving practically all
of the other species in the woods. This residual growth represents a
very good order of minimum productiveness. It is exceedingly rare
that cutting in the white pine type does not leave either a large amount
of residual growth or enough scattered trees quickly to seed the cut-
over ground; some of the reproduction is likely to be pine.
Inasmuch as most white pine logging employs horse skidding,
chutes, and railroad or river-drive transportation, rather than high-
power machinery, this growth will survive logging if uncontrolled
fires do not occur in the slash. Broadcast burning of slash has in the
past been responsible for the devastation of hundreds of thousands
of acres formerly in western white pine. A typical pine slashing is
the most inflammable mass of debris that can be imagined. Broad-
cast burning of this dense tangle of slash, snags, and remaining trees
reduces the fire hazard by probably not more than one year; after
that inflammability increases rapidly because of the large quantity
of material killed by the slash fire. The dead trees soon come down
in a tangled mass and, together with a dense growth of fireweed,
everlasting, and other vegetation, which becomes dry in late summer,
form another serious fire trap. These old broadcast burns are almost
certain to burn again either by fire starting in them direct or by fire
spreading into them from burning operations in adjoining new
slashings. Such repeated burning destroys not only all young
residual growth, but also the larger trees required as a source of seed.
The inevitable result is devastation.
The measures essential to keeping logged-over western white pine
lands from devastation are adequate slash disposal and subsequent
first-class fire protection. The latter has been described in the
section " Protection Against Fire."
SLASH DISPOSAL
Piling and burning of not less than 75 percent of the logging debris
is required to leave cut-over land in a condition of even minimum
productiveness. The disposal of slash by piling and burning has
been common practice in the national forests for many years. This
method consists of complete lopping of the limbs from the top, piling
in compact piles, and subsequent burning in the fall or spring. In
some instances the slash is burned progressively by building fires and
throwing the limbs on, thus making one operation of piling and burn-
ing. Either method properly executed results in a clean burn of the
slash, with little or no destruction of remaining live trees or young
growth, and the burning of not to exceed 10 to 30 percent of the sur-
A NATIONAL I'LAN KOI: AMKIMCAN KOllKSIIIY J 437
face area. Forest conditions on the, area are not; destroyed, (ircen
trees are left green, and the typical moisture-loving vegetative
Around cover of the, forest is not re, placed by inflammable firewoods,
grass, and thistle, as after a broadcast huni. The, dud' cover on the
CTOund is not consumed except where the, piles are burned, which may
he, ;m important factor in obtaining white, pine reproduction.
Great care in the, burning of piled brush is essential, however, to
keep the fire from scorching living trees or running over the ground
between piles. A considerable degree of skill and judgment is
required in selecting the proper time for burning. Conditions must
be, such that the piles are dry enough to burn, but that the ground
surfa.ee is too damp for fire, to run. Such conditions are most com-
monly found in the fall after the- September rains.
COSTS
Large, private operators who have believed in the efficacy of piling
and burning as a method of protecting their standing timber have
done a fairly effective job for their purpose at a cost of 40 to 70 cents
a thousand ($10 to $17. 50 an acre) under normal conditions. ^ Under
the, influence of present conditions, one, good job of private piling and
bur/iing is known to have been done, for 36 cents a thousand. If i
important to note, however, that the, private owner i -i not concerned
with occa-ional spread of fire that might partially injure residual
growth. Altogether, it is probable that disposal adequate to pre-
vent devastation can be, effected at a cost closer to 40 cents than 70
cents a thousand board feet.
Most private operators who pile and burn slash in this way do so
purely as a protection measure for their standing timber. They have
been convinced that it costs less in the Jong run to pile and burn than
it does to fight fires resulting from broadcast burns. One company,
for example, has done, good piling and burning since 1924 as a result
of the very costly lesson it learned from fires in 1922 and 1923.
These fires, spreading in slashings and old brosj.flcsj.st burns, covered
10,000 acres of virgin forest arid entailed direct money Joss of improve-
ments, logs, standing timber, and fire-fighting costs which amounted
to nearly -S 1 ,000,000. Up to about 1 9'25 this company's cut amounted
to approximately 300,000,000 feet. At the rate of 50 cents a thousand
the slash resulting from this cut could have been piled arid, burned
currently for $150,000. If piling and burning had been followed
consistently from the beginning of the operation, there is every
reason to believe, that there would have, been, no serious fire losses.
Inasmuch as effective, slash disposal in most instanecs is also the
cheapest and most effect.ive measure of protecting an owner's standing
timber, there, is often no slash-disposal cost chargeable purely to
keeping the land productive.
It should be pointed out that although economic selection of trees
to be cut, or any other change in usual commercial cutting practice,
is not regarded as necessary to prevent devastation in this type
(particularly larch-fir; it will often result in savings commensurate
with cost of slash disposal .
LARCH-FIR
The larch-douglus fir forest has usually originated as an even-aged
forest following fires, obviously not extensive enough to have de-t roved
all local sources of seed. Subsequent fires have opened up the original
1438 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEKICAN FORESTRY
even-aged stand and have in turn been followed by reproduction in
the openings and under the thinned stand. This process may have
been repeated several times, resulting in several distinct age classes
in the same area, sometimes in groups and sometimes with the younger
age classes forming an understory to the older classes. This two or
three-aged condition is very characteristic of the larch-fir forest.
The customary cutting and horse logging in stands of this sort,
where small and large trees are intermingled, leaves standing a good
many unmerchantable trees and some small growth. During the era
of broadcast burning previous to 1925 in Idaho and before 1927 in
Montana, uncontrolled fire in the slashings was followed by the same
disastrous results as in white pine. Whether a single broadcast burn
is followed by reproduction depends on the severity of the burn and
the survival of possible seed trees. As a general thing, a great deal
of young growth and many trees under merchantable size are killed.
The dead trees subsequently make a veritable fire trap that becomes a
source of danger in the future protection not only of the originally
burned cut-over area, but also of adjoining virgin timber and cut-
over land.
SLASH DISPOSAL
As in the white pine forests, adequate slash disposal, followed by
intensive fire protection, is the key to keeping the larch-fir forest
reasonably^ productive. Under the present laws, slash disposal in
Montana is by spot burning and in Idaho by piling and burning.
As spot burning depends on cleaning up large natural accumulations
of slash, the result, even with careful execution, is the scorching and
killing of a good deal of young growth and small trees surrounding the
burned spots, leaving hardly more than half of the area in a green
and productive condition. If done under dry weather conditions,
spot burning often becomes a partial or complete broadcast burning.
Piling and burning, if carefully done, is expensive, and if carelessly
done it results in a broadcast burn. In general, no slash disposal at
all is preferable to broadcast burning. There are many large areas of
old cuttings in Montana in the neighborhood of Eureka, Kalispell,
and St. Eegis which have never burned and which are now, after a
lapse of 20 to 25 years, comparatively safe from fire and well stocked
with second growth.
In the face of modern hazards, some form of slash disposal is
necessary. Partial disposal is the method recommended. The essen-
tial features of this method are piling and burning of slash only on
certain strips of about 100 feet in width, and intensive patrol of the
entire area of slashings for the 10 or 12 years required for natural
reduction of the risk through decay. The main objects of the cleared
strips are: (1) to reduce the chances of fires starting through human
agency on the traveled parts of the area; (2) to afford clear lines
from which fires can be fought; and (3) to break the area into blocks
in which such fires as may start can be isolated. The strips will cover
about 20 percent of the area under most conditions.
COSTS
The cost of slash disposal will range from 15 to 20 cents a thousand
feet of cut, including the charge for the 10 or 12 years required for
natural reduction of the slash as a menace. This is equivalent to
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1439
$2.70 to $3.60 an acre. It is important to note that this cost covers
not only slash disposal, but protection of camps, logging equipment,
and standing timber during the logging operation when an operator
ordinarily takes measures of prevention regardless of whether he dis-
poses of slash or protects his cut-over land. If this customary cost
of protecting timber and logging property against fire loss is deducted,
the charge for slash disposal becomes perhaps $2.
SUGAR PINE— PONDEROSA PINE TYPE
The territory covered by this type, as shown on the map, is also
known as the California pine region, and embraces half-a-dozen locally
recognized forest types or groups of types. Ponderosa pine is the
most widely distributed and characteristic tree; sugar pine, douglas
fir, white and red firs, and incense cedar are its common associates,
named in decreasing order of value. Ponderosa pine, douglas fir, and
true firs commonly occur both in pure stands and with the exception
of red fir, in all possible combinations as well. A great range of
sizes and ages, growing in intimate mixture, is a marked characteristic
of the type.
The degree of cutting in commercial operations is naturally deter-
mined by merchantability of the species, among other factors. In
such stands as pure ponderosa pine, cutting to a low diameter limit
is common; while in mixed stands, with a high percentage of the
firs, many trees of merchantable size are left. At the same time the
amount of young growth under the mature trees is generally greater
in the mixed stands than in ponderosa pine. Thus the tendency
toward clear cutting is most pronounced where seed trees are most
needed.
The most important fact to keep in mind when considering how
to stop devastation in this type is that the establishment of ponderosa
pine reproduction after cutting is a long and uncertain process. Ten
to 20 years may elapse before even a fair stand of seedlings can become
established from seed trees left by the loggers. Sugar pine, which has
a higher board-foot value than any other species in the type, is even
more difficult to establish than the ponderosa pine. Planting of
either species is costly and undependable. The conclusion is unavoid-
able that, in the main, the preservation of young growth throughout
the logging operation and in slash disposal is the principal means of
keeping forest lands productive. If such growth is scanty or absent,
or if it is subject to extreme danger from fires, provision must of
course be made for seed.
methods which a very few years ago spelled the doom of
nearly all standing trees and young growth spared by the timber
fallers have been recently abandoned in favor of much less destructive
methods. Today about 85 percent, by volume, of the logs removed
from the sugar pine-ponderosa pine forests are handled by caterpillar
tractors, and only about 15 percent by high-power machinery (donkey
engines and skidders). Proper regulation of tractor logging — that is,
when it is so conducted that the area of roads and turning points is
kept to a minimum, slashing of young trees is taboo, and the scarring
of reserve trees is avoided — should keep the destruction of young
growth below 25 percent on most areas. Avoidance of high-lead
and high-speed machinery, and a determination to prevent all unneces-
sary damage in the use of other types of high-power machinery, will
1440 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
materially reduce the damage to seed trees and destruction of young
growth once prevalent in the region.
The large quantity of slash and debris produced when stands yield-
ing 15,000 to 60,000 board feet per acre are cut, added to advance
reproduction and brush present before logging, gives cut-over areas
in any type possibilities of fires far more intense, more damaging,
and more difficult to combat than in the virgin forest. The minimum
effect of slash fires is the destruction of advance reproduction and
death of some immature trees. Such fires, moreover, do not com-
pletely consume the slash, and a fire hazard, which the burn aims to
reduce, remains. The rapid invasion of worthless brush is also aided
thereby and subsequent protection is made more difficult.
The following measures are necessary to stop forest devastation :
SELECTION CUTTING
In the sugar-ponderosa pine type an approach to economic selection
has unintentionally come about at the present time because of a
greatly depressed market. This has been a favorable factor in pre-
serving forest productivity. As log values increase, however, under
more favorable market conditions the tendency to cut to lower
limits will again become evident, particularly affecting the valuable
sugar pine and ponderosa pine. Under the principles of economic
selection, cutting should be held strictly to trees that can be logged and
milled at a profit. In the better stands on the west slope of the
Sierras it is unprofitable under normal market conditions to cut pine
below 24 inches diameter breast high. In east slope stands the lower
limit of profit is probably 18 inches. For inferior species, such as
white fir, the limit is of course much higher. Although the leaving of
poorer species to compete with good is not desirable, it keeps the land
productive by guaranteeing a merchantable second crop of some sort.
SEED TREES
Wherever in ponderosa pine stands cutting to the economic limit
would not leave standing an average of at least four trees of ample
seed-bearing size to the acre their equivalent in larger trees should be
reserved from cutting. Ponderosa pines having the largest cone pro-
duction per unit of merchantable volume are generally 18 to 20 inches
in diameter, and this relative production is about twice as high as for
30-inch trees. From 1,000 to 1,500 board feet per acre in well dis-
tributed trees having good, vigorous crowns will usually be sufficient.
LOGGING
Logging should be carefully conducted so as to destroy no more
advance reproduction than is absolutely necessary. Horse or cater-
pillar logging should be used on all ground adapted to it. High
leads and the use of high-speed machines should be discontinued
and other forms of high-power logging carefully regulated.
SLASH DISPOSAL
The slash disposal methods should be elastic enough to meet local
variations in fire hazard, character of forest, and topography. In
general a method of partial disposal is recommended, by which slash
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1441
is thoroughly cleaned up around machine settings, log landings, and
camps, and on strips along roads, railroads, ridges, and creeks to break
up the area into compartments of about 100 acres. On these areas
and strips the slash is destroyed either by swamper or progressive
burning (burning as the felled trees are limbed), or by piling and later
burning. The area covered may amount to 10 to 30 percent of the
slashing.
SPECIAL FIRE PROTECTION
Better protection than is now usual on private lands is necessary
for 10 years or more after logging. There should be an efficient, well-
equipped prevention and suppression organization, fire lines must be
maintained, and transportation routes must be kept open.
COSTS
There is obviously no cost attached to leaving in the woods, trees it
does not pay to log and mill and often a distinct gam. Assuming a
stumpage rate of $2 a thousand board feet, the investment in seed
trees is $2 to $3 per acre. This is undoubtedly a maximum, and if
the trees were barely over the merchantable limit the investment
would be negligible. In most cases the value will be recovered with
interest at the next cutting. Regulation of animal and tractor
logging to prevent unnecessary damage to advance reproduction or
young growth will cost little. Regulation of machine logging may
cost 10 cents a thousand board feet, or $1,80 an acre. Partial disposal
of slash will cost about 15 cents for each thousand board feet cut, or
$2.70 an acre. Intensive fire protection will add about 75 cents an
acre, spread over the 10-year period following logging.
The total of the last two items is $3.45 an acre. However, these
expenditures may be the means of avoiding much greater ones. For
example, in 1919 and 1920 one company logging in this forest type
spent an average of nearly $10,000 a year on its cut-over lands for
suppression of fires resulting from its own operations. In 1921, it
started clearing along rights of way, with patrol following all trains,
and its suppression bill dropped to less than $1,000 and total fire
cost, including prevention, to $3,600. Practically every slash fire
must be fought sooner or later, and usually by the operator. Any
investment which prevents such fires, or facilitates their control, saves
much larger investments in fire fighting.
Total costs under the most favorable conditions will include only
the items of brush disposal and special fire protection, or $3.45 an
acre. A maximum total of all items might rarely reach $8 an acre.
The average is probably $4.50, or 25 cents a thousand board feet cut.
PONDEROSA PINE TYPE
This type, as will be seen from the map, has a very wide distribu-
tion, and some local variations in average size of the timber and
heaviness of stand. The stands are ordinarily nearly pure ponderosa
pine, and uneven-aged, although even-aged groups are common.
Most of the type occurs on plateaus or gently rolling country. Where
fires have been excluded for decades there is usually a fair understory
of seedlings and saplings, but reproduction after logging is slow and
on the less favorable sites uncertain. On some areas it has been kept
1442 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
out by overgrazing. Commercial cutting is not ordinarily as close
as in most of the major types previously discussed. High-power
machinery is used in some of the heaviest stands, but animal or
tractor logging are far more common. Although the fire hazard is
ever present, conflagrations, except in slash, are not common, and
the control of fire, both before and after logging, is not exceedingly
difficult.
The measures necessary to insure continued productivity in this
type, in addition to the fire protection described in an earlier section,
may be briefed as follows:
CUTTING
No trees should be cut of a size below the economic limit set by
careful studies of the relative profitableness of large and small trees
and of the probable future returns from those of small present value.
Sound business practice indicates a minimum limit for saw timber
between 15 and 20 inches in most parts of the type, but in a few local-
ities and for products smaller than logs the limit may be less. Diam-
eter-limit cutting coincides fairly well with good silviculture in this
type. Each tract should be studied to determine the economic
limitations for cutting, bearing in mind the growth and prospective
value of the trees that might be left, in contrast with their present
value. The inferior species, where present, would be cut very lightly.
Such a cutting for saw logs only will leave a forest cover, the nucleus
of a future cut, and enough seed-producers gradually to fill out the
stand, on the great majority of areas. In Arizona, New Mexico, and
adjacent territory, where advance reproduction is absent and thrifty
trees below 21 inches diameter breast high are insufficient it will
occasionally be necessary to leave 800 to 1,000 board feet in seed
trees, per acre.
LOGGING
Because of the supreme need to preserve all young growth and
unmerchantable trees against damage, all forms of logging should
be very carefully regulated to this end. Even animal and tractor
logging may result in unnecessary swamping out of roads, turning
points, etc., and in damaging standing trees.
SLASH DISPOSAL
Slash disposal is necessary on a part only of each cutting area, as
described under the same heading in the sugar pine-ponderosa pine
type.
OTHER MEASURES
Similarly, better-than-average protection should be given cut-over
areas. See the previous type.
Overgrazing should be guarded against. Moderate grazing, on
the other hand, is a double asset in logged-ofF pine land; it helps the
owner to defray the cost of carrying the land for continuous forest
production, and tends to keep down the fire hazard of grass and
brush, as well as competition of this vegetation with seedling growth.
Experience has shown, as earlier emphasized, that a future crop of
ponderosa pine depends even more on reproduction established before
cutting than on that secured after cutting. This fact makes necessary
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1443
especially careful handling of grazing with respect to seasonal use
and number of stock, both for a few years before and a few years
after cutting.
COSTS
Some lumber companies are already practicing the above measures
practically as recommended, as a matter of good business. By so
doing they have greatly decreased their fire losses, and added to the
salability of their cut-over land. One company in central Oregon,
for example, followed the method of slash disposal outlined; in 6
years it has had only 60 fires in an area eventually totaling 50,000
acres, and has confined these to 129 acres.
The cost of the measures, in excess of ordinary present practice,
which gives little thought to leaving the land productive, or to
increased returns from selective logging, is estimated to be as follows:
Sound economic and silvicultural cutting will be no more costly
in the long run on a sustained-yield basis than the present heavy
cutting and liquidation program. Trees that may have to be left
especially for seed bearing constitute an investment recoverable in
later cuttings of about $2.50 an acre.
Regulation of logging to prevent needless destruction need cost no
appreciable sum if earnestly undertaken. A rare exception might
be with high-power logging in heavy stands, where the cost would
rise toward 10 cents a thousand board feet cut, or about $1.50 an acre.
Partial slash disposal will cost about 10 to 15 cents a thousand
board feet, or 60 cents to $1.50 an acre above present commercial
expenditures.
Additional intensive protection following logging may cost as
much as $1.50 an acre, spread over a period of about 12 years.
Regulation of grazing involves no appreciable cost chargeable to
stopping devastation.
The total cost will range from $3 to $6 an acre in different parts of
the wide region where the ponderosa pine type occurs. All the
maximum costs given under each item will not be necessary under
any one set of conditions, but the items for slash disposal and special
fire protection must be met throughout the type. As in the types
previously discussed, savings resulting from the prescribed measures
frequently compensate for their cost.
OTHER WESTERN TYPES
The redwood type, largely because of the tremendous capacity of
redwood to reproduce from sprouts, is very rarely devastated. The
lodgepole-pine type owes its escape from devastation by anything
short of repeated severe burning to its abundant seed production,
and to the pine's peculiar habit of retaining the seed on the tree for
many years. A single fire in a cone-bearing stand may kill all the
trees, but causes the cones to open and shower the soil with seed.
The spruce-fir type may suffer devastation by cutting or fires, and
particularly by a combination of them, but so little of either this or
the lodgepole-pine type are in private ownership, and therefore subject
to unregulated cutting and slash fires, that discussion of them is
unnecessary here.
1444 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
MEASURES TO BE APPLIED IN EASTERN FORESTS
The forest types of the East which now suffer extensive devastation
are the longleaf-slash pine and the shortleaf -loblolly pine-hardwoods ;
those which suffer to some extent are the oak-pine, the white, norway ,
and jack pine-hardwoods, and the spruce-fir-hardwoods. Progressive
deterioration, which ultimately leads to devastation, is taking place
over the greater part of the remaining types. Here, as throughout
this section, first-class protection against fires, insects, and disease is
assumed to be in effect, since without it other measures to prevent
devastation would be useless.
LONGLEAF-SLASH PINE TYPE
Longleaf pine, and to a lesser extent slash pine, characteristically
form pure pine stands in both virgin and second growth. The area of
virgin stands is now relatively small. Second growth is overwhelm-
ingly even-aged over large areas, although comparatively recent fire
protection is gradually beginning to make itself felt in the form of
seedlings and saplings under all except dense stands of established
growth. In spite of a remarkable fire resistance, longleaf pine is
subject to complete killing in slash fires, and to severe losses from fires
during the growing season. Slash pine is much less resistant than
longleaf pine. Longleaf pine seedlings are destroyed by hogs on
areas where the animals concentrate.
Cutting is generally preceded by turpentining, and in the eastern
portions of the type turpentining is at present by far the most
important form of utilization. Trees as small as 6 inches diameter
breast high are still turpentined in spite of ample experimental evi-
dence that the work does not pay. Cutting limits vary greatly.
The minimum size of tree cut for saw logs is often 9 inches diameter
breast high in virgin timber, and 6 or 8 inches in second growth,
although here again repeated studies have demonstrated that such
small trees do not return a profit. Logging, except in the com-
paratively small acreages of heavy virgin timber currently cut, is
by animals.
The measures necessary to keep this type from devastation, in
addition to the thoroughgoing fire protection described in the previous
section of this report, are as follows:
CUTTING
Economic selection of trees to be cut — leaving uncut all those which
cannot be utilized at a profit — will save many areas from devastation.
Where clear cutting is economically justified, and little advance
reproduction is present, seed trees must be left. In clear cuttings
exceeding about 6 acres in size, or 500 feet in width, seed trees should
be left at the rate of 4 to 8 longleaf pines, or 2 to 4 slash pines, per
acre. These should be sound, thrifty trees, at least 10 inches diameter
breast high with well-developed crowns. If the only available trees
are turpentined or otherwise defective, the higher number should be
left, because of the likelihood that they will be wind thrown or broken.
The seed trees should be well distributed over the area. Where the
cutting is not clear, but leaves a nucleus of saplings and younger
growth that will develop into a merchantable stand in due time, seed
trees are of course unnecessary.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1445
OTHER MEASURES
In turpentining operations, the same reservation of seed trees
should be made.
In restricted portions of the territory occupied by the type, hogs
are numerous, and should be fenced out of areas reproducing to
longleaf pine ; if a satisfactory stand of slash or some other associated
pine may be expected, the fencing is unnecessary.
COSTS
Small trees which cannot be profitably removed from a stand at
the time of cutting may include the necessary seed trees, and in
general virgin longleaf pines 1 1 inches diameter breast high or smaller
have no immediately recoverable value as saw timber. Trees as
small as 9 inches diameter breast high have some turpentine rental
value. In the event that larger trees have to be left, the investment
in seed trees, considering both stumpage value and turpentine rental,
may run up to $3 an acre, but will probably average more nearly
$1. These values should be recoverable, with interest in the form of
growth, at the next cutting or turpentining period.
Fencing costs to prevent grazing will vary greatly with the size
of the tract to be enclosed. Hog-proofing an area of several thousand
acres might cost 60 cents an acre in initial cost and upkeep for 10
years.
Total costs may run as high as $3.60 an acre, with a common
average of about $1.60. Offsetting financial advantages that often
result from the recommended practices are similar to those discussed
for previous types.
SHORTLEAF-LOBLOLLY PINE-HARDWOODS TYPE
Devastation is chiefly confined to the saw-timber operations on
the extreme western edge of this type. East of the Mississippi,
ownership is much less concentrated, and in the Piedmont region
farm wood lots are the rule. The ensuing discussion applies almost
wholly to the west-Mississippi territory.
There is a much greater tendency toward all-aged stands than in
the previous type, and, as the type name implies, toward a mixture
of species. Relatively little pine still reman in virgin stands, which
over considerable areas have been robbed of young growth by re-
peated fires. Where the pine is clear cut only a few decadent and
worthless hardwoods remain. Even where a few pines survive
logging, they are likely to be wiped out by fires in the slash. On the
other hand bushy-crowned shortleaf or loblolly pines left standing on
cut-over lands produce large and almost annual crops of seed, which
is carried to considerable distances by the wind and in the absence
of fire produces excellent stands of second growth. Shortleaf pine
has the important ability to sprout from small stumps or roots of
small trees killed above ground by fire.
Fire protection alone, of the degree already described, will go a
very long way toward preventing devastation in this type, by per-
mitting advance growth of both pine and promising hardwoods.
The following measure is necessary to prevent devastation of such
areas as have not yet a satisfactory advance growth.
1446 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
CUTTING
Economic selection should be practiced as described for the long-
leaf-slash pine type. Where clear cutting is economically justified,
there should be reserved for seed 2 to 4 sound, thrifty pines per acre,
in all openings exceeding about 10 acres, and 700 feet wide between
uncut timber. These trees should be not less than 10 inches diameter
breast high and well-distributed over the opening. Occasionally
such trees are not present in the stand, and their equivalent in
larger trees must be left.
COSTS
Second-growth shortleaf and loblolly pines usually have no immedi-
ately recoverable stumpage value of 12 inches or less in diameter.
Careful studies have shown that with an average stumpage value of
$3 a thousand board feet, a common figure for second growth, only a
few cents may be realized from a 13-inch tree. The cost of second-
growth seed trees will, therefore, run from practically nothing up to
about $1 an acre. In virgin stands this maximum might be doubled.
For a general discussion of the compensating financial advantages
to many landowners of leaving their lands productive, see the later
paragraphs under " Total cost of preventing devastation of private
lands."
OTHER EASTERN TYPES
In the absence of slash fires, the remaining forest types of the East
are rarely devastated, in spite of very close cutting of the mer-
chantable stand. There are three main reasons for this : The presence
of hardwoods, capable of sprouting from stumps, or the base of fire-
killed stems; the small size of the ordinary commercial cutting area;
and the presence of advance growth of valuable species under stands
allowed to reach maturity as saw timber or even of full pulp-timber
size.
SOFTWOODS
Pure stands of softwoods are not as common as mixed softwood-
hardwood stands in any type. They occur most frequently today
as second growth on old fields throughout the oak-pine, the white,
norway, and jack pine-hardwoods, and the spruce-fir-hardwoods
types, and on cut-over land in the Lake region formerly in white and
norway pine but now occupied by jack pine. These stands are nor-
mally even-aged. Provided fire can be kept out of the slash, clear
cutting of all merchantable material in these even-aged pure soft-
woods does not eliminate the prospect for a merchantable stand in
due -time, because cutting areas are no longer large and, in the all-
aged stands, because young growth is already on the ground.
Slash from second-growth pine in the South rots very rapidly, but
that from conifers of the North much more slowly. Twelve to
fifteen years may be required to eliminate the hazard from slash of
spruce and northern pines. This is so long a period of special hazard
that the general system of fire protection, even though intensive,
cannot be depended upon to cope with it in many areas. Some form
of disposal must often be considered as a necessary step in preventing
forest devastation.
The best form of slash disposal, from every point of view, is close
utilization. If the trees can be used to a 3- or 4-inch top for pulp-
wood or any other purpose, no other disposal is likely to be necessary.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1447
But if such close utilization is not possible, and large tops are numer-
ous, they should be cleaned up on strips 25 to 100 feet wide along
roads, railroads, around logging camps, portable mill set-ups, and
similar special risks. Either piling and burning or progressive burn-
ing (currently, as the felled trees are limbed) are recommended.
Costs of these simple measures will be considered under "Hardwoods "
below.
HARDWOODS
When pure hardwood stands, or those containing more than half
hardwoods, are heavily cut, they owe their usual escape from devas-
tation chiefly to their ability to sprout. The virgin forests, the area
of which is now small, have the additional advantage of an abundant
advance growth typical of any all-aged forest. In spite of these
advantages most hardwood forests have suffered greatly from a
deterioration brought about by cutting which is very hard to dis-
tinguish from outright devastation. For examples of devastation
it is necessary to go to hardwood lands which have suffered from one
or more slash fires, such as birch-beech-maple-hemlock forests reduced
to unmerchantable aspen and bird cherry, or oak-chestnut-yellow
poplar reduced to scrub oak.
The chief hardwood types of the East are composed of a great
variety of tree species, generally intermingled on the same area.
Some species are valuable, others nearly or quite worthless. The
valuable species vary from type to type, and no list can be attempted
here. The worthless are such because of small size and poor form,
even at maturity. Still other species are not of great value now, but
attain such size and form as to hold promise of value under future
conditions. Regardless of species, a rather high proportion of hard-
wood trees, even when young, are poorly formed; mature and over-
mature trees in many instances harbor serious decay. The volume
of merchantable wood to the average acre of hardwood forest is there-
fore lower than in softwood forest growing on the same soil and in the
same climate.
The remaining virgin hardwood timber is practically confined to
portions of the river bottom hardwoods-cypress type; to the oak-
chestnut-yellow poplar type on the least accessible of the southern
Appalachian Mountains; and to limited areas of the birch-beech-
maple-hemlock type in the Lake States, New York, and New Eng-
land. Most of the second growth is as yet below full sawlog size.
Cutting for saw timber is rarely clean in hardwood forests; the
section entitled "Current Forest Devastation and Deterioration"
has described how repeated culling, first of the best species and
individuals, later of the poorer, has been the rule. After each cutting
more and more of the ground is taken in firm possession by the less
valuable and dwarf species, which prevent the sprouts and seedlings
of good species from developing. The succeeding forest is inferior
even when the good species sprout vigorously, because in spite of
very rapid early growth, sprouts mature at smaller sizes than trees
from seed, and are subject to early rot. Thus on important areas
repeated commercial cuttings finally reduce the productive capacity
of the forest land not simply to zero, but to what might be called
considerably below zero. That is, if culled hardwood land were
planted with tree seedlings in order to produce a merchantable crop
168342°— 33— vol. 2 26
1448 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
within reasonable time, the seedlings would often struggle in vain
competition with worthless vegetation. Where this condition prevails
a state of deterioration exists that is worse than devastation.
Such of the farm woodlands in the oak-hickory type of the Central
and Lake regions as are not certain to be cleared for cultivation in
any event, deteriorate seriously under excessive grazing. This deter-
ioration is very similar to that resulting from long-continued fires in
advance of cutting. Livestock, chiefly cattle, are allowed to pasture
6 out of 10 units of farm woodlands in the Central region and have
browsed to death so large a percentage of the advance growth normal
to the type that a heavy cutting of the older trees results in devasta-
tion. That is, if the woods have been pastured for many years even
the youngest of the trees have outgrown their ability to sprout
successfully from the stump. Exclusion of the stock for a few years
after the cutting is in many instances futile, because the sprouts are
too few to constitute the basis of a future merchantable stand; failure
to exclude it almost always spells the doom of the scanty sprouts.
Eventually, of course, heavy grazing by itself can devastate the oak-
hickory farm woodlands, but the process could not be considered com-
plete until so many of the mature trees had died from old age and other
causes that the stand was unmerchantable. This is the ultimate
prospect also faced by some of the oak-chestnut-yellow poplar forests
of central Pennsylvania, now absolutely stripped of all young growth
by deer.
To put a stop to serious deterioration in the hardwood types, the
following modifications of cutting practice are necessary :
CUTTING
Postpone final cuttings in second-growth stands until there is a
sufficient stand of seedlings of valuable species already on the ground,
or enough seed-bearing trees of good species, to insure that the cutting
will not prevent the ensuing stand from having a substantial portion —
certainly not less than a fifth — of its volume in valuable trees of
seedling origin. By final cutting is meant one that removes the
main volume of the stand, as contained in the better trees. Thin-
ning, or any type of cutting that removes only a part of the stand to
improve the ultimate value of the remainder, or to encourage seed
production and seedling establishment, is not included.
In the great majority of virgin stands there is abundant advance
growth of good species, which in the absence of fire survives logging
and, together with sprouts from the smaller stumps, forms an excellent
second growth. In such virgin stands, and second-growth stands
which are old enough to have an under-story of valuable advance
growth, cutting may be clean if fire protection is thoroughly efficient.
There are no better examples of satisfactory young growth than the
unburned stands of northern hardwoods which have followed abso-
lutely clean cutting for sawlogs and distillation of wood of virgin
forest in Pennsylvania and New York.
It should be frankly recognized that second-growth hardwoods
which may sometimes be profitably cut for pulpwood, fuel-wood,
mine props, and other round products before reaching seed-bearing
size may, over considerable areas, have no advance growth of valuable
species. Such stands and their successors cannot be cut without
eventual devastation of the land.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1449
SEED TREES
In the absence of an understory of valuable seedlings and saplings,
seed trees of good species should be left in cutting both virgin and
later growths. This method of safeguarding the hardwoods stand
against serious deterioration is, however, less certain of results than
the alternative of deferred cutting already discussed. One to six
trees in good seed-bearing condition, must be left to the acre. If
their seed is such as to be widely distributed by wind or animals, one
or two will do, but if the seed is heavy and not carried about by
animals, five or six are necessary, They should be located where
they will do the most good ; for example, heavy-seeded species should
stand above rather than below the openings which they are to seed.
GIRDLING
Scarcely less important on most hardwood areas than postponement
of cutting until there is an advance growth of valuable seedlings, or
reservation of seed trees from cutting, is the cleanest possible cutting
of inferior species and of inferior individuals of good species. Groups
of promising young trees of good species capable of good growth after
logging should of course be left. But a heavy overwood of defective
trees, themselves so crooked, limby, or decayed as to have no prospect
of merchantability, will prevent advance growth from developing into
a merchantable stand within a tree generation. This is particularly
true where the advance growth is of tulip poplar, white oak, black
cherry, and a number of others of the most valuable species, which
can not endure much shade. If composed of inferior species able to
endure shade, the defective stand will establish seedlings capable of
competing with the good species already on the ground. The same
overwood will render seed trees ineffective by covering the ground
with litter which hinders germination of some species, such as tulip
poplar and white pine, and by shading and starving the seedlings.
Complete removal of all large trees, except those required for seed
or further growth, is probably an unattainable ideal of cutting.
Every effort should be made, however, to find markets for trees too
small or defective for sawlogs. Cross ties, mine timbers, cooperage
stock, pulpwood, fuelwood, fence posts, and other small round or
split products will be saleable from many acres. If, after the removal
of every tree which can be made to pay its way, there still remains so
heavy a worthless overwood that a devastating delay in development
of a new and merchantable stand is inevitable, girdling, poisoning, or
felling without utilization, of a few of the worst old trees is necessary.
No fine or exact line can be drawn between girdling on a scale neces-
sary to prevent serious deterioration, and on a scale which would
promote a much fuller growth of good species. Girdling on the latter
scale, weeding the young seedlings to promote a higher proportion of
good species, thinning sapling stands, and similar cultural operations,
are described under the next section of this report, A Program for
Intensive Forest Management. It is improbable that on more than
a small percentage of all hardwood lands cut over currently will
girdling be necessary merely to prevent serious deterioration.
SLASH DISPOSAL
Disposal of hardwood slash to reduce the fire hazard after logging
will be necessary only where fire risks are high, as sometimes along
1450 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
railroads, roads, around sawmills, etc. Because hardwood slash
decays much more rapidly than softwood slash, high risks are decidedly
rare. Partial disposal was described in connection with pure soft-
wood stands, earlier in this discussion of "Other Eastern Types."
GRAZING
Protection against overgrazing of all hardwood land to be kept
permanently in forest, is necessary for a period of about 10 years
before and after any extensive cutting.
COSTS
It would be difficult to calculate the cost of postponing final cutting
in a stand until the trees reach seed-bearing size. In general it may
be said that hardwood forests promise a greater net profit if managed
for the production of a main crop of saw timber or other large-sized
material than if clear cut at short intervals for pulpwood, distillation
wood, or similar small material. This is shown by the cutting policies
adopted by public owners of forest land, and such private owners as
look forward to permanent or long-term ownership. It should be
remembered that the prohibition against final cuttings does not pre-
vent either thinning out of small or poor trees, the absence of which
will not appreciably lessen the prospects for seed production in the
stand, or light cuttings to stimulate the remaining trees to produce
seed.
Seed trees may often be below the economic limit for saw timber,
and have no positive realization value for any purpose. The cost of
leaving them under other circumstances may run up to $2 or $3 an
acre, where trees well above the minimum diameter of 10 inches at
breast height are the only ones available. On long-lived operations
most of the seed trees wUl be cut in operations 10 to 25 years later,
provided they have meanwhile produced a valuable young seedling
stand. Their value can then be recovered, generally with substantial
interest in the form of growth.
Close cutting of trees which have even a little realization value will
of course add nothing to regular logging costs. In the rare instances
where girdling or felling of unmerchantable trees is necessary merely
to prevent serious deterioration, the cost would be from 50 cents to
$1 an acre, assuming that not over 3 or 4 trees to the acre need be
treated.
Cleaning up of slash along roads, railroads, and in other zones of
special risk will vary greatly in cost, depending both on the type of
forest and the degree of fire risk. In the southern Appalachians burn-
ing the slash and debris on a strip 66 feet wide along a logging railroad
has been estimated to cost not more than $80 a mile, or $10 an acre
of ground actually burned over. If railroads, roads, etc. were suffi-
ciently numerous to require the similar clean-up or slash on one
twentieth of a newly cut-over area, the cost here would be about 50
cents an acre for the entire operation. In the Lake States piling and
burning, or progressive burning, of slash in zones of special fire risk
is estimated to cost 25 to 40 cents a thousand board feet, distributed
over the entire cut from a considerable area. The cost per acre might
then be $1 to $2 an acre on hardwood saw-timber operations, and up
to $6 on softwood.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1451
It should be pointed out that no expenditure whatever for slash
disposal is necessary on by far the greater part of newly logged-over
lands in the East. Small cuttings, isolated cuttings, those in which
the utilization of top wood is very close or in which only a small
proportion of the trees are felled, are fairly sure to escape devastating
fires if the general fire protective system is good.
There is no cost attached to regulating the number of livestock in
the farm woods. On those farms where the pasturage obtainable in
the woods is really needed it is obvious that the land is more valuable
for agriculture than for timber growing, and will eventually be
converted to the higher use.
As in some other types, the greater variety of conditions in these
Eastern forest types makes a summary of costs rather meaningless.
The cheapest forest to keep productive after cutting is that with
abundant advance growth of good species; partial slash disposal is
the only real item of cost, and averages, where necessary at all, $2
an acre. Where seed trees must be left, and some girdling of un-
merchantable trees must be done, an additional $4 might be needed
or $6 an acre in all.
NET COST OF PREVENTING DEVASTATION OF PRIVATE
FOREST LANDS
In table 1 are summarized the measures, in addition to general
fire protection, which have been described as necessary to keep forest
land productive. These measures, or others much more intensive
are already being taken on the national forests and most other publicly
owned land, and their cost, if any to the public, is absorbed in the cost
of general administration. The possible cost of putting the measures
into effect on all privately owned forest land in the United States is
estimated at $5,700,000. This is the possible approximate annual
bill which would be presented to the forest industries if public opinion
decrees that devastation of forest land in the United States must
cease.
TABLE 1. — Summary of modifications of or additions to usual practices (other than
general fire protection) necessary to stop forest devastation of private lands
Region and for-
est type
Logging practices
Slash disposal
Intensive fire
protection
Miscellaneous
WEST
1. Douglas fir
type:
a. Spruce-
hemlock
fog belt.
b. Douglas
Economic selection cut-
ting, taking only trees
yielding profit. Up to
half of area may be
clear cut i f no openings
larger than 40 acres.
Economic selection cut-
None in selection
cuttings. In clear
cuttings of high
risk careful broad-
cast or spot burn-
ing. Snags felled.
Careful broadcast
During logging
and up to 10
years there-
after.
... do
No colonization on
fir proper.
ing, with reservation
of seed timber, either
temporarily by stag-
gered settings, etc., or
permanently by leav-
ing 5 percent strips or
blocks on large clear
cuttings. No open-
ings over 1,500 feet
wide without seed
trees.
burning, in small
blocks. Snags fell-
ed. Debris about
camps and along
rights of way piled
and burned at
time of clearing.
large logged off
areas permitted.
1452
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 1. — Summary of modifications of or additions to usual practices (other than
general fire protection) necessary to stop forest devastation of private lands — Con.
Region and for-
est type
Logging practices
Slash disposal
Intensive fire
protection
Miscellaneous
WEST — continued
2. Western larch-
western white
pine type:
a. Western
Progressive burning,
white pine.
or piling and burn-
ing, of at least 75
percent of slash.
a. Larch-fir
Partial disposal, by
For 10-12 years
piling and burning
after logging.
of slash on strate-
gically located
strips, or about 20
percent of area.
3. Sugar pine-
Economic selection cut-
Partial disposal, by
For 10 years af-
ponderosa
tings, leaving 4 or
progressive burn-
ter logging.
pine type.
more good seed trees
per acre, 18 to 20 inches
ing or piling and
burning of slash on
or 1,000 to 1,500 board-
strips and high-
feet in larger trees.
Animal or tractor log-
risk areas, 10 to 30
percent of whole.
ging where economi-
cally justified; in no
case high-speed or
high lead. Protec-
tion of young growth
from injury.
4. Ponderosa
Economic selection cut-
Partial disposal, as
do
Regulation of graz-
pine type.
ting. In absence of
advance reproduction,
for sugar pine-pon-
derosa pine type.
ing for several
years before and
reservation of 800 to
after logging.
1.000 board-feet in
seed trees per acre.
Careful regulation of
logging to prevent
damage to young trees.
EAST
1. Longleaf-
Economic selection cut-
No turpentining of
slash pine type.
ting. In clear cut-
seed trees. Hogs
tings 500 feet wide,
if numerous, to
leave 4-8 longleaf seed
be fenced out of
trees, or 2-4 slash 10
longleaf repro-
inches or equivalent
ducing areas.
in larger trees.
2. Shortleaf-lob-
Economic selection cut-
lollypine hard-
ting. In clear cut-
wood type.
tings over 700 feet
wide, leave 2-4 pine
seed trees, 10 inches or
equivalent in larger
3. Other types:
r
a. Softwoods.
Failing close utiliza-
tion, partial dis-
posal by progres-
sive burning or
piling and burn-
ing on high-risk
areas.
b. H a r d -
Hold final cutting until
As for softwoods,
Heavy grazing ex-
woods.
advance seedling re-
above.
cluded both be-
production of valuable
species or seed trees
fore and after
final cuttings.
are present or leave
1-6 seed trees of good
species. Close cut-
ting or felling or gird-
ling of poor species or
individuals.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1453
This figure, although necessarily an estimate, is based on a careful
consideration of the many factors involved. The cost of specific
measures, per thousand board feet, or per acre, have already been dis-
cussed under each of the major forest types. Figures given in the
section Present and Potential Timber Resources, covering timber cut
yearly for commodity use from the forests of the United States,
supplemented by local Forest Service information as to stands per
acre on lands currently logged, furnished the other factors necessary
to the estimate. Where certain measures, such as slash disposal
in the western white pine forests, have already been adopted by some
of the operators in a region, because such action saves them money
in the long run quite regardless of the future of their cut-over land,
the type or regional cost is correspondingly reduced. If it were
certain rather than probable that the remaining operators would find
that the same measures pay, obviously no charge should be included
in the regional costs. Their inclusion makes the total an overestimate
rather than an underestimate. The same effect is produced by
including the present value of timber reserved for seed, even though
on a great many operations this value will be more than recovered
in later cuttings. On the other hand an item of possible consequence
which had to be omitted from the total because it could not be even
approximated, was the cost of postponing final cutting in some
eastern hardwood stands.
Whether the exact cost of stopping devastation of private forest
lands would be somewhat over or under $5,700,000, it is clear that
the sum involved is, nationally speaking, insignificant. It is about
1 percent of the sum spent annually in the forests of the United
States to obtain the raw material — logs, cordwood, and other prod-
ucts— necessary for our forest industries.
Throughout the previous pages it has been stated that modifica-
tion of logging methods to prevent devastation does not always
involve a net loss. Economic selection, which was described as an
important step in such modification in nearly every region, bars
" boarder" logs from the sawmill, and saves money to the operator.
The sums which a strict application of economic selection might save
the forest industries in some regions is enormous. On the basis of
selective logging studies at the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment
Station it is estimated that one third of the lumber cut in the last 10
years in the Douglas-fir region was obtained from trees too small to
have a positive conversion value, and that the average loss per thou-
sand board feet was at least $1. Assuming a normal production of 10
billion board-feet a year, the cost of cutting these small trees and
thereby devastating a large part of the forest land on which they grew,
is over $3,300,000 yearly. The sum is nearly twice as great as the
estimated cost of stopping devastation or private lands in the same
region. Although the savings possible in other regions are not so
readily calculable, it is certain that they would be substantial, and
that would go far toward meeting the cost of stopping devastation, if
not actually exceeding it.
It should be emphasized that stopping devastation may have results
reaching far beyond the mere assurance that a forest industry will not
have on its hands a perplexing cut-over land problem, when it has
completely utilized its present raw material. A common result will
be extension of operating life and a great addition to profits. This
1454 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
will be particularly true in those forest regions were long-lived opera-
tions, even on a liquidation basis, are common. During every year
that a plant can operate after the period allotted for the retirement
of its investment, its profits are increased by nearly the amount of its
former depreciation charges. If the timber* for its extended operation
has grown on its own lands, at no other expense than that of the
intensive fire protection required to guard them against devastation,
the profits are further increased.
Finally, it should be said that only a slight expansion of the ex-
tremely simple measures necessary to prevent devastation will, if
applied to some operations in some regions, place them on a permanent
basis. An example, .described at greater length under the section
Status and Opportunities of Private Forestry, is an industry owning
about 80,000 acres of timber in the Pacific Northwest. If this tract
is logged during the next 30 years according to the cutting practice
now current in the region, it is estimated by the Forest Service that it
will yield a profit of $450,000 over a mortgage of $3,000,000. But if
economic selection is applied on a basis which leaves for growth and
later cutting not only small trees which have no present net value,
but also those which have less than a very high value, the tract will
yield $2,800,000 over the mortgage, in the same length of time.
Moreover, there will then be growing on it timber enough to yield
50 million board feet yearly, in perpetuity.
A PROGRAM FOR INTENSIVE FOREST. MANAGEMENT
By THORNTON T. MUNGER, Director, Pacific Northwest Forest
Experiment Station
CONTENTS
Introduction 1455
What constitutes intensive forestry? 1456
Weeding, girdling, thinning, and pruning 1456
Selective cutting 1459
Refraining from cutting 1460
Forest planting 1461
Protection against in] uries 1462
Improved utilization 1463
Developing transportation 1464
Need for intensive forestry 1465
Objectives for intensive forestry 1467
Selection of areas for intensive forestry 1469
Opportunities for intensive forestry in certain forest regions 1471
New England and Middle Atlantic States 1472
Lake States 1475
Central States 1475
South 1476
Northern Rocky Mountains 1479
Southern Rocky Mountains 1479
Pacific coast 1 480
Summary 1481
INTRODUCTION
In this section intensive forestry is considered from the standpoint
of timber production only. On most of the forest area of the United
States timber production will be the principal purpose of forest
management. Management for this purpose will in large measure
satisfy the requirements of other forest uses; but on some areas,
especially in those large portions of the West where watershed protec-
tion, grazing, or recreational use is of first importance, intensive
management will be governed by requirements other than those of
timber production.
Intensive forestry is that forestry practice which aims to realize
through silvicultural treatment the nearest practical approach to
the maximum productivity of a given site, building up in the short-
est practical time as large an annual cut as is consistent with the
productive capacity of the land, or which aims to grow by particular
effort some special quality of product. Under intensive forestry the
whole of the area managed is in a growing condition and well stocked
with desirable species adapted to each site, damage from fire and graz-
ing is practically eliminated, and cultural measures are generally
practiced both to utilize trees that under existing conditions are lost
from decay, suppression, etc., and to improve growing conditions for
the remaining trees. The application of intensive forestry is subject
to economic limitations making it impractical to try to produce
every possible foot of timber that might be produced with an indis-
criminate outlay of money.
1455
1456 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
With the original stands of virgin timber practically exhausted in
all the original eastern regions, the necessity for forest management
to make productive use of much of the land area and to meet the
Nation's need for timber is becoming increasingly evident. And,
as has been the case with agriculture, under many circumstances it
will be found that intensive measures to get maximum production per
acre will prove more profitable than crude practices which realize
only a small fraction of the productive capacity of the land. In
Europe the forests yielding the highest returns are in general those on
which practice is most intensive and most costly.
WHAT CONSTITUTES INTENSIVE FORESTRY?
The intensive forestry measures discussed in this section presuppose
a system of fire control, disease control, and insect control that will
largely eliminate losses of commercial timber and restocking stands.
Such protective measures are discussed in preceding sections of this
report.
Intensive forestry includes a wide variety of measures. Some of
these have application in one region, some in another, and some in
ah1 regions. There are many variations of these measures to fit the
local requirements of each forest type; these it is not within the scope
of this paper to discuss. In some parts of the country, as in the
hardwood types, the forests have not been actually devastated so
much as they have been deteriorated by repeated cutting operations
which removed the better trees, leaving the inferior species and the
inferior specimens. Here the problem is to build up the growing
stock and improve its quality by judicious selective cutting, thinnings,
weedings, and underplan tings. In parts of the South and West the
adoption of selective cutting and the avoidance of premature clear
cutting of young stands is needed.
The various elements of intensive forestry may be considered under
seven headings :
WEEDING, GIRDLING, THINNING, AND PRUNING
Because of the large area of open and denuded land available for
forestry, in the past much emphasis has been laid on the need for
planting. Sometimes public interest in forest production has been
directed almost exclusively to the need for planting, little attention
being given to the great possibilities of increasing the quantity and
quality of forest growth by cultural treatment of existing stands,
especially during the early period of their development. Cultural
treatment of young stands, including weeding, girdling, thinning, and
pruning, is of double significance because it not only increases the
productivity of natural second growth but may be absolutely essential
to the successful development of plantations.
In certain forest types the competition between inferior and valua-
ble species during the early stages is such that if the stand is not
tended the latter will be suppressed and the stand will eventually
consist largely of low-value trees. Such a situation may be prevented
or remedied by the skillful removal of the undesired trees at tb^ right
time. This usually requires an initial investment, but ultimately
yields a return to the forest landowner. It has been found in New
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1457
England, for example, that in young mixed stands of the almost
worthless gray birch and the valuable northern white pine the latter
is suppressed unless the birch is cut out, and that the benefits to the
stand justify the expense in the long run. Similarly, weeding of young
stands of spruce and fir in the Northeast to reduce the competition
from worthless fire cherry, red maple, moosewood, etc., may sub-
stantially shorten the period required for the softwood species to reach
merchantable size.
The mixed hardwood stands which come in so generally on clear-
cut areas throughout the northern hardwood and oak-chestnut regions
tend to be dominated by the least desirable species and can usually
be greatly benefited by a judicious weeding when from 5 to 7 years
of age. In the mixed forests of central New England, in fact, such
weeding offers prospect of yielding a greater return on the investment
required than almost any other single measure.
In the spruce-northern hardwoods region of the Northeast, culling
of the more valuable softwoods in the past has left large areas occupied
by overmature hardwoods which usually have large, spreading crowns
and are often defective or otherwise unmerchantable. These worth-
less hardwoods occupy space which might be utilized by valuable
trees and often overtop or suppress saplings or reproduction of de-
sirable species. Girdling these worthless or low-value hardwood trees
may immediately increase the current growth of a spruce and fir
understory as much as fivefold. Such girdling operations cost not
more than $2 per acre, and this investment will usually be amply
returned by increased growth within a few years. Girdling of worth-
less hardwoods competing for space in the mixed stands will also
stimulate the growth of spruce and fir of merchantable size; indeed,
the increased growth on such trees is sufficient to warrant systematic
girdling operations about 10 years in advance of logging in much of
the spruce-northern hardwood region.
The outstanding example of the commercial application of girdling
is to be found on a pulp wood operation near Glens Falls, N.Y. Sys-
tematic girdling of worthless hardwoods on lands cut over during the
past 15 years and on areas scheduled to be cut in the next 8 to 15
years has been under way since 1926. Prior to January 1929, more
than 5,000 acres had been covered at a total cost of about $10,000.
In an experiment started at Corbin Park, N.H., in 1905, an understory
of spruce and fir is showing a very remarkable response to release
through girdling of overtopping hardwoods. Growth on the girdled
area has been at least five times that on the ungirdled area. Here,
twenty-five years after treatment, the girdled plot shows a stand
of about 12 cords per acre of merchantable pulpwood with a current
rate of increase ol about 1 cord per acre per year, while the ungirdled
plot shows a stand of less than 2 cords per acre. An experiment
started in 1919 by the Eastern Manufacturing Co. in Maine demon-
strates that girdling to release merchantable-sized spruce and fir may
yield a profit of $2 per acre per year. In this experiment the girdling
of all hardwoods down to a 2-inch diameter released 40 softwood trees
per acre averaging 8 inches in diameter and having a volume of 272
cubic feet. After 11 years there were 160 merchantable trees per
acre with a volume of 1,050 cubic feet, and the annual growth rate
had increased from one seventh to three fourths cord per acre per year.
1458 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Thinning consists in removing from dense stands of timber a certain
fraction of the trees in order that those which remain may grow more
rapidly. Unlike weeding, the thinning operation does not especially
concentrate on inferior species or specimens, but removes good trees
simply to reduce the stand density.
Thinning not only stimulates growth but may serve to improve the
quality of the product. It has been found that the most desirable
quality of wood in certain hardwood species is produced when the
growth rate is maintained within certain well-defined limits. Through
thinning the forester may maintain a density of stand which will result
in the desired width of annual growth rings and thus insure the de-
sired strength or other technical qualities in the wood.
When the trees removed in thinning young stands can be marketed,
the thinning may salvage material that would ordinarily be killed out
in the normal struggle for existence. Thinning may thus make pos-
sible an early reduction of the forest investment, a result which is
especially desirable in plantations. Wood supplied from thinnings
may meet industrial needs for small-sized material, also, and thus
make unnecessary the clear cutting of immature stands which under
usual practices would be sacrificed for such purposes.
In certain types, of which lodgepole pine is a striking example,
natural reproduction forms such a dense thicket that stagnation of
growth results. Here a thinning operation even of unmarketable
material may pay dividends by causing increased growth, especially
if mechanical means can be developed for opening up the overdense
stands of small trees.
At the present time very little of America's immature forest is
systematically thinned; in Europe the practice is almost universal.
Were America's forests more completely developed by roads, and were
American forest owners and users better educated in' the care of forest
land, it would undoubtedly be recognized as profitable to do much
more thinning.
An example of this type of cultural operation may be found on the
property of the Superior Pine Products Co., near Fargo, Ga. In the
last 3 years this company has thinned more than 2,500 acres of 15-
to 20-year-old stands of longleaf and slash pine. The number of trees
per acre has been reduced from between 600 and 1 ,200 to an average
of 250. The operation cost about 50 cents per acre, but the company
expects to realize a great deal more than that amount through acceler-
ated growth and increased turpentine yield.
Pruning the lower limbs of valuable species like northern white pine
in New England in order to produce higher-grade lumber has been
found in some cases to increase the value of the pruned trees by $35
per 1,000 board feet. Pruning is recommended as a desirable prac-
tice hi plantations and natural stands where improved quality will be
so strikingly reflected in stumpage value. To be profitable and
effective, however, pruning must be done judiciously. To keep the
cost within reason pruning should be restricted to a selected number
of the best and most promising stems, probably not more than 250
per acre in dense plantations. To be effective pruning should extend
to the full length of the butt log and should be done when the trees
are not more than 5 inches in diameter. This can usually be accom-
plished to best advantage in 2 or 3 operations at intervals of 3 to 5
years.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1459
SELECTIVE CUTTING
Selective cutting will perhaps be the most important factor in re-
storing the deteriorated forests of the eastern regions to satisfactory
condition. This is especially true of hardwood forests and of mixed
stands, where the more valuable softwoods have often been crowded
out by the hardwoods. On many areas in the older regions, growing
stocks have been so reduced and deteriorated by successive clear
cuttings that the opportunity for profitable utilization has been
greatly lessened. On such areas, however, with intensive methods of
utilization and marketing it may still be practical to make selective
cuttings that aim to remove the least valuable species and the poorly
formed or defective trees, leaving the most promising trees to grow
to larger size. If in such treatment the quantity cut is always kept
below current growth, the growing stock will gradually be restored
and the total wood growth of the area will be concentrated more and
more on stems of saw-timber size rather than wasted on brush and
saplings that can never be utilized. Eventually, not only will it be
possible to maintain much larger annual cuts but the quality or grade
of the product will be substantially improved. Through such selec-
tive cutting it will be possible to convert many of the low-grade hard-
wood coppice forests of the East into the more desirable high forest
largely of seedling origin.
Various modifications of selective cutting may stimulate reproduc-
tion of desirable species at the proper period in the life of the stand
and in this way maintain uninterrupted production. By reserving as
seed trees for final cutting the best trees of the most desirable species,
selective cutting should gradually improve the composition and qual-
ity of the forest.
Detailed studies of operating costs in a number of forest types in
widely scattered forest regions, including hardwoods in Michigan and
in North Carolina, short-leaf pine in Arkansas, loblolly pine in Virginia,
and Douglas fir and hemlock in Washington, have ah1 shown that the
cutting of trees below a certain size tends to reduce the average profit.
Selective cutting is shown by these studies to result in the production
of timber and logs averaging higher in value than those removed
under clear cutting, to remove a relatively large part of the value of
the stand in a minimum of volume, and to offer prospect of an early
second cut and probable perpetuation of the forest on a profitable
basis.
The results of selective logging of a 20-acre tract of northern hard-
woods near Marquette, Mich., wih1 serve as an illustration. At the
time of cutting the stand averaged 6,350 board feet per acre, with 190
trees per acre more than 3 inches in diameter. In the selective cut-
ting, which removed chiefly trees 22 inches or more in diameter, only
8 trees per acre were marked for cutting and only about 4 small trees
per acre were knocked down. The cut averaged 2,250 board feet per
acre, or 35 percent of the original stand. In addition an average of
about 8 cords per acre of chemical wood with a stumpage value of
$0.50 per cord was obtained. The cost of logging, including loading
on the cars, was only $10.50 per 1,000 board feet.
As compared with an average price of $19 per 1,000 board feet
obtained for logs in the ordinary clear-cutting operation in this
vicinity, the logs from the selectively cut area brought an average
price of $28.93 per 1,000 board feet.
1460 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The stand left contained 41 trees per acre between 12 and 22 inches
in diameter, and it is estimated that another cut of similar volume
and value will be feasible in perhaps 20 years. In that case the aver-
age annual return per acre, not including interest and other carrying
charges, will be about $2.50 per year.
Recent studies reveal very strikingly the economic advantages of
selective cutting in types where it formerly was not thought practi-
cable. It is the most practicable and effective way of converting
nongrowing mature forests immediately into stands with a realizable
net increment. In certain types where clear cutting has been in vogue,
as in the Pacific coast spruce-hemlock, in redwood, in some Douglas
fir types, in western white pine of Idaho, and in the southern pineries,
a change to some form of selective cutting would have a profound
effect in increasing regional growth. In the spruce-hemlock type of
the Pacific coast a recent study showed that selective cutting, with a
modification of logging methods, gives an average net return higher
by $1.26 per 1,000 board feet than that obtained by the conventional
clear cutting, and that when the entire property involved has been
cut over the stand left by selective cutting will be ready for another
cut. For a given volume of cut, obviously, selective cutting must
extend over a larger area than clear cutting, but it tends to transform
the stagnant old forest to growing condition more rapidly and elimi-
nates much of the uncertainty as to prompt regeneration that clear
cutting involves.
Under all conditions selective cutting adds much less to the fire
hazard, which in all regions is very intense for a few years after logging
on clear-cut areas. Careful measurement of moisture conditions and
fire hazard in several forest types has shown that even a light canopy
greatly reduces the period of extreme fire danger. In zones of especial
hazard this factor may be the most important consideration in selec-
tive cutting. The reduction of fire hazard on selectively cut areas is a
form of insurance which may well justify on its own account whatever
extra investment the process involves.
REFRAINING FROM CUTTING
The ax is the chief tool of the silviculturist for increasing forest
production, but there are cases where the most imperative forest
practice is to refrain from cutting. Forest owners, eager to reap any
possible returns from their properties, are disposed to cut young tim-
ber when it is still at the zenith of its rapid growth and before it has
reached the best of its quality production. This not only depletes
forest capital and prevents realization of the maximum periodic
increment but may result in idle land, for such young stands may not
have begun to bear much seed and so may not be capable of natural
reproduction. Owing to premature cutting of young stands there is
a dearth of large saw timber in the Eastern States. The forest area
has a growing preponderance of small trees and brush, and lacks a
normal distribution of age and size classes suitable for giving a sus-
tained yield of saw timber. When it is no longer so easy to import
saw timber of good size from the virgin timber regions of the West,
the deficiency of larger timber in the eastern forests will be keenly
felt by the eastern consumer.
In parts of the South particularly there is a growing practice of
going back on the older logged lands and cutting the infrequent small
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1461
trees that are merchantable for any purpose, thus both sacrificing
fast-growing trees and robbing logged areas of their only seed supply.
Recent studies indicate that premature cutting of small trees is
very often directly contrary to the self-interest of the lumberman-
owner. A more enlightened understanding of the financial aspects of
timberland ownership and timber growing should lead private owners
to postpone cutting which will yield a relatively small immediate
revenue for the sake of getting a much larger return later and thereby
realizing a larger interest rate on the forest capital. Too often the
urge to get quick returns outweighs the expectation of greater returns
in the future. This should not be the case with public and quasi-public
agencies, which should never cut young timber prematurely on the
lands under their control.
Another type of premature cutting is wasteful cutting of old-growth
timber in some of the western forests. Here gross overcutting has
been precipitated by timber speculation, by uncoordinated effort,
by employing poorly conceived methods of lumbering, and by the
pressure of carrying charges. It is calamitous that the Pacific coast
forests should be cut so wastefully now, to the detriment of a saturated
market, when a few decades hence the Nation will need this timber
so sorely. Wise, farsighted public policy would dictate that much of
this timber should not be cut now. How shall it be avoided? It has
been proposed that in the three Pacific Coast States there be large-
scale public acquisition of private forests, in order to help counteract
wasteful exploitation and conserve this virgin timber for the future.
This would be in a sense a measure of intensive forestry, for it would
attain by indirect means an enlarged sustained production for the
whole Nation.
FOREST PLANTING
Since intensive forestry proposes that the entire area be well
stocked with desirable species, it involves planting of denuded and
under-stocked lands. The need for planting of denuded and open
lands available for forestry is discussed in a separate section of this
report. In addition, planting is sometimes desirable as a method of
regeneration after clear cutting and of raising the quality or volume
of the production of degenerate stands. In most of the forest regions
of this country intensive forestry practice wTill depend upon natural
reproduction to keep the land productive, but this will not always be
adequate. Some areas will only partially restock and on some areas
there will be fail places. In such instances, natural regeneration
should be supplemented by planting.
In the California redwood region, for example, a region of exceed-
ingly high potential production, the sprouts from the redwood stumps
restock only about a third or a quarter of the area. If the conven-
tional clear cutting is practiced and seed trees are not left, as is now
the usual practice, the blank areas should be planted with desirable
trees. This has been done on a considerable area of private lands.
In the Douglas fir region, likewise of high potential production, plant-
ing should sometimes be used on clear-cut areas as an adjunct to
natural regeneration to get the maximum out of the land. This is
already being done on the national forests and by two private cor-
porations on their own high-quality lands.
In certain portions of the eastern hardwood types the forest has
degenerated, as a result of repeated cutting, until the better species
1462 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEEICAN FORESTRY
are largely eliminated and only a degenerate sprout forest remains.
Also some forest land bears only naturally inferior species, such as
the scrub pines, where better species might grow. In such cases, if
the potential production of the land warrants the investment, con-
version of the inferior stand to one of greater intrinsic value by plant-
ing is indicated, either through under planting or through planting
and weeding following clear cutting. On several of the State forests
on the coastal plain of southern New Jersey, supplementary planting
of this kind has been undertaken on a large scale. On perhaps half
a million acres in southern New Jersey the natural forest has degen-
erated into a poor-quality sprout growth of mixed oaks which seldom
yields more than 10 cords of wood per acre. If these stands are clear
cut after they have lost their early vigor, a satisfactory mixed forest
can be established by carefully planting 300 to 400 pines per acre in
the larger openings between the sprout groups. Short-leaf and lob-
lolly pines have proved most satisfactory for this purpose because of
their rapid early growth, which enables them to keep up with the
oak sprouts and minimizes the need of subsequent cleaning. On
these State forests the initial purchase price of the land was $3 to $4
per acre. A net return of $10 per acre was obtained from the sale
of the oak cordwood. Planting cost from $3 to $5 per acre, and
subsequent cleaning cost not more than $1 per acre. As the mixed
stands started in this way develop, the oak sprouts may be cut for
fuel to create more favorable conditions for later growth of the pine.
PROTECTION AGAINST INJURIES
The safeguarding of the forest against injurious agencies is a basic
necessity of intensive forestry. Previous sections have discussed pro-
tection against fire, insects, and disease. In some parts of the country
forests require another form of protection, namely, against the over-
grazing of livestock and more rarely of deer. The forage in a forest
is a product that should, if possible, be used; but its use must be
reconciled with timber production, and the major use not sacrificed
for the minor.
In the Central States hardwood region, for example, the tree-
shaded pasturage of farm woodlands is a useful resource, but the
grazing of stock in such woodlands is not good for timber production.
Where the heavy grazing of domestic stock is exceedingly detrimental
to forest growth and prevents adequate regeneration it should be
taboo, unless the use value of the pasturage is greater than the loss
in timber production.
In some of the western coniferous types like ponderosa pine, suc-
cessful forestry requires that grazing use be checked for a period of
years before or after cutting, or both.
In parts of Pennsylvania and in some other places, deer have be-
come so abundant that they interfere with full forest productivity by
cropping the undergrowth, coppice sprouts, and seedlings. There is
no reason why game production should be incompatible with inten-
sive forestry, but game management should be gaged to prevent undue
detriment to the forest crop.
There are other special problems of protection that must be met to
attain full productivity. For example, rabbits sometimes do serious
damage in plantations, less often in natural stands. In many parts
of the country porcupines have become so numerous and feed so
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1463
destructively on the bark of forest trees as to cause serious loss of
forest material and forest productivity. Such pests must be controlled
on areas designated for intensive forestry. Less conspicuous, but
perhaps equally serious, is the damage done by the small rodents that
feed on seeder seedlings, often materially retarding natural regenera-
tion or ruining plantations. Intensive forestry may in some cases
necessitate artificial control of these pests.
IMPROVED UTILIZATION
Under the conditions usually surrounding commercial timber oper-
ations at present, it is not possible to remove all the usable material
at a profit. Considerable portions of the felled trees are left in the
woods unutilized. Other trees containing usable material are left
standing, not as the nucleus for a future cutting, but simply because
of lack of development of economic outlets, and being a prey to fire
and wind are usually wholly wasted. Still more wood is lost to use
in the process of manufacturing. It should be the aim of intensive
forestry to counteract this waste. If the forest and individual trees
are imperfectly utilized, a larger area must be cut over to supply the
country's requirements. This waste of the forest resource is due in
some regions, notably in the Pacific Northwest, to exploiting timber
that is not " economically ripe" and to clear cutting extensive areas
containing trees of high, medium, and low value at a time when
market conditions justify cutting the high-value stumpage only. It
is estimated that a third of the volume of the Pacific Northwest timber
felled in the last 10 years has been handled at a loss. It is felt that
economic selective logging, where physically possible, will go a long
way toward avoiding the felling of trees that should not be felled and
improving the utilization of those that are felled.
More frequently inability to utilize timber resources fully at a
profit is due to failure to develop means for the manufacture or
marketing of all the products. Some sawmill operators, for example,
are concerned solely with the production of sawlogs of conifers and
ignore the possibilities of cutting poles, pulpwood, posts, firewood, or
other minor products. This is something that intensive forestry
should correct by developing a market for all products, integrating all
the wood-using industries, and then assuring that where cutting is
done utilization will be complete. Notable progress has been made
in the last decade or two, particularly in the East, the South, and the
Lake ^ States, in attaining better forest utilization through the up-
building of wood-using industries, the introduction of various pulping
processes, an increase in the efficiency of small mills, and the introduc-
tion of conversion processes for chemicals, fuels, and other by-products.
In regions of heavy forest depletion where wood-manufacturing plants
have closed down the local agricultural or urban communities have
come to use less wood, and the markets for such supplies of forest
material as do exist have been lost. This prevents good use of the
forest and its by-products. The maintenance of well-integrated
forest industries will help to restore a market for forest products that
in turn will promote intensive forestry.
A development of utilization technic, through research or otherwise,
that will find a market for all species of woods and dimensions of
lumber will make possible a closer use of the forest, the sale of thin-
168342°— 33— vol. 2 27
1464 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
nings, the avoidance of high grading the forest, etc. Too often now
the better species are cut where the inferior might do, or wide lumber
only is salable where small squares cut from the top logs or from
thinnings might answer the consumer's purposes.
DEVELOPING TRANSPORTATION
Roads of one sort or another are one of the permanent needs on
areas to be devoted to intensive forestry. The yield of a forest can-
not be realized without roads to take out the product ; thinnings and
improvement cuttings can be made if there is an outlet for the product,
but cannot be afforded otherwise. In western Europe it is considered
axiomatic that there cannot be real silviculture without roads by
which all parts of the forest may be reached by log-transporting
devices so that salvage cuttings, thinnings, and major cuttings can
be made wherever and whenever needed. The installation of a
permanent transportation system, particularly on public lands where
the stumpage is sold on bid, makes it easier in parts of stands, at least,
to sell stumpage under terms and in quantities that will promote the
best silviculture.
In many types of forests largest yields of high-quality material are
obtained by removing a relatively small number of trees per acre in
any one operation but going back over the same area at short intervals,
often not more than 10 or 15 years. Such operations are impossible
without a permanent transportation system. Likewise, with a road
system established to harvest major products cultural operations
can be made and minor products harvested profitably. In this way
it may be possible also to harvest and utilize trees which otherwise
would die or deteriorate as a result of suppression, insects, or disease,
or trees uprooted or broken by storms. A permanent road system
may make it possible also to stamp out by immediate cutting incipient
outbreaks of destructive insects or disease which otherwise could not
be controlled in any practical way.
In many sections of the Northeast existing public roads supple-
mented by old woods roads, many of wlu'ch may readily be kept open
or made passable for automobiles and trucks, make practically the
entire forest area accessible for intensive operations. Under such
circumstances intensive forestry can proceed with a minimum of
preliminary construction. On some of the State forests in Connecti-
cut considerable progress has been made in the past few years in
reconstructing and extending the system of woods roads dissecting
the area. The existence of these roads enabled the State to take
excellent advantage of unemployment-relief appropriations to further
the weeding, thinning, and improvement of many areas on which
these operations could not otherwise have been carried out.
Another example of the effect of roads in making possible intensive
forestry practice exists on the Shasta National Forest, Calif. A large
block of this forest had been cut over before its acquisition by the
Forest Service. In certain remote canyons pockets of overmature,
decadent, and insect-infested timber had been left standing. After
building several roads across the area for fire-protection purposes the
Forest Service was able to salvage the timber in these pockets, which
otherwise would have gone to waste. The returns realized from the
stumpage were sufficient to pay a large share of the purchase price of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1465
the entire area, and the stand was left in condition for much more
satisfactory growth. Without roads such an operation would have
been impossible .
The possibilities are further illustrated by Forest Service cost
studies made on the property of one of the largest lumber operators on
the Pacific coast, who is planning a system of permanent truck roads.
The studies indicate that the saw timber, which the owner intends to
harvest by a system of economic selective cutting, will liquidate the
cost of these roads, their maintenance, and the interest on the invest-
ment during the life of the saw-timber operation in addition to
bringing a profit greater than could have been realized by the usual
method of cut out and get out. The permanent roads, entirely
liquidated, wih1 then enable the operator to make, without any trans-
portation charges, thinnings and cuttings that will unquestionably
yield a greater volume of material than he could have recovered with-
out permanent roads and that will leave his growing stock in better
condition.
Whenever forest roads are built, whatever the primary purpose,
they should be constructed with a view to making the largest possible
area available for cheap exploitation and transportation of forest
products. Some forest areas, like portions of the southern pineries
and of the ponderosa pine forests, are so open that lack of secondary
roads is not serious, but in many parts of the country lack of trans-
portation in the forest zone is retarding effective utilization of mature
timber and preventing silvicultural treatment that would improve
the forest.
NEED FOR INTENSIVE FORESTRY
In the section Present and Potential Timber Resources and also
in the section The Probable Future Distribution of Forest Land
Ownership it was pointed out that in the natural course of events
intensive forestry may be expected to develop on certain areas
simultaneously with the application of extensive forestry on other
areas and with the extension of simple protection to cover adequately
all forest lands. The Federal Government, a few of the States, several
communities, and some of the more progressive public-service com-
panies and other private owners are already applying intensive meas-
ures on at least part of their properties in order to realize more com-
pletely the potential production of the land. Although the areas
under such management at present do not constitute a very impressive
total, they are scattered throughout almost all the important timber
types of the country and represent a wide variety of soils, topography,
and economic conditions. We may expect that the proportion of the
total timber-production area under intensive management will
increase considerably as the need for intensive forestry becomes more
clearly recognized.
Intensive forestry is needed to produce the better-quality materials
which are likely to be especially scarce in the future. Under pre-
vailing practices, second-growth timber is usually cut at a relatively
early age and yields very little material of high quality or large dimen-
sion's. Usually, because of its poor quality, lumber cut from second-
growth stands is for the most part useful only for ordinary rough
construction. Only a small fraction of the total goes into millwork
1466 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
or specialty products, which bring the best prices. This is perhaps
equally true of hardwoods and softwoods, although second-growth
hardwoods, because of rapid growth, are often better suited than old
growth to certain uses requiring strength.
Then there are a large number of special products the material for
which is not likely to be produced without planwise management.
Poles and piling require material of special dimensions and qualities
which are afforded by relatively few species. Clear hardwood finish
and flooring, veneers, and specialty products like insulator pins, shuttle
stock, handles, and shingles, all require material of certain qualities
or dimensions which in the future will have to be provided largely
by intensive forestry.
The conditions likely to prevail if intensive forest management is
not adopted are illustrated by many forests in the regions where
uncontrolled cutting has been in progress for the longest period.
Many of the eastern forests have deteriorated in quality owing to
repeated culling of the better species. It is a great economic loss to
have inferior hardwoods, for example, growing where valuable hard-
woods or choice conifers might be growing. In the Lake States are
great areas now occupied by weed trees like aspen that should be
converted into productive forests of good species. In spruce-hard-
wood, spruce-hemlock, and spruce-fir mixtures it is usually good
business to augment the proportion of the much more valuable
spruce. Ordinarily, intensive forestry practice will be required to
improve the composition of mixed forests; in most cases it may be
expected to pay well in the long run.
Intensive forestry practices are needed not only to produce timber
of desired species but also to produce trees of desired form and quality.
Straight, clear-boled trees free of injuries are much more valuable
than the average run of trees in unmanaged or poorly tended woods.
By proper spacing of trees through selection cutting and thinning it
is possible to grow wood of the density, or number of rings per inch,
most desirable for special uses. In certain regions the pruning of
trees to make clear logs, judicious thinning to favor the best-formed
trees, and to give ideal spacing, interplanting of gaps or underplanting
with desired species, and special measures to minimize deformities
caused by insects would all help to raise the quality of the product.
Only by managing the forests on relatively long rotation as well as
by applying these cultural measures in young stands can timber of
high quality be produced. Selective cutting planned to carry a cer-
tain number of trees per acre to large size will perhaps facilitate the
production of high-quality material as much as any other measure.
In any event, not much high-quality material can be expected without
forest management going considerably beyond the practices which aim
only to insure maintaining production in sufficient quantity for com-
mercial utilization.
As an accompaniment of intensive forestry to obtain growth in
sufficient quantity and of satisfactory quality for the Nation's needs,
it will be necessary to build up the growing stocks of forests in the
eastern regions to at least two and one half times their present
volume. The supply of virgin timber in the West will serve to bridge
the gap, at least in part, for the immediate future, but continued un-
controlled liquidation in the West may, within a few decades, endanger
the ultimate productive capacity there also. An adequate growing
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1467
stock is the first essential in maintaining an annual cut commensurate
with indicated requirements. Depletion of growing stocks tends to
divert cutting into stands of smaller and smaller timber, with an
accompanying deterioration of the composition of the stands and a
lowering of the quality of the product. Under this process the
productive capacity of the land is largely wasted in the growth of
brush, which precludes full use of the land by valuable species, or of
small stems which die out before reaching merchantable size. The
volume of wood which a given area is capable of producing each year
will be much more valuable if concentrated in large measure on stems
of saw- timber size than if diffused on young growth or brush. Inten-
sive forestry accomplishes this by eliminating the less valuable trees
early in the development of the stands and by maintaining a sufficient
growing stock to convert a large portion of the potential annual growth
directly into usable material of large size and high quality. Adequate
growing stock is one of the main objectives of intensive forestry, and
without it anything approaching full realization of the growing capa-
cities of the land cannot be attained.
OBJECTIVES FOR INTENSIVE FORESTRY
From the public standpoint the objective of intensive forestry will,
of course, be primarily to meet the needs outlined in the preceding
paragraphs. In brief, intensive forestry will aim by systematic
management, selective cutting or its equivalent, cultural measures,
and adequate protection to build up and maintain the growing stocks
in order to produce timber in sufficient quantity and of required
quality to meet the prospective national needs.
From the viewpoint of private owners the objective for intensive
forestry will be to increase and stabilize the income which may be
derived from forest properties. Practices which make fullest use of
the productive capacity of the land within the limitations of local
economic conditions and under which the growth takes place in
timber of large size and high quality will generally prove the most
profitable. The possibilities for intensive forestry by private owners
are discussed more fully in the section Status and Opportunities of
Private Forestry.
In the section Present and Potential Timber Resources it has been
estimated that normal domestic timber requirements for the future
may be expected to total about 16.5 billion cubic feet per year, which
is almost the same as the total annual drain on the forests for the
period 1925-29. In addition it was stated that a margin of safety of
at least 1 billion cubic feet should be provided in order to take care
of catastrophies which might cut down future production. It is
quite probable that a satisfactory export market will be available for
a considerable production in excess of these requirements.
In the section referred to, present annual growth on the entire
432 million acres now in commercial timber production was estimated
as a little less than 9 billion cubic feet. But since it has been sug-
gested in other sections, as summarized in the section The Area which
Can and Should be Used for Forestry, that 41 million acres involved
in that estimate may be either cleared or reserved for other uses, it
appears that the present current growth on lands available for future
timber production may be only about 8 billion cubic feet. In that
1468
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
case almost 10 billion cubic feet of additional annual growth must be
provided to meet the estimated national needs.
Part of this additional growth would come from the reforestation of
lands now idle and nonproductive; part would result from more
efficient protection of the forests from fire, insects, and disease, and
the extension of such protection to all forest lands ; part would result
from the stopping of forest devastation; and part would be attained
by the practice of intensive forestry throughout the country on a
large scale.
In the discussion of the ultimate achievement of the program to
put all available forest lands to productive use, in the section The
Area Which Can and Should be Used for Forestry, it was estimated
that a reasonable balance in forest management would involve
intensive forestry on perhaps 100 million acres. Such an area would
probably produce about 6% billion cubic feet of timber per year.
Under the plan outlined in that section for simply meeting the indi-
cated national timber requirements, intensive forestry might be
needed on only 70 million acres. If the latter program is to be
achieved by the end of the present century, the area under intensive
forestry must be extended by about 1 million acres per year. This
may be considered the minimum objective. To achieve the program
suggested for complete land utilization in the same period of time
would require extending the area under intensive forestry by about
1H million acres per year. On the basis of opportunity and need, the
total area suggested for intensive forestry under each of the two
programs may be distributed by regions as follows :
Plan for
Plan for
Plan for
meeting
Plan for
meeting
Begion
complete
land uti-
estimated
timber
Region
complete
land uti-
estimated
timber
lization
require-
lization
require-
ments
ments
Million
Million
Million
Million
acres
acres
acres
acres
New England
7
5
Pacific - --- -
8
7
Middle Atlantic
g
6
North Rocky Mountain
1
.5
Lake
20
11
South Rocky Mountain
1
.5
15
10
South
40
30
Total
100
70
The possible means by which the needed area may be brought
under intensive forest management are, in a broad way, as follows:
(a) Extension of intensive practice on existing public forests.
(b) Acquisition by the public of private lands which in private
ownership are not fully productive but which may be made so if
brought under public control.
(c) Demonstration on experimental areas of the economic possi-
bilities of intensive forestry, and education of forest-land owners to an
appreciation of these possibilities.
(d) Continuation of study and stimulation of action directed
toward the removal of handicaps to forest management, such as
inequitable methods of taxation and lack of commercial insurance,
in order to place forestry on the same plane as other business enter-
prises.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1469
(e) Assistance to private owners, such as public cooperation in
fire prevention and in the establishment of credit agencies, so that
timber growing will be made more attractive to private capital.
(/) Public regulation of private land-management as to timber
cutting, grazing, and control of insects, disease, and fire.
Public action and leadership along the lines suggested should result
in an early and rapid change of attitude on the part of private timber-
land owners, which in the long run should result in widespread adop-
tion of intensive forestry measures on private lands. The necessity
for public regulation, and the stringency of regulation if it is resorted
to, will depend largely on the success of the other measures listed
above.
SELECTION OF AREAS FOR INTENSIVE FORESTRY
It should be a fundamental guiding principle in the formulation of
a forestry program for the country that it is better business practice
to concentrate effort on a restricted area and get eminently satis-
factory results than to diffuse the same effort over a large area and get
proportionately less satisfactory results. This is due to the fact that
many of the costs of forestry, such as those of administration, protec-
tion, and road building, either are largely independent of the pro-
ductivity of the land or are higher on the poorer, rougher, and rockier
areas than in the more favorable situations. It is more profitable to
concentrate activity first where yields per acre will be relatively high
and operating costs relatively low.
The Wisconsin Committee on Land Use and Forestry, for example,
recognizes the impracticability of attempting to put all the forest
lands of the State under intensive management at once and instead
proposes to concentrate first on possibly 2 or 3 million acres and
develop them as highly productive forest properties. The remaining
area contains a large acreage of poor land, which the committee recom-
mends 1 should "be policed; protected from fire; kept free as possible
from settlement in order to obviate the building of highways, organized
school districts, and other local improvements."
This committee, in distinguishing between areas that should have
intensive forest management now and those that merit only protec-
tion from fire for the present, recommends for Wisconsin that public
agencies ''coordinate their efforts and concentrate on selected areas,
and thus be able to achieve tangible, concrete results in a short time.
* * * As time goes on and economic conditions justify, the same
intensive practice may be extended to other areas within the State.
Six or seven million acres of intensively managed forests are worth
more than 16 million acres of poorly protected, wild, cut-over lands."
Granting that intensive forestry effort should be concentrated rather
than diffused, it is desirable to direct such effort toward the regions,
forest types, and areas where it will be most effective. The problem
is complicated by the fact that there are both national and regional
or local viewpoints and that these sometimes conflict. It is impos-
sible, of course, to make a specific selection of all areas for intensive
forestry now. This will have to be worked out step by step very
1 "Forest Land Use in Wisconsin." Report of the Comm. on Land Use and Forestry, Madison,
Wis., April 1932.
1470 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
much in the manner indicated by the Wisconsin report. But there
are certain criteria which may serve to guide the selection of areas in
local and national programs :
(a) Volume production. — There is a tremendous range in the po-
tential growth in different regions and on different sites within a
region. On one piece of ground the mean annual increment may be
100 cubic feet per acre; on another, a tenth of that. Obviously, other
things being equal, it will pay to put intensive forestry effort where the
forest increment will be larger.
(6) Value production. — A thousand cubic feet of one species of wood
may be worth much more than the same quantity of another species.
An economic prognosis may indicate the kinds of woods most likely
to be in demand in the future, nationally or locally, whether hard-
woods or conifers, structural or finish lumber, or specialty woods.
Quality of product as well as species must be considered, for where
there is a definite prospect of attractive special markets for products
of certain sizes or grades an effort should be made to produce material
suitable for such markets. As an illustration, it has been estimated
that in New England favorably situated northern white pine stands if
carefully treated may yield stumpage valued at $400 or more per acre,
while in untreated stands of the same sort stumpage might not be
worth more than $150. In general, conditions will be especially
favorable for intensive forestry on those areas where it is possible to
grow the most valuable species and the most valuable types of prod-
ucts.
(c) Accessibility to market. — This bears directly upon the stumpage
value of any forest property. A forest close to a large population of"
users or near centers of wood-using industries will produce a greater
revenue and justify more intensive practice, other things being equal,
than one remote from such centers. Likewise a forest on easily
logged ground is more remunerative than one on difficult ground or
one that has a high transportation charge to reach. In regions of
scanty timber, the existence of a substantial local demand may make
possible the most intensive practice in the nearest forests even though
these be as much as 50 or 100 miles distant and of relatively low qual-
ity and productive capacity. For example, possibly the greatest
intensity of management and the closest approach to full utilization
of the growth of the land anywhere on the national forests may be
found in the artificial forests of the sand hills of Nebraska or in the
stands of small-size lodgepole pine on the Minidoka National Forest
in Idaho.
(d) Risk. — Because of differences in climatic conditions and to a
lesser extent hi the effectiveness of protection organization, forests of
various regions and of various types differ widely as to likelihood of
destruction by fire. Certain forest types and species are less subject
than others to attack by kuown insect enemies and diseases. This
will be an important consideration in making any investment for
intensive forestry. From this standpoint natural conditions such as
those which exist throughout most of Vermont and other portions of
northern New England are perhaps ideal.
These four factors — volume production, value production, acces-
sibility to market, and risk — all affect returns. On the other side of
the ledger must be set down the cost of intensive forestry measures.
Some forest types are easier and cheaper to regenerate than others.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1471
Some require weedings, or insect and disease control; others do not.
Planting costs vary greatly from region to region and from site to site.
The cost of starting a new crop after logging mature timber varies all
the way from practically nothing to perhaps $20 an acre. Some lands
stocked with immature timber require practically no care, except fire
prevention, to get full production, while others need treatments that
cost several cents an acre a year.
In framing detailed programs and policies for the inauguration of
intensive forestry practices, as Wisconsin is doing, the above factors
of returns and costs should be carefully weighed, so that effort will
be directed most effectively.
The principle of concentrating intensive forestry on areas of highest
potential production cannot be applied from a national point of view
solely ; to do so would be to neglect the needs of communities in various
sections whose welfare is intimately associated with successful manage-
ment of local forests. State forestry programs are going to be carried
out with thought of State needs. Private forestry programs are going
to vary in intensity according to the individual attitude and financial
set-up of the owner.
From many angles it would be ideal for each geographic division of
the United States to produce the timber products that it needs to
support its own domestic and industrial uses, but this is wholly im-
practicable. Some regions have not the acreage of forest land to do
so ; some regions grow one class of products (like hardwoods or extra-
large timber) that other regions cannot grow; few if any regions can
grow all the variety of products they require. There is now much
shipment of products from one region to another, and apparently
this must continue. The regions of highest potential production, or
rather those with the greatest capacity for increased production, are
not those closest to the country's major markets. The South and the
Pacific coast, for example, are perhaps better suited to timber produc-
tion than any other regions, and it will be economical for them to
continue to export wood to other regions. However, other things
being equal, it is desirable to grow forest products as close to where
they are going to be used as possible.
The first consideration in instituting forest management on a forest
property is to assure effective protection and the stopping of devasta-
tion on the whole property, and then provide the means for intensive
forestry wherever on that particular property intensive forestry gives
promise of being most profitable. Land classification, economic
studies, and silvicultural studies will show what areas are best suited
for intensive forestry, and the management plan for the property
should be drawn accordingly — preferably prescribing a program for a
tree generation.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTENSIVE FORESTRY IN CERTAIN
FOREST REGIONS
As a supplement to the generalized discussion in the preceding pages
of the principles, the necessity, and the objectives of intensive forestry,
consideration will be given in summarized form to the opportunities
for intensive practice in certain of the principal forest regions of the
country. Here as before it must be remembered that attention is
given only to those measures needed to step up volume and quality
1472 A NATIONAL PLAN FOK AMERICAN FORESTRY
production which are supplementary to the planting of barren areas
and to measures needed to stop devastation and to protect against
fire, insect enemies, and disease.
NEW ENGLAND AND MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES
In the Northeastern States from Maine to Maryland the need for
intensive forestry is very clear. The average annual consumption of
lumber is six times the local cut of lumber, and the consumption of
pulpwood exceeds the cut by more than half. Judged on the basis
of current growth the situation is even worse, since total drain on the
forests of these States is one and one half times the growth. Of the
softwoods alone the saw-timber requirements are almost six times the
saw-timber cut, the deficit now being made up largely by import
from the Pacific coast and the South. Before local forest supplies
can be greatly increased by intensive forestry, cheap Pacific-coast
lumber will probably have become less readily available. This points
to the great desirability of increasing local production in this region
against the day of need. Existing industries like coal mining and
paper manufacture are dependent upon a perpetual cheap supply of
special classes of forest products. Most of the region is accessible to
markets, and it is felt that, even if most of the forests in the region
were under intensive management, there would be little likelihood of
oversupplying local demands.
A considerable portion of the commercial forest area in this region
could advantageously be put under intensive forest management.
Because of the dense population of the region, it may be anticipated
that large areas of productive forest land suitable for such manage-
ment will be withdrawn from commercial use for recreational pur-
poses. Altogether it seems probable that from 11 to 15 million
acres, including much of the former agricultural land which is being
or may be planted, should eventually be under intensive forestry.
Perhaps half this total would be in softwood production.
In the Northeastern States the northern white pine region pre-
sents the best prospects for intensive forestry. Topography is
favorable, labor is abundant, potential markets are close at hand, and
the principal species reproduce well, make rapid growth, and are
easily managed.
In the white pine forests intensive measures wiU include releasing
young pine from competition of gray birch and other species of little
or no value, judicious thinning to maintain rapid rate of growth,
selective pruning of the most promising trees, special salvaging
operations in stands which have been heavily infested with the white-
pine weevil, selective cutting of the mature timber whenever natural
reproduction can be depended upon, and clear cutting and planting
when it cannot.
The loblolly pine forests of Maryland present a situation similar
in many ways to that in the northern white pine belt, and here
intensive measures will follow the same lines.
Second only to these pine forests in prospects for intensive forestry
is the oak-chestnut-yellow poplar type. The need for intensive
treatment is emphasized by the serious depletion and deterioration
of the growing stock at present, but this condition makes intensive
management more difficult of application because of the scarcity of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1473
marketable material other than fuel wood. Weeding operations to
favor the more valuable species in young stands will perhaps yield
greater returns than any other cultural operation in this region. In
stands of cordwood size improvement cuttings to stimulate the growth
of the better trees and utilize the defective are needed over large
areas. Selective cutting of mature stands, aiming to carry a gradually
decreasing number of the best trees to large size, will almost univer-
sally prove desirable practice.
In the second-growth forests of northern hardwoods in the North-
east intensive measures similar to those outlined for the oak-chestnut-
yellow poplar type are in order.
The large pulp and paper industries of the Northeast offer a ready
market for softwoods and to a lesser extent for poplar and aspen in
the spruce-fir-northern hardwoods region. These industries are now
importing more raw material than they are obtaining from the local
forests. Intensive production on the more accessible areas close to
the mills should, therefore, prove highly desirable. To meet the
needs for pulp wood the major effort should be to maintain or increase
the proportion of softwoods in the mixed stands. Over much of
this region no market exists for hardwoods, and in old-growth stands
the hardwoods are found to be exceedingly defective, especially on
areas from which the softwoods have been culled. Intensive treat-
ment of these stands would include selective girdling of worthless
hardwoods several years in advance of removal of softwoods, another
girdling of hardwoods after the cutting of softwoods, and weeding of
young stands to favor spruce and fir on clear-cut areas 5 to 7 years
after cutting. Early and frequent light cuttings after the trees begin
to reach merchantable size are desirable in order to utilize the balsam
fir before heart rot sets in and to stimulate the growth of the residual
stand.
The success of the measures suggested above is strikingly demon-
strated on such areas as the Bates College Forest in Maine, the Yale
Forest in New Hampshire, the Harvard Forest in Massachusetts,
and the Eh' Whitney Forest in Connecticut. The Harvard Forest
of 2,100 acres of mixed pine, hemlock, and hardwoods in the 23 years
during which it has been under management has had an increase of
growing stock from an average of about 4,750 board feet per acre to
5,700 board feet. Yet in this period there has been cut an average
of about 103 board feet per acre per year, which totals 2,380 board
feet for every acre on the forest or one half the total stand when
management was established. The annual growth per acre per year,
estimated at about 120 board feet (17.1 cubic feet) in 1908, has
increased to about 190 board feet (28.6 cubic feet). Annual growth
is still far below the ultimate productive capacity of the forest,
owing in part to the fact that none of the open lands which have had
to be planted has begun to yield merchantable timber. Gross reve-
nue has ranged from $4.76 to $7.15 per acre per year and net income
from $0.50 to $1 per acre per year until the present depression. A
permanent crew of five men has been employed, and twice that
number has been used each year for part-time work.2
Similarly the stand on the Yale Forest, which is very largely
northern white pine, increased from 2,370 board feet per acre to
2 Fisher, R. T. The Harvard Forest as a Demonstration Tract. Quarterly Journal of Forestry 25:130-
139. 1931.
1474 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMEKICAN FORESTRY
about 5,800 board feet in the 10-year period 1921-30, although on
the average 81 board feet of sawlogs and 0.2 cord of fuelwood per
acre was cut each year during this period. The average annual
growth was about 75 cubic feet per acre.
On the Bates Forest of about 11,300 acres the growing stock,
chiefly northern white pine, has been built up during the first 10
years of intensive management from an average of only 1,020 board
feet per acre to 2,450 board feet. During this decade the annual
cut has averaged about 646,000 board feet of logs and almost 1,200
cords of fuel wood, bringing a cash return of about $1 per acre per
year.
Of the many specific examples of the application of intensive
forestry that might be cited from all parts of the region, a few are as
follows :
In 1877 a Connecticut farmer purchased a 26-acre tract covered
with a young stand of hardwoods, mostly oak, which presumably had
followed a clear cutting about 1850.^ At the time of purchase none
of the trees were large enough for ties. Since that time the owner
has obtained from this tract all the fuel wood used on the farm and
also timber and lumber for repairing farm buildings and for rebuilding
the barn. Besides more than 400 cords of fuel wood and some small
orders for piling, more than 50,000 board feet of lumber has been cut
from the tract. Yet the present stand totals more than 11,000 board
feet per acre of sawlogs, with perhaps 10 cords per acre of fuel wood
available in the tops and limbs.
The tract now contains one of the finest stands of hardwoods in
Connecticut, the larger trees ranging from 18 to 30 inches in diameter.
Cutting has always been on a selective basis, removing as logs only
trees which had gained sufficient size to yield a good-quality product
and taking cordwpod from windfalls, defective trees, and tops of
sawlog trees. It is evident not only that this tract has been an
asset of real value, but that its contribution to the needs of the owner
has been made from year to year without any lowering of its prospec-
tive yield.
On a State forest in New Jersey 26 acres of dense, thrifty white
cedar stands, 30 to 45 years old, were thinned during a period of 3
years. All the suppressed, intermediate, and codominant trees were
taken out; only sufficient trees to form a full stand at maturity were
left. The products sold for $337 per acre, bringing a net profit of
$37 per acre. At the time of cutting the value of the remaining
standing timber was approximately equal to the gross value of the
products removed. The trees removed would naturally have died
before the stand matured, and the trees left are stimulated to more
rapid growth which will probably shorten the economic rotation
period.
Another example of profitable silviculture is taken from loblolly
pine in Maryland. On an area of several acres of thrifty 14-year-old
loblolly pine containing on the average acre 1,810 trees 2 inches or
more in diameter, 70 percent of the intermediates and a few dominant
trees, averaging in all 792 trees per acre, were cut in a thinning.
Eleven standard cords of wood were obtained, and 15.5 cords were
left standing. The 11 cords were sold at $5.50 per cord or $60.50
per acre. A net profit of $1 .05 per cord or $1 1 .55 per acre was realized.
An average of 1,057 trees per acre were left standing, more than taree
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1475
times as many as natural stands contain at an age of 35-40 years,
which will permit sawtimber operation.
LAKE STATES
In the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota there are
more than 55 million acres of commercial forest land, but of this only
2,664,000 acres is occupied by old-growth saw timber. The remainder
is cut-over land — cordwood stands, restocking and nonrestocking, and
farm woodlands. The present yield from this grest forest acreage is
very small, but has potentialities of being greatly increased.
It appears that in this region of badly devastated and deteriorated
lands with fair potential productivity and with easy access to the
great markets of the Middle West, the expansion of intensive forestry
will be largely through public acquisition and management. The
best lands are most likely to be used for intensive forestry. For the
present, management of these areas will consist largely of planting
and of controlling fires, insects, and disease. The great areas of low-
grade poplar and fire cherry offer a most fruitful field for intensive
forestry through converting them into more valuable pine woods.
Where inferior oaks are keeping out better species, cultural cutting
is needed at intervals. On the hardwood lands with a variety of
species of different intrinsic value, cuttings are needed to let the
better species through to the canopy. On spruce lands an effort
to increase a market for Christmas trees would make thinnings
economically profitable and these would stimulate growth on the
remaining trees.
As has been stated earlier, Wisconsin's Committee on Land Use
and Forestry has recommended a very specific policy of concentrat-
ing its initial forestry effort, other than widespread fire protection,
on the most favorably situated 2 or 3 million acres. The two other
States would do well to allocate a like area for intensive forestry.
Reforestation of the huge area of devasted forest land in this region
is already under way. Most areas brought into production in this way
will probably be given intensive treatment. Eventually it seems
likely that at least 1 1 and perhaps 20 million acres in this region will
be under intensive forestry.
CENTRAL STATES
In the Central States, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and (in part) Arkansas, less than
5 percent of the present forest area is under any form of forest man-
agement and little of this is intensively managed. It is estimated
that in the next few decades some 6 to 7 million acres of the area
which should be acquired for public forests may be put under intensive
management. In addition there may be some 4 million acres of farm
woods that could be placed under intensive forestry, but to do this
would require an aggressive educational campaign.
On the Ozark Plateau of Missouri and Arkansas are some large
timberland holdings a million or so acres of which may be economically
ready for intensive forestry under private ownership within the next
two decades. Fire protection is the essential first step. In Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee are timberlands of coal
and other companies where markets are at hand and the physical
1476 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
conditions are favorable for profitable timber production; perhaps a
million acres in this category ought to be under intensive forest
management. The relatively large area of abandoned farm land and
denuded forest land in need of planting in this region will eventually
contribute materially to the total area under intensive forestry. Al-
together, intensive forestry may perhaps be extended to 10 or 15
million acres in this region.
In the hill forests of the region cuttings should be made to release
the high-value species black walnut, black cherry, ash, and yellow
poplar so that they will be more abundant in the next crop and grow
to large size; white oak, red oak, and hickory are other valuable
species that should be encouraged in these forests.
An excellent opportunity for intensive forestry is offered by the
farm woods of this region, which may be considerably augmented
by tree planting, already begun on a small scale. Most woodlands
lack adequate growing stock and require an increase in the number
trees per acre. This increase can be obtained only by eliminating
pasturing in the woods, which may be expected to lead to successful
natural reproduction. If natural seeding fails, planting will be
necessary. It is essential to the rehabilitation of these woods that
cutting be postponed until the woods are better stocked.
Striking illustrations can be cited of the incomes which can be
derived from well-stocked woods intelligently cut on a selection sys-
tem. The Mennonites of northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio,
coming to this country from Switzerland with a background of famil-
iarity with forestry practices, have consistently practiced conservative
selective cutting on their woodlands. One of these Mennonites has
received in cash over a 13-year period a total of $10,457.73 for the
products cut from 75 acres of woodland. This represents a gross
return of $10.73 per acre per year. Since no outside labor was em-
ployed and the work was done at times when the man and teams
would otherwise have been idle, the returns per acre compare very
favorably with the gross return of less than $19 per acre for all
cereals grown in Indiana in 1929. In addition to the products sold,
this farmer has obtained without cost the fuel, fence posts, and
lumber needed on his own farm. Meanwhile the woodland remains
in excellent condition. At present the tract is at least 90 percent
stocked.
SOUTH
In the Appalachian, South Atlantic, Gulf, and Lower Mississippi
States are several primary forest types which are favorable for
intensive forestry, namely the longleaf-slash pine type, the shortleaf
loblolly-hardwood type, the bottomland hardwood type, the oak-
chestnut-yellow poplar type, and the oak-pine type. The first
three are particularly favorable; they have high potential yields and
are accessible to market, and full production can be realized at a
reasonable expenditure. Present practices in general are far from
satisfactory, and the opportunities are wide open for stepping up
production. It appears that much of the increased production
necessary to balance the Nation's timber budget might be attained
the adoption of intensive practices on the best land in this region.
It is estimated that between 18 and 19 million acres of the longleaf-
slash, shortleaf -loblolly -hardwood, and bottomland hardwood types
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1477
alone should be put under intensive forestry in the next 20 years.
Perhaps nearly 14 million additional acres in the oak-pine and oak-
chestnut-yellow poplar types should be so managed. In this region,
also, planting of denuded and abandoned land is likely to augment
greatly the total area to be put under intensive forestry. The total
may thus reach 40 million acres. This would be about 20 percent of
the commercial forest area in the territory, which embraces parts or
all of the following States: The Virginias, the Carolinas, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and
Oklahoma.
The land has such high potential production and is economically so
well situated that much of it is suitable for intensive forest manage-
ment under private ownership; but little of it is now so managed.
In the longleaf -slash pine type, the usual object of management
will be the dual production of naval stores on a continuous basis and
wood products to be harvested in intermediate and final cuttings.
To attain normal stocking of each property for sustained yield it
may be necessary to enlarge the tract by acquisition, to plant the
nonforested portion, merely to make well-timed cuttings, or to
combine these practices. The operations will consist of (1) thinning
overstocked stands, whether planted or natural, getting as much
turpentine as possible from the trees to be cut in the years just prior to
removal, (2) turpentining the remaining stand by conservative
methods, (3) protecting against fire and hogs, and (4) harvesting the
worked-out trees and restocking the land either naturally or by
planting. Prevention of uncontrolled fire is essential to full pro-
duction. Such forestry on the better sites is expected to yield a net
annual revenue of $3 to $5 an acre.
In this type thinning has three objects: First, production of high-
quality wood for structural and other purposes; second, promotion
of the maximum quantity growth of desired forest products; and
third, production of naval stores. On many areas all purposes will
be attained. Wliere wood quality is principally desired, the effort
will be to obtain dense wood, or wood with a relatively uniform
number of rings per inch, on trees of good form and height. Where
naval stores production is the main object good management will
dictate wide spacing to obtain rapid diameter growth and wide crowns,
as such trees have a high gum yield. This latter plan is being followed
to some extent on the Osceola National Forest, Fla.
In localities where hardwoods grow in mixture with the pines, it
will be desirable to control the hardwoods so as to encourage a larger
proportion of pine.
Although slash pine can and does become established on longleaf
sites, it is not yet known whether it will persist through a rotation.
In order to insure a permanent forest on such sites it may be best to
encourage the longleaf in its early years. This may possibly mean the
use of carefully controlled fires and the exclusion of hogs.
In the shortleaf-loblolly-hardwood type the management procedure,
in addition to prevention of fire, will be (1) thinning and improve-
ment cuttings to remove wolf hardwoods and break up overcrowded
groups of small trees, and (2) selective cuttings at intervals of about
10 years, removing pine and oak down to a diameter limit of about
17 inches. Regeneration in the openings made in the overstory by
the periodic cuttings should be effected by natural means, without
1478 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
resort to planting. A considerable proportion of the commercial
timberland of this type is on farms where intensive forestry is en-
couraged by accessibility of markets, prevalence of good sites, and
ease of management.
As the pines are usually more valuable than the hardwoods with
which they are generally found, encouragement will be given the pines
in the early stages in stands where their growth and development are
unduly hindered by ^ the hardwoods. This may take the form of
pasturage or of weeding operations to liberate the pines and to pre-
vent whipping of the tops. Some thinnings will be needed in loblolly
stands to encourage rapid diameter and height growth.
In the piedmont country from Virginia to Alabama the prevailing
type is the somewhat less productive oak-pine type, the greater part
of which is included in farms. As a consequence of unregulated
cutting and repeated fires, low-grade oaks have largely monopolized
the ground at the expense of the more valuable shortleaf and loblolly
pine. Pine reproduction can be encouraged through weeding prac-
tices which will stimulate the pine and enable it to keep ahead of the
oak sprouts. As the southern pine beetle often damages the short-
leaf pine in this type, it is desirable to maintain good growth on the
pine by occasional light thinnings. This is especially desirable for
the reason that often the shortleaf, if once suppressed, does not again
rapidly build up its crown, tending to develop "watersprouts."
Trees attacked by the beetle should be removed from the stand.
B In those parts of the Tennessee Valley where a limestone forma-
tion is prevalent, the valuable red cedar should be encouraged. This
can be done by heavily thinning the intermixed pines or oaks so as
to give the cedar sufficient room for rapid growth.
With active extension ^ and educational work much of this type
might be brought under intensive forestry, because it is very acces-
sible, local markets exist for its products, and it can be managed as a
part of farm procedure. Intensive forest care is doubly necessary
here because of serious erosion on cleared lands, some of which have
become sparsely restocked.
The bottom-land hardwood type presents a difficult management
problem. The many inferior species contained in the mixture are
usually left in logging operations, with the result that they supplant
the more valuable species in the next stand; these weed species and
brush often choke back the desirable species. Weedings will there-
fore be necessary to encourage the desirable species and permit them
to form a full stand. Vines, which climb through the tops of very
young trees and cause them to break or to become deformed, should
be controlled. Desirable conifers such as cypress and cedar may be
encouraged through heavy thinnings. Where fires occur in the bot-
tom land it will be necessary to remove the damaged stems, which are
likely to be rendered unmerchantable by rot, in order to free the
ground for new growth.
Other measures called for, in addition to fire prevention, are (1)
avoiding concentrated grazing; (2) removing culls, unmerchantable
species, etc., as part of the main cut; and (3) on areas where it is yet
possible, making a selective cut every 10 to 20 years to harvest the
merchantable trees, mainly those 24 inches or more in diameter, and
pole-size trees that for silvicultural reasons should be removed. In
the harvesting operation it is desirable to effect a balanced utilization
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1479
of all species of trees and classes of products, instead of culling the
forest for a certain product only.
In the oak-chestnut-yellow poplar type of the Appalachian
Mountain country intensive forestry under private ownership seems
less practicable than in the types mentioned above, because of rough
topography, slow growth, and scattered distribution of the good sites.
However, over the limited range of soils where yellow poplar occurs
the stands including this species are of outstanding productive capac-
ity and value. Perpetuation of the furniture industry, which de-
pends on this type for much raw material, is another incentive for
practicing intensive forestry. But a much-expanded policy of public
acquisition seems to be prerequisite to the practice of intensive
forestry on any great area in this type. This is perhaps less true in
West Virginia, where extensive forest stands containing much black
cherry and a large area of farm woods may lend themselves to inten-
sive management. In this type as elsewhere, the areas allocated for
intensive forestry should be selected on the basis of good stocking,
good site, and accessibility.
NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS
In the northern Rocky Mountains, particularly in the western
larch- western white pine types, the immediate great problem is to
stop devastation. In northern Idaho and Montana there is less than
8 million acres of private forest land to more than 22 million acres of
national forest; but the private land is made up almost entirely of
valleys, benches, and foothills with moderate slopes and good soil,
while the national forest lands lie higher on the mountains, on steeper
and less productive sites. On both classes of land extensive forestry
methods are usually the most that can be put into practice, although
the Forest Service has invested from $20 to $50 an acre on some areas
in disposing of overmature hemlock, cedar, and white fir to build up
the productivity of the site.
In northern Idaho, the average acre of private commercial timber
is now about five times as valuable as the average acre of national-forest
timber in the commercial timber zone. This may be taken as in
some degree an index of the relative value of land in the two ownership
classes for intensive forestry. Intensification of forest practice in this
region should apparently be directed principally to the most pro-
ductive lands, which at the present moment are mostly in private
ownership although they are rapidly being abandoned as they are
cut over. Except for one outstanding instance, intensive forestry
has made no beginning under private control; public leadership is
apparently necessary.
SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS
The ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and spruce-fir forests of
Rocky Mountains and adjoining plateaus are not highly productive,
in general, nor are they very asccessible to national markets. Their
greatest value is in satisfying local timber needs, furnishing a reserve
for possible future national needs, and, what is perhaps equally
important, serving various noncommodity uses such as recreation,
168342°— 33— vol. 2 28
1480 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
grazing, or watershed protection. A large part of the forest acreage is
in public ownership and under sustained yield management, but
little intensive forestry is possible.
Where there is a ready market in farming communities, as in the
ponderosa pine forests of the Black Hills of South Dakota, the planted
forests of the sand hills of Nebraska, or the lodgepole pine forest in
several localities in the Intermountain Region, notably in the Mini-
doka National Forest in southern Idaho, silvicultural practices are
gauged to give intensive utilization and high productivity for the sites
involved. In a few localities it has been possible to cut Christmas
trees as a thinning operation.
PACIFIC COAST
In California the redwood type offers excellent opportunity for
intensive forestry. Most of this type is in private ownership, is
highly productive, and in any State program for increasing forest
productivity merits early attention. Recent studies have indicated
that selective logging can be practiced here both with profit to the
owner and with assured prospects of continued productivity. If
clear cutting is practiced provision must be made either for leaving
adequate redwood seed trees or for planting up the vacant spaces
between the sprouting redwood stumps. Without either of these
measures, only a fraction of the potential yield will be realized.
Before the depression a beginning was made by some operators in
interplanting clear-cut areas with redwood.
In this region also there is great need for improving utilization,
through the integration of industries and the manufacture of by-
products, in order that the present great waste in lumbering may be
avoided. Thinning of redwood sprouts and pole stands, and far
better fire control, must also be part of the program.
In the sugar pine-ponderosa pine type the bulk of the commercial
timber area is on national forests. It is being cut on a small scale in
such a way as to assure continuous, though certainly not maximum,
production. Integration of industries and availability of markers
are not such as to permit complete utilization. The ravages of
insects and fire are not adequately controlled. Much ground is
occupied by low-grade or worthless white fir trees, which ought to
make room for trees of better species. The opportunity for intensive
forestry is obvious. On private land the great need is to stop de-
vastation. This can be done by logging selectively and by taking
more care to spare the advance reproduction. More intensive for-
estry is most likely to come about through increased public ownership.
An interesting example of intensive forestry practice may be
observed on the Eldorado National Forest, Calif. Here dense
20- to 60-year-old thickets of white fir and California red fir were
thinned for Christmas trees on areas accessible to roads. The opera-
tion netted a material profit and the forest was left in a much better
condition for rapid growth.
The Douglas-fir type of western Washington and western Oregon
offers excellent opportunity for intensive forestry, because the pro-
ductivity of the better lands is high and can be maintained at not
unreasonable cost. Here as elsewhere in the West, private timber
averages better in quality than national forest timber and therefore
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1481
offers better prospects of profitable returns. The first great need in
this region is to stop devastation on private lands by greatly improved
protection against fire and by provision for regeneration through
selective cutting and otherwise. Where the timber has not already
been injured by destructive logging, it might be profitably handled by
group selection cuttings instead of the system of clear cutting which
is practiced on most existing operations. Still more intensive prac-
tice might be applied to areas accessible to pulp mills and farms.
Here the small hemlock, spruce, and true fir may be thinned for
pulpwpod and the small cedars may be used for fence posts. Such
intensive forestry practice requires a more flexible system of trans-
portation than the usual expensive logging railroads, and is predi-
cated on cheap permanent truck and tractor roads.
In the ponderosa-pine type and associated types of eastern Cali-
fornia, Oregon, and Washington, as in the southern Rocky Mountain
region, most of the area is in public ownership and is now receiving
good management, although not much of it is under intensive forestry.
Prevention of devastation, through selective cutting, wise slash dis-
posal, and prevention of fire and insect epidemics, will assure reason-
ably good productivity. In contrast with conditions in the more
productive and accessible regions, economic conditions in this type
will probably not justify much intensive forestry for several decades.
SUMMARY
This section deals with the intensive management of forests for
timber production. It discusses the various factors which constitute
intensive forestry, without considering special adaptations of these
practices or other measures which may be involved in intensive
management of lands primarily of value for watershed protection,
grazing, or recreational use. Intensive timber management aims to
realize the nearest practical approach to the maximum productivity
of the land and to produce material of large size or high quality.
Intensive forestry is perhaps primarily distinguished by the use of
cultural measures such as weeding, girdling, thinning, and pruning to
control the composition, increase the quantity, and improve the
quality of forest growth. In the restoration of deteriorated forests
and the most advantageous handling of mature forests, in several
regions selective cutting is an important element of intensive forestry.
" Selective cutting" applies to a variety of cutting practices, referring
in some cases to the removal of only those portions of the stand which
can be handled most profitably, in other cases to the removal of only
those kinds or sizes of trees which yield a maximum profit, and in
still other cases to the removal of defective or deformed trees or the
least desirable species in order to permit the more desirable elements
in the stand to grow to larger size and produce material of higher
value.
Refraining from cutting young stands until the trees have reached
a size to yield maximum profit, and refraining from cutting mature
stands under economic conditions which do not permit effective utili-
zation, also constitute an element of intensive forestry. This is
especially important in that realization of the ultimate productive
capacity of the land requires that an adequate growing stock of usable
timber be maintained in each forest.
1482 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Forest planting is an important element of intensive forestry, since
it is often needed to restore denuded lands or abandoned agricultural
lands to timber production. As an adjunct to various methods of
cutting, forest planting may be desirable also for the purpose of main-
taining complete stocking or modifying the composition of existing
forests.
Intensive forestry presupposes an adequate system of protecting
the forest from fire, insects, and disease. It must include protection
from injuries which may result from overgrazing by livestock or from
activities of deer, rabbits, porcupines, mice,etc.
Intensive forestry involves reasonably complete utilization of the
forest growth. Waste may be avoided in some forest types by selec-
tive logging, in others by intensive marketing methods and by in-
tegration of wood-using industries. Research in utilization technique
and in marketing practices should be of great assitance in reducing
waste.
Finally, intensive forestry requires the development of a perma-
nent system of roads serving all parts of the forest. Cultural opera-
tions, selective cutting, adequate protection, and close utilization are
largely dependent upon the existence of an adequate transportation
system. A suitable plan for permanent road development may com-
pletely change the financial aspects of logging and forest management.
Intensive forestry is shown to be needed for the production of the
high-quality material required for special uses and also as a means
of building up growing stocks, especially in the forests of the East,
so that the timber growth may be sufficient in quantity to meet the
probable future demands of the Nation.
Intensive forestry is of interest to the public largely as a means of
meeting the national forest-products requirements in respect both to
quantity and to quality. Private owners will undertake intensive
forestry as a means of increasing and stabilizing the income from their
forest properties.
It is estimated that the area under intensive forestry should be
expanded at a rate of about 1 or IK million acres per year until a
total of from 70 to 100 million acres is so managed. This should
represent a reasonable balance among different types of forest
management.
The areas placed under intensive forestry should as far as possible
be concentrated in units favorably situated as to growing conditions
and as to markets. The best areas available should be handled first,
as they will yield the highest return on the investment involved. The
possibilities for volume production and value production, accessi-
bility of markets, the cost of the required measures, and the risk of
damage by fire, insects, and disease will largely govern the selection
of areas. The selection of areas for intensive forestry must be con-
sidered from a local and regional as well as a national viewpoint in
order that the social and economic benefits of permanent wood-using
industries may be well distributed.
Conditions, with respect to the possibilities for intensive forestry
are discussed for seven different forest regions. The New England
and Middle Atlantic States are shown to be favorable for intensive
forestry because of density of population and concentration of mar-
kets. In the Lake States the need for intensive forestry is great
because of the large areas of devastated land and low-grade forest,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1483
The situation in the Central States invites the application of intensive
forestry because of the large area of abandoned farm land, denuded
forest land, and woodland seriously deteriorated by overgrazing, and
the favorable conditions for the growing of valuable hardwoods. The
South presents a wonderful opportunity for intensive forestry because
of the large area of land available, the character of the forest, and the
unexcelled growing conditions. Through intensive forestry the
South may continue to supply a very large portion of the Nation's
timber requirements.
West of the Great Plains the opportunities for intensive forestry
are not so general as in most of the eastern territory. In the Douglas
fir and redwood regions of the Pacific coast and to a lesser extent in
the ponderosa pine and western white pine regions, considerable
areas present conditions favorable for intensive forestry. But in
most of the other forest types of the West poor quality of timber,
poor growing conditions, rough topography, and inaccessibility of
markets preclude the application of intensive forestry for timber
production on any large scale. Intensive management may, however,
be justified for watershed protection, grazing, or recreational use on
some of these less favored western forests.
To bring about the application of intensive forestry on the scale
indicated as necessary in the national forestry program will require
public action in a number of ways. Public acquisition of forest land
and demonstration of desirable practice will be important elements in
this. Public aid and encouragement to private owners to place
intensive forestry on the same plane with other industries will play
an important part, also. The success of the various public measures
in stimulating intensive forest management on private lands through-
out the country will indicate, at least to some degree, whether or not
public regulation of private operations is needed.
REFORESTATION OF BARREN AND UNPRODUCTIVE LAND
By PERKINS COVILLE, Associate Silviculturist, and LYLE F. WATTS, Director,
Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station
CONTENTS
Page
The extent of the problem — the barren and unproductive area 1485
Factors affecting the application of reforestation 1487
Natural reforestation 1487
Why planting should be done 1488
Troublesome features to be overcome in planting 1493
Accomplishments in forest planting 1496
The reforestation program 1498
The initial step — a 20-year program 1500
The division of responsibility 1506
THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM— THE BARREN AND,
UNPRODUCTIVE AREA
In the United States today, as the result of logging, forest fires
and the unwise selection and improper use of agricultural land, there
are at least 135 million acres not long ago fertile and productive that
are now denuded and unproductive. The idleness of this great
acreage is not, however, its worst feature. Far more harmful in
terms of public welfare is the capacity inherent in such lands for rapid
deterioration or for causing damage to other lands and waters through
erosion. As shown in the section " Current Forest Devastation and
Deterioration", forest lands are being devastated at a rate close to
850,000 acres annually. Another section of this report, "Agricultural
Land Available for Forestry", makes it clear that each year an aver-
age of more than 1 Y2 million acres of worn-out agricultural lands, not
more than half of which will revert to forest naturally, are being
dropped from use. Continuation of this increase in acreage of idle
and unproductive land will create a burden such as no nation can
withstand indefinitely and continue prosperous.
Information obtained through the surveys upon which this report
is based, supplemented by data on the agricultural land situation
furnished by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, gives some idea
of the distribution and condition of this huge area of once produc-
tive land that through one cause or another now produces little or
no return. Forest lands classified as nonstocked and poorly stocked
constitute 83 million acres, of which 63 million will not produce a
commercially valuable crop within a saw-timber generation. The
abandonment or near abandonment of submarginal agricultural land
contributes the other 55 million acres. Thus the period of exploita-
tion and expansion from which we have recently emerged and which
was based on the false premise that our natural resources of forest
1485
1486 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
and soil were unlimited and indestructible, has created a situation
which requires immediate attention. A part of the solution lies in
the reclamation of such land through forest planting. No other
practical measure will restore a large part of these lands to usefulness
within a reasonable period. A few examples will indicate the char-
acter of some of the changes in the condition of land and the oppor-
tunities for reclamation through forestation.
There are some 5 million acres of abandoned farm land in the
Eiedmont region of the South so badly eroded that, according to data
x>m the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, and State agencies, success-
ful agriculture is impossible. The exposed subsoil is incapable of
producing satisfactory yields of farm crops and is susceptible to
further erosion, adding more detritus to stream channels and water
supplies. It will, however, support tree growth and can eventually
be successfully forested by planting. One million acres of the silt
loam uplands of northern Mississippi is seriously and actively erod-
ing, as disclosed by surveys by the Southern Forest Experiment
Station. In the Central region 74 million acres (or 44 percent of the
whole region) is eroding, some 10 million acres to a destructive degree,
according to a summary of State soil surveys and other data gathered
by the Central States Forest Experiment Station.
Roscommon County in the southern peninsula of Michigan, with
an ^area of more than 300,000 acres, formerly bore splendid northern
white pine timber that contributed its part to the one-time supremacy
of Michigan in lumber output. A comprehensive survey by the
State about 10 years ago showed that there was in this county less
than 2,000 acres of land in actual cultivation. Much of the land is
clearly devastated and the rest has but a scattering stand of low
value species. The land that bore good stands of northern white
pine is now in many cases incapable of growing a commercial stand
of this species. The sandy soil through wind erosion and repeated
fires has in many instances lost its fertility and must be rebuilt
through rotations of jack pine or inferior species.
The people of New York State reached a decision in 1929 to refor-
est one million acres, of the 4 to 5 million acres of farm land that
had been abandoned since 1880, a considerable part of which had
not restocked naturally.
These examples do not by any means represent the whole of the
problem but are indicative of a need for forestation so widespread
as to be of primary national importance.
The area of land, including nonproductive forest land and per-
manently idle agricultural land, which is available for forestry is
shown by regions in table 1. Much of this land will, however,
restock to forest naturally within a reasonable period. A number
of other factors to be discussed later will still further reduce the
amount of this land which common sense would set up as the mini-
mum for reclamation by planting.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1487
TABLE 1. — Estimates of present nonproductive land available for forestry, by regions
Character of land
New
Eng-
land
Middle
Atlan-
tic
Lake
Central
South
Pacific
North
Rocky
Moun-
tain
South
Rocky
Moun-
tain
Total
Nonrestocking abandoned
land1
M acres
2,500
M acres
5,100
M acres
2,800
M acres
6,250
M acres
9,540
M acres
M acres
M acres
M acres
26 190
Idle or fallow land 1
158
1,377
898
3,493
4,848
10, 774
Pasture other than plowable
or woodland '
1,078
2,384
2,314
4,602
4,362
14, 740
Total unstocked agri-
cultural land
3,736
8,861
6,012
14, 345
18,750
51,704
Barren and unsatisfactorily
stocked forest land 2
2,425
3,329
13, 755
5,188
43, 555
9,672
3,666
1,709
83,299
Treeless prairie areas
200
1,450
250
450
250
400
3,000
Total nonproductive
land available for
forestry
6,161
12,190
19,967
20,983
62, 555
10,122
3,916
2,109
138,003
1 Data furnished by Bureau of Agricultural Economics, for forest counties east of Great Plains only.
Nonrestocking and abandoned land here represented is the nonproductive portion of a total of 31,500,000
acres abandoned by 1930. Idle or fallow cropland and for pasture represent one half of the total amount
of these classes of lands for 1930. The average rate of abandonment for the past 2 decades indicates the
further abandonment of 15 million acres by 1940 and 30 million acres by 1950.
2 Barren less than 10 percent, unsatisfactorily stocked 10 to 39 percent, of full stocking.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE APPLICATION OF
FORESTATION
NATURAL REFORESTATION
Where adequate natural reforestation will take place in a reason-
able time on areas now denuded or understocked there may be no
need for planting. The extent of natural reforestation and the need
will depend upon circumstances.
Critically eroded areas which might ultimately restock naturally
but where reforestation is not taking place rapidly enough to afford
timely protection, should be planted. Erosion on critical areas is
now going on at such an accentuated rate that immediate action is
justified to stop the sluicing of soil into the stream channels. In
such cases we cannot afford to wait for the forest to become estab-
lished naturally. This is particularly true in the Piedmont region,
in parts of the Ohio River drainage and on the lower Mississippi
drainages.
Further, there is the question of what should be the gage of satis-
factory reforestation. Scattered trees, together with herbaceous
and brush cover, may furnish adequate temporary protection of the
land. One quarter stocked areas of Douglas fir reproduction in the
Northwest may produce half of a full crop at commercial maturity,
but the timber will be of poor quality since wide spacing does not
promote early natural pruning. Certainly those agencies operating
on a sustained yield basis should, in such instances, carefully consider
the advisability of partial planting to insure full crops. For the pur-
poses of classifying natural regeneration, 40 percent ^of full stocking
has been selected as a satisfactory minimum. This is applied with-
out regard to species, types, or individual circumstances. Although
such a minimum is not satisfactory from the timber-production
standpoint, the presence of this much young growth on an area does
give reasonable protection against erosion and, with fire protection,
does remove the land from an unproductive status. It should be
1488
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
stated here that forest planting, because of its high initial cost, is the
forest land manager's last resort. Lands which will restock naturally
within a reasonable period should be permitted to do so, thus confin-
ing the expense of planting to those lands which otherwise would
be idle for a longer period than can be justified.
An estimate by regions of the area that will satisfactorily restock
naturally if properly protected from fire, insects, and disease is
given in table 2. In 20 years approximately 47 million acres, and
in 40 years approximately 68 millions acres of the 138 million acres
of the present unproductive land shown in table 1 are expected to
restock. There remain practically 91 million and 70 million acres
which will not restock in 20 to 40 years respectively.
TABLE 2. — Estimate of area that will restock naturally and satisfactorily l in 20 and
40 years by regions
Region
Area that will
restock naturally
Region
Area that will
restock naturally
In 20
years
In 40
years
In 20
years
In 40
years
Acres
2, 400, 000
1, 250, 000
1, 000, 000
2, 500, 000
35, 000, 000
Acres
5, 250, 000
2, 400, 000
3, 000, 000
5, 750, 000
45, 000, 000
Pacific Coast .
Acres
3, 550, 000
800,000
20,000
Acres
5, 200, 000
1,000,000
100,000
Middle Atlantic
North Rocky Mountains
South Rocky Mountains ._ -
Lake
Total
South
46, 520, 000
67, 700, 000
1 "Satisfactory" stocking is defined as 40 percent or more of full stocking.
WHY PLANTING SHOULD BE DONE
There are three principal reasons for attacking the unproductive
land problem through the agency of forestation.
1. Influence of forested land on watershed protection.
2. Need for more extensive local timber production to meet future
requirements and to stabilize wood-using industries.
3. Value of forestation in the solution of social and economic
problems arising from unwise land use.
PLANTING FOR WATERSHED PROTECTION
The effectiveness of forest cover in watershed protection has been
amply made evident by general observations and to a lesser extent
by experimentation under controlled conditions. For a full discus-
sion of the character and extent of run-off and erosion that menace
two of our most essential resources, soil fertility and water supply,
reference should be made to the section "Watershed and Related
Forest Influences". The problem as here reviewed is one both of
erosion control and stream-flow regulation.
EROSION AND ITS CONTROL
The establishment of a forest cover on eroding areas by reforesta-
tion is a comparatively simple and effective means of controlling
erosion. Even as a remedy for the most severe type of erosion,
known as "gullying," which exposes sterile subsoil and leaves steep
banks that easily slough away, reforestation is surprisingly successful.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1489
Gullies planted to black locust have become stabilized within a period
of a few years following planting, and the use of this species for con-
trol purposes is becoming general in sections such as western Tennes-
see, where its success has been amply demonstrated.
Forest cover exerts its control over erosion in a number of ways.
Litter, the organic cover of the soil in the forests, prevents packing
of the surface such as occurs on bare ground exposed to the weather.
It adds organic matter to the soil, keeping it porous and receptive to
the percolation of moisture. This reduces surface run-off and retards
the erosive action of such surface run-off as may occur.
The results from a group of experiments carried out by Lowdermilk
in California illustrate the effectiveness in erosion control of a forest
cover produced by planting and of brush cover. The destruction of
cover by fire resulted in the removal of soil by erosion at the rate of
4 cubic yards per acre from bare plots in one rainy season, whereas
mere traces of eroded material came from undisturbed plots. Studies
of forest soils in tanks, wherein litter cover was left on some and
burned from others, showed that, under both artificial and natural
rains, erosion from the burned plots was as great as 2,300 times that
from the unburned when torrential rains were applied to the areas.
In preliminary observations on erosion plots in northern Mississippi
one quarter of the annual rainfall carried away eroded material at
the rate of 109 pounds per acre from a plot in a 20-year-old black
locust-osage orange plantation, whereas 38,000 to 44,000 pounds per
acre came from plots on an abandoned field and on cultivated land.
Denuded or barren watersheds are not satisfactory as a source of
urban water supplies. Denudation encourages excessive silting of
reservoirs or storage basins. The city of Raleigh, N.C., provides a
typical illustration. The city has a municipal water supply which
in 1914 consisted of an artificial lake, 77 acres in extent, and a water-
shed of 5.8 square miles. In 1914, when the dam was built, the lake
had a capacity of 160 million gallons. Subsequently a large portion
of the north side of the watershed was deforested by an agency not
under the control of the city, and the capacity of the reservoir had
decreased by 1932, through silting, to 100 million gallons. Another
reservoir above the first was constructed in 1923, 136 acres in extent
and draining a watershed of 6.83 square miles. This watershed is
largely wooded, and silting has been negligible. The impounded
water is much clearer after periods of heavy rain than that in the
lower lake, which takes on the decided yellow-brown color of silt.
The inference is reasonably clear that increase of forest cover on the
lower watershed by forestation would, within a short time, materially
reduce silting.
Forestation measures to control erosion have widespread applica-
tion. Large areas of eroded land not capable of producing other
worth-while crops are suitable to forest growth and, once the forest
is established, the erosion cure is permanent provided reasonable
protection and management is given.
STREAM-FLOW REGULATION
The forestation of barren and unproductive watersheds can play a
big part in securing regularity of stream flow. The desirability of
such .regulation, particularly to reduce peak flows or floods and to
increase low-water flows, is discussed more fully in the section already
1490 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
referred to, "Watershed and Related Forest Influences". Successful
forestation results in the development of conditions which are far
more favorable to ground-water storage than the conditions which
exist on denuded or on cultivated land.
The experiments of Lowdermilk previously cited show that denuda-
tion by fire on plots in California increased run-off to 15 or 20 times
that of adjacent undisturbed areas. Studies by the Lake States
Forest Experiment Station have shown that the average maximum
run-off from slopes in Wisconsin is nearly 10 tunes as large from
cornfields and fallow ground as from the forest. In northern Mis-
sissippi, experiments previously referred to under erosion showed that
the plots in a planted forest had a run-off that was less than 5 percent
of a 12-inch rainfall, whereas plots on an abandoned field and culti-
vated land showed a run-off that was 44 to 48 percent of the same
precipitation.
The superior ability of forest areas to absorb precipitation over
that of denuded areas is due partly to the litter cover and partly to
the condition of the soil itself. Studies by Auten in the Central
States have shown that field soils when planted to forest will increase
their capacity to absorb water eightfold in 20 years.
Plantations, therefore, are effective not only in controlling erosion
and permitting better percolation into the soil but actually, on
abandoned fields, in causing the absorptive capacity of the surface
soil layers to increase greatly.
INCREASE IN TIMBER PRODUCTION
The section of this report entitled "The Present and Potential
Timber Resources" indicates that saw-timber and cordwopd produc-
tion must be increased by more than 7 billion cubic feet in order to
meet requirements at the present rate. This increase will be fur-
nished in part by better protection of existing forests from fire, insects,
and disease; and in part by more intensive management of the forests.
A part of this deficit should be met by increasing the area of produc-
tive forest land through the planting of devastated areas or non-
stocked abandoned farm land, or both. All three means should be
undertaken simultaneously.
It is only fair to state at the outset that private interests, unaided,
have at present little assurance of direct financial profit from large-
scale plantings on barren lands. When unsupported by other areas
of land bearing merchantable or near merchantable timber such
plantings, on reaching merchantability, may have built up such
charges in the form of planting costs, taxes, protection, and interest
that they not always resolve into a profitable business for the private
owner. Individual analysis of each situation is necessary to deter-
mine the financial soundness of planting.
In contrast, many wood-using operators own productive forest
properties whose yield is inadequate ^to supply the full amount of
timber necessary for permanent capacity output. Forest planting on
barren or poorly stocked parts of their properties will increase their
timber production and may make them independent of outside sup-
plies, round out their properties, and hence protect the investment in
manufacturing plants and improvements. The enlarged plant output
thus made possible may increase the profit from the whole property
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1491
and its inherent value will therefore be increased. In such instances
the cost of planting becomes a charge against the entire operation
rather than against the individual areas planted. The cost is a capital
investment that does not have to stand alone, but is justified by pro-
viding continuity and improvement to a going operation.
One lumber company in the South became convinced that reforesta-
tion of its unproductive land by planting would permit it to operate
its sawmill and its pulp and paper mill on a permanent sustained-yield
basis. This company to date has planted more than 28,000 acres.
In the Northwest one company, to assist in building up a permanent,
sustained output, has maintained a forest nursery with an annual
capacity of 2 million trees and^ has planted 8,000 acres to date. In
the redwood region of California redwood operators in the interests
of permanent operation have planted more than 26,000 acres, using
some 13 million trees, this planting being more for the purpose of
improving the density of the natural restocking than to reforest
completely denuded or barren areas. These few examples indicate
the possibilities of commercial planting as a part of going operations
where there is a desire to operate on a permanent basis.
Planting by private agencies to create stands independent of natural
timber growth under favorable conditions has been profitable in the
past and will continue to be so. When divorced from the financial
support of natural forest growth, plantations established by private
agencies, to be profitable, should be confined to the more fertile, pro-
ductive, and accessible sites. Rapid growth on such selected areas
and a ready market for small material removed in thinnings and for
the main crop will largely remove the financial risk that may other-
wise be present.
There is no question about the desirability of greatly increased
forest planting on farms. The farm woodlands, because of their ac-
cessibility and the purposes they serve, can be far more intensively
managed than the average forest properties. Land submarginal and
not suited to agricultural crops constitutes a part of many farms.
Experience has repeatedly shown the possibility of disposing of wood
as a cash crop at times when other sources of farm income have been
seriously curtailed. Planting stock in most States can be secured at
cost through Federal and State cooperation. Much of the cost of
planting can be charged to otherwise idle time. The home demand
for the timber is ordinarily present just as soon as the trees reach
fuelwood size. These conditions together with the fact that farm
woodlands make up more than one fourth of our total commercial
forest area, indicate very extensive opportunities for effective and
profitable reforestation by farmers and other small property owners
for the purpose of reviving and extending farm woodland areas.
AID IN THE SOLUTION OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
A discussion of the causes and probable social effects of wholesale
agricultural and cut-over forest land abandonment and of widespread
unemployment is outside the scope of this section of the report. It
is pertinent, however, to point out the possibilities of forest planting
as an aid in meeting the situation.
To the extent that present unemployment is due to technological
causes, such as the replacement of man power by machines, the over-
1492 A NATIONAL FLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
supply of labor is probably permanent. New opportunities will have
to be found for this surplus labor or the present opportunities for labor
will have to be further spread out by decreased working hours per
person. This may mean the general adoption of the 5-day work week,
the 6-hour day, or the staggering of employment periods. In any
event, the solution seems to indicate more leisure time for people
generally. If this is true, the present rapid increase in outdoor recre-
ation is likely to be accentuated and provision to care for it must be
made.
The present extent of recreational use can be partially gaged by
the fact that the national forests were used by 30 million people and
the national parks by 3 million people in 1931. The extent of use of
more local forested areas can only be approximated. That hunting
alone now draws more than 6 million people into the forest each year
is indicated by the record of licenses sold.
The present problem is that of providing desirable recreational
areas close to centers of population so that they can be enjoyed by
people with only a few hours, or at most a week-end, at their disposal.
The planting of denuded or abandoned land within easy reach of
cities may supply this need and incidentally build up new business
enterprises in order to meet the needs of these recreationists. The
new forests established in localities where forest cover is scarce will
create or improve game cover and game food and will increase the
pleasure of those who prefer hunting as a means of recreation.
The extent to which forest planting can go in furnishing productive
work for the unemployed depends largely on the size of the planting
program under way. The fact that some time must lapse between
seed collection and field planting and the fact that forest nursery
management is a highly specialized kind of land use would seem to
argue against extreme fluctuation in the program from year to year.
Over 80 percent of the planting expenditure from seed collection
through field planting is for unskilled labor. The substitution of
useful work such as this instead of charity for the unemployed is of
course very desirable.
Some answer to the civic problem presented by devastated forest
land and submarginal agricultural land is badly needed. Many
communities which were once prosperous because of agriculture or
lumbering are now rapidly approaching bankruptcy. In New York
State nearly 3 million acres of land has been abandoned in the past
10 years. Tax delinquency of marginal lands is everywhere common
and promises to increase, yet the public improvements made during
the period of exploitation remain to be maintained by fewer and
fewer local taxpayers. As the amount of idle land increases the
resources with which to meet current civic obligations decreases.
A part of the answer seems to be closely associated with forest
planting. Land classification, including economic investigations,
should be undertaken to determine the highest usefulness of the land.
In many instances the solution will probably be complete depopulation
of considerable areas through taking advantage of tax delinquency
supplemented by public acquisition. The areas thus blocked up in
public ownership should be converted to forests by planting where
necessary in order to protect the watersheds, improve recreation
possibilities, and produce a future crop of timber. Unnecessary
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1493
roads, schools, and other public improvements can then be abandoned
to reduce the per capita cost of government.
Forest planting has a part in this solution whether it be the planting
of marginal land near cities primarily for recreational use or the more
extreme action contemplated by public acquisition of large tracts of
marginal land.
TROUBLESOME FEATURES TO BE OVERCOME IN PLANTING
LAND CLASSIFICATION
Land classification should be undertaken to obtain essential
information as to abandoned or other land that is definitely sub-
marginal, land that is eroding or is needed for protection, and land,
now partly agricultural, which should be blocked up into forest
units as previously discussed. Abandoned agricultural land con-
tributes very largely to erosion problems and it frequently offers
greater opportunities for profitable timber returns than do the poorer
classes of forest lands. Although depreciated in fertility from an
agricultural standpoint, abandoned agricultural land is normally
more fertile than the average devastated forest site, and it is usually
more accessible. For these reasons forestation measures on sub-
marginal farm land should be considered on a par with those on forest
land. Final decisions as to the land to plant must be reached through
the medium of proper land classification or its equivalent.
THE TECHNICAL FEATURES OF PLANTING
Marked progress has been made in meeting the technical difficulties
in forest planting but much remains to be learned through research
and experience. One of the difficulties to be overcome in the planting
of denuded forest land is the direct outgrowth of processes that
brought about denudation.
Clear-cutting and clean burning of forested areas may bring about
changes of the site so unfavorable to seedling survival, that it will be
impossible directly to reestablish the original species.
Studies of clear-cut and clean-burned forest sites in the northern
Rocky Mountains showed striking differences between conditions on
these areas and those under natural timber, as indicated in table 3.
TABLE 3. — Characteristics of clear-cut, clean-burned sites in the northern Rocky
Mountains
Characteristic
Natural
forest
Clear-cut
and clean-
burn areas
Difference
Average maximum duff surface temperature, growing season (° F.) _ _
Absolute maximum duff surface temperature (° F.)
75
85
122
148
47
63
Minimum duff moisture content, oven-dry basis (percent)
17
4
13
The changes which result from cutting and burning are unfavorable
to the growth of tree seedlings and may easily be fatal to them. Such
maximum surface temperatures and drought-like conditions, though
they exist but a short time, may make the difference between the
success and failure of plantations on open sites,
1494 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The reforestation of sites that have been cut over, burned, and
eroded will demand study. Many northern white pine sites in the
Lake States, Engelmann spruce sites in the Rock}7" Mountain region,
and others have been so changed that there is little hope of artificially
restocking them at once with the original species. It may be neces-
sary to restock the sites with less desirable but hardier species to
produce forest-like conditions that will permit the reintroduction of
the original species as a secondary step. For example, jack pine will
grow on deteriorated northern white pine lands too poor to support
white pine at present and can be planted to pave the way for a success-
ful plantation of white pine in the future. It is of course obvious
that what has been said applies also to the selection of species to be
planted on cultivated or abandoned agricultural land. This land,
however, usually has more favorable soil moisture and fertility than
devastated forest land. Methods of analyzing sites to determine
when the more desirable species can be successfully planted and when
the use of the less desirable is a necessity, are needed for maximum
success in any large reforestation program.
Heredity in trees has been largely ignored in this country. Tree
seed has been accepted as satisfactory so long as it was of the desired
species, fairly clean, and had good germinative capacity. No atten-
tion, generally, has been paid to the quality of the parent tree or to
the climatic conditions where it was grown. In Europe "certified
seed" — certified as to species, quality of parent 'tree, geographical
and climatic source — is common. In this country two companies are
known to have offered certified tree seed. The importance of seed
source is recognized and amply justified when applied to other crop
plants. According to records of the United States Department of
Agriculture recognized agencies in 43 States reported, for 1931,
11,554,508 bushels, 8,851,723 pounds and 3,300 tons of seed of known
ancestry and inherent characteristics. The amounts stated include
the so-called improved, registered, and certified seed of the more
common farm crops and are reported according to the established unit
of measure for the crop in question.
Responsibility for agricultural seed-improvement work either rests
with organizations variously called seed growers, or crop improvement
associations, or with State experiment stations or State departments
of agriculture. Funds for the work are raised by dues, inspection
fees, sales taxes, appropriations where States take a hand, or a combi-
nation of these. The handling of certified tree seed might well be
patterned along the same lines except that, due to the interstate
character of the tree seed business, it would be necessary that registra-
tion of tree seed houses and inspection be^centralized in the Federal
Government, preferably in the Forest Service. The expense incident
to such a service would be insignificant in comparison to the resultant
values. A forest crop is long deferred and mistakes in source of seed,
which can be avoided by proper certification and utilization of seed,
may not be realized for many years after planting at which time
corrective measures other than replanting are practically impossible.
The cost of this seed would be somewhat higher than the normal, but
the extra cost is thoroughly justified and the practice of certification
should not only be encouraged, but possibly be made obligatory, as in
some European states, before intensive, widespread planting is under-
taken. Experiments by the Lake States Forest Experiment Station
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1495
have shown that seedlings of Norway pine from various geographical
and climatic seed sources show marked differences in hardiness and
early growth.
Many North American tree species have a wide geographical dis-
tribution and it is inevitable that unsatisfactory results will come,
as they already have, from indiscriminate use of their seed. Pon-
derosa pine with a natural range of some 400,000 square miles of
territory furnishes innumerable sources of seed. Experimental
plantations of ponderosa pine from several seed sources, established in
the Sand Hills of Nebraska, in Colorado, in the northern Rockies and
at Wind River in southern Washington, show differences, some slight
and intangible as yet, some marked, that leave little doubt as to the
importance of seed source in forestation.
Much could be written on the past development of forest-nursery
technique and the problems still to be worked out through research
and practice. It should suffice in the present instance briefly to indi-
cate the basis for confidence in future progress.
Nursery methods have been so developed that a consistent output
of good quality stock at reasonable cost is now possible. Numerous
factors contribute to these lowered costs, including favorable watering,
fertilizer, and effective soil management practices. Damping-off,
other diseases and chlorosis are rapidly being overcome. Better
stock for a given purpose has been produced by obtaining proper
densities in seed beds, root pruning, improved soil fertility, and by
other means. As an illustration, the Savanac Nursery on the Cabinet
National Forest now produces 2-year-old ponderosa pine seedlings
at a total cost of about $3 per thousand trees.
Several examples of research findings may be given as an indication
of the progress that can be made in solving those nursery problems
that still confront the forester. Delayed germination of western
white pine seed formerly handicapped nursery output by causing
seed to germinate so late in the season that heavy mortality resulted
due to heat killing during the summer, and produced seedlings of very
uneven size at the time of transplanting. Experiments carried on
at the Sa venae Nursery (Montana) of the Forest Service have over-
come this problem by demonstrating the feasibility of fall sowing
of western white pine seed.
Many valuable species produce good crops of seed only at intervals
of several years. Seed years in longleaf pine are usually so far apart,
and the seed has deteriorated so rapidly under previous methods of
storage, that there are periodic dearths of seed in all localities. If
longleaf pine production in a nursery was to be sustained, this meant
that it was often necessary to obtain seed from some distant point,
with the attendant dangers of its being unsuited to the new locality.
It has been found that longleaf pine seed if dried promptly after
extraction and stored at a temperature between 34° and 40° F. will
keep for 2 or 3 years, with no serious loss of vitality.
Much research needs to be carried on to insure the most economical
and satisfactory production of nursery stock on a large scale but
progress to date along this line is encouraging.
Planting methods have been the object of much experimentation.
While cheap and successful methods have been worked out for some
situations, the cost of planting is still high on many sites. It should
168342° — 33 — vol. 2 29
1496 A NATIONAL PLAN FOK AMERICAN FORESTRY
be remembered that reduction in costs achieved at the expense of
survival is not economy. There are definite opportunities however
to pursue the cheaper, more expeditious methods of planting, and by
research to determine means that will maintain or increase survival
and at the same time favor optimum growth of the planted trees.
The examples mentioned serve to illustrate the types of problems
which arise and the success to date in solving them. Experience
coupled with the necessary research will anticipate or meet such
situations in the future. It is exceedingly desirable that records be
kept which will identify the stock used on each plantation as to source
of seed, treatment in the nursery and at the time of planting. The
technical supervision and research necessary to assure success of large
scale forestation will represent a very reasonable charge, considering
the expenditures and the great variety of conditions involved.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FOREST PLANTING
ABROAD
Forest planting of idle and barren land is not a new venture in
Europe, either as a means of soil stabilization or of timber production.
One outstanding example of the creation of an extensive forest area
from barren land is of particular interest.
In southwestern France there is a large area of sand dunes and
marshes known as the Landes. Late in the eighteenth century,
purely as a means of saving the area from the shifting sands, a pro-
gram of afforestation was undertaken. The initial measures proved
so successful that they were continued, and extended to marsh lands,
and by the end of the nineteenth century over 1% million acres has
been planted to maritime pine. Today the Landes, once a worthless
area of sand and swamp, is forested and one of the most productive
areas in France. From it France gets the bulk of its naval stores and
a large part of its construction lumber. The region was a vitally
important source of timber for the Allies during the Great War.
The nations of central and southern Europe have used tree planting
as a most important part of their effective work in controlling torrents
and erosion in mountainous areas. In the Alps and Pyrenees alone
close to half a million acres of land which, because of erosion, was once
a menace to the limited and intensively utilized agricultural soils of
the valleys, has been planted and stabilized.
IN THE UNITED STATES
The record in the United States is not. insignificant. The best
available records show that 1,892,000 acres have been planted to date.
It is plain that in expanding our planting program now we are not
starting out on a new untried venture. Table 4 shows by agencies
the total acreage planted prior to and during the calendar year 1931.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1497
TABLE 4. — Forest planting in the United States prior to and during 1931
Agency
Acreage planted
Number of
agencies
Prior to
1931
In 1931
Total
U.S. Forest Service
Acres
296, 063
235, 957
56, 439
181,814
18, 577
5,768
944, 027
Acres
26, 765
61, 613
11,553
20, 755
2,156
1,107
29,511
Acres
2 322, 828
297, 570
67, 992
202, 569
20, 733
6,875
973, 538
1
U09
413
291
520
313
16, 748
States
Municipalities .
Industrial organizations
Other organizations _ .
Schools and colleges
Individuals
Total
1,738,645
153, 460
1,892,105
18, 395
etc.
State forestry units and other State agencies — colleges, penitentiaries, reform schools, asylums, hospitals,
2 Includes about 90,000 acres of direct seeding. This method of reforestation was temporarily discontin-
ued, because of unsatisfactory results, about 1912. It is now used only on an experimental basis.
It is interesting to note that of nearly 2 million acres planted to
date only approximately one sixth each has been planted by the
United States Forest Service and by State agencies, whereas the
plantings by individuals amounts to one half. Planting by industrial
organizations, which has already exceeded 200,000 acres, is a relatively
new thing.
The total cost of planting, including all items from seed collections
through field planting, has varied greatly by species, sites, and regions.
Forest Service costs range all the way from $3 per acre for the more
asily planted sites in the Lake States, where seedling stock is used
and where the soil, free from rock and easily worked, lends itself to
extremely rapid field work, to as much as $14 to $25 per acre on the
more difficult sites in other regions. Plantations in the South which
cost $5 to $8 per acre 10 years ago can now be established for as little
as $3 per acre.
The degree to which planting has been successful as measured by
tree survival is difficult to determine. Not many accurate data,
except those collected upon United States Forest Service plantings,
are available. It must be remembered, too, that the survival figures
for the national forests shown in table 5, present primarily the results
during the pioneering period. Planting was done on many areas on
which it is now known planting was ill-advised. Species and kinds of
stock subsequently shown to be unsuited to the region were used in
some instances. Far from satisfactory as a future gage in planting,
this record is nevertheless a remarkable accomplishment for a pioneer
effort in the reforestation of predominantly poor sites.
TABLE 5. — Acreage and survival of U.S. Forest Service plantings, through 1931
Region
Area of success-
ful plantations '
Region
Area of success-
ful plantations i
Area
76
2,526
39, 960
13, 108
798
Percent
255
99
251
269
250
Pacific Coast
Area
26, 574
33, 223
21, 565
Percent
11
51
75
Middle Atlantic
North Rocky Mountain
Lake
South Rocky Mountain
Central
Total and average
South
137, 830
61
1 A plantation classed as successful must have 250 or more well-established trees per acre. Plantations
normally checked through the fifth year.
2 The severe drought of 1930 is to a considerable degree responsible for the low percentage of successful
plantations in these regions.
1498 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Indicative of the success of the more recent plantings by the Forest
Service are the following records : 555 acres of Douglas fir planted in
1920 on the Ranier National Forest in Washington with satisfactory
survival on 98 percent of the areas in 1930; a large Englemann spruce
and western white pine plantation set out on the Cabinet National
Forest in Montana in 1928 with over 500 established trees per acre
in 1931; a 33-acre Norway spruce plantation on the Monongahela
National Forest in the East, with 98 per cent of the trees established
after 4 years; 517 acres of white and Norway pine planted on the
Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota in 1.925, with 87 percent of the
trees alive in 1931.
Although State plantings, like those of the Forest Service, are
spotty, yet taken as a whole, they are sufficiently successful to war-
rant expansion. While no exact data are at hand, it is known that
the State planting to date in both Pennsylvania and New York has
been more than moderately successful in establishing plantations.
The record from two counties in New York State is illustrative of
what may be expected from careful planting on reasonably suitable
sites. In the spring of 1931, three quarters of a million trees were
planted on 519 acres in one unit in Broome County. One year later
the survival was 82 percent. Five blocks in Chenango County,
including 3,806 acres, were planted in 1931, with a survival ranging
from 85 to 88 percent in 1932. The plantings on these areas, having
passed the crucial first year, should continue to develop satisfactorily.
Industrial planting, although limited in amount, has, as might be
expected, often proved more successful than public planting. This
has not always been a matter of better technique but frequently of
better sites for planting. The industrials, largely lumber companies,
have been planting the choice sections of their holdings which were
originally selected because they were the best timber-growing lands.
These companies have had little occasion to experiment with the
forestation of the poorest types of land because, as a general thing,
they have none or if they were so unfortunate they naturally have
left them until last. The public agencies, on the other hand, had
big areas of poor site land and perhaps wasted too much effort in
trying to reforest these areas for watershed or other urgent public
purposes instead of gradually approaching the problem through the
knowledge to be gained from the more simple task of planting the
best first.
Illustrative of the success of industrial planting is the company in
the southern pine region with 28,000 acres of satisfactorily stocked
plantations. Survival in these plantations has been very high, being
more than 90 percent in most years.
THE REFORESTATION PROGRAM
Decision as to the acreage of barren and unproductive land which
should be planted in the next 20 or 30 years must be based on (1)
the necessity for meeting the requirements of the country for timber
products and other intangible services including improved water-
shed conditions, (2) the social and economic desirability of putting all
land to beneficial use.
The section of this report entitled " Timber Resources and Require-
ments, " has shown the clear necessity for almost doubling the total
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1499
cubic foot growth and increasing by five times the board-foot growth
if future timber requirements are to be met. In order to do this the
entire acreage of commercial timberland will have to be given ade-
quate fire protection, losses from insects and diseases will have to be
reduced, the acreage under intensive forest management will have to
increase more than 1 million acres a 37ear, and about 25 million
acres will have to be planted in the next 20 or 30 years. The likeli-
hood of meeting all of these objectives in full is remote. Certainly
the full effects will not be felt before the end of the century. If by
any chance the wood produced under this plan should exceed the
national requirements the trends in world wood consumption indicate
that such a surplus would be absorbed by the export market.
The extent to which reforestation is required to meet the most
critical erosion and streamflow situations has been discussed in the
section of this report entitled " Watershed and Related Forest
Influences." The necessity for planting 10 or 11 million acres for
this purpose alone has been shown. It should be stated that this
includes only the most critical areas and in no sense indicates the
area on which such action would be desirable. Fortunately most of
the land which may be planted for watershed protection will, under
proper management, be fully usable for timber production.
That idle land is an economic liability has been discussed in detail
in the section of this report entitled "Is Forestry Justified" and else-
where. Granting that this is true we have the problem of putting
to work more than 70 million acres of land which will not in 40 years
restock naturally (table 6).
TABLE 6. — Estimate of unsatisfactorily stocked land available for forestry at
various periods
Region
Present
unsatisfac-
torily
stocked
area avail-
able for
forestry l
Area that will remain
unsatisfactorily stocked
After 20
years
After 40
years
New England
Thousand
acres
6,161
12, 190
19, 967
20,983
62, 555
10, 122
3,916
2,109
Thousand
acres
3,760
10, 945
18, 971
18, 488
27, 555
6,572
3,116
2,089
Thousand
acres
910
9,795
16, 971
15, 238
17, 555
4,922
2,916
2,009
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central
South - -
Pacific Coast
South Rocky Mountain
Total
138, 003
91, 496
70, 316
' See table 1.
In considering the extent to which reforestation of submarginal.
agricultural land is justified the fact that this land may again be
needed by agriculture is too often overlooked. Present trends in the
production of agricultural crops and in population indicate a need
for maintaining or slightly increasing the present acreage in agricul-
ture. The fact that some land now in agricultural use (estimated
to be 20 or 25 million acres) will probably become submarginal makes
the rehabilitation of this land very desirable. It may again be
needed. Its future suitability for such use will depend on the degree
1500
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
to which its original productivity is restored. Idleness will not
greatly increase soil fertility while use of the land for forestry, even
though temporary, will build up the organic content and thus the
fertility of the soil. That this is true has been demonstrated in
many parts of the South and elsewhere.
While all of the unproductive land should ultimately be put to
beneficial use, the acreage recommended for immediate utilization
will be limited to that which will meet the timber requirements and
will at the same time meet the present critical watershed situation.
With the completion of the initial program, which follows, it will no
doubt be desirable to continue the work on about the same scale
until all of the land under discussion that has commercial timber-
growing possibilities has been put to its highest use. To plant the
25 million acres in 20 or 30 years will tax the resources of all agen-
cies concerned to the utmost.
THE INITIAL STEP— A 20-YEAR PROGRAM
The situation described in this and other sections of this report
clearly calls for aggressive action in largely expanding the work under
way in forest planting. The initiation of such an expanded program
for the immediate iuture must, as stated previously, be based on the
urgency of the work in each region and on the size of the area which
should be reclaimed finally. With these facts in mind the program
recommended in table 7 and illustrated in figure 1 has been built up.
It is based on the best judgment of State Foresters, land economists,
Federal forest officers, soils experts, and others who have knowledge
of conditions in the different regions.
TABLE 7.— A
planting program — details of areas to be planted and probable
costs, by regions
Region
Area to be
planted
Planting costs per acre
Total costs 3
Present
range
Program
average 1 2
New England
Acres
500,000
3, 500, 000
7, 500, 000
6, 000, 000
5, 750, 000
1, 075, 000
600,000
600,000
$12-$16
8- 14
4- 8
7- 12
3- 7
9- 12
9- 12
12- 20
$10
10
5
8
7
10
10
15
$4, 537, 000
34, 267, 000
30, 500, 000
41, 667, 000
38, 350, 000
8, 583, 000
5, 587, 000
8, 500, 000
Middle Atlantic
Lake
Central...
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Mountain
South Rocky Mountain
Total or average .. _. ..
25, 525, 000
1, 276, 000
6.70
171,991,000
8, 599, 500
Average per year
1 The cost of trees and planting to public agencies only.
2 Private planting costs lower than public planting due to Federal and State aid. For further details as
to the derivation of these figures see table 8.
Along with the actual planting must go comprehensive land classi-
fication or an equivalent and land use planning to assist in the selec-
tion of those lands which should be permanently removed from
agricultural use either because of their submarginal character or
because of the probability that continued cultivation will destroy
their value through erosion. Several States, including Wisconsin,
New York, Michigan, and Illinois have already made substantial
progress. This work should be speeded up. Areas whereon crop
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1501
production is so low and where abandonment has gone so far that the
maintenance of the necessary public improvements such as roads and
schools can no longer be justified should be blocked up for public
forests. The same action should be taken on critical erosion areas
which cannot be handled satisfactorily in other than public ownership.
In the immediate future planting should largely be done on those
•eas on which success will be fairly certain, and where accessibility
areas
for the use of the product is high, or on which a forest cover is imme-
diately essential to erosion control. Included under both of these
classifications will be part of the abandoned farm land east of the
NEW
ENGLAND
MIDDLE
ATLANTIC
LAKE
CENTRAL
n
•
i
=m
m
-..': . -•••;
m
B9K
77
KB
8H1
•
///X/
8555
tMWWSM
oUUTH
PACIFIC
COAST
N. ROCKY
MOUNTAIN
S. ROCKY
MOUNTAIN
UU&
&&&
ZSSu
40U
••
aZfig
22Z2
WL
I
UNITED
STATES
.
c
50 100
MILLION ACRES
ISC
10
Restocking naturally
in 20 years
Restocking naturally
in 40 years
20 30 40
MILLION ACRES
50
60
Unsatisfactorily stocked
at end of 40 years
Provided for in 20 year
planting program
FIGURE 1.— Although natural restocking will reclaim for forest growth considerable portions of the present
unproductive acreage, a substantial 20-year planting program will be essential in most regions to bring
this vast area into a reasonable degree of productivity.
Mississippi. As the work expands, successful ways and means will be
found, through research and experience, to plant progressively more
difficult areas at reasonable cost.
The immediate regional needs for forest planting are explained
briefly in the following paragraphs.
REGIONAL JUSTIFICATION
NEW ENGLAND AND MIDDLE ATLANTIC REGIONS
The New England and Middle Atlantic regions constitute the most
densely populated section of the United States. As a result of early
settlement and improper management of agricultural areas, farm
land abandonment is now in advanced stages and presents a serious
1502 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
problem. In New England much of the abandoned farm land has
become restocked with forest growth, although often, and especially
more recently, this has been of inferior quality. In New York and
the southern portion of the region abandoned farm lands have not
restocked so generally. The heavy demands of the dense population
of these regions for potable water supplies justifies reforestation of
some of the open land for the protection of watersheds. Large areas
of forest land should also be provided to meet the recreational needs
of the people in this section and this will call for planting of other
portions of the open land.
Planting in the regions, however, will be primarily justified for
timber production.
The New England and Middle Atlantic regions import more than
half of the timber they consume. The better hardwoods, northern
white pine, and spruce native to the region, are well adapted to the
needs of the principal industries and make very satisfactory growth.
Planting of idle lands to enable local communities to supply a larger
proportion of the timber requirements of the region will probably
prove sound public policy in the long run. It may also prove cheaper
and quicker in many instances for local industries to get growth of
desirable species on more accessible areas by planting, rather than to
work with deteriorated natural forests in which there may be only a
small proportion of the species desired. This is especially true in
sections tributary to paper and pulp mills much of whose raw mate-
rial is now imported from other countries.
Although erosion is not a critical problem over most of these
regions, there are localities where forest planting will be necessary to
check destructive erosion or reclaim areas of wind-blown sand.
Altogether it is estimated that 4,000,000 acres should be planted
in the northeastern section. Of the total only 500,000 acres will be
hi New England, where open areas are relatively small and natural
restocking more aggressive. The remaining 3,500,000 acres will be
in the Middle Atlantic region, probably half in New York alone,
where a program commensurate with the need is already under way.
LAKE REGION
Timber cutting and fire followed by unsuccessful attempts to use
the land for agriculture in the Lake States have left idle a large acreage
of highly productive timberland. Forest planting on a large scale
on these northern white pine and spruce lands is justified for timber
production alone. The region is close to heavy lumber consuming
centers. It joins the Corn Belt where lumber importation is and will
continue to be large. The industrial cities on the Lakes are large
users of wood. Demand for small material for novelty, pattern, and
shop work already exists and there is a large wood-pulp industry to
maintain.
Transportation facilities are good. This includes water transporta-
tion on the Lakes which with the St. Lawrence waterway would
permit of direct loading for export. There are ample rail connections
to agricultural communities and inland cities. Road development
has already made most of the timber section accessible to autotruck
transportation.
The annual growth rate on fully stocked, average or better spruce
and white pine lands is estimated to be 250 to 300 board feet per acre.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1503
This rate, while slower than that of the southern pine and Pacific
coast fir types, is quite satisfactory. This growth rate coupled with
high quality product and intensive demand close at hand justifies the
planting of 7# million acres.
Planting for erosion control of an additional half-million acres is
clearly desirable. This area is divided between the bluff lands of the
upper Mississippi River and the sand-dune areas of the Lake region.
This program by no means reclaims for productive use all of the
27 million acres of idle land estimated to be available for forestry, and
of which only a relatively small area will restock naturally in 40 years.
After planting 7)1 million acres of the best of this unstocked land there
will remain approximately 15 million acres for future attention. Only
the most urgent and most clearly justified plantations have been
recommended.
CENTRAL REGION
The Central region, predominantly agricultural, is a large importer
of lumber. Of the 14 % million board feet of lumber used annually
only 1% billion board feet are produced locally. Reliable data on fuel
wood and farm timber consumption are lacking but they are large.
Deterioration of agricultural land fertility, through improper crop-
ping methods and erosion has reached a point where a large acreage
of farm land is now definitely submarginal. Not less than 10 million
acres, according to State soil surveys, informed State officials, etc.,
have been so destructively eroded that permanent profitable agri-
cultural use of them is impracticable. On upwards of 6 million acres
of this land no practical means other than forest planting, supple-
mented in some instances by engineering works, will stop erosion.
This condition accounts for the fact that the percentage of denuded
land recommended for planting is higher in the Central States region
than elsewhere. The other 24 million acres will in part be restocked
naturally and a still larger part will be revegetated well enough with
grass, weeds, and brush to stop erosion if eliminated from agricultural
use.
The area recommended for planting, including that purely for farm
woodlands, is 6 million acres.
While erosion control is the primary reason for planting, the timber
produced promises to have a ready home market and will help to
solve the regional problems of cheap low grade lumber.
SOUTH REGION
The commercial forest area in the South region is 190,758,000
acres, of which 43,555,000 acres, as the result of fire and mismanage-
ment, are now barren or poorly stocked. An additional 19 million
acres of submarginal agricultural land brings the total area of non-
productive land available for forestry to about 62% million acres.
Natural restocking in the South takes place rapidly if seed trees
are present and if reasonable fire protection is given. With this in
mind, it is estimated that 45 million acres of this idle land will restock
naturally within 40 years, most of it in 20 years. The remaining
17,555,000 acres wiirnot reach a productive condition within a rea-
sonable time without planting. The immediate planting (20-year
program) of only 5,750,000 acres of this land is recommended, of
which iyz million acres should be planted purely to increase timber
1504 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
production on high quality pine land, upon which fire protection and
other charges must be met because of their location within established
operation boundaries. By planting these nonstocked lands the per-
manent annual output of the area can be increased at a slight per-
acre cost when spread over the entire operation.
As shown in detail in the section entitled " Watershed and Related
Forest Influences," erosion on denuded forest and on farm land in
the South now creates a situation of major importance. Most of
these eroded lands are included in the 17% million acres of idle land
which will not promptly be restocked. Within this classification are
some 4 million acres of critically eroded land, on which forest planting
is clearly the most logical method of control.
It should be stated that the present program does not contemplate
the planting of any land on which erosion will be controlled by proper
agricultural methods, or by simply dropping it from all sorts of use,
unless its planting is also at least partly justified for timber production.
The planting area recommended is the absolute minimum to properly
meet the existing situation.
The erosion area which should be planted is divided between the
piedmont plateau, the Appalachian Mountains, the upper coastal
plains, the Mississippi River tributaries south of the Ohio River, and
the Mississippi River bluff country.
PACIFIC COAST
The acreage to be planted during the next 20 years in the three
Pacific coast States is largely for the purpose of increasing the possible
sustained yield production in the different logging units' Erosion on
timber lands can generally be prevented by complete fire protection,
by improved logging methods, or by the adoption of sound range-
management practices.
The area of available forest land now unproductive which will not
restock in 40 years is estimated to be 4,922,000 acres. A large part
of this is of poor site quality and is comparatively inaccessible. Plant-
ing of such lands is not advisable at present.
After careful consideration of all factors the planting of slightly
more than 1 million acres of the better and more accessible lands is
recommended. AJI additional small area of highly valuable water-
shed brush lands in southern California has been included.
The greater part of the commercial forest land planting will be
located in the highly productive Douglas fir and redwood regions.
The balance will be on once productive brush-land slopes of northern
California and central Oregon. The need for planting in the brush-
field areas is great, and when proper methods to secure success at
reasonable costs have been worked out a much larger area than is con-
templated now will be justified for planting. There is a distinct pos-
sibility that brush-field planting will help materially to reduce the fire
menace which these brush fields now constitute.
NORTH ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
The necessity for immediate planting in the northern Rocky Moun-
tain region is almost wholly for timber production. One of the lead-
ing industries of north Idaho and western Montana is lumbering.
This industry is built up around western white pine because of its
high value and former abundance. The fact that this species on
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1505
average sites grows at the rate of about 400 board feet per acre per
year fully justifies planting.
Nearly 4 million acres of the timberland is now poorly stocked or
barren; however, it is estimated that by natural restocking this acre-
age will be reduced to about 3 million acres by 1970. Planting sur-
veys of the poorly stocked land furnish the basis for recommending
planting on only 600,000 acres at the present time. The area recom-
mended includes only the better timber-producing land and largely
only those areas which are now considered accessible from a lumbering
standpoint.
SOUTH ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
The area of unproductive forest land in this region, which will not
restock naturally in the next 20 years, is in excess of 2 million acres.
A large part of this land has a present value as range for livestock and
under proper management can be permanently used for this purpose.
There is, however, a considerable area, mainly in Colorado, where
erosion on denuded forest lands is extremely serious and where this
condition can best be corrected by forest planting.
Timber growth rate is relatively slow, hence planting primarily for
timber production should at present be restricted to those areas where
planting is clearly justified to supply the future needs of nearby cities
or intensively-used irrigation agricultural communities.
The area recommended for planting is that included in the present
national-forest program plus the small additional areas which are
clearly desirable for farm woodlots and for improvement of watershed
conditions on other than federally owned land.
ESTIMATED COSTS
While the total cost to carry out the program recommended, as
shown in table 6, seems large it must be remembered that the burden
will be divided between many agencies. Farm woodlot owners, in-
dustrials, municipalities, counties, States, and the Federal Govern-
ment will each share in the work. The cost to each agency as shown
in table 8 will not be out of reason. It will be relatively small during
the first few years and will probably not exceed a total of $12,000,000
per year at any time. The average expenditure per year will be less
than $9,000,000 for all agencies during the 20-year period.
As compared to the reduction in flood damage and control cost,
stream channel improvement costs, and the damage to the soil through
erosion, which can be prevented by forest planting, the costs of the
entire program seem small indeed. Costs chargeable to erosion,
through reductions in engineering works will be in effect self-liquidat-
ing, and these and other areas planted will go far in aiding in a solution
of the social problem which results from unwise land use and in meet
ing a future deficit in timber production.
PRESENT NATIONAL-FOREST PROGRAM
The present 20-year program of the Forest Service based on exist-
ing national-forest area rather than on the enlarged area which should
result from future land acquisition is given in table 8. As land is ac-
quired the acreage to be planted will have to be expanded to meet the
1506
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
needs of the land added. The estimated cost to complete the plant-
ing called for under the present Forest Service program will be approxi-
mately $21,000,000.
TABLE 8. — Present national-forest program of area to be planted by 1950
Region
Acres
Region
Acres
New England
400
Pacific Coast
260 000
Middle Atlantic
40 000
North Rocky Mountain
439 000
Lake
500,000
South Rocky Mountain
540 000
Central
215 000
South
106 000
Total
2 100 400
SEED TESTING AND CERTIFICATION
Forest planting on the scale proposed and by many agencies
both public and private must be protected against the use of seed of
poor quality or unsuited to the locality where it is to be planted.
While compulsory seed certification is not contemplated, those agen-
cies desiring to use high quality seed should be able to look to some
official source for insurance against misrepresentation. This service
should be extended as a form of public aid and, for reasons previously
given, should be centered in the Forest Service of the Federal Gov-
ernment. It is similar to the market inspection now made of farm
products and annually provided for in the Agricultural Appropriation
Act.
The service to be given should (1) provide an official seed labora-
tory in which seed would be tested for germination under controlled
conditions and for purity, (2) provide, through the field forces of the
Forest Service ancf cooperating agencies, for official registration of
seed houses and certification of their seed as to species, elevation and
geographic location of individual seed sources, and date of collection,
(3) provide a central agency through which all imported tree seed for
other than experimental planting must pass for certification.
The cost of such service will be very small and should be borne by
the Federal Government as an incentive to increased reforestation.
An appropriation of $50,000 per year will cover the cost of this service.
DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY
The division of responsibility for planting by ownership classes is
greatly complicated by the existing ownership situation. Of the area
in immediate need of planting (25,525,000 acres) only 2,100,000 acres
are now in Federal ownership and probably not more than an equal
amount is held by other public agencies. At least five sixths of the
area is therefore in private ownership. The extent to which the
ownership obstacle is overcome will determine in large measure the
degree to which the recommended program is accomplished.
PRIVATE RESPONSIBILITY
Under existing conditions private effort in planting will depend
entirely on self-interest which in most instances will be inseparably
linked with early financial profits.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1507
Farm-woodland planting is of course in a special classification.
Here the justification for greatly enlarged effort is clear. Planting
stock in most States can be secured at cost, the work of setting out
the trees will usually be done during slack work periods with little
actual cash outlay to the owner, submarginal areas on otherwise
supermarginal farms are usually available, and the plantations will
have early value in improving living conditions and in furnishing
timber for farm use or for sale as a supplemental cash crop.
Industrial planting should be stimulated by public aid of one sort
or another. Planting stock should be furnished at cost, advice in
planting and subsequent management should be made available
through enlarged extension service, seed-certification service should
be provided for owners desiring to grow their own nursery stock,
financial assistance in fire protection on a fair basis should be extended,
and an equitable method of taxation of reforestation lands should be
inaugurated in the several States.
With such assistance and advice private owners will be encouraged
to extend the work being done in this field, particularly where the
planting of unproductive areas coupled with the leaving of a better
growing stock on cut-over lands will enable them to approach sus-
tained yield in their operation. Although farm woodland and indus-
trial planting might take care of 6 million of the 25 million acres
during the ensuing 20-year period.
PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY
Public responsibility, aside from the forms of aid indicated to
stimulate private effort, had best be restricted to the planting of
public lands. A large acquisition program, both Federal and State,
seems inevitable in viewing the whole forest-land ownership situation.
A substantial part of the land may be acquired through land abandon-
ment and tax delinquency, a lesser amount through outright gift,
and the balance through purchase or exchange. Part of the land
acquired, because of the public importance of watershed protection,
will be land in need of immediate planting. The actual division of
responsibility between Federal, State, and local governments is con-
tingent on such factors as the ability of the various units to finance a
program as large as that to be undertaken, the extent to which water-
shed values are interstate in character and the degree to which refores-
tation will aid in the solution of local social problems.
In arriving at the actual division given in table 9, the acreage for
farm woodland and other private planting was first determined from
the best available data on ownership conditions and the possibility
of permanent management of the land for timber production. The
Federal program was next set up by starting with the 20-year pro-
gram shown in table 8 and adding to it the planting which will be
required by the acquisition program set up elsewhere in this report.
The balance, for each region, was assigned to other public agencies
including the States, counties, and municipalities. While the area
assigned to the last group seems large when compared to that assigned
to the Federal Government it must be remembered that this grouping
includes 48 States besides a great number of counties and municipali-
ties which are or should be responsible for carrying forward a part of
the burden.
1508
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
t The public necessity for improving watershed conditions and stop-
ping stream-channel silting requires the planting of much land now in
private ownership. The alternative to private initiative stimulated
by public aid is recourse to public regulation which with barren land
might mean expropriation or merely another form of public acquisi-
tion. With all of these factors in mind the approximation of responsi-
bility by broad ownership classes shown in table 9 seems logical. It
makes no claim for accuracy but will be helpful in crystallizing in some
degree the comparative parts of the program which each group of
agencies should undertake. Comprehensive land classification or its
equivalent must be greatly speeded up in order that a sound basis for
the selection of specific areas to plant and for the determination of the
most equitable division of responsibility may be had.
TABLE 9. — Areas proposed to be planted by various agencies, and cash expenditures
involved in planting
Begion
All Federal
All other public1
Farm woods 2
Other private 3
Total
Area4
Cost
Area
Cost
Area
Cost
Area
Costs
Area
Cost
New England
Thou-
sand
acres
35
150
2,000
1,500
1,500
450
500
540
Dollars
350,000
1, 500, 000
10, 000, 000
12, 000, 000
10, 500, 000
4, 500, 000
5,000,000
8, 100, 000
Thou-
sand
acres
350
3,100
3,000
3,000
3,500
125
10
10
Dollars
3, 500, 000
31, 000, 000
15, 000, 000
24, 000, 000
24, 500, 000
1, 250, 000
100,000
150,000
Thou-
sand
acres
50
50
1,500
1,000
150
250
50
50
Dollars
167,000
167,000
2, 500, 000
2, 667, 000
350,000
833,000
167,000
250,000
Thou-
sand
acres
65
200
1,000
500
600
250
40
Dollars
520, 000
1, 600, 000
3, 000, 000
3,000,000
3, 000, 000
2,000,000
320,000
Thou-
sand
acres
500
3, 500
7, 500
6,000
5,750
1,075
600
600
Dollars
4, 537, 000
34, 267, 000
30, 500, 000
41, 667, 000
38, 350, 000
8, 583, 000
5, 587, 000
8, 500, 000
Middle Atlantic, .
Lake. .
Central
South
Pacific Coast
North Rocky Moun-
tain
South Rocky Moun-
tain-
Total
6,675
51, 950, 000
13, 095
99, 500, 000
3,100
7, 101, 000
2,655
13, 440, 000
25, 525
171,991,000
1 Including State, county, and municipal.
2 Estimate based on assumption that farm planting will cost only one third as much per acre as planting
by public agencies, owing to availability of stock at less than production cost and to use of regularly em-
ployed farm labor in slack seasons for planting.
3 Including industrial planting by timber companies, power companies, etc.
4 Including part of the land proposed for acquisition by 1950.
« Estimate based on assumption that cost to planters will be reduced $2 per acre by State and Federal aid.
A WATERSHED PROTECTION PROGRAM
By L. F. WATTS, Director, Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experi-
ment Station; E. N. MUNNS, Chief, Division of Silvics; W. R. CHAPLINE,
Chief, Division of Range Research; and LUTHER G. SCHNUR, Associate Sil-
viculturist, Allegheny Forest Experiment Station
CONTENTS Page
Influence of forest cover 1509
Relation of ownership to watershed conditions 1512
Major critical situations 1521
Program for adequate watershed protection 1532
INFLUENCE OF FOREST COVER
That stream flow and erosion are greatly influenced by the kind
and condition of forest and other vegetative cover has been shown in
the section of this report entitled " Watershed and Related Forest
Influences", hereafter called the " watershed description section."
Profound changes, it is evident, have taken and are taking place in
the regimen of our streams, and undesirable soil movement has taken
and is taking place on great areas of watershed land. These changes,
usually harmful in their effect, have been shown to be largely the
result of improper use of forest, range, and farm land.
The introduction to the watershed description section has shown
that the degree of a forest's influence on watershed functioning de-
pends on (1) the type and condition of the forest, (2) the characteris-
tics of the soil, (3) the topography, and (4) the intensity and purpose
of water use. A classification of the forest areas of the United States
as to watershed-protective value, on the basis of these factors, is pre-
sented in table 1 and figure 1 .
Almost three fourths of the total forest area has been classified as
watershed-protection forest, that is, as having major or moderate in-
fluence on watershed values. The remaining fourth, because of flat
topography or extremely permeable soil or for other reasons, is con-
sidered to have slight influence or none. Of the watershed-protection
forest about two thirds, or 308 million acres, exerts a major influence
and one third, or 141 million acres, exerts a moderate influence.
1509
1510 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 1. — Watershed-protective value of forests in the United States
Drainage
Total land
area
Total forest
area
Forest area by watershed-protective
influence
Major
Moderate
Slight or
none
East:
Northeast
Thousand
acres
78, 428
62, 812
105, 388
123, 926
84, 616
24, 960
Thousand
acres
42, 725
43, 581
73, 313
36, 736
42, 246
6,400
Thousand
acres
17, 320
29, 204
18, 709
2,921
5,029
66
Thousand
acres
13, 387
6,412
4,335
20,678
4,112
81
Thousand
acres
12, 018
7,965
50,269
• 13, 137
33, 105
6,253
South Atlantic...
East Gulf
West Gulf
St. Lawrence
Hudson Bay
Total
480, 130
245, 001
73, 249
5,694
35, 919
20, 515
34, 560
6,857
49,005
4,429
7, 569
6,769
15, 525
• 1, 877
122, 747
Mississippi River Basin:
Upper Mississippi ...
119, 586
130, 421
327, 447
176, 981
33, 720
28,094
45, 391
28,642
52, 220
17,854
17, 971
1,903
1,358
2,135
9,120
Ohio River
Missouri River ...
Arkansas- Red
Lower Mississippi .
Total
788, 155
172, 201
103, 545
36, 169
32, 487
West:
California
70,744
154, 880
108, 160
138, 455
131,119
31, 648
29, 780
45, 070
17,460
19, 534
59, 025
26,487
21, 056
36, 196
14, 168
5,513
38, 745
15,564
3,736
8,829
3,292
12, 021
18, 180
9,509
4,988
45
Colorado . . . .
Rio Grande
Great Basin _
2,000
2,100
1,414
Columbia
Pacific Cascade
Total
635, 006
197, 356
131,242
55, 567
10, 547
Grand total. . .
1, 903, 291
614, 558
308, 036
140, 741
165, 781
The fact that the extent and character of the forest cover, as well
as stream flow and erosion, are controlled in part by the quantity and
distribution of precipitation makes it difficult to draw deductions
from gross acreages such as are given in table 1. It may be noted
that in the Pacific Cascade drainages, with steep slopes and heavy
rainfall but with about 90 percent of the total area hi forest, mostly
dense, floods and erosion are no great cause for concern, while in the
Colorado River Basin, with much lower rainfall but with less than
one third of its area in forest of a lighter type, floods and erosion are
serious. More localized comparisons are given in the watershed
description section. The effect of forest destruction on run -off is
indicated by studies at the Red Plains Erosion Experiment Station
in Oklahoma, where a plot from which the forest litter had been
burned produced more than 100 times as much run-off as a similar
unburned plot; its effect on erosion is indicated by a study of Hoyt
and Troxell in California, in which the flood flows from burned water-
sheds were found to contain 20 to 67 percent of ash and silt.
The Great Basin, with only 14 percent of its area forested and only
28 percent of this classed as of major influence, developed a serious
flood and erosion situation only after the forest and other vegetative
cover was reduced by overgrazing and fire. Similarly, in the Ohio
River Basin, 35 percent of which is in forest, the silting problem and
increased frequency of floods have followed misuse of the land by man.
Erosion is a geologic phenomenon older than the hills, yet in each
region the original vegetative cover was usually sufficient for soil
building. Reduction of the cover through timber cutting, fire, over-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1511
168342°— 33— vol. 2 30
1512 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
grazing, and cultivation has often not only prevented soil building
but diminished the fertility of the existing soil and impaired its ability
to produce cover of the original type. This condition is illustrated
by data from an area in Mississippi studied by the Southern Forest
Experiment Station where 23 tons of topsoil per acre were lost from
cultivated land as compared to only a trace of soil lost from forest
land. Erosion cannot be completely stopped, but by restoring forest
or other vegetative cover on the steeper and more critical areas the
process can be retarded to a rate less than that at which fertility is
added to the soil.
In each of the major drainage basins, bad conditions of stream flow
and erosion now exist. On an immense area the forest cover has been
reduced or removed by fire and improper cutting. The vegetative
cover has too often been depleted by improper grazing methods, and
the fertile topsoil has been washed from millions of acres of agricul-
tural lands. The result of this land treatment has been higher and
more frequent floods, silted reservoirs and stream channels, accen-
tuated difficulties during periods of low water, and reduced produc-
tivity of the land.
KELATION OF OWNERSHIP TO WATERSHED CONDITIONS
Land ownership, more than any other one factor, has determined
the differences in present watershed conditions. The degree to which
watershed requirements have been met on land in various types of
ownership and the sort of action necessary to establish satisfactory
watershed management in each of these types are substantially as
follows:
PRIVATE
AGRICULTURAL LAND
In the eastern half of the United States the most acute stream-flow
and erosion problems exist on land now classed as agricultural. On
such land, according to rough calculations, perhaps 70 percent of the
erosion takes place and 40 percent of the water troubles originate.
As has been pointed out in the section of this report entitled " Agri-
cultural Land Available for Forestry", more -than 50 million acres of
agricultural land in the United States is now abandoned or idle, and
present trends indicate the abandonment of an additional 25 or 30
million acres in the next 20 years. Largely because of removal of
fertile topsoil, often through sheet erosion, the productivity of nearly
all the land now abandoned was reduced below the point at which the
land could be used economically for crop production.
Sheet and gully erosion on agricultural land are by no means con-
fined to abandoned land and land approaching abandonment. Under
present cropping methods erosion is the usual condition, and unless
present practices are remedied more and more of the fertile soil from
farm lands generally will be added to the silt load of our streams and
rivers. On land suited for agricultural use, the problem is one to be
solved by agriculture rather than by forestry. The Bureau of
Chemistry and Soils and the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering,
individually, in cooperation with States, are working on the agricul-
tural land phases of the erosion problem. Further reference here to
the control of erosion on agricultural land will be omitted.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1513
Among the worse situations as regards erosion are those described
in detail for the South Atlantic drainages, where at least 5 million
acres out of a total of 46 million acres of farm land is so seriously
eroded that cropping must be discontinued; the Yazoo River silt loam
uplands of the lower Mississippi River drainage, where 783,000 acres
out of a total of about 2}£ million acres of crop land is being seriously
eroded; and the glaciated section of Illinois, where about 1% million
acres out of a total of 31 million acres is in a similar condition. The
same condition exists on smaller portions of most of the eastern
drainages.
These conditions are in part the result of cultivation on slopes so
steep and soils so erosive that destructive washing was inevitable.
Failure to hold the soil on lands that could have remained in agri-
culture by contour plowing, terracing, and proper crop rotation has
been another contributing factor. We are now faced with the
problem not only of putting this once productive land to use but
also of preventing it from doing positive damage through increased
contribution to run-off and through the silting of stream channels.
That this land does accentuate these two problems immensely is
shown by many experimental results reported in the watershed
description section of this report.
Since private ownership did not meet watershed requirements on
these lands even while they had agricultural value, obviously it can
not be expected voluntarily to assume the expense of rehabilitating
any great part of the lands or of controlling erosion and stream flow
from them. The situation calls for public acquisition and manage-
ment of areas that can be blocked up into feasible administrative
units and of smaller units where the silt contribution is extremely
large and where private initiative plainly can not be expected to
correct conditions. Small isolated tracts normally should be taken
care of in private ownership with some degree of public aid. Public
acquisition can come in part through tax delinquency and in part
through gift or purchase. In any event the cost per acre should not
be high. The area of lands once farmed that should be repossessed
by the public is believed to be almost 22 million acres.
On a large part of this land a cover of grass, weeds, brush, and trees
sufficient to hold the soil will come in naturally if cropping is per-
manently eliminated and the cover is protected from fire and over-
grazing, but on some 10 or 11 million acres in more humid regions
the gullying that has started can best be stopped by planting trees.
FOREST LAND
Private ownership of forest land has usually carried with it no con-
sciousness of an obligation to manage the lands so as to maintain or
improve watershed conditions. In cutting timber it has generally
been the owner's purpose to harvest the existing timber and dispose
of the cut-over land as soon thereafter as possible. The section of
this report entitled " Current Forest Devastation and Deterioration"
has stated that about 10 million acres of private timberland is cut
over annually. Only a small part of this is cut in such a way as to
bring about perpetuation of the forest. Cutting practices designed
to promote natural reproduction have been adopted on only about 10
million of the 444 million acres of privately owned forest lands. That
1514 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
present owners do not intend to retain possession permanently is
implied by the fact that, even prior to the present depression, great
areas of cut-over land in the Lake States, the South, the Pacific
Coast, the northern Rocky Mountains, and other regions had become
tax delinquent.
Too often, logging methods have been used that were extremely
damaging to young growth left standing and that induced rapid run-
off and erosion. Broadcast burning of slash in the ponderosa pine
and other types has been curtailed in recent years only.
Fire control on private timberlands is inadequate in all regions of
the United States with the possible exception of the northern and
southern Rocky Mountains. (See table 5 of the section of this report
entitled "Protection Against Fire.") The best available data show
that only about 54 percent of the 412 million acres of private timber-
lands needing protection are receiving it. More than 150 million
acres of private forest land in the 11 Southern States and more than
35 million acres in the Central States receives no protection. Partly
as a result of this fact, the area burned over annually in the 5-year
period 1926-30 averaged more than 37}£ million acres in the South
and 1,379,000 acres in the Central States. Recently in some western
regions there has been a tendency to withdraw protection from
cut-over lands where such action does not jeopardize virgin timber.
Grazing on private timberlands has likewise failed to meet water-
shed requirements. In the East, grazing use of woodlands has often
been so heavy as to destroy the litter cover, pack the soil, and prevent
the establishment of young trees in the stand. The watershed descrip-
tion section has shown that this treatment increases run-off and in
some instances causes erosion. In the West, where range forage on
timberland is usable it has been sold without serious attempt to
regulate use in such a way as to maintain the vegetative cover. The
proportion of the 228 million acres of privately owned forest land
used as pasture on which watershed management receives even inci-
dental consideration is insignificant.
Partly as a result of the practices just mentioned, about 56 million
acres of privately owned forest land in the United States has been
devastated. The Lake States with 12 million acres, the South with
23 million acres, and the Northeast with 5 million acres of such
devastated land clearly illustrate the lack of concern for forest values.
So long as the treatment of private land does not damage other
land, or the public, public intervention is not called for. Where bad
management will result in irregular stream flow, floods, erosion, or
silting, or otherwise damage public or private property, certainly
management restrictions &re justified. They cannot properly be
applied, however, unless the public is willing to bear its share of the
expense which such action may entail. As an alternative to regula-
tion the only recourse seems to be public acquisition of critical water-
shed areas. This is discussed in detail in the section of this report
entitled "Public Regulation of Private Forests." It is estimated that
approximately 155 million acres of major-influence watershed land
should be acquired by the public in order to safeguard public welfare.
The distribution of this land by regions is shown in table 9.
The importance of privately owned forest land to watershed protec-
tion is shown in table 2. Certainly, with a total of 297 million acres of
privately owned forest land classified as of high and moderate water-
shed influence, the condition of such land is a matter of public concern.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1515
TABLE 2. — Watershed-protective influence of privately owned forests
Drainage
Total forest
area
Forest area by watershed-protective
influence
Major
Moderate
Slight or
none
Northeastern
Acres
38, 587, 000
42, 137, 000
72, 187, 000
36, 588, 000
17, 842, 000
48, 775, 000
43, 532, 000
26, 730, 000
34, 696, 000
5, 513, 000
14, 483, 000
13, 753, 000
6, 482, 000
7, 787, 000
3,851,000
17, 189, 000
14, 225, 000
Acres
14,544,000
28, 444, 000
18, 480, 000
2, 916, 000
6, 847, 000
32, 040, 000
34, 268, 000
5, 624, 000
4, 828, 000
66,000
12, 262, 000
10, 009, 000
2, 844, 000
6, 154, 000
1, 856, 000
12, 438, 000
8, 576, 000
Acres
12, 601, 000
5, 913, 000
4, 248, 000
20, 588, 000
1, 877, 000
14, 871, 000
7, 429, 000
4, 329, 000
2, 764, 000
76,000
1,521,000
2, 086, 000
3, 638, 000
1, 633, 000
1, 497, 000
4. 743, 000
4, 781, 000
Acres
11,442,000
7, 780, 000
49, 459, 000
13, 084, 000
9,118,000
1, 864, 000
1, 835, 000
16, 777, 000
27, 104, 000
5,371,000
700,000
1, 658, 000
South Atlantic
East Gulf
West Gulf
Lower Mississippi
Arkansas-Red
Ohio
Upper Mississippi
St. Lawrence - - ._.„ ..-
Hudson Bay
Missouri River
California- - - . - -
Colorado
Rio Grande
Great Basin. .-. . .. .
498,000
8,000
868,000
Columbia
Pacific Cascade
Total _
444, 357, 000
202, 196, 000
94, 595, 000
147, 566, 000
TOWN, MUNICIPAL, AND COUNTY
Town and municipal forests, which total 473,765 acres in the
United States, are in general very well cared for. Usually they have
been established for watershed protection. They are policed and
protected, and cutting and grazing are either banned or so regulated
as to permit maintenance of favorable cover conditions. Denuded
lands are usually planted as acquired.
While no attempt has been made to determines what acreage should
ultimately be in municipal forests, it may be said that the area
should be greatly increased. This is especially true of city watershed
lands. The responsibility is localized and very direct. Often the
acquisition and maintenance of a watershed area is no less definitely
the responsibility of a city than the building of the conduit through
which the water reaches the city mains.
In many sections of the United States large acreages of forest lands
are reverting to the local governments for nonpayment of taxes. In
most States these lands revert to the county; in a few they revert to
the town or the State. For the sake of brevity they are all here con-
sidered as county land. Such lands are in both large and small
blocks, and in most instances have been cut over, burned, or devas-
tated. Where actually organized for administration these lands are
satisfactorily handled. The greater part are not so organized and
are given little attention other than fire protection. Particularly in
agricultural districts, the land that has reverted or is reverting to
the public is largely land that has been used for agriculture but that
through one cause or another is no longer profitable for such use.
In many cases, as has already been stated, erosion has been a primary
cause of reversion.
These tax title lands, both forested and agricultural, often spoken
of as the "new public domain", are returning to public ownership in
a very poor watershed condition and frequently must be given special
attention if they are to perform any worthwhile service. Most of
them should not be returned to private ownership. They should be
1516
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
blocked as public forests, and the public should assume the full
responsibility of ownership. Trees should be planted on them if
necessary, fire protection should be provided, and such practices as
promiscuous cutting or too heavy grazing use should be prohibited.
Where the financial burden of properly caring for these lands is
too heavy for the resources of the local government, the larger block
at least should be taken over and managed by the State. Some of
the lands are so located that it would be logical to include them in
national forests or, where suitable, in national parks.
STATE
State-owned forest lands total more than 13 million acres, including
4,395,549 acres ^of State forests, 2,682,509 acres of State parks, and
6,140,106 acres in other status.
In the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States, State ownership
generally goes back to Federal land grants made without regard to
the major purpose which the land should serve. In New England
and the Middle Atlantic States, State ownership has more often
resulted from direct acquisition and in some instances is based in
part on watershed-protection needs. In some regions, including the
Lake States, State ownership has resulted in part through Federal
grant, in part through purchase, and in part through tax delinquency.
Obviously, in such cases watershed value was not the primary basis
of selection. Table 3 shows by regions the watershed-protective
influence of forest lands in State, municipal, and county ownership.
TABLE 3. — Watershed-protective influence of forests on State, county, and municipal
lands
Drainage
Total forest
area
Forest area by watershed-protective
influence
Major
Moderate
Slight or
none
Northeastern - -
Acres
3, 545, 000
232,000
250,000
148,000
12,000
105, 000
282,000
1, 175, 000
5, 115, 000
17,000
Acres
2, 500, 000
100,000
50,000
5,000
10,000
70,000
150,000
70,000
200,000
Acres
500,000
82,000
5,000
90,000
Acres
545,000
50,000
195,000
53,000
2,000
21,000
68,000
1, 005, 000
3, 587, 000
12,000
48,000
10,000
2,000
South Atlantic - --
East Gulf
West Gulf
Lower Mississippi - -
Arkansas-Red
14,000
64,000
100,000
1, 328, 000
5,000
163,000
Ohio _ - - -
Upper Mississippi ------
St Lawrence
Hudson Bay
Missouri ------ .
411,000
121,000
1,797,000
1, 069, 000
122,000
2, 021, 000
1, 058, 000
200,000
111,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
15,000
835,000
500,000
California
Colorado . - -
595,000
69,000
5,000
1,000,000
227,000
Great Basin
102,000
186,000
331, 000
Columbia
Pacific Cascade . _
Total
17, 480, 000
7, 016, 000
4, 247, 000
6, 217, 000
Most State lands organized as State forests or parks are so managed
and protected that watershed values are maintained and improved.
In some Eastern States cutting is closely supervised, grazing is re-
stricted, fire is virtually excluded, and most of the denuded areas
have been planted. In some States, because of lack of interest in
State forests, protection is inadequate, grazing and cutting are vir-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1517
tually unregulated, and little if any progress has been made in
reforesting denuded lands.
State-owned forest lands outside State forests and parks in some
instances are given little or no administration. Many of these hold-
ings are so widely scattered and in such small parcels as to make
management somewhat difficult. In many of the Western States
these lands are leased for grazing on an acreage basis without any
restrictions as to numbers of stock to be pastured or season of use.
In some instances timber is sold by estimate and cutting is not super-
vised. State lands inside national-forest boundaries, however, are
often given protection and other management under cooperative
agreements with the Forest Service. In some States there exists a
State forestry organization capable of expanding sufficiently to place
all State-owned forest lands under administration.
The acreage of organized State forests should be increased greatly.
Much increase promises to come about through tax delinquency. An
aggressive purchase and exchange program should be formulated to
provide that the tax-reverted holdings will be consolidated for efficient
management.
Since a large acreage of devastated forest land and submarginal
agricultural land will inevitably find its way into State ownership,
many of the forested States are faced with the necessity of financing
a large program of reforestation and fire protection in order to rebuild
watershed values. The division of responsibility for such activities
among the various public agencies is discussed in some detail in the
section of this report entitled "The Probable Future Distribution of
Forest Land Ownership."
FEDERAL
NATIONAL FORESTS
On the national forests, a desirable type of administration is pro-
vided for a large area of forest and related wild land. As shown in
table 4, the national forests with a net area of 140,003,966 acres, have
107,773,000 acres in forest. Of this forested area 70 percent has high
watershed influence, 24 percent has moderate influence, and only 6
percent has slight or no influence. By far the greater part of this
land is located in mountainous sections at the headwaters of major
streams.
TABLE 4. — Watershed-protective influence of national forests
Drainage
Total for-
est area
Forest area by watershed-protective
influence
Major
Moderate
Slight or
none
Northeastern
M acres
532
1,057
757
2, 569
1,276
189
1,810
9,166
13, 127
21,913
5,364
6,670
34, 755
8,588
M acres
266
640
80
2,450
1,200
M acres
266
417
82
69
76
M acres
South Atlantic
East Gulf
595
50
Arkansas- Red
Ohio
Upper Mississippi
189
1,809
63
2,161
43
1
6,103
9,466
19, 870
4, 864
3,000
22,000
5,188
Missouri
3,000
1,500
2,000
500
2,670
11,933
3,400
California -
Colorado -
Great Basin
1,000
822
Columbia _ . -_. .
Pacific Cascade
Total
107, 773
75, 128
25, 913
6,732
1518 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Fire protection is given all national-forest lands, although in some
regions it has not reached a satisfactory standard. The action neces-
sary to meet the minimum standards is discussed in detail in the
section of this report entitled " Protection Against Fire." In the
5-year period 1926-30, for the entire national-forest system the area
actually burned over was only 7 percent more than the allowable
burn ; in the Middle Atlantic States and Pacific Coast States, however,
the acreage burned was 3.8 times and 2.8 times, respectively, as great
as the allowable acreage, and on about 30 million acres of critical
areas in the South, Pacific Coast, and Northern Rocky Mountain
Regions the area burned, was about five times as large as that which
could be accepted as satisfactory.
Timber cutting on the national forests is usually handled on the
selection system, which is most satisfactory from a watershed stand-
point. In certain types, particularly the Pacific Coast Douglas fir
and mature western white pine, the present cutting practice is not
entirely satisfactory from a watershed-protection standpoint, but the
condition of the virgin stand being cut seems to demand that the
present practices be continued. Fortunately in both instances, owing
to the humid climate, as discussed in the watershed description section,
rather complete re vegetation follows cutting very quickly.
Denuded lands are being planted as rapidly as funds will permit.
Planting operations to date have covered more than 300,000 acres,
and the program now outlined calls for the planting of 2,100,000 acres
in the next 20 years. This work is progressing slowly and should be
greatly speeded up.
National-forest range lands as a whole are safeguarded from im-
proper use, although in some places grazing practices do not adequate-
ly safeguard watershed values or permit the vegetation rapidly to
reclaim lands injured before the forests were established.
On the whole, national-forest administration takes into account the
needs of watershed protection and in a very practical way applies
the available information as to protection of watershed values.
Administration is constantly improving, and it is reasonable to expect
that the national forests will continue to exert an increasing bene-
ficial influence upon soil and water conditions. As is shown in the
section of this report entitled " Research in the United States Forest
Service", much research is needed to determine definitely the best
methods of handling watershed lands. The national forests, in-
cluding most of the conditions to be studied, provide an excellent
field for this work.
That the acreage of national-forest land must be greatly increased
if watershed values are to be preserved is clear. The benefits from
watershed protection are largely public, and it cannot be expected that
private ownership will bear the burden of proper management unless
it pays immediately. In most cases, local governments cannot be
expected to finance projects of interstate or national significance.
The most desirable division of ownership among agencies is discussed
in detail in the section entitled "The Probable Future Distribution of
Forest Land Ownership."
INDIAN LANDS
Lands in Indian reservations are not, on the whole, given the best
possible management from a watershed standpoint. The objectives
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1519
of timber management are substantially the same as on the national
forests. Fire control has been seriously handicapped by lack of ade-
quate funds. Steps have been taken to correct the serious overgrazing
which has been practiced on some reservations. The indeterminate
status of Indian lands, discussed in the section of this report entitled
"The Indian Forests", is chiefly responsible for defects in manage-
ment. As is shown by table 5, of the 15 million acres of Indian forest
land nearly 70 percent is classified as having high watershed influence.
TABLE 5. — Watershed-protective influence of forests on Indian lands
Drainage
Total forest
area
Forest area by watershed-protective
influence
Major
Moderate
Slight or
none
Ohio
JVf acres
56
410
870
1,490
985
8, 493 •
400
10
2,225
480
M acres
56
M acres
M acres
St. Lawrence..
20
390
870
300
733
Hudson Bay. - ..
Missouri
730
102
7,797
350
10
1,725
460
150
696
50
California
Colorado
Rio Grande
Great Basin.- -
Columbia
250
480
250
Pacific Cascade
Total
i 15,419
10, 770
2,106
2,543
i This figure includes some 6,772,000 acres of noncommercial forest, mostly of the pinon-juniper type in
Arizona and New Mexico.
NATIONAL PARKS AND NATIONAL MONUMENTS
National parks and monuments are generally handled in a way that
meets watershed requirements. Commercial use of all kinds is
greatly restricted, and in only a very slight degree is this regulated
use at variance with best watershed-protection practices. Grazing
is gradually being excluded. Commercial cutting is entirely ex-
cluded. Fire protection in most of the parks is now of about the
same standard as that on the national forests. More than 90 percent
of about 4)2 million acres of land in national parks and monuments
has major or moderate watershed influence, as is shown in table 6.
Watershed conditions on these lands are good and are rapidly im-
proving.
TABLE 6. — Watershed-protective influence of forests on national park and monu-
ment lands
Drainage
Total forest
area
Forest area by watershed-protective
influence
Major
Moderate
Slight or
none
Northeastern
M acres
12
1
220
1,654
828
387
20
1,059
239
M acres
10
M acres
M acres
2
Arkansas-Red
1
Ohio
220
154
828
387
1,500
California
Colorado
20
109
139
Columbia -
600
100
350
Pacific Cascade
Total .
4,420
2,299
1,769
352
1520
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Conditions on the unreserved and unappropriated public domain
are in decided contrast to those on the classes of Federal lands just-
discussed. The best available estimates show that 25 million acres
of the 173,318,246 acres of the public domain and the Oregon and
California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands is
forested. Of the forested land 91 percent has moderate or high
protective influence, as is shown in table 7.
TABLE 7. — Watershed-protective influence of forests on public domain and other
Federal lands 1
Drainage
Total for-
est area
Forest area by watershed-
protective influence
Major
Moder-
ate
Slight or
none
Northeastern
Thousand
acres
49
155
119
770
25
215
1,438
966
5,998
2,820
8,881
1,776
1,897
Thousand
acres
Thousand
acres
20
Thousand
acres
29
135
20
200
South Atlantic
20
99
East Gulf.
Arkansas-Red .
570
Ohio
25
St. Lawrence... ...
215
247
426
Missouri
1,066
540
4,098
1,800
632
1,147
1,200
125
California '....
Colorado
1,900
1,020
7,849
145
482
Rio Grande
Great Basin
400
484
215
Columbia . . -.
Pacific Cascade
Total
25, 109
10,627
12, 111
2,371
1 Including Oregon and California and Coos Bay land grants.
The condition and management of these lands are discussed in
detail in the sections of this report entitled "The Public Domain and
Other Federal Forest Lands" and "Forest Ranges." These lands
are without administration or purposeful management. They suffer
from all the evils of improper grazing use, and where timber cutting
takes place no provision is made to prevent devastation. Fire pro-
tection is entirely lacking on a large part of the watershed lands, and
where given is adequate.
Slightly more than 19 million acres of these lands, because of
location and character, might logically be added to existing national
forests. An additional area in excess of 3 million acres might well
be given national-forest status as new units or held for inclusion in
the national forests at a later stage in the national-forest acquisition
program. Administration of these lands as portions of national
forests would increase the stability of the livestock industry and thus
greatly encourage better handling of intermingled or nearby private
land, thus making watershed management more effective generally.
The bulk of these lands should be included in public grazing reserves
and given such administration as would preserve and improve the
watershed values.
The proper administration of these lands would promote improve-
ment of watershed conditions in the West perhaps more than any
other single measure.
A NATIONAL PLAN" FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1521
The watershed-protective value of forests in all ownerships is
summarized in table 8.
TABLE 8. — Watershed-protective value of forests in the United States by ownership
Ownership
Total for-
est area
Forest area by watershed-
protective influence
Major
Moder-
ate
Slight or
none
National forests
Thousand
acres
107, 773
15, 419
4,420
25,109
17, 480
444, 357
614, 558
Thousand
acres
75, 128
10, 770
2, 299
10, 627
7,016
202, 196
Thousand
acres
25, 913
2,106
1,769
12, 111
4,247
94, 595
Thousand
acres
6,732
2,543
352
2,371
6,217
147, 566
Indian forests
National parks and monuments,, _. _ .
Public domain and other Federal land
State, county, and municipal
Private .... . . ..
Total
308, 036
140, 741
165, 781
MAJOR CRITICAL SITUATIONS
A single watershed problem may be common to parts of several
drainages. For example, watershed conditions in the piedmont and
upper coastal plain sections from the Potomac River around the At-
lantic seaboard to Texas form a single problem, and so do those in the
semiarid woodlands throughout the West. In order to avoid repeti-
tion, statements as to major critical watershed situations will be based
on representative groups of conditions rather than on the drainage
divisions previously used. No attempt will be made here to cover
the entire country or to present statistics in such a way as to make
possible a summation into national totals.
MISSISSIPPI BLUFF LANDS AND SILT LOAM UPLANDS
The bluff lands of the Mississippi River and the lower reaches of
its main tributaries form a narrow belt extending from New Orleans
to St. Paul, through the lower Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and upper
Mississippi River drainages. They are the steep, broken slopes and
adjacent silt loam uplands that flank the river terraces. They total
about 20 million acres, of which two thirds lies below the mouth of
the Missouri River, and are characterized by windblown and silt
loam soils.
These bluff lands are believed to contribute more to the silt problem
of the Mississippi River than any other area of the same size. The
greatest watershed problem here is erosion, although flood control is
almost equally important. The high erosibility of the soils naturally
favors the formation of deep gullies, which spread with exceptional
rapidity and are most difficult to check. This is particularly true in
the Yazoo River uplands, in the southern tip of Illinois, and in the
bluff lands of southwestern Wisconsin and of adjoining areas in
Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. In some counties of the Yazoo up-
lands as much as 40 percent of the area is badly gullied, the gullies
reaching in many cases to a depth of 20 or 40 feet and in some cases
to more than 100 feet.
1522 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Originally almost unbroken, the forest stands have been reduced by
fire, grazing, lumbering, and clearing for agriculture by approximately
75 percent in the South and by an even greater proportion in the
North.
The erosion problem here is very largely the consequence of im-
aer agricultural practices. It has resulted in part from cropping
that never should have been cleared and in part from using im-
proper cropping methods on good agricultural land. Principally as a
result of these two practices about one sixth of the agricultural area
has already been abandoned and active erosion is continuing on about
one fourth of this abandoned land.
Special measures to check erosion are needed now on upwards of
1 million acres of the bluff lands, and unless present bad practices are
quickly corrected will be needed on an even larger area. The volume
of soil being eroded from these areas each year is inconceivable. A
single rain on experimental plots near Holly Springs, Miss., for exam-
ple, removed soil at the rate of 23 tons per acre from cultivated land
with a 10 percent slope. Studies in southwestern Wisconsin have
resulted in an estimate that an area of 10,000 square miles in Wiscon-
sin and Minnesota contributes 15 million tons of silt to the Mississippi
River annually. In both sets of experiments erosion from forested
soils was insignificant compared with that from barren or cultivated
soils. While these figures may or may not be extreme, they establish
clearly the importance of erosion control on bluff lands if the Missis-
sippi River silt problem is to be solved.
The same studies showed the effectiveness of the forest cover in
controlling run-off. The percentage of the precipitation that ran off
immediately from cultivated plots as compared with that from forested
plots was about 130 times as large in Mississippi and about 12 times
as large in Wisconsin.
The situation on forested lands, while far from satisfactory, is in
general not wholly bad. Particularly in the South, fires occur com-
monly in the bluff lands and destroy the leaf mold and litter so neces-
sary to watershed protection. In the State of Mississippi as a whole
the acreage burned over annually averages more than 40 times the
allowable burn. The percentage burned in the bluff lands is not much
below the State average. Timber cutting, while usually falling short
of devastation, has been too heavy to permit the forest to exert its
full watershed-protective influence, and grazing has injured the forest
cover on many areas.
Solution of the erosion and flood problems of the bluff lands, essen-
tial both locally and nationally, appears to require (1) lifting from
agricultural use land that is submarginal for that use; (2) reforesting,
by planting, the 650,000 acres of land on which erosion will otherwise
continue; (3) providing adequate fire protection on timberlands; and
(4) installing special mechanical erosion checks where necessary.
There is little hope of obtaining proper watershed conditions on
this land in private ownership, because the expense incidental to
proper management will not be returned as a direct financial profit
to the individual owner. To obtain such conditions will necessitate
public acquisition of a large acreage of submarginal farm and forested
land. On the timberlands that remain in private ownership, fire
protection should be materially strengthened, through public aid and
extension.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1523
The damage that results from conditions within this narrow belt
along the river obviously is of national interest. The navigability of
the river, its interstate character, and the magnitude of the Mississippi
flood problem call for national action. Individual States affected
should, of course, assume part of the direct responsibility, but the
major part of the control program should and must be carried by
the Federal Government.
PIEDMONT AND UPPER COASTAL PLAINS
Erosion and floods are the two outstanding watershed problems in
the piedmont and upper coastal plain sections, which include the
critical situation not only in the southern Atlantic drainages but in
the east Gulf drainages as well. The serious conditions are largely
confined to the highly erosible deep clay to loam soils of the piedmont
and the somewhat similar soils found on parts of the upper and more
hilly portion of the coastal plain. Rainfall is abundant, varying from
about 35 inches in the upper Potomac to 80 inches farther south.
As much as 22 inches of rainfall has been recorded in an individual
storm.
The forest cover, originally almost complete, now extends over only
about two thirds of the total area, the forested proportion varying
among the larger drainages from 50 percent to 75 percent. Organized
fire protection has been provided for only a small part of the forest,
and in the 5-year period 1926-30 the average annual burn for the
States included was nearly 15 times the allowable burn.
The major problem has to do with the land that has been cleared
and used for agriculture. With as much as 80 percent of the land in
the charge of tenants, largely irresponsible, cropping has not been
handled skillfully. Fields have been plowed up and down hill instead
of along the contour or in terraces; cotton, corn, and tobacco have
been grown under clean tillage year after year, the soil being left
without cover during the period of greatest rainfall. Reduction of
productivity by sheet erosion and destruction of productivity by deep
gully erosion have resulted in widespread land abandonment. Within
the east Gulf and South Atlantic drainages at least 8}£ million acres
of land has been abandoned in the past 20 years, and present trends
indicate that abandonment may reach 12 million acres by 1950.
Fortunately the climate and the ease with which the southern pines
reproduce favor rapid revegetation of abandoned land. It is believed
that as much as two thirds of the abandoned land may be reclaimed
by natural forest or by weeds and grass if left undisturbed. This
would reduce to perhaps 2}£ or 3 million acres the area demanding
treatment within the next 20 years if erosion is to be controlled. On
this area tree planting is the logical solution.
It will be difficult to obtain on privately owned forest the type of
management that will adequately meet the erosion and stream-flow
situation. It will be practically impossible under private ownership
to carry through a program of reforestation and engineering works on
idle land such as the situation demands unless the public pays the
costs. For the Government to attempt to control the clearing and
cultivation of lands that if so treated would be subject to destructive
erosion would be impractical so long as the lands remained in private
ownership.
1524 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Public acquisition and management of a large part of the eroding
farm lands and the major-influence forest land appears to be the only
adequate solution. Heavy Federal participation in this project is
fully justified by the effect of the present situation on the maintenance
of navigable rivers.
CENTRAL STATES ABANDONED FARM LANDS
Abandoned farm lands of the Central States region, although in
many sections intermingled with true forest land, constitute a water-
shed situation that requires special consideration. Conditions vary
greatly among different parts of the region. In general, the ungla-
ciated and therefore more hilly areas are most in need of attention.
Elsewhere in these States soil depletion and erosion may be a serious
matter but it is a problem for agriculture to solve, with forestry play-
ing only a minor part through reforestation of small critical areas
and throug;h better management of farm woodlands on many farms.
The sections where conditions are most critical and where forestry
may aid materially (outside of the Mississippi River bluff lands, dis-
cussed separately) include West Virginia, western portions of Ken-
tucky and Tennessee, southern parts of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and
Missouri, and, to a lesser degree, northern Missouri, southern Iowa,
and eastern Nebraska and Kansas.
Within the sections where erosion is most acute perhaps 15 million
acres of farm land has already been abandoned and the trend has
apparently only gotten under way. The major reasons for abandon-
ment, apart from the present economic situation as it applies to farm
lands, are (1) the clearing for agriculture of land that owing to steep
slopes or naturally shallow or highly erosible soils should have
remained in forest, and (2) failure to apply special treatment such as
contour plowing, terracing, and proper crop rotation to land, the
agricultural usefulness of which might thus have been preserved.
On many areas erosion continues unchecked after abandonment,
while on other areas idleness permits the establishment of a cover of
weeds, grass, brush, or trees sufficient to hold the soil.
Decisive action is justified by average annual flood damage amount-
ing to more than $4,000,000 on the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers and
to much greater sums on the Mississippi River proper, by the silting
of navigable streams to correct which literally hundreds of millions of
dollars have been spent or are proposed for expenditure, and by the
serious domestic water supply problem encountered during periods
of drought.
At present practically the whole area, except land that has reverted
to public ownership through tax foreclosure, is in private ownership.
Certainly private owners cannot logically be expected to spend money
to cure a condition on lands that they have abandoned, or when any
benefits resulting from the treatment would accrue to the public rather
than to the owners. Public financial aid or public acquisition is
indispensible to progress. In many instances the financial aid needed
would approach or might even exceed the value of the land itself.
Therefore a program of public acquisition seems to be the practical
way out.
Owing to the interstate character of the main streams and their
relation to navigation and flood control the problem is national in
A NATIONAL PLAN. FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1525
scope, although some of its local aspects place responsibility on
various public agencies in the several States. Certain of the States
have enormous wealth, while others find it difficult to finance the usual
functions of government. Some of the most critical situations are so
located at the borders of States that, however important nationally,
they have only minor significance for the State.
Obviously each agency involved should make the maximum
equitable contribution. Private owners should handle situations in
the farm-woodland class involving only a small part of their entire
property; counties and municipalities financially able to do so should
participate on areas not subject to blocking up for more specialized
management; States should carry a large part of the burden, on the
basis of responsibility for damage originating within their jurisdiction;
finally, the Federal Government should assume the responsibility for
large areas and for special conditions beyond the reach of local
agencies.
With the dedication of these abandoned lands to watershed protec-
tion must go a planting program such as that set up in the section of this
report entitled " Reforestation of Barren and Unproductive Land."
Generally, planting should be concentrated at first on land that other-
wise would continue to wash after cropping is eliminated. In very
many cases this will mean only a small part of a farm otherwise in
satisfactory condition. Farm- woodland planting is inexpensive, and
besides contributing to watershed protection converts idle areas on
the farm to a definite productive use. In most of the public planting
timber production would be incidental to the benefits of erosion and
flood control; it would be a real factor, nevertheless, in a region that
imports great quantities of wood products. The use of land primarily
for watershed protection usually need not eliminate timber cutting,
game production, and recreational use.
Along with public acquisition and management must go improved
fire protection on forest lands in all types of ownership.
COASTAL DUNES
The coastal dunes include sand dune lands along the eastern shores
of Lake Michigan and other Great Lakes and in places along the
Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts. Of special interest are the dunes
of Cape Cod, Long Island, the New Jersey coast, Maryland, North
and South Carolina,, Florida, and Oregon. These dunes menace
harbors, transportation systems, agricultural lands, summer homes,
and other improvements. The individual areas are small. Taken
together they may compose a strip several miles wide along a thousand
miles of coast line, totaling probably half a million acres.
At the present time a very small area of dune land is in public
ownership. Part of this is in parks such as those in northwestern
Indiana and at San Francisco. * The greater part is in private owner-
ship.
The control of sand movement on coastal dune areas will require
planting grasses and shrubs, scattering litter and other humus ma-
terial, building sand fences and traps, and reforesting by many
different methods.
Fire control in the dune region is relatively simple, because the
cover is usually insufficient to carry flames. After dunes have been
stabilized, however, such a cover can be developed as will be subject
1526 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
to destructive fires. On dune areas that are being stabilized, well-
nigh perfect fire control should be maintained, because of the danger
of loss of the cover.
In spite of the fact that their productive value is low, a considerable
portion of the dune lands will be held for private development, largely
as recreation areas or as estates. On such areas the use of fire should
be closely restricted, cutting should be restricted to the removal of
dead wood, and grazing use should be very closely restricted or
entirely eliminated. Where feasible, dune lands should be taken into
public ownership ; only in exceptional cases can private ownership be
expected to provide the type of management and protection required.
Usually these areas have exceedingly high value for recreation, and the
two purposes of soil fixation and recreation often can be served best
through public control. Usually, Federal ownership should not be
necessary.
NORTHEASTERN DRAINAGES
The Catskill, Adirondack, Green, and White Mountain watersheds
involve about 40 million acres of timberland in the northeastern
drainages, including the St. Lawrence drainage below the Great Lakes.
Here domestic and industrial water supplies are the major reasons
for concern, because of unusually heavy concentrations of population.
The metropolitan centers have a population of more than 15 million
and require more than 2 billion gallons of water daily. Some 25 per-
cent of the Nation's developed water-power capacity is in the North-
east, and the commercial tonnage shipped on the principal rivers of
the region exceeds that on the Mississippi between New Orleans and
Minneapolis. Flood control is likewise of great importance.
Originally this area was a continuous forest; at present only 54
percent of it is classified as forested, and a very large part of the
forest that remains is badly deteriorated. Reduction of soil fertility
by continuous cropping and by erosion from cultivated fields, and
the settlement of better agricultural areas in the West, have caused
the abandonment during the last two decades alone of more than 10
million acres of agricultural land in the northeastern drainages. Some
sort of natural vegetative cover quickly establishes itself on cut-over
land or abandoned farm land where the soil is not disturbed, pre-
venting destructive erosion.
Because of the great value of the forests of these drainages as a
source of metropolitan water supplies, and because of the navigability
of many of the streams and their importance in the industrial and
economic life of the region, much land in the rougher sections of
New England and New York should be in public ownership. Great
watershed-protection and recreational values would thus be maintained
or increased. The States included have not only a great concentration
of population but also in some cases a great concentration of wealth.
Therefore the necessity for Federal assistance in watershed protection
is less pronounced than in most other regions of the East. Certainly
the Federal Government should at least acquire ample land to
demonstrate proper management "for watershed protection.
New York now owns 2% million acres of watershed land and is
acquiring an additional million acres. Some 350 cities of New York
now own watershed forests. Cities and towns of Massachusetts own
more than 25,000 acres of such forests; Newark, N.J., has a watershed
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1527
forest of 35,000 acres. Altogether, some 4% million acres of forested
watershed land in the region is in public ownership. This acreage
should be increased very materially.
Private ownership of a large part of the watershed lands will and
should continue. Timber values in this region, with proper manage-
ment, make private forest-land ownership profitable, particularly on
the more productive and more accessible sites. Fire protection, with
public aid, is very nearly adequate. There is definite need, however,
for a greatly expanded program of forest research and extension in
order that timberland management may be improved.
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CHAINS
The Appalachian Mountain chains include the Allegheny and
Appalachian Mountains, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Blue Ridge.
They extend southwestward from New York to northern Georgia
and involve some 50 million acres. They contain the headwaters of
the Susquehanna, James, Ohio, Tennessee, and other important
navigable rivers. Where the slopes and soils permit, farming is
common.
The greatest watershed problem in this region is irregularity of
steam flow. Erosion, also, is extremely serious, particularly on
farmed lands. The forests have been cleared, unfortunately, from a
large acreage entirely too steep and too erosible for profitable agri-
cultural use. Cultivated fields with slopes of more than 30 percent
are not unusual. Because of erosion, such land is ruined for agriculture
by a very few years' cultivation. For this reason agriculture is
declining and land abandonment is prevalent.
Originally the Appalachian Mountain chain was almost wholly
forested. Almost all its forest land has now been cut over and many
parts have been culled repeatedly. While the forest has so depreci-
ated in quality that much of it now has little commercial value, the
ground has reclothed with a cover sufficient to control erosion when
fires are kept out. The fire-protection record for much of the area to
date is bad and public interest in meeting the need for adequate pro-
tection is in general lacking. Those who have studied watershed
conditions on the ground in the Appalachian Mountains consider
improvement of the forest and other vegetative cover necessary as a
means of controlling silting and reducing flood damage.
Here again the problem is complicated by ownership. There is no
reason to expect private owners to correct conditions on practically
worthless abandoned farm lands, and little more hope that they will
adequately protect timberlands. Apparently the logical solution is
public acquisition of a very large share of the high-influence forest
and abandoned farm land. Because of the interstate character of the
streams the Federal Government should carry the greater part of the
burden. There is ample opportunity for both State and Federal
ownership.
With a large area in public ownership and with adequate control
of the use of fire on private lands the situation should improve rapidly.
OZARK-OUACHITA
The Ozark-Ouachita area of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri
includes the hilly to mountainous country of the lower Mississippi
168342°— 33— vol. 2 31
1528 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
drainage. While these mountains have an area of only 45 million
acres, composing less than 6 percent of the Mississippi River drainage,
they are estimated to yield more than 25 percent of the flood flows of
the lower river. More than 50 percent of the peak flow of May 1,
1927, came from this section.
Agriculture in this region started with the more level stream bottoms
and gradually expanded to include more and more hillside land, where
rapid run-off and excessive erosion naturally followed. Much of this
hillside agricultural land is now definitely submarginal and is being
abandoned. Erosion, while not so spectacular as that of the Missis-
sippi River bluff lands, is widespread on hill lands used for cultivated
crops. On much of the land, fortunately, abandonment is followed
rather promptly by the development of a cover of grass or, where seed
is available, of forest.
The forest of mixed pine and hardwoods in the mountains and pure
pine in the foothills originally was almost continuous. Repeated
fires, local overgrazing, extensive lumbering, and clearing for agricul-
ture have reduced the forest area to possibly one half its original size
and deteriorated the remainder to a point at which its influence on
run-off and on erosion is seriously impaired. Fires are exceedingly
prevalent and prevent the maintenance of a good forest and litter
cover. It is estimated that approximately one seventh of the major-
influence watershed forests are burned over each year. Obviously,
under such treatment good watershed conditions cannot exist.
Bad as conditions may be on the burned mountain forests, they are
much more serious on the cultivated portion of the area. The more
level cultivated lands can no doubt be maintained by proper cultiva-
tion methods, but the hillside fields must ultimately be abandoned.
In some situations only a few crops can be raised before the top soil
is sluiced off. Certainly this type of agriculture is not in the public
interest and should be stopped.
A small part, about 1,250,000 acres, of these mountain forests is
national-forest land. On these lands watershed protection is the
primary purpose of management, and while conditions are not yet
satisfactory they are improving. The condition of the very limited
area of organized State forest is likewise improving. The rest of the
land is in private ownership, and it is here that watershed problems
are greatest.
Correction of the existing conditions depends on (1) improved fire
protection and (2) proper management of major-influence forest and
critical agricultural lands. Foresters and others personally familiar
with conditions in these mountains substantially agree that erosion
can be diminished and stream flow made more regular by improving
the forest and vegetative cover. Public acquisition of major-influence
land would aid in accomplishing this end.
The problem is so largely one of preventing floods and silting in the
lower Mississippi River Basin that the responsibility is largely Federal.
The States concerned should not be expected to carry any considerable
part of the acquisition program. They should, however, take the
lead in improving forest-fire conditions on private lands.
BREAKS AND BAD LANDS
The Breaks and Badlands include more than 20 million acres on
the Arkansas, Red, and Brazos Rivers to the south and on the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1529
Missouri River to the north. These areas are characterized by steep,
broken topography, extremely erosible and generally unproductive
soil, low annual precipitation, and sparse vegetation ranging from
grassland types to stunted, noncommercial tree growth. Much of
the area is range rather than true forest land and is included in this
report only because of the extent to which it contributes to the silt
load of the Mississippi River and its tributaries and because many of
the problems involved are common to watershed control on forest
ranges generally. Erosion on these areas is great even under normal
conditions and has been accentuated through misuse, largely
overgrazing.
As a result of the low productivity of the soil, private ownership
has not been attracted to this land. A high percentage of the area,
except in Texas and Oklahoma, is in the public domain.
Erosion control here will be particularly difficult. Fire should be
completely excluded, timber cutting should be restricted to dead and
down timber or very light selective cutting at most, grazing should be
greatly reduced and on many areas completely excluded, and where
it is allowed the season of use should be carefully determined. Arti-
ficial revegetation with grass, brush, and trees will have to be studied
and used where feasible. Finally, special engineering works to stop
stream silting will have to be devised. Much research will be required
on each phase.
Because of the restrictions in use required, obviously the situation
can be corrected only under public ownership. This would mean
acquiring lands now in private ownership, by purchase or exchange,
and blocking them up with public lands into suitable administrative
units. Federal rather than State control seems logical, because the
silt contributions from these areas to the Missouri and Mississippi
Rivers are of national rather than local concern. For example, the
silt contribution to the Missouri River which comes from the Breaks
in Montana is of little economic consideration in Montana, but is a
real factor in States farther down the river. Placing the public
domain under administration, as discussed in the section of this
report entitled " Public Domain and Other Federal Forest Land",
should result in active efforts toward solution of the watershed prob-
lem of the Breaks and Bad Lands. At best it will not soon be solved.
PACIFIC SLOPE DENSE FORESTS
Climatic conditions on certain areas of the Pacific slope are such
as to cause the establishment of extremely dense forests with an
unusually rank understory of small trees, ferns, and other low vege-
tation. This condition is especially marked in the redwood forest of
northwestern California, in the Douglas fir and the fog-belt forests of
western Oregon and Washington, and in the white-pine zone of the
northern Rocky Mountain region. Undoubtedly, in a virgin con-
dition these dark forests exert the maximum influence on stream
flow and on soil stability.
Damage by fire is excessive. Particularly in the Douglas fir and
white-pine zones, these forests present one of the most difficult prob-
lems in forest-fire protection. Acceptable protection standards have
not been met even on the national forests. Fortunately, a new
vegetative cover is rapidly established even following complete
1530 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
destruction of the forest by fire. Erosion, therefore, is not serious
except in restricted local areas.
A large part of the white pine and Douglas fir forests is in private
ownership and in general is being liquidated through exploitation as
rapidly as possible. Apparently part of these lands will ultimately
return to public ownership. Cutting on private land has not been
designed to maintain watershed values, and this condition, coupled
with the common occurrence of fire following logging, has markedly
reduced the effectiveness of these forests in stream-flow regulation.
These dense forests are exceptionally productive, and therefore
would justify intensive management for timber production. The
correction of cutting practice and the improvement of fire protec-
tion to meet even minimum requirements for timber production
would adequately protect watershed values involved. Certainly
these two measures are justified.
PONDEROSA PINE-LODGEPOLE PINE BELT
The broad classification ponderosa pine-lodgepole pine belt in-
cludes the greater part of the commercial and subalpine forests of
the West, excluding, of course, the more dense forests of the Pacific
slope previously discussed. It includes the ponderosa pine forest
with its various mixtures, the extensive lodgepole pine forests, the
Rocky Mountain Douglas fir and spruce-fir forests, and the sub-
alpine mixtures usually found above the commercial timber zone.
The influences exerted on watershed conditions by the different
forest types in this usually more arid belt are essentially similar.
Within this belt most of the precipitation comes in the form of
snow, so that to the other run-off regulating influences of the forest
is added retardation of snow melt. In contrast with conditions in
the dense forests of the Pacific slope, the vegetative cover if once
destroyed is likely to be slow in reclothing the soil, a condition that,
as previously stated, favors accelerated erosion and run-off. The
greater part of the area is used as range for livestock. This use easily
upsets the vegetative balance, thus seriously reducing the effective-
ness of the watershed cover. (Complete exclusion of livestock,
however, is usually neither necessary nor desirable.)
These forests are the source of the greater part of the water flow
for irrigation, water power, and domestic and industrial use in the
West. Streams originating in them are, to a great extent, depended
upon for the irrigation of nearly 20 million acres of land on irrigated
farms which are valued including all land, buildings, and equipment
at $4,887,000,000; for water-power developments that on January 1,
1931, were estimated to have an installed capacity of nearly 5 million
horsepower or about 32 percent of the total installed capacity in the
United States; and for industrial and domestic water supplies for
about 6 million people. It is not an overstatement to say that the
economic existence of the West is the measure of the importance of
these waters.
Fortunately a very high percentage of the area is in national
forests, national parks, and Indian reservations, where, as has been
stated, something approaching proper watershed management is
provided. Perhaps 3 million acres of it is in the public domain,
where no management is provided other than inadequate fire pro-
tection and where watershed conditions are extremely bad.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1531
Private ownership of this type of forest land is generally not favor-
able to good watershed conditions. A large proportion of these
lands were acquired either as a land speculation or with the purpose
of exploiting the virgin timber. The practice of industrial forestry
on a permanent basis is the exception, and privately owned cut-over
lands are not generally in a satisfactory condition. Too heavy
cutting, unnecessary destruction of young growth in logging, fires in
logging slash, and improper grazing use, have occurred too often.
In this belt tax delinquency on cut-over lands is exceptionally
heavy, and the desire on the part of the owners to dispose of such
lands is nearly universal. Many of the counties are financially
unable to accept the responsibility of ownership of cut-over lands,
and the States have shown little inclination to take over such lands.
Existing conditions strongly encourage a greatly enlarged program
of Federal acquisition of this type of land, as is shown in the section
of this report entitled " Public Acquisition of Private Lands as an Aid
to Private Forestry."
These forests are especially suited to multiple use. Timber cutting,
grazing, recreation, and watershed use all have a definite place. There
is urgent need for much carefully conducted research to develop the
facts of proper management so that these various uses may be properly
correlated.
SEMIARID WOODLANDS AND BRUSH LANDS
Throughout the West there is a belt usually below but sometimes
intermingled with the commercial timber where, either because of the
semiarid climate or of past treatment, the cover consists of scrubby
timber or brush. This includes the chaparral and brush fields of
California and the pinon-juniper, aspen brush, oak brush, and similar
types. In these types the understory vegetation is generally sparse
and is not easily maintained. The natural balance is finely drawn,
and even slight changes in cover may give rise to an adverse watershed
condition not easy to overcome. Annual precipitation is low, but
individual storms are sometimes very intense. Snow storage on these
areas is not heavy as a rule.
The major watershed problem is erosion, although floods and mud
flows are locally important. These areas are most often the lower
reaches of watersheds heading in the timber belt above, in which case
the material eroded from them is fed into the stream channels from
which water is obtained for irrigation, power, and domestic use.
Less frequently, as in parts of southern California and of the South-
west, the woodland areas themselves are the main source of water for
these uses.
Fire control is not particularly difficult except in California,
although fires often are permitted to burn over large areas of brush
fields. In parts of California, owing to steep slopes, the inflammable
character of the brush, and the extreme drought conditions that
normally occur during the summer season, fire is the major problem.
Here torrential or merely heavy rains on areas denuded by fire result
in heavy run-off and in great damage by floods and erosion. Where
flood waters are spread out over settling areas for the purpose of
raising the level from which water supplies can be obtained by pump-
ing, fine eroded material tends to seal the soil in such a way as to make
percolation difficult.
1532 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
Almost all this area, with the exception of the dense brush fields of
the south coast drainages of California, is used as range for livestock.
Except on the national forests, national parks, and Indian reserva-
tions, the cover usually has been badly depleted through overgrazing
and other improper range use and in some instances has been completely
removed. The removal of the vegetation, the breaking up of the
litter by trampling, and the mechanical disturbance of the top soil
has brought about an increase in run-off and has resulted in serious
erosion. The fertile top soil has washed away, leaving the land
seriously reduced in productivity and much less retentive of rainfall.
Floods are therefore common, silt is being sluiced into reservoirs and
ditches, and in some instances such as that of the Salt Lake Valley
and of southern California great damage to improved farms has
resulted through the deposition of gravel and boulders carried by
floods.
Owing to the semiarid climate, improvement of watershed con-
ditions will be slow even under careful management. The mantle of
humus and enriched top soil that is characteristic of a large part of
this region is so thin as to be easily destroyed. The type of plant
cover that these areas once supported depended in marked degree
upon the high fertility of soil that has now been washed away.
A relatively small part of these lands is within national forests,
national parks, and Indian reservations and a small additional area
is being administered as city watersheds, particularly in southern
California. Such areas are managed so as to maintain watershed
values. The greater portion of these lands is in the public domain or
in private ownership, and on this portion neither watershed nor range
values are being maintained. Over large areas the quantity of forage
produced now is less than half that originally produced.
The major step in correcting watershed conditions on these lands
is extremely simple, yet in spite of at least two decades of pressure
it has not yet been taken. The key to the solution is to place the
public domain under proper administration. Proper management of
public-domain lands together with the existing management of the
national forests would encourage better management of privately
owned range land and would therefore greatly improve conditions
generally.
PROGRAM FOR ADEQUATE WATERSHED PROTECTION
LAND MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS
In order to meet the deficiencies in watershed protection that have
just been presented the following major improvements in land
management must be effected.
FIRE PROTECTION
Fire protection on watershed lands must be improved to meet the
standards set up in the section of this report entitled " Protection
Against Fire." This will mean giving organized protection to the
191 million acres of forest now unprotected and materially strenght-
ening protection on the units already organized. In particular,
protection effort must be greatly strengthened in the South, the
Central States, the Pacific Coast States, and parts of the Northern
Rocky Mountain Region.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1533
TIMBER CUTTING
Timber-cutting practice must be improved at least to the extent
necessary to stop forest devastation. The requirements for the
several forest types are set forth in the section entitled "How to Stop
Forest Devastation." In general this will mean the adoption, to
some degree, of the selective logging system. In many instances it
will not decrease the profits of the operation. While this minimum
requirement of forestry practice will not insure acceptable future
timber yields, it will in most instances prevent erosion and have a
measurable effect in establishing improved conditions of water flow.
REFORESTATION
Trees must be planted on 11 million acres of forest lands and sub-
marginal agricultural lands where conditions are critical. This will
lead not only to improved watershed conditions but to production of
needed additional supplies of wood. ^ Most of the lands that should be
planted are now in private ownership. The program for planting is
fully discussed in the section of this report entitled "Reforestation of
Barren and Unproductive Land." Table 9 gives the approximate
acreage that should be planted for watershed protection.
TABLE 9. — Areas proposed for public acquisition, and areas requiring restoration
of cover, for watershed protection
Drainage
Areas to be acquired
Areas requiring
restoration of cover
Submar-
ginal
agricul-
tural land
Forested
land
Total
To be re-
forested
To be
otherwise
revege-
tated
Northeastern
Thousand
acres
900
3,300
4,600
400
1,200
2,200
6,000
2,500
300
400
Thousand
acres
6,900
15, 500
15,400
1,900
4,600
17,000
22,600
4,600
700
7,200
10,000
2,800
5,000
1,800
12,400
5,000
Thousand
acres
7,800
18,800
20,000
2,300
5,800
19,200
28,600
7,100
1,000
7,600
10,000
2,800
5,000
1,800
12, 400
5,000
Thousand
acres
500
2,000
1,000
250
250
750
4,000
500
500
1,000
75
150
50
50
150
100
Thousand
acres
South Atlantic
East Gulf
West Gulf..-
Lower Mississippi
Arkansas — Red
Ohio Valley
Upper Mississippi
St. Lawrence
Missouri- . .-. -
150
100
200
50
200
200
California
Colorado
Rio Grande
Great Basin . . .. .
Columbia
Pacific Cascade
Total „ . -.
21,800
133, 400
155, 200
11,325
900
GRAZING MANAGEMENT
Grazing management must be improved, particularly on private
lands, and must be introduced on public lands now unmanaged. On
forest lands in the East (particularly farm woodlands) and range
lands in the West (both private and unmanaged public) where im-
proper grazing use has resulted and is resulting in widespread erosion
and increased run-off, management practices must be applied that
will not only stop deterioration but permit the vegetative cover to
1534 A NATIONAL PLAX FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
regain its original density and effectiveness. Artificial re-vegetation
of some 900,000 acres at a cost of perhaps $3,000,000 seems to bo
desirable. Aside from watershed-protection requirements, such
action is obviously essential to permanency of the livestock industry,
particularly in the West. This subject is presented in detail in the
section of this report entitled "A Forest Range Program."
SPECIAL MEASURES
On a limited area serious erosion now in progress can be checked
only by special measures, frequently of an engineering character.
These will include such measures as the installation of fhunes at the
head of active gullies, the construction of check dams, the scattering
of brush, and the building of temporary retaining walls. Detailed
estimates of the cost of such measures by regions have not been made,
but such data as are available indicate the need for an expenditure of
perhaps §20,000,000. In general such measures will be the first step
toward the reclo thing of the affected areas with a permanent cover of
grass, brush, or trees.
REHABILITATION OF ABANDONED AGRICULTURAL LAND
Fully 70 percent of the erosion problem and 40 percent of the water-
flow problem in the East result from improper agriculture. The
remedy is (1) to improve agricultural methods so that erosion will be
lessened and soil fertility maintained on supermarginal lands, and
(2) to rehabilitate through forestry those submarginal lands which
contribute to stream-flow and silting problems. Here we are con-
cerned only with the latter. This \nll involve (1) fire protection to
permit natural revegetation or reforestation where possible, (2)
forest planting on land where erosion would otherwise continue, and
(3) special measures where successful reforestation would otherwise
be impossible because of soil movement.
RESEARCH
Exact experimental evidence upon which to base the management
of watershed lands is far too meager, both here and abroad. The
varied and complex influences of climate, forest type and condition,
and character of soil on stream flow and on erosion must be carefully
determined if forest-land management is to meet watershed-protection
requirements. A conservative program that would meet this need is
presented in the section of this report entitled "Research in the
United States Forest Service, a Study in Objectives."
METHODS OF MEETING MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS ON
PRIVATE LAND
The benefits to be derived from proper watershed management in
large measure accrue to the public rather than to individual land-
owners. Except where conditions on the land constitute a demon-
strable menace, corrective action should be financed, at least in large
part, by the public rather than by the private owner. It has been
shown that the greatest watershed problems exist on private land
and unmanaged public land. Three avenues of approach are open to
the private-land problem, each offering a different measure of promise.
A NATIONAL I'LA.V FOU A M KKIf'A N I ( .1: 1 ./TRY
COOPERATION
Public cooperation \\it.b private owncis on ji voluntary basis is flic
approach that luis been followed in this country to date. By publi'-
financial aid the owner is encouraged to meet acceptable' standards.
That this method has failed is clc;ir from flic f;ict th;it today, after
morn than 20 years' effort, 46 percent of flic, private forest land is
without- organized fire protection and little, more than 2 percei
handled in JL way that promotes natural reproduction. In some
States the priyateowners are indifferent to tlie need for fire protection.
Private contributions in the \Vestarealmostexclusivelyforprotection
of virgin timber rather than for maintaining a satisfactory cover
on cut-over land.
If satisfactory watershed management is to be had by this method,
much, and perhaps most, of the cost of management will have to be
borne by the public. Fin; protection, except on virgin timberland,
wrill be principally at public, expense. Reforestation of large areas of
devastated forest and submarginal farm binds will have to be under-
taken or heavily subsidized by the public, and special measures, some-
times costly, will ha vc to be taken, with little or no cost to the owner.
Such action, without definite assurance that the land will be perma-
nently managed in such a way as to protect the public investment, has
little to recommend it.
REGULATION
Private ownership with public regulation of use is the second possi-
ble solution. This approach is common in European countries.
The cost would be even heavier than under the cooperative plan.
With land abandonment now common, it seems clear that the addition
of any expense or of any restrictions on use would simply speed up
this trend and result in much needless friction. Like all regulatory
measures, this system would depend for its success on public senti-
ment. Past experiences do not permit optimism with regard to the
functioning of unpopular legislation. Regulatory forest laws have
been enacted by most of the States, but they do not have adequate
public support and have not in general been effectively enforced.
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
Public ownership and management of major-influence forest land
that can be blocked up for satisfactory administration and of agricul-
tural land highly subject to erosion is the third possibility. Obvi-
ously it is unnecessary to propose public ownership of land in these
classifications that, because of timber or other values, will be managed
reasonably well in private ownership. This method would accom-
plish by direct action what the alternative methods would attempt to
bring about through indirection. Under this method the public
would of course pay all the cost of management and protection; it
would receive, however, not only the benefit of improved watersheds
but the more tangible benefits accruing through sale of forest
and range products. In the long run the projects would be self-
liquidating.
Public acquisition of major-influence watershed lands appears to be
the most logical solution. Present trends indicate that the cost per
acre would be low. Federal, State, county, and municipal govern-
1536 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
ments should proceed with the acquisition of such lands as rapidly
as such programs can be financed. Table 9 presents, by major drain-
age regions, the program that on the basis of present information
appears advisable.
BRINGING UNMANAGED PUBLIC LAND UNDER SUITABLE
MANAGEMENT
On public watershed land now unmanaged the public should
redeem the obligations of ownership by instituting management of
the type recommended in the foregoing. The public domain is the
outstanding example of unmanaged Federal lands. The first step
in the direction of bringing public-domain watersheds under manage-
ment would be approval of legislation authorizing the public adminis-
tration of these lands substantially as recommended in the section of
this report entitled, "Public Domain and Other Federal Forest
Land."
State and county land now unmanaged should be placed under
management as rapidly as possible, although this action will not
always be easy. Large aggregate areas are coming into State and
county ownership as small tracts of devastated forest or submarginal
agricultural land. Comprehensive planning is needed to work out
the most feasible division of responsibility and methods of administra-
tion. To block the areas up into administrative units would require
the purchase of additional lands and exchange of ownership among
various public agencies including the Federal Government.
A FOREST RANGE PROGRAM
By W. R. CHAPLINE, thief, Division of Range Research, and R. S. CAMPBELL,
Associate Forest Ecologist, Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment
Station
CONTENTS
Page
Western forest ranges 1537
The unreserved public domain 1538
State forest ranges 1538
Private forest ranges 1538
Existing Federal reservations 1539
Southern forest ranges 1539
Farm woodlands 1540
Research 1540
The " Forest Ranges" section of this report points out that 334
million acres, or 54 percent, of the forest land in the United States is
used for grazing domestic livestock, and presents the problems
involved in coordinating the use of forage with conservation and use
of other forest resources. The need for management that will
assure sustained yield of forest ranges is shown by the poor condition
of much of the forest-range area of the West, the extreme and con-
tinuing deterioration of forage and watershed-protective values on
most public-domain forest lands and on a considerable part of the
private forest lands in the West that are grazed, the damage to timber
production in the South resulting from uncontrolled burning of
forest lands in an effort to improve range conditions, and the deteriora-
tion of some farm woodlands as a result of heavy browsing of tree
sprouts. The management of these lands should be such as to
perpetuate their range and other values, to afford sustained use of the
forage by livestock, and to effect the economic and social benefits that
would result from stabilizing the use of the lands. Sustained yield
management of forest ranges involves: (1) Correlation of the use of
the lands by domestic livestock with the conservation and use of
other resources such as watershed protection, timber, recreation, and
wild life; (2) reservation, consolidation, and administration of
public lands now inadequately managed; (3) public acquisition for
administration of certain areas at present in private ownership;
and (4) research to develop principles of management.
The forest range management program deals with three distinct
situations, those of the western forest ranges, the southern forest
ranges, and the farm woodlands.
WESTERN FOREST RANGES
Public interests are vitally affected by the management of forest
ranges in the West. The present productivity of the herbaceous and
shrubby vegetation, falling far short of the potential productivity
on many areas, does not furnish as satisfactory livestock production
as possible, and thus limits the prosperity of the livestock industry
1537
1538 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
•
and communities dependent upon it. Watershed-protective values
of grazed forest ranges would be improved by increased vegetative
cover. On some areas overgrazing or other improper grazing use is
impairing the perpetuation of timber and wild-life resources.
THE UNRESERVED PUBLIC DOMAIN
Outstanding among the problems presented by the 102 million
acres of publicly owned or managed forest range land in the West are
those that have arisen on the public domain, as a result of use with-
out administration. Grazed lands make up 21.5 million acres of the
23 million acres of forest land now remaining in the public domain.
There is urgent need for legislation placing these lands under a type of
administration that will stop abuse, restore values, and stabilize
grazing use for local community and other public benefit. As is shown
in the " Other Federal Forest Land" section of this report, approxi-
mately 19 million acres of the public domain, including 11.5 million
acres of forested land, should be added to the national forests. About
3 million acres additional, of which 1.5 million acres is forest land,
should be given national-forest status and held for inclusion in new
administrative units as these are built up by acquisition or exchange.
The remaining public domain, including approximately 10 million
acres of forested land, should be placed under Federal administration
that will assure satisfactory management.
STATE FOREST RANGES
On most State-owned forest ranges, other than those that are now
handled under cooperative agreement with the Forest Service, better
coordination of grazing with other forest uses is necessary. This
would best be effected by consolidating as much as possible of the
4 million acres of grazed forest lands in State ownership into State
forests or other administrative units with a legal status insuring
sustained-yield management. On forested State lands that cannot
effectively be grouped into administrative units, it is essential that
leases include specifications as to numbers of stock to be admitted,
seasons of use, and other phases of management, and that field super-
vision be provided, in order to prevent overgrazing and assure range
restoration where it is needed.
PRIVATE FOREST RANGES
Of the 64 million acres of private forest land in the West approxi-
mately 42 million acres is grazed. On a high percentage of this area
the effort to gain the maximum current income has been carried to an
extreme without adequate safeguards for permanent stability of the
range resource. This has resulted in range depletion that not only
adversely affects the individual stockman but also is doing damage
to others, especially through impairing watershed-protective values.
Where it is demonstrated to stockmen using these private lands that
by modifying their present practices they can correct existing damage
to forest range resources without material loss of revenue or with an
eventual increase in revenue, better management of the ranges can
reasonably be expected. Western agricultural extension services
could very well give a greater place on their educational and demon-
strational programs to improved principles of range management.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1539
In the case of critical areas, public ownership and management will
probably be the only effective solution. In the section of this report
entitled "The Probable Future Distribution of Forest Land Owner-
ship", it is recommended that 41 million acres of forest land in the
West having a major watershed-protection influence be purchased or
otherwise acquired from private owners and administered by public
agencies to assure satisfactory watershed protection. Probably
two thirds of this area proposed for public acquisition is grazed.
A small additional area of private forest range land should be
acquired by the public by purchase or exchange in order to consolidate
existing units of publicly owned land and thus facilitate their proper
management.
EXISTING FEDERAL RESERVATIONS
About 64 million acres, or nearly two thirds, of the publicly owned
or managed forest range lands in the West is within the national
forests. The administrative aim on the national forests, of obtaining
as fully beneficial use of the various resources of the land as is con-
sistent with their permanent conservation, has resulted, on the
average, in a marked improvement of forage conditions. This in
turn has tended to stabilize livestock production on national forests
and to furnish an improvement in watershed-protective values and in
conditions favorable for wild life. Such administration should be
continued and management should be improved as research results
and more accurate information concerning the grazing resource become
available. Development of range improvements such as fences and
watering places should progress steadily. About 90 percent of the
900,000 acres of western forest land recommended for artificial
revegetation in the section of this report entitled "A Watershed
Protection Program" is within the national forests. In addition to
this area on which artificial reseeding could be applied on the basis
of present knowledge, there are very large acreages within the national
forests and elsewhere, particularly at the lower elevations, on which
artificial reseeding is desirable but will require further research.
Within the Indian reservations, on which the aim is to obtain
maximum benefit for the Indians, there is need for an intensification of
field administration and management, as outlined by Muck, Melis,
and Nyce,1 with special emphasis upon sustained forage production
and effective protection of forest-land resources.
The area of grazed forest land in other Federal reservations is
relatively small. On most of it, grazing is administered in such a
manner as to have the least possible influence on the major use of
the area. Within the national parks, for example, grazing, where
still permitted, is subordinated to recreational and inspirational
values.
SOUTHERN FOREST RANGES
In the South the forest range problem at the present time is almost
entirely restricted to privately owned land; nearly 98 percent of the
southern forest area grazed by domestic livestock is in private owner-
ship. As public agencies continue to acquire forest land, administra-
1 Muck, Lee, Melis, P. E., and Nyce, G. M. An Economic Survey of the Range Resources and Grazing
Activities on Indian Reservations. Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Indian Affairs,
United States Senate, Seventy-first Congress, Second Session. S.Res. 79, 308 (70th Cong.), and S.Res.
263 and 416 (71st Cong.), 1932.
1540 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
tion of public lands will become more prominent. A program that
will safeguard timber and other forest values and aid in livestock pro-
duction includes: (1) Control of fire; (2) control of grazing by hogs,
especially in the longleaf pine belt; and (3) coordination of forest
range use with use of improved pastures and of forage crops on farms.
This program would be advanced by ultimate Federal acquisition
of about 78 million acres and State acquisition of 19K million acres
of private land in the South for timber production and watershed
protection, recommended in the section of this report entitled "The
Probable Future Distribution of Forest Land Ownership." In
many of the southern States legislative provision would be necessary
for the organization of these lands into State forests and for their
administration and management. On forest land remaining in
private ownership, education and demonstration will be the principal
means of correcting practices detrimental to timber production and
obtaining coordination of the use of forest lands with that of agricul-
tural lands to assure the most beneficial use of all the feed resources.
In some States, for satisfactory timber production, legislation may
be required to prevent trespass on large private forest holdings.
FARM WOODLANDS
The greater portion of the grazed farm woodlands in the Central
States, Lake States, Middle Atlantic, and New England regions will
remain in private ownership. In these regions the individual owner
should decide what is the most profitable use of his farm woodland
and, accordingly either exclude livestock, admit livestock to a small
portion of the woodland for shade but exclude it from the remainder,
or admit livestock to the area only for such a period and in such
numbers as wih1 permit sustained yield of timber and forage. Safe-
guarding forest regeneration and other forest values will require
research and education.
In these regions grazing on public forest lands is ordinarily light.
It is probable that grazing use will be light on many of the forest
areas acquired by public agencies for watershed protection or timber
production. Feed resources on farm land are so abundant and grazing
values on forest lands so low that use of public forest land by domestic
livestock should be restricted to such areas as can be grazed without
detriment to other forest values.
RESEARCH
Experience and the comparatively small amount of research done
to date have developed many improved practices in the use of forest
range lands, which make for greater stability in use and for increased
revenues to offset any increase in production costs resulting from
increased settlement, range deterioration, and more intensive man-
agement. Much still needs to be learned with respect to coordinating
the use of forest range forage with the conservation and use of other
resources and with respect to utilizing the important forage plants
in a manner that avoids danger of deterioration and tends to improve
depleted forage cover.
In plans for research bearing on the management of forest range
lands, emphasis should be placed on breaking down the broader
problems of plant succession, soil productivity, physiological response
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1541
to use, genetic development of range plants, biological relationships,
etc., into factors that can be studied and evaluated in an exact way.
In order to meet current problems of management, the more imme-
diately practical studies, which have largely characterized the work
to date, should be continued. Studies of forest range restoration
should consider both the possibilities of restoring and maintaining
the stand of native forage plants and the possibilities of artificially
reseeding areas where natural restoration of native plants would
require a very long period. Many economic phases of use of forest
ranges and of profitable production of livestock on such ranges will
need to be studied intensively and continuously if ever-changing
economic conditions are to be met.
A considerable expansion of the range-research program of Federal
and State agencies is well warranted. In the section of this report
entitled " Research in the United States Forest Service, a Study in
Objectives", a 10-year program for financing research is set up,
including the last four years (1935-38 inclusive) of the decade pro-
vided for originally by the McSweeney-McNary Act and an additional
six years ending with the fiscal year 1944. This 10-year program
recommends that appropriations for the range investigations of the
Forest Service be increased by an average of $40,000 a year up to
1938, in order to meet the McSweeney-McNary Act authorizations
of $275,000 yearly. For the period 1939 to 1944, inclusive, it recom-
mends annual increases averaging $50,000. There is not much doubt
that at the end of this 10-year period there will still be need to expand
the research program.
A PROGRAM FOR FOREST RECREATION
By ROBERT MARSHALL, Collaborator
CONTENTS
Page
Recreational survey 1543
Program for specific types of recreational area 1 544
Legislation required 1546
Area needed primarily for recreation 1546
RECREATIONAL SURVEY
The use of the forest for recreation has received such entirely
inadequate study that the first recommendation of a realistic program
should be for a careful survey of forest recreational requirements.
Such a survey should consider (1) what type of forest recreation the
people particularly desire and (2) how much forest land should be
set aside exclusively for each of the different types of forest recreation.
The first study might be made by questionnaire and by a careful
check of the use of existing recreational facilities. Some specially
planned investigations are needed also, for example, as to whether
most forest recreationalists care what sort of timber is available to
them. This question might be investigated by laying out three camp
sites in some particular locality, all similar in every way except that
one would be on an area seriously damaged by logging, one on a well-
managed cut-over tract, and one in an old-growth forest. By checking
the attendance at the three camp sites it might be possible to obtain
a very good notion of the preferences of forest visitors.
Such subjects might be studied by many agencies. They would
be excellently adapted to investigation by the sociology departments
of certain universities. The National Park Service, the Forest Service,
and several State park services are very favorably situated for such
investigations owing to their actual administration of recreational
land. The various conservation societies would be logical agencies
to pursue such investigations.
The survey of the area required for recreation should be undertaken
by some committee which would represent the chief agencies admin-
istering recreational lands and the chief points of view of those who
use the forest for recreation. Such a survey is needed immediately,
for every year sees many tracts among the most precious types of
recreational land eliminated as recreational possibilities. The organ-
ization of a forest-recreation committee should not interfere with the
surveys which the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the
various State park services are already undertaking. It should
simply coordinate the activities of these agencies. Such coordina-
tion is essential for the reason that the forest-recreation problem
in America is not confined to any one form of land administration.
The points of view both of the administrators of American forests and
of those for whose benefit the forests are being administered should
have representation in working out a satisfactory policy.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 32 1543
1544 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
PROGRAM FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF RECREATIONAL
AREAS
It is important to consider, for each of the important types of
recreational land discussed in the section on The Forest for Recrea-
tion, what action within the next few years seems desirable.
SUPERLATIVE AREAS
(Localities with unique scenic values, so surpassing and stupendous in their
beauty as to affect almost everyone who sees them)
(1) A thorough survey of the entire country to find any forest areas
of superlative scenic value which may not now be adequately pro-
tected as national parks, national forests, and State parks.
(2) Setting aside as national parks, national forests, or State parks
of any such areas thus discovered.
(3) Educating the public into an appreciation of the proper use of
superlative areas. This is a function of both public and private
organizations.
PRIMEVAL AREAS
(Tracts of old-growth timber in which human activities have never upset the
normal processes of nature)
(4) An immediate organized survey to find adequate areas of
old-growth timber in each important forest type which might be
devoted to recreational enjoyment.
(5) Setting aside from all commodity exploitation those desirable
primeval areas which the survey indicates are already included in
public lands.
(6) Public purchase or acceptance as gifts of those tracts at present
in private ownership which should be reserved as primeval areas.
Purchase by the Federal Government may generally be preferable
to purchase by the States or counties, because forest types are not
confined by State boundaries. In many cases, also, there is greater
stability to Federal forest policy. Further, if we are to retain a
museum of the finest manifestations of each important forest type,
such a museum will certainly be of national and not merely local
interest.
(7) Continuation of studies already begun as to the effect of various
degrees of use on the biological well-being of primeval areas.
(8) Construction of trails which most visitors will automatically
follow instead of wandering promiscuously and trampling down soil
and vegetation throughout the tract.
WILDERNESS AREAS
(Regions which contain no permanent inhabitants, possess no means of mechan-
ical conveyance, and are sufficiently spacious that a person may spend at least
a week or two of travel in them without crossing his own tracks)
(9) Consideration of the desirability of establishing as wilderness
areas those large tracts on the national forests and the Indian reserva-
tions which have not yet been dissected by roads, but which have
not thus far been reserved as wilderness areas.
(10) Consideration of the suitability of the Okefenokee Swamp as
a wilderness area and the practicability of its public purchase.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1545
(11) Consideration by the State of Maine of the desirability of
obtaining easements from the private owners of the four Maine
wilderness areas barring the construction of roads through these areas.
(12) Legal sanction for barring airplanes from wilderness areas
except in case of forest fire or other emergency.
(13) Education of the public, largely through the efforts of private
organizations, into an appreciation of the values and understanding
of the necessary technique of wilderness journeying.
ROADSIDE AREAS
(Timbered strips adjoining the more important roads)
(14) A survey of the areas necessary to preserve the scenic value
of State highways and of the more used local roads.
(15) Contracts between the various States and private land-
owners in which, either with or without a monetary consideration,
the owners agree that they will not make any cuttings on the road-
side strips, that they will not otherwise mar or deface their beauty,
and that they will refrain from erecting houses upon them except
with the approval of some duly designated State authority.
(16) When such contracts cannot be made, the roadside areas in
private ownership should be purchased by the States. In cases where
roadside strip borders important approaches to Federal recreational
land the National Government will be justified in making these
purchases.
(17) Elimination from the roadside strips of all billboards and such
buildings as seriously interfere with scenic values.
(18) Planting to increase the beauty of the roadside areas.
(19) Construction of new scenic roads, on principles of sound land-
scape architecture, wrhere they do not injure superlative, primeval, or
wilderness areas.
CAMP-SITE AREAS
(Forest land set aside for camping)
(20) A survey of the number of camp-sites needed in different
regions to meet the requirements of overnight campers. Such a
survey must be made with special reference to the distribution of
population. In general each important population center will have
to work out its own program, but the different programs will require
some central coordination.
(21) Establishment of the desirable camp-site areas, usually by
local communities or States, according to carefully worked out plans.
(22) Enforcement of the necessary regulations for the administra-
tion of camp-site areas.
(23) Education of the public in regard to good camping manners.
RESIDENCE AREAS
(Forest land set aside for private homes, hotels, resorts, group camps, sanitoria,
and stores and services of one sort or another)
(24) Careful planning for Government owned areas, and the elimi-
nation of any unsatisfactory developments on existing areas.
(25) Education of private owners of residence areas in regard to
the proper development of such areas. This education may be pro-
vided both by the public and by private conservation organizations.
1546 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
(26) Elimination of objectionable private developments, by the
State police power when possible.
OUTING AREAS
(Tracts of land on which one can get away from the sounds of the highway and
which have not been severely injured scenically)
(27) Determination of what fraction of the area required for
ordinary forest outings may be managed at the same time for timber
production and what fraction is likely to receive such heavy recrea-
tional use that it cannot be allowed to receive, even for a few decades,
the scenic injury which the very best forestry practice generally
brings for at least a limited period.
(28) Special reservation of those public lands which cannot be
spared from recreational use for even a fraction of a rotation.
(29) Public purchase or acceptance as gifts of those private lands
which cannot be spared from recreational use for even a fraction of a
rotation.
(30) The practice of sustained-yield forestry on the bulk of the
forest lands which will be available for both commodity production
and recreational use if their productivity is maintained.
(31) Construction of roads to make new outing areas readily
accessible to the public.
(32) Trail developments to obtain the maximum use from the
outing areas.
LEGISLATION REQUIRED
(1) Appropriations by Federal, State, and local governments for
purchase of lands now in private ownership which are needed to
round out recreational holdings.
(2) Appropriations by Federal, State, and local governments for
development and regulation of camp-site areas.
(3) Adequate appropriations to protect the recreational areas from
serious injury by fire, insects, and fungi.
(4) Special authorization by Congress of the use of funds for
developing and safeguarding the recreational, educational, and
inspirational values of the national forests.
(5) Congressional sanction for barring airplanes from Federal
wilderness areas.
AREA NEEDED PRIMARILY FOR RECREATION
The area which will probably be needed primarily for forest recrea-
tion may be roughly summarized as follows :
Acres
Superlative areas 3, 000, 000
Primeval areas 9, 500, 000
Wilderness areas _ 10,000, 000
Roadside areas 4, 000, 000
Camp-site areas 1, 500, 000
Residence areas 6, 000, 000
Outing areas - 11,000,000
Total.. _. 45,000,000
Already 11 million of these 45 million acres have been withdrawn
from timber use, leaving 34 million acres still to be reserved.
A FOREST WILD-LIFE PROGRAM l
By PAUL H. ROBERTS, Administrative Officer Branch of Research, in cooperation
with the United States Biological Survey
CONTENTS
Page
Objectives 1547
Requirements to meet the objectives 1548
Wild-life management 1548
Unification of wild-life and forest-land management 1548
Provision for public hunting grounds 1550
Provision of adequate areas for wild life 1551
Establishment of State game commissions 1553
Wilf-life research 1553
Education 1554
The social and economic values inherent in wild life on forest land
directly affect the national welfare and that of local communities as
previously discussed in the section Wild Life a Forest Resource.
Such values fully justify a program that will ensure the fullest develop-
ment and proper use of the wild life resources consistent with the
development and proper use of other resources and uses of forest
lands. The first step in the formulation of such a program should
be the determination of the primary objectives.
OBJECTIVES
(1) The principal objective of a wild-life program on forest lands is
to obtain the best development and use of wild life as a product and
a service of the land. This includes the development of the full
economic potentialities of wild life in proper coordination with other
resources and products of forest land. The movement to accomplish
this is now only in its initial stages. Results so far obtained strongly
indicate that wild life, principally game and fur bearers, will under
proper management yield a fair return ; that it will ease the financial
burden incident to the private ownership of forest lands and particu-
larly of those having low productive values ; and that it will materially
increase the services from publicly owned lands. Involved in this
principal objective are a second and a third.
(2) The predominant use of the wild-life resource is for aesthetic,
scientific, and other social purposes, hunting excepted. This objec-
tive contemplates the adequate protection of American animals and
birds, the maintenance of a proper and in so far as possible a natural
balance between the forest vegetation and the forest wild life. Many
who use the forest for recreational or scientific purposes do not care
to hunt, but the forest for such purposes is incomplete without its
wild-life complement.
(3) The traditional and possibly the most generally accepted objec-
tive of wild-life management is the preservation to the American
i The program affecting birds and mammals is discussed here. The program and requirements affecting
fish life are covered in a preceding section, entitled "Wild Life a Forest Resource".
1547
1548 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
people of the privileges of the hunt, and the social benefits to be de-
rived therefrom. It involves the question of maintaining public
shooting grounds or public wild-life areas for those who can not afford
private shooting or private estates. It involves the maintenance and
use of the wild-life resource for all hunting purposes and for all people.
It contemplates the preservation of an American ideal.
(4) The preceding objectives presuppose a fourth — the education
of the general public in the recognition of wild-life values and the
importance of their proper management. Interest in wild life has
heretofore centered largely among sportsmen and wild-life enthusi-
asts and their organizations, and around social values. There should
be a more wide-spread public recognition of all the values of wild life
as a forest or other land resource.
REQUIREMENTS TO MEET THE OBJECTIVES
The second step in the formulation of a wild life program for forest
lands is the determination of the requirements necessary to meet the
objectives named.
WILD-LIFE MANAGEMENT
Wild-life management, particularly of game species and fur bearers,
is the first essential in the development of wild-life as a forest-land
resource. Only through sound and comprehensive management can
the maximum social and economic benefits from wild-life accrue.
Serious diminution and depletion of wild-life values have resulted
from lack of widespread and proper management of the resource.
The reduced game and fur supplies in many parts of the country,
the depletion of quail nearly throughout its range, of prairie chicken
in the plains country, and deer and grouse in many States and locali-
ties is due primarily to lack of wild-life management.
Management of wild life in broad terms includes its restoration,
protection, propagation, care, and regulation of use. The chief distinct
problems that wild-life management must meet are :
(1) Restoration and development of game, fur bearers, and other
wild life in the Central, Lake, South, and parts of other regions of the
East.
(2) Restoration of wild life on areas where depletion has occurred
in the West and development of the resource on all forest lands of
the West.
(3) Preservation of species now threatened with extinction for
scientific and other reasons.
(4) Widespread distribution of game and other wild life and, in so
far as environmental conditions will permit, distribution of species to
afford hunting and to meet the demands of those classes of people
who enjoy other aspects of wild life.
(5) Proper biological balance between species.
(6) A sustained yield of the wild-life crop, particularly game and
fur bearers.
UNIFICATION OF WILD-LIFE AND FOREST-LAND MANAGEMENT
Unification of wild-life and forest-land management is the second
essential requirement of a wild-life program. Wild-life management
is only one phase of broad forest-land management and accordingly
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1549
must be correlated with the management of other products and serv-
ices such as timber, forage, watershed protection, and recreation, and
with the management of the land itself. Land management, for ex-
ample, must provide the natural food, cover, protection, and other
environmental conditions upon which wild life is dependent.
Unification of wild-life and forest-land management is made difficult
by the fact that in general the control of game is in the State, while
the ownership and control of land may be private, State, or Federal.
In this respect it differs from most if not all other products, the owner-
ship and control of which go with the land. This situation creates
three rather distinct problems depending upon the ownership of the
forest land :
(1) On privately owned lands, control of game by the State without
unification of game and land management has resulted in lack of con-
sideration of game values and requirements in the handling of much
private land. This has led to game depletion by destroying proper
environmental conditions for game in some regions by overgrazing
and fire. The landholder has had little direct interest in game as a
land resource, has not had control over it, and hence in many cases
has in great measure failed to provide the conditions necessary for
its maintenance or development. He is, however, in the best position
to provide the proper environmental conditions. The problem is to
develop ways and means of inducing him to do so.
The American game policy proposed by the American Game Associ-
ation at the seventeenth annual game conference in December 1930,
states with respect to the private landholder:
Only the landholder can practice management efficiently, because he is the
only person who resides on the land and has complete authority over it. All
others are absentees. Absentees can provide the essentials; protection, cover,
and food, but only with the landholder's cooperation, and at a higher cost.
With rare exceptions, the landholder is not yet practicing management. There
are three ways to induce him to do so:
1. Buy him out, and become the landowner.
2. Compensate him directly or indirectly for producing a game crop and for
the privilege of harvesting it.
3. Cede him the title to the game, so that he will own it and can buy and sell
it just as he owns, buys, and sells his poultry.
The first way is feasible on cheap lands, but prohibitive elsewhere. The second
is feasible anywhere. The third way is the English system, and incompatible
with American tradition and thought.
Despite the fact that the second way of inducing the private land-
holder to practice game management seems the most feasible method
of meeting the requirement for unified game and land management
on private lands, there are some difficulties in carrying it out. The
individual landholder, except possibly in minor instances, can not
manage and control game incident to his control of the land. Game
is too mobile and individual holdings are often too small in area to
afford satisfactory units of management. Under such conditions the
solution appears to be in cooperative arrangements between groups
of individual landholders and the States, which will provide for the
grouping of lands for wild-life management for a common purpose,
contributing toward the best utilization of all the land resources. The
return to the landholders is through the medium of fees, which may be
charged for shooting on their land.
This phase of the problem centers primarily in the East where 85.6
percent of the forest land is in private ownership, as contrasted with
1550 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
14.4 percent in the West. Experimental projects of this kind are
now under way. Impetus should be given to the rapid development
of ways of meeting the situation on a broad scale.
(2) On State lands, ownership and control of both game and land
should provide an excellent opportunity for unified management.
Even here, however, the control and management of the game may
be in one State department and the management of State lands in
one or more other departments. In certain instances where wild life
and other forest-land resources are administered by separate State
agencies, the two are in direct competition in the independent acqui-
sition of lands of the same general character, and one or the other,
because of greater activity, aggressiveness, or public interest, may
be forging ahead. Sound land management would dictate a coordi-
nation of objectives and a unification of interests if wild life and other
land-resource management are to attain desired results within the
State.
(3) On Federal lands, the Federal Government has an interest in
the development of the game resource as well as in the development
of other resources and uses. Without the same control of game as of
other resources, it must in general depend on cooperation with the
States in working out measures of benefit not only to game but to
other resources, uses, and services of forest land affected by game ; for
example, timber, forage, watershed protection, and recreation. This
is especially true of the national forests which embrace 140 million
acres in 31 different States, and are in practically every instance
multiple-use forest units.
The working out of satisfactory arrangements with the State con-
stitutes one of the important problems in the correlation of wild
life and other land management on the national forests and most
other Federally administered forest lands. Correlation of game and
land management on national-forest lands in cooperation with a
State is exemplified on the Pisgah National Game Preserve in North
Carolina where the value of game preserves and need of game man-
agement as a demonstration of what might be done on similar areas
early resulted in the State ceding jurisdiction of game to the Federal
Government and later approving the plans developed for the area.
PROVISION FOR PUBLIC HUNTING GROUNDS
The third requirement in a wild-life program for forest lands is
adequate provision for public hunting grounds. One of the best
established and most ingrained American traditions is that of the
privilege of the hunt. In earlier days public lands covered a vast
expanse, wild life was abundant, and the privilege was open to all
who would make use of it. With the passing of public lands into
private ownership, accompanied by diminishing game supply, restric-
tion of areas available for public shooting was inevitable. Today in
the East, with more than nine tenths of the forest land in private
ownership, and with closure of great tracts of this area to public
shooting, open lands available for those who enjoy the sport and who
reap accompanying benefits are entirely inadequate to meet demands.
With increasing restriction of shooting on private land, public
shooting grounds are becoming increasingly essential if hunting is to
be available to the rank and file and this social value of game is to
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1551
be realized. Thorough fact finding and analysis is required to deter-
mine the true situation in various regions. It is a matter which
should be kept definitely in the foreground if the greatest public
benefits are to be derived from the game resource.
Senate Resolution No. 175 specifically mentions among other things
leased hunting and fishing rights, the development of which would
afford valuable resources for recreation, and improvement in national
health, besides giving wealth producing and steady employment to a
large number of persons, etc. However, although there can be no
question about the leasing of private lands if not contrary to the laws
of the States in which the land is located (as discussed in the section
"Wild Life a Forest Resource"), the leasing of public lands is of
doubtful value. There are no instances available of existing leases
on Federal, State, or other publicly owned or controlled land, for
such, purposes as would furnish the basis for sound judgment as to
the probable benefits of such action. It is believed, however, that
the objectionable features of a leasing system on public land out-
weigh any possible financial benefits, that it is not consistent with the
best use and development of the game resources for public benefit,
and that funds needed for development of the game resource and
land management can be obtained more effectively in other ways.
It should be possible adequately to meet the costs of such manage-
ment through the medium of hunting and fishing license fees, the in-
come from which should be sufficient to cover the costs of correlated
land management in so far as the wild -life resource is concerned. In
the East the provision for public hunting grounds should be an im-
portant consideration in any plans of forest-land acquisition.
PROVISION OF ADEQUATE AREAS FOR WILD LIFE
The fourth requirement in a wild-life program involves the forest
land itself. It includes adequate area of such lands to provide for:
(1) General forest habitat requirements of wild-life species, (2) public
shooting grounds, already discussed, (3) special wild-life areas for
specific purposes of protection or management, (4) areas devoted to
the preservation of wild-life species, (5) areas for all purposes of wild
life in parks and zoological gardens. In addition, adequate areas of
nonforest land are needed as winter range in order to permit the fullest
proper development of the wild-life resource on some forest lands.
All forest lands are usable by one or more wild-life species of social
or economic importance. Accordingly any area that is devoted to
forestry in the future can be used for wild-life production.
Forest and other land-area requirements of wild life are closely
associated with ownership and control of land between the broad
classes of Federal, State, and private. One of the broad problems
surrounding land rquirements for wild life, therefore, is to meet such
requirements for the most part under existing and future conditions
of tenure, in a way to accomplish satisfactory progress in meeting
wild-life objectives.
ON PRIVATELY OWNED AREAS
Privately owned forest lands amount to 444 million acres, or 72
percent of the total of 615 million acres of forest land in the United
States. Of this total 150 million acres or 24 percent of all forest land
1552 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
is in farm woodlands, and 294 million acres or 48 percent is in other
private holding.
In the East private ownership comprises about 95 percent of the
forest area at present and must therefore be depended upon to a
corresponding degree to support wild life. Game birds such as quail,
grouse, and pheasants, insectivorous birds, and small game animals,
particularly rabbits, are readily sheltered in farm woods and other
private holdings. The larger private holdings meet to a considerable
degree the requirements for the large game animals, and here the
demand for lease or purchase of hunting privileges may be largely
met. Where public lands are very limited, it may be possible for
the State, through lease or other control of these privately owned
forests to establish public hunting grounds, to reserve areas for
scientific study, or to arrange for public recreation grounds.
In the West, privately owned forest lands amount to 63,935,000
acres or 30 percent of a total forest land area of 214,082,000 acres.
Together with public lands they will meet the general forest-land
requirements for wild life.
ON STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL FOREST LANDS
The 17,421,000 acres of State, county, and municipal forest lands
in the United States— 10,912,000 acres is in the East, and 6,568,000
in the West — forms so small percentage of the total forested area as
to be relatively unimportant in meeting general forest-habitat
requirements of game. However, requirements for wild life in parks
and zoological gardens can be met almost entirely on such forest
lands. State and county forest lands will also aid materially in
meeting total area requirements for special wild life purposes. State
and county holdings are now insufficient to provide adequate areas
to meet demands for public hunting grounds. Present areas should
be used to the fullest possible extent for this purpose and the question
should also receive consideration in the management of future
enlargements of State and county forest land areas.
ON FEDERALLY OWNED OR CONTROLLED LANDS
Federally owned or controlled forest lands, comprising an area of
152,721,000 acres or about 25 percent of the total forest land area of
the United States — 143,579,000 acres is in the West, and 9,142,000
acres in the East — are of material importance in fulfilling general
forest land requirements of game.
In the West federally owned or controlled lands are adequate for
the best development of the wild-life resources; they supply public
hunting grounds for all game with the exception of migratory birds;
and they meet special wild-life needs, supplying areas to be devoted
to the preservation of wild-life species, to wild-life development
projects, and to the promotion of aesthetic enjoyment of wild life
as in national parks and monuments.
The 26,311,000 acres now used in meeting special needs of wild
life is doubtless, subject to adjustments as to location in some cases,
sufficient to meet the requirements.
In the East, Federal lands form so small a percentage of the total
forest land area as to be incapable of fulfilling area requirements for
wild-life on anything like the extensive scale possible in the West,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1553
and additional areas are desirable. Extensive areas are, however,
extremely important in meeting in part public hunting ground
requirements as well as requirements for special purposes.
Federally owned nonforest lands, in the West particularly should
assist in meeting requirements for winter range. There are no
satisfactory estimates of the total area needed for this purpose. It
would undoubtedly in the aggregate amount to many millions of
acres.
ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE GAME COMMISSIONS
The fifth requirement is the establishment in all the States of
active, nonpolitical State Game Commissions, having full authority
to regulate seasons, bag limits, license fees, closed areas for any
purpose, and other phases of game and wild-life management. This
would be of material benefit to nation-wide wild-life conservation.
In general there is too little effective effort devoted to wild life con-
servation. Regulation of hunting, prevention of trespass, supervision
and patrol of areas closed to hunting, and other measures necessary
for wild-life administration are entirely inadequate.
WILD-LIFE RESEARCH
Basic wild-life research as the foundation of management and
administration is of fundamental importance as a sixth requirement
in a wild-life program for forest lands. The United States Biological
Survey under the McSweeney-McNary Act (45 Stat. 699) is carrying
on such research regarding the interrelationships of wild life species
especially rodents, predacious animals, game animals, fur animals,
birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The present program of research
includes relationship of game to other forest-land resources, including
breeding and feeding habits, maintenance of numbers and harvesting
surplus, wild-life values, and many other phases of wild-life biology.
Present work should be expanded by bringing the appropriations
for this purpose up to the amount authorized by 1938 and by such
additional amounts thereafter as may be needed.
The Federal Government through its Biological Survey should be
in a position to furnish fundamental facts about wild life to its own
units concerned with land management, and to aid the several States
in the development of their wild-life resources. This is particularly
necessary at this time when acute problems present themselves with
respect to making wild lands pay their way, and in the rehabilitation
of impoverished areas of constantly increasing size and economic
burden.
Several States, notably California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New
York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, through their conservation com-
missions, game departments, or educational institutions, are conduct-
ing important studies of various wild-life problems. Private industry
has also conducted far-reaching investigations. Notable examples are
the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, and the
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Work of this character, both by
State and other institutions and private industry, should be expanded
as rapidly as funds can be made available.
1554 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
EDUCATION
Public education is necessary as a seventh requirement to obtain
a general recognition of the values of wild life as a forest-land resource
and in accomplishing other objectives of a wild-life program. Lack
of sportsmanship in adhering to bag limits, in observance of closed
seasons, and in opposing efforts to impose necessary restrictions as to
methods of taking and other regulatory measures designed to protect
game birds and animals and other wild life, is in many instances
due to lack tff a real appreciation of game and other wild-life values.
Adequate protection from the " poacher", the "sooner", and the
"game hog" cannot be entirely achieved by State or Federal enforce-
ment. When the landowner realizes the values in the game on his
lands and gets a return therefrom, he will become an important part
of the game development and protection forces.
A PROGRAM FOR FOREST RESEARCH
By E. H. FROTHINGHAM, Director Appalachian Forest Experiment Station
CONTENTS
Page
Forest research by Federal agencies 1555
Forest Service research 1556
Research in forest pathology by the Bureau of Plant Industry 1565
Research in forest entomology by the Bureau of Entomology 1565
Research in naval stores by the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils 1566
Research in forest biology by the Biological Survey 1566
Fishery research in forest waters by the Bureau of Fisheries 1567
Forest fire weather research by the Weather Bureau 1568
Forest research possibilities of the National Arboretum 1568
Forest research by the States 1569
Forest research by quasi-public and private agencies 1571
Other sections of this report have discussed the character and cost
of the forest research now being conducted by public and private
agencies in the United States. The purpose of the present section
is to bring together these different fields of research activity so as to
permit a view of the size and nature of each in relation to the entire
field. Such a view may help toward a better understanding of the
mutual obligations involved and toward a fuller coordination of effort.
FOREST RESEARCH BY FEDERAL AGENCIES
Federal responsibility for conducting forest research arises from (1)
the obligation to meet national or regional problems of forest-land
management and forest-products utilization, and (2) the obligation to
administer productively and wisely the immense areas of Federal
forest lands. Federal forest research subjects are divided among a
number of bureaus, mostly of the Department of Agriculture, as
follows: Timber production and utilization, forest-fire protection,
forest-range management and utilization, forest economics, forest
influences, and related matters, the Forest Service; forest diseases and
decays of forest products, Bureau of Plant Industry; forest insect
infestations, Bureau of Entomology; preparation and use of naval
stores, Bureau of Chemistry and Soil; forest wild life, Bureau of
Biological Survey; game and food fish in forest waters, Bureau of
Fisheries in the Department of Commerce; and weather relationships
to forest fires as a basis for forecasting, Weather Bureau. Almost
all the forest research of the Forest Service, and much of that of other
Department of Agriculture bureaus, is concentrated at 11 regional
forest experiment stations and the Forest Products Laboratory.
Although great progress has been made, the areas and values involved
are so large and the problems arising in connection with them so
complex and difficult that this progress constitutes no more than
a good beginning. Facts and figures cited in many sections of the
present report reveal the enormous size of the forest-research task
1555
1556 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
that lies before the Nation. The same national responsibilities that
gave rise to the present research activities now require even more
urgently the development of these activities to keep pace with
growing needs.
FOREST SERVICE RESEARCH
The progress so far made in research by the Forest Service is dis-
cussed in the section "Research in the United States Forest Service:
A Study in Objectives." The present forest research program of the
service, as of other bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, is
embodied in the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of May
22, 1928. This act specifies what work may be undertaken in the
entire field of forest research , sets up a field organization for systematic
coordinated research, and outlines a 10-year financial program with
restrictions as to appropriations.
Five years' systematic advance on the McSweeney-McNary
forest-research program has made it clear that even if appropria-
tions during the next 5 years reach the full amounts authorized by the
act, at the end of that time only a good start will have been made
toward covering a research field proportionate with national needs
and responsibilities. After the expiration of the 10-year period
provided for in the act, i.e., in 1938, funds for further research may be
provided either under the clause in the present act which authorizes
"such annual appropriations as may thereafter be necessary" or
under legislation setting up an entirely new financial plan. The sec-
tion previously referred to discusses some modifications needed in the
McSweeney-McNary Act even before that time and outlines a
financial plan for the decade beginning with 1935, which is about as
far in the future as financial planning for research can be carried
with much certainty.
The major objectives of the program proposed for the decade
1935-44 are (1) to round out the plan and development of the regional
forest experiment stations, this to include establishing one or two new
regional stations in the United States proper and one station each in
Alaska, Hawaii, and the West Indies and developing a central labora-
tory as a part of the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis.,
for intensive research in fundamental silvicultural problems that
require laboratory facilities; and (2) to round out the development of
the Forest Products Laboratory.
Attainment of these major objectives involves development of the
classes of research listed in the following table. This table shows the
expenditures authorized by the McSweeney-McNary Act, and the
average annual increases necessary during the four years 1935-38
and the six years following in order to attain the objectives set up for
that decade.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1557
Financial plan for Forest Service research for the decade 1935-44 l
Appropriation item
Annual ex-
penditures
authorized
by the Mc-
Sweeney-
McNary
Act for the
decade end-
ing with
1938
Average annual appropria-
tion increases needed for
the decade 1935-44—
To meet Mc-
Sweeney-Mc-
Nary Act
authorizations
or supplement-
ary needs dur-
ing the 4 years
ending with
1938
To meet
further
needs
through
1944
Forest management
$1, 000, 000
275,000
1, 050, 000
250, 000
250,000
$115,000
40,000
110, 000
45,000
280,000
5 100, 000
3 50,000 to 75,000
$100, 000
50,000
100, 000
25,000
Range investigations ..
Forest products . ...
Forest economics
Forest survey. _ . .
Erosion-streamflow
40,000
Forest land classification
1 All dates refer to fiscal years ending June 30.
2 The efficiency of the survey will be greatly increased if maximum annual expenditures authorized by the
McSweeney-McNary Act ($250,000) are reached by the fiscal year 1935 and are increased by new legislation
to $500,000 for 1937 and thereafter until survey expenditures total $3,000,000. The three annual increases
suggested to reach the maximum of $500,000 are $80,000 in 1935, $125,000 in 1936, and $125,000 in 1937.
3 New legislation will be needed.
For the last three subjects listed in the table, financial authoriza-
tions beyond those provided by the present McSweeney-McNary
Act are recommended. Appropriations for erosion-streamflow in-
vestigations were not specifically authorized in the McSweeney-Mc-
Nary Act. A bill to authorize such appropriations that is now before
Congress will be discussed later in this section. Secondly, the
efficiency of the forest survey depends largely upon speed of execu-
tion. Within the limit of $3,000,000 set up for the survey by the
McSweeney-McNary Act, a doubling of the present authorized annual
expenditures would greatly increase its effectiveness. A third subject
is forest land classification. Forest lands are an important factor in
the national land-use problem which has risen to serious proportions
within recent years, and forest land classification is correspondingly
important as an aid in its solution. Participation of the Forest
Service in forest-land aspects of classification can be provided by
amendment of the McSweeney-McNary Act or as a part of a general
authorization for all classes of lands.
These three subjects are discussed at greater length under their
respective titles in the review of Forest Service investigative activities
which follows.
FOREST MANAGEMENT
The central objective of forest-management research is to determine
the conditions and efficient technical methods for raising timber as a
crop. Its field includes methods of cutting timber or utilizing it for
such products as naval stores in such a way as to perpetuate and
improve the stand, growing and planting forest trees, protecting
forests from fire and evaluating fire damage, increasing the value of
stands by cultural methods, determining and forecasting timber
growth rates, compiling tables to show the volumes of trees and the
yields of timber stands of different sizes and ages, and other subjects,
research on which is of fundamental value to forestry. The results
1558 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
so far obtained have added greatly to the assurance of results from
efforts to grow and manage timber.
Although a substantial fund of knowledge on various forest-
management subjects has accumulated for different regions and
different forest types, an extremely large field of work remains to be
covered. In many important forest types, work along some of these
lines has made only slight progress, if any. In the subject of natural
reforestation much fundamental work remains to be done, and the
problem of carrying established stands through to maturity is, in
general, still in a preliminary, empirical stage.
Research in artificial reforestation has made good progress, but
the gaps in our information on this subject are still large. The work
thus far has been almost entirely on conifers; how to establish plan-
tations successfully has yet to be determined for most hardwood
species and types. In the field of forest mensuration, volume tables
and yield tables for even-aged stands have been made for many
species and types, and these have proved very useful; but only a
little has yet been done on the fundamental laws governing the form
of trees, or their growth, or the yield of uneven-aged stands. Quality
of product, as contrasted with quantity, has received practically no
consideration in either volume or yield research.
The urgent need for better and more extensive protection of forests
from fire has directed research effort into this field, but so much
remains ahead that what has been done is only a beginning. Marked
progress has been made in developing a technique for determining the
efficiency of protective organizations through statistical studies of
their fire records. Some studies have been made of the conditions
that influence fire behavior. These subjects, however, require a
great deal of further investigation, and others have scarcely been
touched. For example, while studies of fire damage have yielded
promising initial results, little progress has been made in any forest
type or region in finding methods for determining with any certainty
the damage caused by fire. Such information is extremely important
in all forest types as a primary means of determining direct and
indirect loss from fire, justifiable expenditures in forest fire protection,
and the silvicultural measures made necessary as a result of damage.
Research on the silvicultural use of fire lies almost entirely ahead, as
well as research on the possibility of reducing the menace of fire
through silvicultural management.
Numerous fields of forest-management research as yet have hardly
been touched. Among these are forest regulation, or the systematic
chronological adjustment of forest yields on the basis of growth rate,
types of product, and other considerations affecting efficiency in
timber production and supplying data for financial planning; engineer-
ing problems concerned with permanent road or other transportation
systems and road and trail systems for fire protection; problems con-
nected with park forestry, or with the growth and health of shade and
ornamental trees; and the improvement of trees by selection and
crossbreeding.
Progress of research in all these lines — and this applies generally
to most of the Forest Service research subjects discussed later — has
shown the need for more and more intensification of effort. In fact,
the chief present requirement of most forest research is the breaking
down of broad subjects into smaller component problems susceptible
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1559
of solution under more intensive methods than have been possible
with the funds so far provided.
A large part of this forest-management research is of value to the
States, from the point of view of State, county, municipal, and private
forestry. The concentration of Federal forest-management research
at regional stations gives to 'groups of States effective local sources of
information on a large variety of subjects.
RANGE INVESTIGATIONS
Forage for livestock is an important product of large areas of land
on or adjacent to the national forests in the West. Overgrazing,
where it has been permitted, has reduced forage production far below
capacity. Unrestricted grazing has had a detrimental effect on for-
ests and remains a threat to their existence. It is causing injury to
soil and to watershed values through erosion following depletion of
the protective plant cover. How depleted range areas may be re-
stored to a fully productive condition can be determined definitely and
completely only by research. Successful management of the range
requires a knowledge of the degree to which grazing can be practiced
without materially interfering with timber production or reducing the
quality of the forage below specified standards.
To supply such knowledge, the Forest Service range investigations
have been centered upon the relation of range use to timber growing
and watershed protection, and upon the management of the range
resource. They have dealt with the problem of handling livestock
on the range only as it affects sustained forage production. Some im-
portant principles of grazing use have been developed, including the
necessity of (1) a very conservative stocking of the range, on account
of the striking decrease in growth of range plants during dry years or
dry cycles; (2) allowing palatable vegetation to make vigorous growth
before it is grazed; (3) giving bunchgrasses periodic opportunities to
re-seed; (4) grazing sheep and goats openly and quietly and bedding
them down in new places every night; and (5) obtaining better dis-
tribution of cattle on the range by means of well-placed watering
places and better salting methods. This research includes 25 years'
study of the value, distribution, and natural habits of many species of
forage plants present on the western range. Progress has been made
in determining the character and quantity and also the cause of dam-
age by livestock to forest reproduction and in working out forms of
regulation to minimize or prevent damage.
Range research is now under way in only four forest regions in the
West. The need for it is by no means confined to the regions and
types where it has been concentrated. Investigations should be
extended as soon as possible not only to other western forest types and
regions but also to eastern regions where range use now accompanies
or could accompany timber growing.
The same need exists as in the case of forest-management investiga-
tions of breaking broad problems down into smaller component parts
that can be attacked more intensively and successfully.
Forest Service range research has much value for States and also
for private owners of range lands as a means of developing their graz-
ing resources. While the Forest Service research is regional in scope
168342°— 33— vol. 2 33
1560 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
except where national-forest problems are concerned, it has direct
importance to the States as a means of improving and perpetuating
both the livestock industry and timber production.
The need for expanding and intensifying range research that has
been pointed out justifies the full volume of appropriations author-
ized by the McSweeney-McNary Act and the continued increases
here recommended after the close of the period covered by that act.
FOREST PRODUCTS
The principal objective of forest-products research is to aid in
making timber growing more profitable through more efficient utiliza-
tion, and to aid in providing the public most economically with needed
forest products in the form that will render the most satisfactory and
efficient service.
Wood meets keen industrial competition in many fields. The com-
petition offered to wood by other materials — for example, steel, con-
crete, and brick for structural purposes, and different vegetable fibers
for fiber-board manufacture — is due largely to research, which has
worked out adaptations, found new uses, improved qualities, and
lowered production costs. Wood can fully meet this competition only
if it is given the same advantage.
Forest-products research is one of the most effective means of en-
abling wood to meet the competition of other materials, of keeping
up or increasing the consumption of wood, and thus of helping to in-
sure productive and profitable use of forest land.
The major subjects now being studied at the Forest Products Labora-
tory are discussed in the section " Research in the United States Forest
Service : A Study in Objectives." They cover the whole field of wood
utilization, from the cutting of the tree to the grading, selection, and
conditioning of forest products ; the fundamental study of wood prop-
erties; the modification of these properties to resist decay, fire, or
shrinkage; methods of pulp and paper manufacture, and the use of
new species of trees for paper; the design and adaptation of forest
products with reference to strength and other properties ; and manu-
facturing processes such as gluing and painting. The laboratory tests
are supplemented by the work of the forest experiment stations in
various ways, notably through studies of the relation between growth
conditions and wood quality.
In general, these investigations are directed toward increasing the
yields of merchantable timber from forest land, utilizing waste material
and tree species now considered inferior or worthless, and developing
new uses and improved practices. As a source of aid to the States
and to private timberland owners, many of the laboratory's researches
are of great importance.
To reach the maximum authorization of $1,050,000 for forest-
products investigations under the McSweeney-McNary Act by 1938
will require annual increases of $110,000 for the four years 1935-38,
and the future development of this research on an adequate scale
will probably require similar annual increases for a number of years
thereafter.
THE FOREST SURVEY
The objective of the forest survey is to make an inventory of our
forest resources, determining the exact extent of our forest-land area,
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1561
what the land is now producing and can produce, how fast the for-
ests are being depleted and the offsetting rates of growth, and the
actual or potential wood requirements of the Nation. The survey
proposes to analyze the many physical and economic factors that
must be taken into account in working toward an optimum balance
between our timber supplies and requirements. Its findings will
bear directly upon the possibilities for forest use of millions ol acres
of reverting submarginal farm land.
The urgent present need in relation to the survey is for an increase
in annual appropriations sufficient to complete the survey within the
shortest possible time. This need arises because of the changes that
are constantly taking place in the factors concerned and that will
adversely affect the usefulness of the results in proportion to the
time required to finish the work. Speed is important from a national
standpoint but even more so for individual regions. It is estimated,
for example, that the work now under way in the South, which con-
tains 40 percent of our forest land, can be completed in 5 years if
funds of $200,000 a year are applied to it. Obviously, the comple-
tion of the survey in this region within 5 years is greatly preferable
to its protraction over a period 2 or 3 times as long, which would
be necessary under present annual allotments. The survey has
already built up an organization that can be quickly and easily
expanded, under increased appropriations, to carry on a much larger
volume of work, and to carry on the work to better advantage.
The seriousness of the economic problems to which the results of
the survey will apply, and the comprehensive usefulness of the results
to all agencies engaged in land-use planning, either nationally or from a
State or local standpoint, and to timberland-owning and wood-using
agencies, justifies as an emergency measure an immediate increase in
the annual appropriation to the full amount of $250,000 authorized by
the McSweeney-McNary Act and a still further increase, by special
legislative action, to $500,000. The latter increase could be fully
and effectively utilized by the survey by the fiscal year 1937, or even
sooner.
It would be hard to conceive of a project that would contribute
more to the development of forest-land use or to forest industry in
the United States. The need to analyze and adjust our forest and
land-use situation, which has long been in a highly confused state,
has been brought into sharp focus by the present depression. In
normal times our forest industries support approximately 9 million
persons — wage earners and their dependents. They involve about
495 million acres of commercial forest land alone, which is more than
the aggregate area in farm crops.
The survey is now approaching completion in western Oregon and
Washington, is under way in the South, and is in progress on a small
scale in the Inland Empire, California, and the Lake States. In the
other forest regions it has not yet been started.
As the survey is completed in each region provision should be
made for keeping the results current. The results can be made per-
manently useful only by constant adjustment in accordance with
current forest growth and depletion, with changes in requirements,
in utilization trends, and in the quantities and kinds of products
made available by progress in forest management and with other
factors. A service of this kind will require practically continuous
1562 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
but relatively small-scale work indefinitely for all forest regions of
the United States. It will require annual appropriations possibly in
the neighborhood of $200,000.
FOREST ECONOMICS
The controlling influence of economic factors upon forest-land use
and upon tinber production and utilization gives the utmost impor-
tance to forest-economics research. Economic research as a basis
for profitable timber growing, for the formulation of policies govern-
ing the use of land for forestry, and for solving many problems of the
forest industries is being conducted by the Forest Service, but as yet
on a scale far too small to meet the needs.
The McSweeney-McNary Act authorizes a maximum annual ex-
penditure of $250,000 for these investigations. The first study under
this provision was started in the southern pine region in 1930, and is
now in progress. It is an investigation of timber-growing costs and
returns or, more broadly, of the financial possibilities of timber grow-
ing by private owners. The southern-pine region was selected for
the initiation of this study because of the extremely rapid forest
growth made possible by soil and climatic conditions in the South,
the accessibility of the region to large consuming centers, and a rapidly
growing local interest in timber culture. The results of such investi-
gations may be expected to stimulate private forestry initiative where-
ever they are carried on, and the time is ripe for extension of the work
to all the important forest regions of the country.
Forest Service research in forest economics is designed primarily
to supply a more thorough knowledge of the financial considerations
and economic factors bearing on continuous forest production. When
these investigations reach the full scale of the authorizations contained
in the McSweeney-McNary Act, it is hoped that they can be made to
cover all the following subjects:
(1) The conditions under which forestry is now profitable.
(2) The economic relations of forestry to other industries including
agriculture, transportation, and mining.
(3) Economic and social gains from forest land use and from the
availability of ample timber supplies, and the corresponding losses
from forest land nonuse and timber shortages.
(4) Forest-land ownership, including the proper balance between
public and private ownership.
(5) The possibilities of timber growing as a means of productively
utilizing submarginal and eroding farm lands.
(6) Economic aspects of forest uses other than timber growing,
such as recreation, hunting and fishing, and watershed protection, and
of combinations of such uses.
(7) In what manner and to what extent the public should contribute
to or regulate the handling of private forest lands.
(8) The basis of sound policies as to the administration of national
forests and of lands in other kinds of ownership.
(9) Economic aspects of rotations, cutting cycles, and cutting
budgets, and other subjects relating to forest regulation.
JLO) The international situation as to timber supplies and markets,
other foreign relationships.
(11) The distribution of lumber and other forest products.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1563
(12) The substitution of other materials for lumber, naval stores,
etc.
(13) The trends of lumber and stumpage prices, and the principles
that govern such trends.
(14) The place of productive forest-land use in the regional and
national economic and social structure as a whole.
The need for information on these subjects justifies the recom-
mended average annual increases of $45,000 to reach the McSweeney-
McNary Act authorization of $250,000 a year by 1938, and of $25,000
for some years later. These increases would permit an expansion
of the work proportional to that provided for in other fields of forest
research. This need is sure to increase in urgency with the growing
use of forest lands for timber production and other purposes. Natur-
ally, the Federal results will be of great value to States and to private
timberland owners, many of whose most difficult problems are of an
economic nature.
EROSION STREAM FLOW
The need for studies of the relation of forest and other vegetative
cover of wild lands to the regularity of stream flow and to erosion is
presented in the section ''Research in the United States Forest Serv-
ice: A Study in Objectives." This need is found in the growing
importance of flood control hi the United States; in the heavy erosion
losses that have seriously reduced the productivity of enormous areas
and threaten to reduce other once fertile areas to desert ; in the critical
need for water, which is growing with the increase of agricultural,
municipal, power, and other demands; and in wide difference of
opinion as to whether forest and other cover is a decisive factor in
erosion and the regulation of stream flow. This difference of opinion
is reflected in radical differences in policy or an entire lack of policy
in the administration of public and private lands having watershed
values, and in the disregard of forest influences that characterizes
certain expenditures for flood control, improvement of navigation,
and construction of costly dams and storage reservoirs. Flood losses
hi American river valleys are estimated to be at least $40,000,000 a
year; river and harbor improvements by the Federal Government
have cost approximately $1,800,000,000 to date; and a difficult and
costly water-supply problem confronts many large cities. In the light
of such costs, the condition of the vegetative cover of watersheds
and the degree to which it can be modified to increase water storage,
regulate the run-off, and decrease erosion assume nation-wide im-
portance.
No specific financial authorization of erosion and stream-flow
studies was included in the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research
Act. A bill pending in the Seventy-second Congress would add to
the act a new section authorizing annual appropriations for such
studies not to exceed $500,000. It is extremely desirable that the
full amount should become available by 1938, with annual increases
for the four years 1935-38 averaging $100,000.
The values involved justify a further increase in the final 6 years
of the 10-year program. An outline of the needs for investigation of
stream flow and erosion problems in all the forest regions of the
United States has been prepared by the Forest Service. The investi-
1564 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
gative program that would meet these needs would cost $750,000 a
year. In summary, the full program is as follows:
1. Intensive erosion-stream flow studies which for specific sets of
conditions will attack all phases of this problem, from intensive
small-scale, closely controlled experiments measuring single factors
to ultimate studies of larger duplicate or triplicate watersheds.
Eighteen such intensive studies are proposed at an average annual
cost of $25,000 each or a total annual cost of $450,000.
2. Supplemental and ordinarily less intensive studies dealing pri-
marily with erosion but covering water relationships also. Twenty-
six such studies are proposed, with an annual cost of from $5,000
to $20,000 each or $300,000 altogether.
The proposed amendment of the McSweeney-McNary Act to
include specific authorization for forest-influence investigations would
provide also for studies of the influence of forests upon climate and
rainfall. Such investigations will probably be of greatest importance
in the western treeless plains, although some incidental investigations
may ultimately prove desirable elsewhere.
FOREST LAND CLASSIFICATION
The depression has brought to a head a land-use situation that is
now one of the most critical of our internal problems. As shown in
the section "Research in the United States Forest Service: A Study in
Objectives", this situation is characterized by widespread abandon-
ment of agricultural lands, particularly of the submarginal class; the
breakdown of town and county government as a result of land aban-
donment and nonpayment of taxes; an unregulated back-to-the-land
movement growing out of unemployment, with the prospect, in some
instances, of further misuse of agricultural lands ; and excessive erosion
and floods following the cultivation of land that should have been
kept in forest. Most of these features of the situation contain the
seeds of even graver consequences. It seems vitally necessary that
prompt and intelligent action be taken, upon the basis of a clear under-
standing of the uses for which the different classes of land are best
fitted.
Classification of our existing and potential forest land according
to the use to which it is best adapted is therefore made one of the objec-
tives of the proposed lO^ear research program. The classification
would be based on information obtained through the Forest Survey
and through investigations in forest economics and forest manage-
ment and erosion-stream flow studies supplemented by information
obtained through special studies of the character of the land, what
it can be expected to produce, and related economic and social ques-
tions. Such studies should include the development of the principles
for determining whether land should be used for agriculture, timber
production, erosion control, recreation, or other uses or combination
of uses.
Research by the Forest Service on the forest aspects of land classi-
fication must be conducted in close cooperation with agricultural
experts working on the agricultural phases of the land-use problem.
Legislative provision for a study of the principles according to
which land would be classified in terms of its best use might take the
form of an additional section of the McSweeney-McNary Act, or of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1565
a general land-classification act. In the lack of detailed plans for
such work the amount of money needed is uncertain, but as an
approximation it would be well to provide for annually increasing
appropriations averaging $50,000 or $75,000 for the period required,
perhaps 5 years.
RESEARCH IN FOREST PATHOLOGY BY THE BUREAU OF PLANT
INDUSTRY
Investigations in forest pathology by the Bureau of Plant Industry
are discussed in the section "Protection Against Forest Diseases."
They fall within the general subjects of (1) nursery and plantation
diseases, including particularly the control of root diseases and the
relation of susceptibility to source of seed, soil conditions, species
mixture, and other factors; (2) disease resistance and its inheritance;
(3) blister rust and mistletoe problems; (4) the rate of decay in trees,
its outward evidence, relation to wounds, and control; (5) relation
of decay to slash-disposal methods (to be studied in 10 forest regions
in which slash disposal is a problem) ; (6) special methods of disease
control for recreational forests, important because of the greatly in-
creased use of forests for recreation and the marked difference in con-
trol measures applicable to recreational as contrasted with timber
forests; (7) safeguards against the introduction of additional diseases;
and (8) decay of forest products, including sap stain and "dry rot",
and the relation of decay to methods of cutting, seasoning, and storing,
to structural design, and to sanitation in lumber yards.
Continued active cooperation between Federal, State, and private
agencies in these studies is contemplated. It is recommended that
the pathological staff at the three regional forest experiment stations
now served and at the Forest Products Laboratory be enlarged and
that trained pathologists be placed at the remaining stations. There
should be at least 2 pathologists, better 3 or 4, at each station, and
5 or 6 at the largest stations.
Progress in the development of Federal research in forest pathology
should be insured by annual appropriation increases to reach the
maximum of $250,000 in 1938, authorized by the McSweeney-McNary
Act in addition to whatever sums may be required for emergency
work relating to epidemic diseases.
RESEARCH IN FOREST ENTOMOLOGY BY THE BUREAU OF ENTO-
MOLOGY
While much has already been learned, through research, as to the
life histories and habits of many destructive forest insects, leading to
the formulation of methods for their control, there is need for a great
deal more study into the fundamentals of insect ecology and phy-
siology. For example, such studies may make it possible to predict
insect outbreaks and consequently to prevent or better control them.
Some of the directions which forest entomological ^ research should
take in the future, so far as can be foreseen, are indicated in the
section entitled " Protection Against Forest Insects." Effort should
be directed toward perfecting control methods and reducing their
cost. Methods of control by distributing dust poisons from airplanes
should be further investigated. A great deal of experimental work
is needed to perfect methods of combating defoliating insects. Special
study should be devoted to silvicultural methods of preventing insect
1566 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
attacks and to the use of parasitic insects as means of controlling
insects injurious to forests. It has been demonstrated to be quite
possible to import beneficial insects from one country or section of a
country to another, establish them, and obtain effective control
through their activities.
The maximum annual appropriation for Federal investigations in
forest entomology authorized by the McSweeney-McNary Act is
$350,000. The gradual annual increases authorized by this act should
take care of the most imperatively needed studies for some 5 years to
come.
RESEARCH IN NAVAL STORES BY THE BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY
AND SOILS
Research in naval stores is being conducted by the Bureau of
Chemistry and Soils. The work includes the development and
demonstration of improved processes for preparing naval stores, in-
cluding the weighing, handling, transportation, and uses of these
products. A naval stores laboratory has been established on the
Osceola National Forest, near Lake City, Fla., and approximately
$31,000 has been made available for the investigations during the
current fiscal year.
RESEARCH IN FOREST BIOLOGY BY THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY
The important place of game and other wild life in forest manage-
ment gives rise to the need of research in forest biology. The sec-
tion "Wild Life a Forest Resource" indicates directions in which re-
search is required. Research in this field is complicated by the great
variations both in the composition of the forest and in the animal
population. How much game of different kinds can be supported on
given areas of forest land is a question that requires very much more
definite and complete knowledge than now exists as to animal require-
ments, the availability of appropriate food and cover, and related
subjects. The balance between different forms of wild life, as be-
tween game animals and animals that feed upon game, embraces
another important class of problems. Game management research
in forest biology has a much larger field ahead than that which it has
been able to cover in the past. The increase of hunting, and par-
ticularly the growing recognition that under proper management
game can be maintained perpetually as a resource on forest and wild-
land areas, have brought biological research to the fore.
Certain small animals apparently are beneficial silviculturally,
because they feed on forest insects; on the other hand, rodents of
various kinds frequentlv do much damage to the reproduction of
forest trees. Both the i>eneficial and the destructive small animals
are the prey of others, so that protection of the latter may in some
cases benefit, in others injure, the forest.
Similar questions exist as to birds, some of which are valuable
game, others predatory. Birds are known to affect forest conditions
and values in innumerable ways. They destroy large quantities of
harmful insects and perhaps beneficial ones as well. They distribute
tree seed broadcast, and probably play a considerable part in the dis-
tribution of tree diseases. Predatory birds destroy rodents and other
small mammals as well as other birds. Here again the biological
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1567
balance is often critical. Research in both animal and bird life is
constantly revealing new facts, the use of which is invaluable in form-
ulating policies of forest and game management.
The program of biological research for the immediate future con-
templates the carrying out of the provision covering this subject in
the McSweeney-McNary Act, making available increasing annual
appropriations which will reach the amount of $150,000 in the fiscal
year 1938. The act provides that annual appropriations may be
made thereafter of the size necessary to carry out the provisions of
the act for biological investigations.
FISHERY RESEARCH IN FOREST WATERS BY THE BUREAU OF
FISHERIES
The importance of fish as a forest resource, to be maintained and
improved for public benefit, has been discussed at length in the sub-
section ''Fishery Management in Forest Waters of the United States".
So many technical problems are involved in establishing any compre-
hensive program of fishery management of forest areas that scientific
research is essential. This research is conducted by the Bureau of
Fisheries.
This research, outlined in more detail in the section above referred
to, includes, first, a physical assessment of forest areas from the point
of view of water resources, fish populations, and the demands made
upon the natural supplies of fish by fishermen. Many factors enter
into this physical assessment, such as the location and dimensions of
streams and lakes, the flow of streams and their seasonal fluctuations,
the character of stream beds, the extent of ripples and pools, the
physiography of watersheds, and the chemical composition and
thermal relations of water. Reasonably complete information is
necessary also as to the kinds and quantities of organisms present in
the water or on adjacent land that are available as food for fish. A
further requirement is an inventory of existing fish populations, in-
volving determination of the numerical relation between different
kinds of fish, as a basis for determining the maximum number of
food fishes of the most desirable or useful sizes that can be produced
on a given area.
The existing or potential demands upon the supply of fish cannot
now be determined satisfactorily because the facilities for doing this
are very inadequate. A complete program of fisheries management
should include the furnishing of such figures not only to determine
the need for additional production but to provide a more accurate
check upon the success of methods to increase the yields.
More extensive studies are needed of the ecological requirements
of fish to be planted. These involve controlled experiments to deter-
mine means of augmenting the food supply, the value of various
foods, the effect of competing species upon each other, proper levels
of stocking intensity, the migratory and breeding habits of various
species, and the general effects of individual systems of management.
Closely associated with the ecological investigations are laboratory
studies for the purpose of improving hatchery technique. Notable
progress has been made by the Bureau of Fisheries in certain direc-
tions through such studies during the past few years, but much
remains to be done.
1568 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
To carry out these research functions as a part of the proposed
fishery survey in each of the six national-forest regions of the Western
United States a resident biologist should be stationed in each region,
together with sufficient technical personnel to assure acquisition of
the most essential information at the earliest moment. The volume
of work ahead is sufficient to cover a long period of years; but even
the information obtained by a single season's operations will provide
a far sounder basis for fish stocking in the area covered than exists
at present, and within a few years' time a sufficient area could be
brought under scientific control to augment vastly the supply of
food and game fishes and to assure their perpetuation. The esti-
mated cost of the needed fishery investigative work is $25,000 a
year.
FOREST FIRE WEATHER RESEARCH BY THE WEATHER BUREAU
A weather-forecasting service to furnish warnings of approaching
periods of dangerous fire weather is of material benefit to forest fire
protective agencies, permitting increased flexibility of the protective
forces, better control of forest fire situations, and generally much
increased certainty and efficiency of operation. To provide for
"such investigations at forest experiment stations, or elsewhere, of
the relationship of weather conditions to forest fires as may be neces-
sary to make weather forecasts," the McSweeney-McNary Act
authorizes annual appropriations of not more than $50,000.
Since each forest region presents its own distinct problems, fire-
weather research is being carried on to a greater or less degree at
all the points at which the fire-weather forecasting system has been
inaugurated: San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Chicago,
Boston, and Asheville. Further extension is extremely desirable.
The fire-weather research program for the future therefore merits the
provision of the amounts authorized in the McSweeney-McNary
Act, reaching an annual appropriation of $50,000 for the fiscal year
1938, with such appropriations thereafter as may be necessary to
carry out the provisions of the act for this subject.
FOREST RESEARCH POSSIBILITIES OF THE NATIONAL
ARBORETUM
Completion of purchase plans for the National Arboretum at
Washington, D. C., and provision for its administration should be
included in the forest-research program. The value of arboreta in
forest research was discussed in the section "Privately Supported and
Quasi-Public Forest Research". Arboreta afford opportunity for
comparing characteristics, behavior, hardiness, and forest value of
trees from all parts of the world, and for carrying on investigations
in numerous special fields. Among these are the improvement of
trees through cross-breeding and selection; physiological processes
relating to growth, reproduction, water conduction, nutrition, and
soil and other environmental influences; susceptibility to insect
attacks and diseases; form and quality of timber; and other character-
istics that bear upon the success of the species studied when introduced
into the practice of forestry.
The presence at Washington of so many scientific bureaus engaged
in different phases of forest research is a logical reason for the early
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1569
completion of a national arboretum there and for its maintenance as a
research center. Efforts to accomplish this have hitherto been only
partially successful. By an act approved March 4, 1927 (44 Stat.,
1422, U.S.C. Supp. VI, title 20, sees. 191-194), a sum not to exceed
$300,000 was authorized to be expended under the direction of the
Secretary of Agriculture for the acquisition of land within or adja-
cent to the District of Columbia " to establish and maintain a national
arboretum for purposes of research and education concerning tree and
plant life." The act specifies that the arboretum shall be adminis-
tered by the Secretary of Agriculture " separately from the agricultural,
horticultural, and forestry stations of the Department of Agriculture,
but it shall be so correlated with them as to bring about the most
effective utilization of its facilities and discoveries." A suitable tract
of land was found but the initial appropriation was sufficient to pur-
chase only a part of it, and further appropriations to round out the
purchase have not yet been forthcoming. The next step is to com-
plete the purchase program and provide such funds as may be needed
for research.
FOREST RESEARCH BY THE STATES
The States have good reasons to contribute substantially to forest
research. One reason is the responsibility for good administration of
State-owned forest land, which has reached a total of 16 million acres
and is increasing. An even more pressing reason is implied in the
444 million acres of privately owned forest and woodland, the good
or bad management of which is in many ways a powerful determining
influence upon State prosperity.
Nearly every State has local forest problems that it can not expect
the Federal Government or any other agency to solve except in part.
These problems are of great variety, from those connected with the
planting, management, protection from fire, and utilization of the
forest to forest entomology, pathology, economics, the protection and
management of game and other wild life, and the use of the forest as
an agent in retarding erosion and regulating streamflow. The im-
portance of research to meet these problems and develop the many
functions of the forest has been emphasized in this section and other
sections of the present report. It justifies the belief that State con-
tributions for research should be in a measure proportionate to Federal
expenditures; that within about the next 10 years the States could
well afford to undertake a share in the forest-research program
amounting in the aggregate to $2,500,000 a year, which means an
average expenditure of $52,000 by each State. Some States, of
course, have much more at stake than others, so that the amounts
needed for research are very unequal.
State agencies available for this research include the State forestry
administrative organizations; specialists in entomology, pathology,
wild life, or other subjects connected with other State departments;
State forest schools or forestry and other departments of State
universities and colleges; and State agricultural experiment stations.
The part to be taken by each of these agencies in State plans for
forest research is of course a matter for determination by individual
States.
Expenditures of State forestry departments for forest research in
1932 were quoted in the section " State Accomplishments and Plans"
1570 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
as approximately $97,800, which is less than 2 percent of the total
appropriations of the State forestry departments. This amount
covers only the sums definitely allocated to research. Undoubtedly
there were other State expenditures for research, but even if these
amounted to $50,000, which is unlikely, the aggregate was only a
little more than $3,000 for each State, an insignificant amount in
view of the forest values involved.
Pennsylvania, spending about $21,000 annually on its Forest
Research Institute, leads the States in amount "spent for forest
research by State forestry administrative organizations. This may
be more than many of the States can undertake at present. With
more than 16 million acres of forest land already in State ownership
and 1,398,000 acres in the ownership of counties, and municipalities,
and with further growth anticipated both in the area of land so owned
and in the intensity of its use, a large increase in forest research by
State forestry departments or other State agencies seems inevitable.
The large area of timberland privately owned, amounting to 396
million acres in the class of commercial forest alone, calls for special
activity in the classes of research involved in extending immediate
aid to private timberland owners. The burden of this class of
research may appropriately be distributed among the State adminis-
trative organizations, the forest schools and agricultural colleges, and
the agricultural experiment stations, in whatever manner may best
fit the organizations in individual States.
The State forest schools, of which there are 22 in 19 States, have
not as yet developed their research activities to the point of full
usefulness to the States. The estimate of aggregate research expendi-
tures in 1932 by forestry and other departments of State universities
and colleges, which is presented in the section " State Accomplish-
ments and Plans/' is $165,000.
The forest schools, together with State colleges and universities
that do not provide forestry instruction might be made the agencies
for a large extension of forest research. Without the heavy burden of
administrative and advisory duties that rests on the State adminis-
trative departments, it would be possible for them to give the unin-
terrupted attention that is one of the prime essentials for research.
According to the estimates in the section "State Accomplishments
and Plans," the State agricultural experiment stations are spending on
forest research something like $55,000 a year, of which about $14,000
is Federal grant funds. In addition, those of certain Western States
are spending about $75,000 for range research.
The agricultural experiment stations have some advantage in
handling farm-forestry problems, because of the close association
between farm woodlands and other parts of the farm. Farm woods
make up about 25 percent of the entire forest area of the country
(from 30 to 50 percent in the Southern, Middle Atlantic, and Central
States). Because of the great aggregate extent of farm woodlands
and the value of the materials cut and sold from them, farm-woodland
products rank among the leading farm crops in a number of States.
Under complete forest management farm woodlands can undoubtedly
be made to produce much more than they now yield, with improve-
ment in quality and value. Their problems differ in important
respects from the management and utilization problems of extensive
timber tracts.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1571
FOREST RESEARCH BY QUASI-PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
AGENCIES
The estimated annual expenditures for forest research by quasi-
public and private agencies, discussed in the section " Privately Sup-
ported and Quasi-Public Forest Research," indicate that nearly 90
percent of all the forest research now conducted by such agencies is
being done by the various wood-using industries. The estimates for
the several groups are as follows:
Industries $2, 500, 000
Scientific institutions and arboreta 230, 000
Privately supported forest schools and university departments 120, 000
Total 2, 850, 000
The largest share of the forest research being conducted by indus-
tries is carried by the pulp and paper industries, with estimated pres-
ent expenditures of $2,000,000 a year. Other wood conditioning and
manufacturing industries, including the lumber industry, are con-
ducting forest research at an expense of perhaps $500,000 a year in
the present period of depression. Much the larger part of this is for
experiments in manufacturing and processing forest products rather
than in growing them.
There is reason for a large expansion of industrial forest research
in both the manufacturing and the productive field. Eighty per cent
of all industrial forest research expenditures appear to be on pulp and
paper, the form of product for which competition from materials
other than wood is least serious. In the fields where competition is
keen the research on wood seems to be very inadequately supported.
Research is one of the most effective weapons at the disposal of the
lumber and other forest-dependent industries which are now fighting
the competition of other materials. As was stated previously, by
using research the competitors of wood force similar action upon the
forest industries. Research is the means for showing in what respects
and for what uses wood is the most satisfactory and cheapest material,
and how it should be handled and used. Just as in all other forms of
industry, research in the manufacture of forest products offers oppor-
tunity for cheaper and more effective methods and processes, reduc-
tion of waste, and hence a competitive advantage in price and quality.
It offers the opportunity to exclusive rights through patents for im-
proved processes and superior products. The individual manufacturer
or timberland owner cannot depend upon Government, State, or
university research organizations for all the forest research he will
need. Such organizations cannot be created or developed rapidly
enough.
If forest research is to be conducted by industries on a scale at all
commensurate to the needs it would appear to require at least a 30
or 40 percent increase over the present expenditures, or the building
up during a period of, say, 10 years of an annual expenditure amounting
to $3,500,000. These expenditures would, of course, be made in
different ways. Organization of special research staffs would be prac-
ticable in some instances; consulting experts can be called in periodi-
cally; contributions can be made as cooperative funds to research
institutions at universities, to State organizations, or to the Federal
Government ; or research organizations may be supported in industrial
associations from proportional contributions.
1572 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The agencies thus far discussed are conducting research as a part
of other forestry activities. A different situation is presented by the
endowed scientific institutions referred to in the section " Privately
Supported and Quasi-Public Forest Research.'7 These are engaged in
research exclusively; but with one or two exceptions their research
bears only incidentally upon forestry.
The institutions with organized botanical or economic departments
could give greatly increased service to forestry within these fields.
To furnish substantial aid to forestry, however, the research approach
should be from the distinctive forestry point of view. Silviculture
in America is seriously handicapped by the dearth of knowledge
in the domain of tree physiology, genetics, and related sciences.
In the field of physiology the functioning of trees, their reactions
to environment, the characteristics that underlie susceptibility and
resistance to climatic and other factors, are only a few of many
subjects that have fundamental importance for silviculture and that
as yet remain practically unexplored. Very little has yet been done to
determine the possibilities of improving strains by cross-breeding and
selection, and the same is true of many other lines of investigation
that hold great promise for the future. The scientific institutions
and arboreta are appropriate agencies for conducting fundamental
research on these subjects.
Although more active participation on the part of existing scientific
institutions is greatly to be desired, the breadth of their research
fields prevents the necessary concentration of effort upon the specific
field of forestry. Forest research has two features that probably
distinguish it from any other field of scientific endeavor and that make
necessary a special mode of attack : The complexity of the problems,
and the long time required for results. Between different classes
of factors highly important relationships exist which compel a system-
atic and organized group attack from many angles. Failure to
coordinate research efforts results in confusion, duplication, and delay.
European experience, cited in a report of the Society of American
Foresters,1 reveals the inadequacy of uncoordinated or desultory
forest research:
One of the serious handicaps of all except possibly the most recent funda-
mental forest research of Europe is its scattered and fragmentary character.
One investigator examines a single narrow phase of tree growth or requirements.
It may be the change in stored food substances in the tree upon the approach of
winter for a single species, light intensity and photosynthesis in one or two
species, the use by a single species in one locality of diffused light, nitrogen fixa-
tion by a very limited number of bacterial organisms, or some local phase of soil
acidity. Each investigator works independently of all others. Exceedingly
valuable information results, but fragmentary, full of gaps, and difficult or im-
possible of correlation. It furnishes, for example, in the aggregate, a part of the
soil requirements of one species in one locality, a part of environmental light
relationships of another species somewhere else, an isolated phase of the physio-
logical activities of a third species.
Neither the scientific institutions with their broad research com-
mitments, nor the forest schools with their educational obligations,
nor public forestry agencies burdened not only with administrative
responsibilities but also with the imperative demand for workable
solutions of emergency problems, can fully supply the need for a
systematic and sustained program of fundamental research.
1 A National Program of Forest Research. Report of a special committee on forest research of the Wash-
ington Section, Society of American Foresters. Pp. 232. American Tree Association. Washington, D.C.
1926.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1573
Two general suggestions have been made for meeting the situation.
The Society of American Foresters report just cited recommends a
national privately endowed institution of forest research with a
governing board similar to that of one or another of the existing
scientific research institutions, with adequate representation of public,
scientific, and business interests. The single objective of this institu-
tion would be forest research as a fundamental aid to forestry.
Since forest research requires, in general, an entirely different techni-
que and background from that of other research, such an institution
could undoubtedly be best developed as a distinct organization.
Absorption into another institution with many lines of work under
way might retard or prevent the fulfillment of its central objective.
The institution should, however, be prepared to subsidize carefully
selected projects at other institutions, and to furnish facilities for
special work to representatives of such institutions.
Field stations, experimental forests, and laboratories would be
required. In locating these the highest feasible concentration
among the different lines of forest research should be observed.
This alone will insure the desired contact between scientists investi-
gating related problems, and make possible a thoroughly coordinated
and effective attack upon all the fundamental phases of forest life
and environment. This maximum concentration might involve
maintaining two or three main field laboratories in the United States
and others in Canada and the Tropics. Arrangements should be
highly flexible, permitting the investigators to work temporarily at
any advantageous point, either independently or in cooperation with
other research institutions.
The second suggestion was made in a recent report 2 to the Com-
mittee on Forestry Research, National Academy of Sciences. This
report points to the fact that the basic experimental aspects of plant
science have not yet been brought to the point at which they can be
applied in silviculture, and that "A new science of forest physiology,
involving both physiology of the tree and of the forest, must be
developed. * * * The physiological approach * * offers
a rational means of advance to other basic aspects of silvicultural
problems" extending over an extremely wide field and contributing
materially "to the solution of the more complex problems of forest
production."
As possible agencies for this work the report discusses all organi-
zations now engaged in forest research. It gives paramount impor-
tance to a clearly visualized and assured long-term forest-research
policy, which it is difficult to safeguard in universities. No single
university, according to this proposal, should have to assume entire
responsibility, nor should an undertaking like this be farmed out in
disjointed fragments to existing university departments.
The report to the National Academy of Science contends that in
the long run —
the interests both of forestry and of educational institutions can be served best
if the task of initiating, developing, and guiding researches in the more basic
experimental aspects of forest production is assumed by some special adminis-
trative agency
which should be "free to accept funds from various sources for con-
sistent and carefully planned projects". The institution thus en-
2 Bailey, I. W., and Spoehr, H. A. The Role of Research in the Development of Forestry in North
America. P. 118. The MacMillan Co., New York. 1929.
1574 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
visaged would administer the contributed funds in such a way as to
correlate and coordinate disbursements, according to the gradual
elaboration of plans based upon intensive cooperative researches.
The National Academy report recommends not —
the creation of a single, large, isolated research institute, but rather the develop-
ment ultimately of several smaller research units which should be located in
university centers and affiliated more or less informally with existing scientific
departments.
Either one of these two plans, or any combination or alternative
offering corresponding advantages, would constitute a tremendous
advance in furnishing the information so badly needed in the manage-
ment of our forests. In one form or another such a concentrated
attack on the fundamental problems of forestry should go forward.
It would afford the means for rounding out and stimulating the forest-
research effort of all agencies. With the highly competent personnel,
the field stations, experimental forests, and laboratories that would
be required, a program of this nature could hardly be adequately
financed without an annual income of at least $1,000,000.
With a reasonable increase in the forest-research activities of the
various existing scientific institutions, arboreta, and botanical gar-
dens, it is estimated that an adequate total annual expenditure by
all institutions would be in the neighborhood of $1,500,000.
The funds at present spent on forest research at endowed educa-
tional institutions are estimated to total $120,000 a year, divided
equally between organized forest schools and other university
departments.
Like the State forest schools and agricultural colleges, these insti-
tutions are highly appropriate centers for forest research covering a
wide field of subjects. Present expenditures for forest research are
far below what appears to be their full opportunity for service. It is
reasonable to set up, as an estimate for future expansion, a figure 3 or
4 times as large. An annual expenditure amounting to $500,000
would represent more completely the research potentialities of these
schools.
For all the private or quasi-public agencies considered in the pre-
vious discussion the suggested future forest-research program would
involve the following expenditures:
Industries $3, 500, 000
Scientific institutions and arboreta 1, 500, 000
Forest schools and other departments of endowed universities 500, 000
Total.. 5, 500, 000
FOREST EXTENSION— AN APPRAISAL AND A PROGRAM
By I. F. ELDREDGE, Principal Economist
CONTENTS
Page
Federal cooperation with agricultural colleges 1575
Forestry extension by Federal and State forest services 1576
Other forestry extension agencies 1577
An appraisal of the forestry-extension program of today 1578
A 10-year program 1581
The field of effort 1581
The mission of forestry extension is to spread a working knowledge
of forestry. Like all other kinds of extension work, it is primarily
educational and demonstrational in character. Its purpose is to
bring about a widespread appreciation of the place of forestry in our
national economic and social structure, to pass on to forest landowners,
users, and managers all applicable knowledge of forestry and forest
practice, and to demonstrate and interpret in the light of local require-
ments desirable practices in forestry — all to the end that the forest
lands of the country may produce larger returns expressed in terms
of both profit and human welfare.
That forestry extension is an essential step to better forest practice
has of course been obvious to those interested in the forestry move-
ment, and considerable extension effort, both organized and incidental
has been carried on. But, as measured by the financial investment
in it, it is doubtful whether foresters or their backers have realized
one tenth of the results that might be attained through a serious and
thoroughgoing program along extension lines. The main work in
forestry extension at present is that being conducted by the States
in cooperation with the Federal Government, but other agencies
should not be overlooked. The following is a brief account of the
various activities. More detailed discussions of the work appear in
the preceding sections of this report.
FEDERAL COOPERATION WITH AGRICULTURAL
COLLEGES
The cooperation of the United States Department of Agriculture
with State colleges of agriculture is a Nation-wide forestry extension
activity resulting from the operation of the Clarke-McNary law of
1924, its purpose being —
to assist the owners of farms in establishing, improving, and renewing woodlots,
shelter belts, windbreaks, and other valuable forest growth, and in growing and
renewing useful timber crops.
Federal cooperation is administered by the Extension Service of
the Department with the technical advice and assistance of the
Forest Service. The extension is conducted as a part of the program
of the 33 State agricultural colleges that cooperate, and is handled
usually through State extension services as a part of the agricultural
extension work. Federal funds appropriated annually, mainly under
168342°— 33— vol. 2 34 1575
1576 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the authorization of the Clarke-McNary law, are used in the employ-
ment of State extension foresters who are the specialists and leaders
in the forest-extension activity in each of the States. There is
usually only one extension forester to each State.
The ^ forestry-extension activity of the Federal and State govern-
ments in partnership costs annually a total of approximately $160,000,
the Federal Government bearing about $70,000 of the total and the
States furnishing $90,000.
While there is some direct contact with farmers in meetings and to
a lesser extent by individual assistance, the extension foresters of the
various States reach the farm owner mainly through the county agri-
cultural agents, of whom about 1,000 in 46 States participated in 1931.
The field of activity of the county agents is limited to farmers and
farm owners, and the usual methods of agricultural extension work
are employed in forestry extension. The results obtained more than
justify the amount of money expended, but the field as a whole is only
partly exploited, and there remain great possibilities in public good
to be achieved from an expansion and development of the work.
FORESTRY EXTENSION BY FEDERAL AND STATE
FOREST SERVICES
The private owner of timberland who is not also a farmer receives
few, if any, of the benefits of the organized forestry extension effort;
in fact, in many large and important regions, he gets very little direct
attention from any source. Bulletins, both State and Federal, and
occasional but rare opportunities for personal contact with some
Federal or State forester are, as a general rule, as much as he can
expect to get in aid or advice from public agencies.
The Forest Service publishes bulletins, circulars, and newspaper
and magazine articles on forestry, and most of the State forest
services have similar facilities; but neither in the Forest Service nor
in the State services is there any adequate effort to give to the non-
farmer timberland owner service or assistance comparable to that
made available to farm woodland owners. While many of the States
manage to maintain some form of forest extension and charge
considerable sums of their available appropriations to extension
activities, the exigencies of fire protection, the first step in forestry,
demand the larger part of their efforts and expenditures. As a con-
sequence, only a few State forest services can truly be said to be meet-
ing their responsibilities in reaching the private owner of the nonf armer
class with aid and advice as to handling his holdings along the con-
structive lines of forest management, utilization, planting and
marketing.
The user of forest products receives more attention from the
Federal Forest Service than does the timber owner. At the Forest
Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., the Forest Service maintains
a small extension organization designed to carry into practice the
knowledge and processes discovered through the research activities
of the institution. Courses of training and instruction in lumber-kiln
practice, boxing and crating, gluing of wood, and wood properties
and uses are conducted on a cost basis for manufacturers, trade
specialists, and salesmen. In addition, information is made available
to the public through bulletins, periodical notes, and trade journals,
as well as by correspondence and contact with associations.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1577
The several forest experiment stations under the Federal Forest
Service maintain considerable direct touch with the timber-owning
publicly group meetings and some individual contact, but the main
effort is through correspondence and publications of various kinds,
including ^the use of trade journal articles. They also reach the
owner indirectly through the extension services of the Department of
Agriculture and the several States.
The present annual expenditure for all State forestry extension
service to forest owners in the entire United States is estimated at
approximately $100,000. This sum covers the net State, county, and
town expenditures for forestry extension in behalf of all private
owners, including farm owners, and takes account of moneys spent by
all State extension services, forest services, and other State and county
bodies. It does not include contributions of private owners them-
selves or cooperative Federal allotments.
It is evident from the above that only a very small share of State
and county activity is directed toward forestry extension, even though
some incidental part-time services may not be included in the above
statement. When it is explained that of the money set out for forestry
extension, approximately nine tenths is spent, under the cooperative
provisions of section 5 of the Clarke-McNary law, entirely upon one
class of forest owner, namely, the farmer, it may be appreciated how
neglected is the field of extension work among that large class of
private forest owners who, while they do not happen to be farmers,
actually own and operate about 270 million acres, which is more
than half of all the commercial forest land in the United States and
and about 70 percent of all the privately owned forest land.
OTHER FORESTRY EXTENSION AGENCIES
In addition to the work of the Federal and State agencies, a num-
ber of institutions and organizations are active in forestry extension.
Several of the colleges and universities in which forestry schools are
incorporated publish the results of their research. Some of them go
farther and, to a limited extent, give advice in the handling of timber
land in the nearby regions. National forestry associations such as
the American Forestry Association and the American Nature Asso-
ciation, and several of the State or regional forestry associations pub-
lish and distribute printed matter covering the field of forestry and
do much besides to encourage a better and more widely held concep-
tion of forestry. A small group of consulting foresters have been
very active and have reached a rather limited number of private
owners very effectively. A few of the large railroad systems, es-
pecially those whose lines traverse forest areas containing much cut-
over land, have interested themselves in encouraging better forest
practices in their territories. Lumber and naval stores trade asso-
ciations have in some cases also expended considerable effort in work
along this line, as have some chambers of commerce, farmers' organi-
zations, conservation and wild life associations, and women's clubs.
The press, in general, has shown an enlightened interest, and has
accorded generous publicity to efforts toward improving the forestry
situation throughout the country. There is no question that its
influence in spreading information and in educating public opinion in
this respect has been a public service.
1578 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN" FORESTRY
AN APPRAISAL OF THE FORESTRY EXTENSION
PROGRAM OF TODAY
The organized effort that is being put into forestry extension, when
the various agencies are enumerated and their fields of endeavor are
surveyed, appears on analysis to be pitifully inadequate to the job at
hand. When the wide-spread need in the field is compared with the
part of it that has been met or even partly met, when the accomplish-
ments to date are checked against what must be done, and when it
is realized that only an organized, synchronized, well-directed attack
can meet with success within a reasonable time and at a reasonable
cost — then the inadequacy of the present program is felt in its full
force.
The strongest, best financed, and most effective of the several
forestry extension efforts is that being carried on as a part of the
agricultural extension work of the State colleges with the Depart-
ment of Agriculture cooperating. It is, as stated before, confined
almost entirely to farmers and is therefore concentrated upon not
more than 25 percent of the forest lands of the Nation. Yet even
in this field, notwithstanding the earnestness of the agencies at work,
it cannot be said that the ground is being covered. Farmers own and
manage in conjunction with their fields and pastures nearly 127
million acres of commercial forest land. There are over 4 million
farms with woodlands. The number of farms reported to have been
directly reached by the extension effort in 1931 to the extent of
actually effecting some improvement in forestry practice is 32,000,
or less than one farm out of a hundred.
While there is no doubt considerable spread of good practice from
farm to farm, the average farmer with woodlands today is not getting
anything like the returns his little forest is capable of producing — not
because of a lack of energy or even of capital, but simply because he
does not realize the possibilities nor know the measures that are
necessary to bring them about. Our program to reach the farmer
with the information and advice needed to get the full returns from
his forest is good as far as it goes, but it is far too lightly manned to
cover the field.
If the farm woodland owner, served by the best organized and
financed activity, is getting insufficient attention, what of the indus-
trial timber owner who has no farm? In so far as public agencies
are concerned this class of ownership is almost entirely neglected.
The finest timber stands and the most productive and most favorably
located forest lands of the country have been and are still held by
this class of owner, and 80 percent of the lumber produced comes
from their forests. If any forest resources have truly national
significance, these forests and forest lands have. They have suffered
most from devastation and deterioration, and the final results of their
long-continued exploitation for immediate returns without heed of
the future are to be found on a large scale in every section of the
country. The progress of deterioration of forest stands and forest
lands is still going on, not because it is impossible to handle them
properly, but because the owners and the public generally are not
yet alive to the means and methods of managing forests more profit-
ably.
The East generally, and the Lake States and the Gulf States
especially, have millions of acres of profitless, useless, tax-delinquent
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1579
land that only recently supported splendid forests and were, and
still are, capable of yielding a continuous flow of even finer products
at low cost at the very doors of the consuming markets.
Despite uncontrolled fire and a disregard of the primary principles
of forest culture, much of this potent forest land has restocked and is
producing a second crop, but a crop poor in quality, small in quantity
and long delayed in reaching maturity. The cost of producing such
timber, because of these facts, is greater than would be the case under
adequate forestry practice. Land and climate capable of producing
each year 500 feet of good-quality lumber per acre, as they are in
the shortleaf region of Arkansas, for instance, at a cost of 60 cents per
thousand feet under adequate forest management is, as a result of
common practice, producing less than a half of this amount of lumber
at three times the cost and of poor quality in the main. The exten-
sive forest lands of the Appalachian States that produced the finest
stands of hardwoods in the world are still as potent as they ever
were, but because of the disregard of simple requirements of forestry
in the original logging and subsequent treatment they are coming
back now to a scrubby, inferior forest that can not return to the
owners, to the community or to the Nation more than one third of
the potentiality of the soil.
In all of the forest regions of the United States, from coast to coast,
privately owned forests and forest lands have been and are being
subjected to a continuous process of deterioration in greater or lesser
degree. This state of affairs is neither necessary nor unpreven table,
and it is certainly not inevitable. On the contrary, in many cases
it has cost as much in effort and money to defeat the fecundity of
soil and climate as it would have cost to have taken full advantage of
the favorable natural factors to grow more and finer forest crops.
At the bottom of the trouble is, first of all, a state of mind that does
not understand and therefore fails to accept the principle of growing
and harvesting successive or continuous crops of timber on the same
soil, just as corn or cotton is grown and gathered. As a people, our
experience in harvesting a bountiful virgin forest, the accumulated
heritage of ages before the advent of the white man, is still too recent.
Our anticipation of the immediate future is too eager. We are not
yet patient enough to believe that what we will get even in one
lifetime henceforth will depend upon our growing another crop on
the lands we have cut over, rather than upon the possible opening up
of some new territory rich in virgin timber. Because of this preva-
lent failure to sense the change that 200 years of settlement has
wrought, there is an equally widespread inappreciation of the possi-
bilities that lie in the business of using forest land for the growing of
continuous supplies of timber.
It is true that owners of forest lands in this country are at present
beset with many and serious difficulties in making their investments
pay. In periods of low prices for wood products the owning of
understocked forest lands by individuals and corporations always
becomes precarious, and ownership shifts rapidly from hand to hand,
eventually ending in abandonment to the State if no relief is found.
But this is not inherent in the nature of forest ownership. It is no
more necessary than it is desirable. Forest lands should be, and in
the older countries are, the most stable of investments, passing for
generation after generation from father to son, remaining always a
1580 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
firm base for family, community, and national wealth and welfare.
This stability of ownership through the years is mainly due to care
and skill expended upon the forests and their consequent high pro-
ductive capacity.
No nation such as ours, in which so large a share of wealth is in
the form of forests and forest land and tied up in the business of
manufacturing, selling, and distributing forest products, can remain
complacent in the face of conditions as they now exist in this coun-
try. In the section on the breakdown of private ownership in this
report is treated in some detail the state of affairs that has developed
as a result of mismanagement of our forest resources on the one hand
and the inevitable working of economic laws on the other. The
existing depression has only intensified a situation that has been
building up for years. The farmer's woodland, where it is not
reached by successful extension effort, is, by and large, becoming
less and less a dependable, considerable source of cash revenue —
and this in the face of greater need on the owner's part for an addi-
tion to the income obtained from his fields and pastures. The wood-
land is doing far less than it could to help stave off the foreclosure
of the farm mortgage, to pay taxes, and to furnish seasonal em-
ployment for surplus labor. The farmer owns no inconsiderable part
of our Nation's forest resources and furnishes a large portion of the
country's wood material, and his distress is passed on to the rest of
us in an inevitable economic cycle.
The effects of a short-sighted forest policy of land use and forest
management are even more general and more serious in the case of
industrial forests than in that of farmers' woodlands, and because
the industrial forest investment must stand on its own merits and
pay its way without aid from other income, the results may be all
the more disastrous.
Any action that will ameliorate the conditions that prevail, and
that have gradually been getting worse for years, will be felt with
relief, not only by the owners of forest land, but by all classes of
industry and by taxpayers everywhere.
Fortunately there is no reason whatsoever to believe that this
situation will continue indefinitely. It has been brought about as a
result of failure to appreciate the possibilities of intelligent forest
management; it can be materially improved and eventually cured
by the application of available knowledge, and that, too, by the
average owner under average conditions. Within the last 30 years
American foresters, engineers, and chemists have developed the
technic of handling American forests and forest products to the
point that there is actually available a fund of knowledge which, if
applied generally, would reestablish and perpetuate our forests as a
major source of national wealth, assuring the future welfare of our
people as no other one natural resource could.
This fund of knowledge is not reaching the class who alone can
put it to most telling use — the private timber owners. Federal and
State Governments as owners are not the answer to our major forest
problem. Our present forest extension efforts are insignificant either
in comparison to what is needed or as measured against reasonable
and justifiable objectives. We have the stimulus of urgent necessity
for more income from our forests, we have the best forest lands in
the world on which to work, and we already have an available fund
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1581
of knowledge of how to make these lands yield greater returns. What
remains is to get the knowledge into actual practice. That is the
mission and the objective of forest extension.
A 10- YEAR PROGRAM
It is now proposed to indicate, in general, the program of forestry
extension that may be expected within, say, 10 years to accomplish
the maximum possible improvement of our deteriorated forest prop-
erty and to put it well on the way toward the production of sus-
tained and permanent values in our national economy. Such an
undertaking is large because our country itself is large. The problem
appears difficult because of the many and varied conditions inter-
posed by regional, sectional, and local factors affecting forest growth,
forest utilization, markets, and transportation, to say nothing of our
highly decentralized political system and the marked differences in
the customs and viewpoints of our people. But at that, this problem
differs little, if any, from those faced in the usual course by all agencies,
both governmental and industrial, that undertake country-wide
campaigns of any kind.
On first approach the objectives would seem easiest and best
reached through a single closely knit organization directed from Wash-
ington that would specialize in forestry extension and that would work
through more or less decentralized but coordinated groups operating
in the various forest regions of the country irrespective of State lines.
If the United States were a small country like France or Italy, with
comparatively homogeneous conditions, or had a highly centralized
government or a dictatorship, such a plan would probably be most
effective. But such is not the case, and any governmental plan or
program to be successful must take into account the political and
social structure of our country and the relationship of Federal, State,
county, and community governments to each other, and adapt itself
accordingly. Practical consideration dictates a line of action based
upon and blended into the organizations that already exist, the facil-
ities at hand and in sight, and methods of approach already developed.
THE FIELD OF EFFORT
In the first place, the extension effort must be directed toward
three classes of people: (1) The owners of farm woodlands; (2) the
owners, managers, and users of industrial forests; (3) the general
public. The needs of each class with respect to forestry extension
will be taken up in order.
OWNERS OF FARM WOODLANDS
The very considerable class of farm timber owners control about
25 percent of the forests of the United States. When farmers have
learned what their woodland can do under care and are started in
the right direction as managers, a great step will have been taken.
A promising beginning toward this objective has been made, but the
movement needs stimulus and expansion.
The farmer is to be taught, first, that his woodland is an important
source of real and often of major cash income if handled skillfully;
second, how to handle it skillfully and to produce the most material,
1582 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
of the best possible quality, at the least practicable cost; and third,
how to harvest and market his output to the best advantage.
OWNERS AND MANAGERS OF INDUSTRIAL FORESTS AND USERS
OF FORESTS PRODUCTS
The possibilities in improved forest management and practice in
industrial forests are greater than in any other class of ownership,
because almost universally they comprise the best sites and have been
selected for advantageous harvesting and marketing of the products.
The first task of forestry extension with respect to the industrial
forest owner is to point out the increased financial returns that may
be obtained from his investment through an application of better
methods of timberland management and improved utilization of
stumpage. In the great naval stores region of the South, for instance,
the owner, through comparatively simple and inexpensive measures,
including fire control, thinning crowded stands of saplings, and proper
turpentining methods, may easily increase the net returns from his
operations and supply himself at the same time with a sustained
yield of timber, growing as fast as it is used. A few experienced
extension men working in the naval stores belt could in a few years
very materially increase the number of owners actively practicing
forestry to their own advantage and to the advantage of the region,
the State, and the Nation.
The second step of extension is to supply to owners whose active
interest has been enlisted the available information that has been or
is being established by research and by the practice of others bear-
ing on problems at hand, and to interpret this information for direct
application.
Users of forest products should be educated along lines of utiliza-
tion of all parts of the tree to prevent waste, the merits of different
wood products for different purposes, the use of wood in competition
with substitutes, and the extension of wood products into new fields
of use. These aspects of utilization are more fully treated in the
section dealing with increased consumption of forest products.
THE GENERAL PUBLIC
To make substantial progress in extending better forestry practice
there must be a much more general appreciation of what forestry is,
what it can do and how it fits into the economic scheme of things.
Until public leaders know more about it, there will always be dif-
ficulty in securing such legislation affecting protection, taxes, gov-
ernmental aid, and other objects as may be essential to favorable
development. Unless law-enforcement officers and State and county
administrative officers are informed and appreciative, and unless the
general public cooperates with them, forestry will not receive that
degree of protection and fair treatment necessary for success. Bank-
ers and others handling or controlling large quantities of capital,
much of which must be used in growing timber, must have a knowl-
edge of and confidence in the possibilities of forest culture — and so
all along, to the man in the street and in the woods, whose careless-
ness with fire, largely due to a lack of understanding, is the cause of
tremendous annual losses.
All classes of people must be reached and brought to understand
first, that it is necessary for community and national welfare that
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1583
there be forests ample in extent in each region to produce bountiful
supplies of cheap wood products for building, for the railroads, for the
factories, for fuel, for paper-making, and for national defense in
times of emergency, and that forests are indispensable assets for
stream control, for erosion prevention, and for those forms of recrea-
tion that contribute most to health and vigor. They must learn
that our depleted or cut-over forest lands are capable of growing
finer forests under reasonable care than the original virgin forests
their forebears knew, and that with skill and knowledge these forests
can be grown and harvested with greater profit to the grower and
still offer forest products to the consumer at a price within his reach.
They must be led to understand that the growing, culture, and har-
vesting of forest crops and the manufacturing of forest products
presents a great opportunity to put men to work and to provide
livelihood for millions that have been or may be crowded out of
industry by the advance of mass production and labor-saving
machinery. When the general public has been educated along these
lines, then and only then will the business of growing successive
crops of timber receive that support, material and moral, that is
necessary to a reasonable degree of success.
One or more, and frequently all, of the three classes here referred
to as subjects for forest extension are found in every section of the
United States. It will hardly be possible, of course, to reach them
all directly or to educate all who need educating. It is not necessary
that each individual be reached. The knowledge of correct forest
culture will gradually spread far beyond the direct influence of
extension agents and eventually become a part of common knowledge,
just as improved agricultural practices are adopted into common use
among farmers. No great army of forest extension workers will be
necessary to develop the project and carry out the extension mission,
provided that a certain amount of organization and coordination is
attained and careful plans are made and followed out with skill,
determination, and enthusiasm.
The following is a conception of the organization needed to start
the work; such an organization would possibly be sufficient for the
next 10 years, after which time the situation should be reappraised
and the work adjusted to the needs as found.
ORGANIZATION OF PROPOSED EXTENSION WORK
FARM FORESTRY EXTENSION
To expand the forestry extension work with farm woodland owners,
the logical thing to do is to enlarge and strengthen the work now
being done by the State agricultural colleges under the Clarke-
McNary Act and the Agricultural Extension Service of the United
States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Forest
Service. The expansion of effort should not be uniform over the
country but should be based upon the needs of the farmers in the
various States for advice and technical information, upon the aid
they are already receiving from other sources, and upon the relative
importance of the woodland on the farms as a source of revenue— in
other words, the States in the regions of most profitable forestry with
the greatest number of farm woodlands would receive the most
attention.
1584
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
While some increase in overhead in Washington would be necessary,
the greatest results will be obtained by expanding the field force.
This might perhaps be best accomplished by increasing the number
of extension foresters in a given State and allotting among them the
different forest regions of the State so that each extension forester
could be a specialist in the problems peculiar to a given forest belt.
Their numbers should be sufficient to enable them to work directly
with the farm owner as well as through the county extension agents.
In extensively wooded or cut-over districts, such as are found in the
upper Lake States and throughput the South, when the importance
of the forest use of the soil heavily outweighs the strictly agricultural
use, the county extension forester might even take the place of the
county agricultural agent, or at least serve as his assistant. The
following is the suggested field corps of extension foresters to be
gradually built up during the next 10 years, shown in comparison
with the force at present available for farm woodland work :
Present
Present
number
Number
number
Number
of exten-
needed
of exten-
needed
sion
by 1942
sion
by 1942
foresters
foresters
New England States .
6
10
Rocky Mountain
4
7
Middle Atlantic
7
10
Pacific Coast
1
5
Central
g
16
South...
9
32
Total
37
94
Lake
4
14
This increased force of farm forest^ extension men should in itself
bring about a marked showing in the more profitable handling of the
farmers' woodlands and the improvement of his economic condition,
but the movement would be given greater impetus if all county
agricultureal agents in predominantly forest counties were required
to take a basic college course in forestry or to undergo equivalent
training. Other desirable changes from the present system would
involve much closer cooperation with the United States Forest
Service and its regional forest experiment stations and with the State
forest services.
The cost of such an organization as suggested, including all neces-
sary increases in overhead and increased participation of State forest
services would be approximately $500,000 per annum. This cost
should be shared equally by the Federal and the State Governments,
in which event the necessary • authorization for the Federal share
should be $250,000 per annum to meet a like share to be contributed
by the States on a basis of the expansion in field force indicated by
the needs of each.
INDUSTRIAL FORESTRY EXTENSION
The present effort in the province of forestry extension to com-
mercial owners in the country as a whole is weak, unorganized, and
uncoordinated. The Federal Forest Service maintains only a small
group for direct contact with private forest owners. Only 16 of the
48 States make any attempt to give advice and assistance to private
forest owners, and in these States the work done is largely incidental
and fragrnentaiy. To accomplish what is needed, an effort as well
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1585
organized and coordinated as that proposed for the farm woodland
work will be necessary, and wliile the extension foresters in this work
will have no county agricultural agents to help, the fact that the
individual forest holdings are much larger and that the largest owners
may employ foresters of their own or may consult private foresters
suggests that a comparatively few men in each State, directed by
the State forester and cooperating with the Federal service could
start the movement satisfactorily and make real progress during the
next 10 years. In any event, they should maintain effective contact
and coordination with the farm forestry extension force.
If, say in 1942, it should appear that the acceptance of good
forestry practice bids fair to become general, it is likely that forest
owners will need less public assistance and will depend more upon
their own resources. At present, however, the States and the Nation
as a whole have so much to gain from a widespread improvement in
industrial forestry that the public is justified in participating in the
effort and in the cost of stimulating it. In providing for the organiza-
tion of forestry extension work along these lines, the same principles
should prevail that are proposed for setting up a revised farm forestry
extension program. The effort should be most intensive where the
opportunity is greatest for results of value to the Nation as a whole,
that is, in "the regions where, owing to favorable forest-growing and
other conditions, the timber development offers the greatest ad-
vantage. The following is the suggested working force, by regions.
The personnel shown are to be mainly foresters who will specialize
in giving advice and assistance to private owners in the preparation
of management plans, protection plans, silvicultural work, planting,
and utilization, but the plan includes also a limited number of men
for the more general forms of extension work.
Staff needed
New England 6
Middle Atlantic 10
Central 10
South 40
Lake - 12
Rocky Mountain 7
Pacific Coast 12
Total 97
It is estimated that this organization would cost $500,000 per
annum. It might logically follow the half -Federal, half-State
principle of sharing cost. A more flexible authorization, however, is
needed in order to accomplish the extension that is justified, and
indeed imperative, in this field.
ADDITIONAL FEDERAL ORGANIZATION
Necessary additional extension organization needed in United States
Forest Service.— To play its part in the national program of forestry
extension, the Federal Forest Service will have three distinct lines of
responsibility: first, to cooperate with the farm forestry extension
work of the Department of Agriculture; second, to cooperate techni-
cally and financially with and to coordinate the State forest services
in their extension work with industrial forest owners; and third, to
maintain a direct extension contact with certain classes of owners
1586 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
and industries, particularly in utilization matters. These responsi-
bilities will require a force of 20 men or more, according to the extent
to which the States meet their extension responsibilities, at an esti-
mated cost of approximately $125,000 to $225,000 per annum, all at
Federal expense.
A situation is likely to arise in which one or more States are unable
to match Federal funds available for extension work among the owners
of industrial forests. Nevertheless this virtually untouched field is
of such importance national!}7 that it should be covered, even though
the possibility of sharing the cost is nil. To meet such conditions it
is recommended that an annual authorization of $375,000 be provided
for a 10-year program under which there can be appropriated annually
$225,000 for direct Federal extension in the fields described under this
heading and the one next preceding, and as much more as may be
matched on a share-alike basis by the States, up to the full amount
of $375,000 per annum. Such flexibility in authorization will permit
the Federal Forest Service to meet the needs for extension in the
poorer States as well as the wealthy ones wherever national needs
require.
The annual Federal authorizations required to carry out the 10-
year program in all the phases proposed may be summarized as
follows :
(1) For farm forestry extension, one half of cost $250, 000
(2) For industrial forestry extension, including $225,000 per annum
for Forest Service and up to $150,000 per annum additional to
meet State funds 375, 000
Total 625,000
THE PROGRAMS SUMMARIZED AS TO RESPONSIBILITY: COSTS,
FINANCING, AND NEEDED LEGISLATION
By PAUL H. ROBERTS, Administrative Officer, Branch of Research; WILLIS M.
BAKER, Director, Central States Forest Experiment Station; S. B. SHOW,
Regional Forester, California National Forest Region; E. L. DEMMON, Direc-
tor, Southern Forest Experiment Station; and I. F. ELDREDGE, Principal
Forest Economist, Southern Forest Experiment Station
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 1587
The responsibility for forestry 1589
The private owner's part 1594
Responsibilities 1594
Action required 1596
Costs and returns 1597
Financing the private owner 1597
The part of quasi-public institutions in forestry 1598
The part of the State and local governments 1599
Responsibility of the State 1600
The State forestry program 1600
The part of the Federal Government 1609
The Federal Government's responsibility 1609
Bureau of Fisheries (Department of Commerce) 1611
National Park Service (Department of the Interior) 1611
Indian Service (Department of the Interior) 1612
Biological Survey (Department of Agriculture) 1612
Bureau of Plant Industry (Department of Agriculture) 1613
Bureau of Entomology (Department of Agriculture) 1614
Bureau of Plant Quarantine (Department of Agriculture) 1614
Weather Bureau (Department of Agriculture) 1614
Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) 1615
Summary of estimated Federal expenditures 1627
Summary of legislation needed for the Federal program 1631
Financing the program 1632
Financing of capital expenditures
Financing current expenditures
The offsets to Treasury drain 1635
Other sources of Treasury income 1636
INTRODUCTION
During the last century, the forests of the United States have
supported industries whose products were valued at close to
$100,000,000,000. Forest products have been indispensable in the
development of our mines and the construction and operation of our
railroads and shipping. They have contributed many billions toward
maintaining a favorable balance of international trade. They have
housed a large part of the Nation. Forest industries have afforded
a livelihood to millions of individuals and have sustained many
thousands of communities. Streams from forest-covered watersheds
have given value to millions of acres of irrigated farms and to
numerous hydroelectric plants. They have supplied the water for
drinking, for sanitation, and for fire protection, without which most
of our cities and villages could not exist. In short, our natural forest
1587
1588 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
resources have contributed very largely to our national development
and national prosperity.
Nevertheless, we have never taken adequate steps to insure that
these resources will be perpetuated. Forest destruction has proceeded
almost without restriction. It is still going on. Our forest capital is
already so depleted that it seems impossible to continue production at
the rate of recent years. Scores of millions of acres that once pro-
duced good timber lie idle and nonproductive. Numerous regions,
although they have large areas of idle but potentially productive forest-
land, are dependent upon distant regions for much of the timber that
they use. The destruction of forest cover has caused incalculable
losses through erosion and silting, and has necessitated the expenditure
of hundreds of millions of dollars for dredging channels, constructing
levees, and repairing flood damages.
If we are content to do without forests in the future, or to let them
degenerate into relatively worthless scrub such as already covers much
of the cut-over land, they will leave a void in our national economic
structure which it will be impossible to fill. On the other hand, by
restoring and maintaining these resources, we can insure that they
will contribute largely in the future, as in the past, to the material
and spiritual welfare of the Nation.
To do this is one of the major problems before the American people.
There is no evidence nor any reason to suppose that it will be done
through individual private initiative alone. There is abundant reason
to believe that private initiative cannot and will not solve the problem.
Only coordinated effort on a national scale, with the backing and
leadership of Government, can adequately meet the issue.
Such a plan is here proposed. Compared with programs that have
been suggested in the past, it will require large public expenditures.
Forest destruction has gone so far that it is too late for hit-or-miss,
half-way measures. Such measures would cost far more in the long
run, and would accomplish far less, than a broadly conceived plan
which coordinates all efforts and which provides for action on a scale
commensurate with the magnitude of the task.
Although large expenditures will be required, it should be recog-
nized that a large part represents a nonrecurring capital investment,
which will steadily increase in value. The remainder of the costs
should be balanced at a relatively early date by direct money income
from the forests or through elimination of expenditures which would
be necessary if forest destruction should continue. The capital expen-
ditures also can eventually be liquidated through direct and indirect
income from the forests. Forest land, no more than farm land or a
factory site, cannot be kept productive without adequate investment
of capital. The timber capital which was already present in the virgin
forests has largely been liquidated or destroyed. If the American
people want to have the benefits of forests in the future, they will
have to replace a reasonable amount of this capital.
Comparable or, in some instances, much larger public expenditures
have been made or are contemplated for other projects. Examples
are the reclamation program, the Colorado River development
(Hoover Dam), the Panama Canal, the St. Lawrence development,
Mississippi flood control, inland and coastal waterways, and subsidies
to shipping. Some of these are of much more limited scope and far
less national significance than a forestry program. The success of
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1589
some of them, such as the Mississippi project, will depend to a
considerable degree upon the conservation of the forests.
Now is a particularly opportune time for undertaking the forestry
program that is outlined. It may even be desirable in the immediate
future to go farther than the plan proposes along such lines as con-
struction of improvements and betterment of forest stands. This
would give opportunity for a large amount of employment, widely
diffused over the country. It would increase consuming power with-
out immediately increasing the output of consumable goods, and
would thus help to dispose of existing surpluses. Suitable forest land
can be acquired much more easily now than would have been possible
in the past, or than may be possible later. Costs of land, materials,
and labor are relatively low. As a large part of the expenditures will
represent long-time capital investment, and as the major benefits of
the program will be realized many years in the future, it would seem
that a considerable portion of the cost could appropriately be financed
through long-term bonds.
It is important that the program be adopted without delay and
carried to a conclusion as rapidly as possible. Nothing is to be gained
by procrastination. On the contrary, postponement will mean further
forest destruction and consequently will only add to the difficulty of
the task and increase the costs. Prompt action will save large areas
of forest from destruction, and thus will render unnecessary the costly
rehabilitation of these areas. The earlier the work is commenced, the
sooner can current losses be stopped, the sooner will returns be
received, and the sooner will our forest lands play their proper part
in contributing toward the material welfare and the health and
happiness of the American people.
THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FORESTRY
NATIONAL LAND-USE POLICIES AND THEIR RELATION TO
FOREST DEPLETION
The depletion of America's forest resources, discussed in previous
sections of this report, may be largely attributed to the national con-
ception of the rights of the private citizen and to the policies set up
to protect those rights even at the expense of public welfare. That
such a situation has developed is readily understandable when we
consider the traditional heritage of the Nation.
For 3 centuries America has been regarded as a land of freedom
and opportunity. To the New World came millions of settlers who
sought to free themselves from political or religious persecution, or
from the restraint imposed by economic and social conditions in the
Old World. America was the land of golden opportunity for those
who had the initiative and the strength to take what they wanted.
Rugged individualism was the common characteristic of the men who
settled this country. This background explains how the ideals of
freedom and unrestricted rights of citizenship became embodied in
the American philosophy of government and in American laws and
policies.
The country's vastness of area and wealth of resources contributed
to similar ideals and policies in trade, business, and industry. The
American frontier was extended steadily westward; the early explorers
were followed by fur traders and trappers, and these in turn by
1590 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
pioneers seeking fertile virgin lands to clear and cultivate. The de-
velopment of communities provided opportunities for trade and busi-
ness. The discovery of mineral wealth and the need for drawing
upon new timber resources as those of the settled East became
depleted, resulted in the extension of these industries, and, with them,
of necessary transportation systems.
This entire movement and development, if the resulting exploita-
tion may properly be called development, has been characterized
by a national policy of bestowing extremely liberal property rights
on those who appropriated lands and land resources. Since 1785,
Congress has donated over 200 million acres of the public domain to
the States, and approximately 94 million acres to the railroads, to
enable them to raise funds for their development. Little limitation
was imposed upon the disposal of these lands, which were for the most
part sold indiscriminately to individuals who proceeded to reap a rich
harvest. At the same time the Government has given or sold vast
areas of mineral, forest, and farm lands to private owners, until
approximately nine tenths of the 1,441 million acres of original
public domain have been disposed of. Any thought of responsibility
for the future, any disposition to conserve a part of these resources
was largely submerged by the policies of an enthusiastic young Nation
in the process of growing up.
These policies and methods of encouraging settlement and develop-
ment of new areas and of stimulating the conversion of apparently
inexhaustible resources are not matters for unqualified condemnation.
They have been justified, in part at least, by results. Never before
in history has a nation grown so rapidly in size, in wealth, and in
power. It might even be asserted with some justice that the United
States of today owes its position in world affairs largely to the result
of these same policies. Yet to those who look beyond the present and
plan for the future, it is disturbing to note that much of our present
wealth is tied up in costly superstructures dependent upon basic
resources that have been extensively sacrificed for their development.
We have built large cities, powerful institutions, enormous industries,
extensive systems of transportation. Our expansion in agriculture
has been tremendous. American standards of living are high. But
for this we have paid with the exploitation of a large part of our forest
and land resources, and in so doing we have definitely mortgaged
our national future.
The story of forest and wild-life depletion, extensive land devasta-
tion, uncontrolled streams and wasted water resources, eroded and
abandoned farm lands, declining forest industries, decadent communi-
ties, alarming tax delinquency with virtual bankruptcy of local
government in many regions, has all been told in previous sections of
this report. It is, of course, obvious that this situation cannot
continue if the Nation is to thrive. It is equally obvious that most
of these serious ills have been caused directly by the national policy
of allowing the private owner of land to exploit its resources at will
for his own immediate gain, with few restrictions in the interests of
public welfare. Our American assumption has always been that
private initiative, through self-interest, would find ways of keeping
land productive. We now discover that this same self-interest,
together with lack of concern for the public or the future, has caused
the ruin of land by the millions of acres. Many owners have dis-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1591
avowed any further responsibility by abandoning their lands to the
public as a liability. The Nation is faced with a situation that de-
mands realization and acceptance of responsibility for remedial
action.
A NEW ERA BEGINS
While America was still in the expansion stage of development,
with abundant resources at every hand, the dangers into which its land
policies were leading were obscured by national optimism. We were
a free people, with plenty for all. It was easier, and apparently bet-
ter economy, to cultivate new soils after the fertility of the used areas
became exhausted than to maintain soil productivity by more con-
servative and somewhat costly methods of cultivation. Apparently
there was no need to worry about a second crop of timber from cut-
over lands, with a cheap and presumably inexhaustible supply of vir-
gin timber at hand. The extensive measures of expansion had noth-
ing in common with the intensive measures of conservation.
Gradually, toward the end of the nineteenth century, a perception
of the inevitable outcome of these policies began to develop. In some
regions the depletion or exhaustion of resources caused certain indi-
viduals to think of the future, and the idea of conservation was born.
With the twentieth-century development of transportation and com-
munication, world trade as well as increased local consumption of
products speeded up the processes of exploitation, and at the same
time better opportunities were provided for observing and appreciat-
ing the extent to which these processes had been carried. As a result
the demand for conservation became stronger and constructive action
began. The creation of national forests, by withdrawals from the
public domain, and the establishment of Federal and State forestry
organizations were among the first steps taken. Other conservation
agencies came into being and gradually extended their influence.
However, the progress made by the pioneer foresters was accom-
plished against difficult odds, and despite public indifference or even
antipathy.
Experiences of the World War period and the years immediately
following emphasized the national importance of basic resources, and
the necessity for conserving and restoring them. As a result forestry
programs were strengthened, although during the years of inflated
prosperity which followed the war the average citizen was too much
engrossed with making and spending money to give much atten-
tion to public-welfare enterprises such as conservation. The progress
that was made can be credited chiefly to organized minorities of
conservationists.
Within our Nation, astonishing contrasts of organization and dis-
organization have always existed; splendid technical proficiency in
some incredible skyscraper is found side by side with distressing
backwardness in some equally incredible city slum, a marvelous
bridge spans a river of uncontrolled waters, and a modern concrete
highway leads through the desolate ruins of a once-productive forest.
That such contrasts exist is evidence of the precarious status of our
national development.
In 1929 came the depression. Faced with its serious consequences,
we have started with characteristic energy to determine the social
168342°— 33— vol. 2 35
1592 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
and economic facts contributing to the situation, and the possibilities
for remedial action. The depression has emphasized the necessity for
a national inventory of resources such as that of the forest resources
which is under way, and the need for a change of policy in their
management. This report is a contribution toward facing the facts
of the forest situation in this country and its relation to land use and
other problems.
THE ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY
In the previous sections of this report the discussions of forest
devastation, land deterioration, and related problems have clearly
pointed out the failure of individuals or agencies, until comparatively
recently and with few exceptions even yet, to assume responsibility
for stopping harmful forest practices, or for establishing conservative
forestry measures. The inadequacy and ineffectiveness of most of
the restorative projects now under way have also been emphasized,
together with definite recommendations for new or extended measures
considered essential to the solution of these problems. In view of the
past policies regarding forest and land use, the exaggerated concep-
tions of the property rights of the individual, and the general lack of
concern over problems of public welfare, it becomes highly desirable
to define the responsibility for the measures needed.
Responsibility is the state of being accountable, as for a trust or
obligation. It implies dependability. Obviously fulfillment of re-
sponsibility cannot exist until one has accepted his obligation. Ac-
ceptance may consist of actual agreement, or it may be implied and
enforced by legislation. A certain degree of responsibility may be
enforced by public opinion, morally if not legally. Responsibility
must always be accompanied by authority since one cannot be held
accountable for circumstances over which he has no control. When
responsibility is assumed, there must be at least reasonable expectation
of accomplishment: no one can assume responsibility for the impos-
sible. Recognition of these underlying principles of acceptance,
authority, and expectation of fulfillment is necessary to an under-
standing of the responsibilities of various agencies, public and private,
in the national forestry program.
Responsibility, and the authority it carries, may be shifted with
changing conditions. In the old horse-and-wagon days, traffic condi-
tions required little or no regulation. Responsibility rested almost
entirely upon the drivers of the vehicles. But with the advent of
the automobile and the complicated problems of modern traffic, it
became necessary from the standpoint of public welfare to enact
legislation regulating highway use. The public thereby assumed the
responsibility for controlling traffic to the greatest extent legally
possible; it could not, however, assume the obligation of preventing
all accidents, because of the human factor of carelessness beyond its
control. Therefore the responsibility of the individual was also
increased, in the assumed compliance with the regulations set up.
This is but one of many examples that might be cited to show how
new conditions have developed the need for new policies. In many
instances the individual must waive his former unrestricted rights
for the public good, and at the same time his own responsibilities
may increase.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1593
In the management and protection of forests and forest lands,
changing conditions have brought new responsibilities. Economic
changes involve shifts in responsibility. Growing realization of con-
ditions not formerly recognized in their true significance necessitates
entirely new emphasis on responsibilities hitherto unassumed. For
many of the recommendations made in this report legal authority
definitely fixing responsibility already exists; in other instances we
must depend upon the moral force of awakened public opinion in
lieu of legislation, or until legislation is enacted.
THE DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY
THE PRIVATE CITIZEN
The responsibility of the private citizen in regard to forestry is in
part included in those more or less intangible obligations inherent in
good citizenship. A good citizen is one who concerns himself with
the affairs of his community, his State, and his Nation, and who works
in the interest of their permanent stability and well-being. With the
complications of modern civilization he cannot give personal atten-
tion to all these affairs, so he joins with his fellow citizens in electing
competent men to represent him in government. What he and his
neighbors think about various matters constitutes public opinion,
which dictates the policies of government. In the last analysis, the
private citizen is responsible for the control of the country, and the
manner in which its resources are managed. If he neglects to take
an intelligent personal interest in affairs of outstanding importance,
or if he fails to choose able representatives, he cannot expect good
government. The extent to which conservation policies are followed
in the management of the Nation's forest resources depends directly
upon public opinion.
THE PRIVATE LANDOWNER
The forest owner has the responsibility of good citizenship as well
as the obligations which accompany ownership. The owner is actually
a custodian of the land; to him his ownership may seem permanent,
but after all it lasts only for a very brief period of time as reckoned
in the life of the Nation. During his custodianship he has no moral
right to destroy the land's permanent productivity; future genera-
tions must depend upon it for a livelihood, and the prosperity of the
Nation is based upon the perpetuation of its resources.
Ownership is an important factor in the determination of responsi-
bility for forestry, because ownership carries with it certain definite
obligations, usually involves at least partial acceptance of responsi-
bility through self-interest, and provides some degree of authority
for control. Responsibility for forestry measures by no means rests
upon ownership alone, however, especially under the present condi-
tions of maladjustment due to past land policies. In many instances
the owner lacks the authority to perform certain acts necessary to
safeguard and develop his property. He may lack any incentive to
do so, and there may exist neither legislative authority compelling
him to accept legal responsibility, nor public opinion compelling him
to accept moral responsibility. Or, if he has the incentive, he may
lack the financial means to assume obligations with any ^ expectancy
of accomplishment. Furthermore, the owner may be entirely unable
to benefit from certain values that his property holds for others, or
1594 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
for the public in general, in which case the other beneficiaries may
reasonably be expected to share the responsibilities, or perhaps to
relieve him altogether of some of them. This situation is frequently
encountered in the case of private forests having great importance
for watershed protection. Regardless of extenuating circumstances,
however, ownership of forest land carries with it definite obligations
for productive use.
THE PUBLIC
When private owners of forest land cannot accept, or can success-
fully evade, the responsibility for certain measures essential to public
welfare, it is self-evident that the public must assume it. Public
resopnsibility is governed by the same principles and subject to the
same limitations that control the acceptance of responsibility by
private owners. Although decentralization of government and
dependence as far as possible upon local self-government is a well-
established American policy, in many instances local government has
neither the authority, the incentive, nor the means to assume new
obligations. In spite of tradition, changing economic trends are
compelling us to form new conceptions of the organization and func-
tions of local government. In instances where responsibility for
essential forestry measures cannot be assumed locally, it must of
necessity be passed on to larger governmental units. Thus responsi-
bility for certain measures is taken over by the States, or, when
circumstances prevent their functioning, by the Federal Government.
Ample justification for this sharing of responsibility is found in the
fact that these measures are essential to public welfare and national
prosperity. Critical conditions demand the utmost participation by
every agency capable of contributing aid.
There are two ways in which responsibility may be fulfilled, both
of which are recognized and well established by precedent in most
important enterprises of national scope. In some instances a certain
agency — the private owner, or the local, State, or Federal govern-
ment, as the case may be — assumes complete responsibility for
certain activities which it alone is best able to carry out. Examples
are the Postal Service of the Federal Government, and the police and
fire protection of municipalities. In other instances, where the
interests of many agencies are involved, cooperative sharing of re-
sponsibility may best be accomplished through assumption of author-
ity by a single agency, with financial or other support from all inter-
ested parties. Precedent for this is found in the cooperative financing
of highway construction, to which local, State, and Federal Govern-
ment contribute, more or less in proportion to the extent of the local
or general public interests involved.
Both these modes of sharing responsibility are embodied in the
forestry programs now being carried on in this country, the expansion
of which is proposed in this report.
THE PRIVATE OWNER'S PART
RESPONSIBILITIES
About 80 percent of the commercial forest land and 59 percent of
the saw timber is now in private hands. Of the private land 32
percent, and of the stumpage 12% percent is owned by farmers, the
remainder is chiefly in industrial ownership.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1595
For many years the Federal and many State governments have
tried to make it possible for private owners to retain their forest lands
and to keep them in productive condition. The public has extended
financial a ad other aid in many forms and in fairly large amounts to
the private forest landowner. It has refrained from asserting in
any sweeping manner, its presumable legal power to regulate the use
of private property so as to prevent injury to the public interest.
It has assisted both by what has and has not been done, and has
generally left the private owner a free hand in the management of his
property.
This program has failed to halt destructive treatment of private
forest lands. Whatever the reasons for continuing depletion, both
the public interest in productive lands, and the private interest in the
perpetuation of natural resources as a source for private business have
suffered markedly. The program has even failed to keep all forest
land in private ownership, as the continuing abandonment through
tax delinquency testifies. This report estimates that perhaps 162
million acres of private commercial forest land will eventually be
transferred out of private and into public ownership, much of it
because it has deteriorated to the point of lack of opportunity in
timber growing.
This report proposes that public agencies continue aid to private
forest landowners on an increased scale. It proposes that the lands
unattractive to private ownership be acquired and managed as
public forests. It proposes no immediate country-wide attempt
to regulate the use of private forest land. It proposes the extension
of Federal credit at low interest as a means to stabilize individual
forest business. It proposes to take over the overloads of private
stumpage which are forcing overrapid liquidation and cut- throat
competition. Back of all these and other proposals, is frank recogni-
tion of the fact that forestry on private lands must have a chance to
yield profits comparable to those to be made on other classes of invest-
ments involving similar risks.
The report proposes, in short, to leave to private ownership some of
the best of the opportunities to practice industrial forestry, unencum-
bered by regulatory costs or by poor or depreciated forest lands. The
report proposes that the public interest in all but a part of the better
private lands be protected through public ownership, with complete
assumption of costs.
These proposals aim to get at the real basis of many of the imme-
diate ills of the forest-products industries, and to leave to private
ownership the opportunity to perpetuate itself and redeem the public
interest through:
(1) Kational treatment of forest land.
(2) Planned and orderly utilization of forest products.
The report thus assumes that as public action leaves to private
ownership a genuine industrial opportunity, intelligent self-interest
will lead to acceptance of it. A transition period will necessarily
be required for final stabilization of ownership everywhere. But
when the suggested realinement of ownership is completed, private
ownership is counted on to produce 50 percent of the timber required
to balance the national timber budget.
The program for private owners assumes that approximately 261
million acres of commercial forest lands and 32 million acres of
1596 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
abandoned agricultural lands will be owned and managed by the
public; and 234 million acres of commercial forest lands and 23 million
acres of abandoned agricultural lands by private owners.
ACTION REQUIRED
In the assumption of responsibilities, the owner of private forest
lands must follow certain essential lines of action :
(a) He should concentrate his holdings on a productive acreage.
The use of marginal lands invites failure; the use of submarginal
land assures it.
(b) He should use all of his land, but must not abuse it.
(c) He must protect his forest property from fire and the ravages
of insects and disease. This is largely his responsibility, although the
public, because among other things of its stake in his enterprise, will
carry a part of the cost. He is expected to carry 25 percent of the
total cost of adequate fire protection, except as States finance the
non-Federal share; building up to an eventual annual total private
expenditure of $5,000,000.
(d) He must reduce to the minimum the avoidable waste of his
resource in harvesting the cut and in the primary manufacture of the
products.
(e) He must build up and maintain a sufficient growing stock on his
property and must so regulate his harvesting as to remove the accu-
mulated growth with no depletion of his forest capital. Any other
line of action will lead inevitably through impoverishment to eventual
devastation. The acceptance by all owners of this responsibility
would include planting 5,755,000 acres in the next 20 years, and would
add to the intensively managed forest area at the rate of 1,500,000
acres a year.
(/) He must carry on such local or special research as may be
required to develop his property and its business most profitably.
(g) He must, through organized effort in the form of trade associa-
tions or otherwise, develop markets for his products, perfect methods
of distribution, and extend and strengthen his financial structure and
credit facilities.
Private owners of forest land are numbered in the millions, are dis-
tributed throughout all forest regions, are highly individualistic in
thought and action and their problems of forest technique, of utiliza-
tion, of marketing, and of financing are many, varied, and complex.
In general, private forest owners do not today play their part in the
national effort as organized groups. It must be expected that great
differences in responsiveness to such a program will be found as
between individuals and regions.
To carry out acceptably their part in the national program, it is
highly desirable that private owners develop greater industrial
solidarity, and organize for greater strength both within and for the
group as a whole. The growers of wood today are as highly indi-
vidualized as any industry in the country and have suffered greatly
in consequence. Their customers, their competitors, their financiers,
and their distributors are, in the main, well organized to protect and
advance their own interests. United action will be necessary to
provide for extension of uses, in markets and in facilities. Adequate
protection from fire will require cooperative effort. The American
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1597
industry that operates like a confused scattering of feudal barons,
each man for himself, is fighting against tremendous odds.
COSTS AND RETURNS
It is estimated, to bring the Nation's forest production power up
where it can satisfy the 16)2 billion cubic feet of possible normal
requirements, that 40 million acres of privately owned forests must be
put under intensive management and 150 million acres under extensive
management. The cost of handling forests under intensive measures
of protection, timber culture, and regulation, including taxes but not
interest on investment, will vary from as little as 37 cents per acre
per annum in the southern pine region to as much as $1.13 per acre
annually in the Northeast. Extensive management will cost less.
The possible gross returns from intensive management, including
timber commodities only, will range from $1 per acre per annum in
the southern Rocky Mountain forests to as high as $3 per acre per
annum in the South. The returns from extensive forest management
may vary from about 37 cents per acre per annum in the southern
Rocky Mountain region to $1.20 in the South.
When the program is completed to the extent that 40 million acres
of privately owned forests are under intensive management and 150
million acres are being given extensive management, the gross value
on a stumpage basis of the production may approximate $440,000,000
per annum, for timber products alone. The cost of taxes and cul-
tural and protective operations is not likely to exceed $100,000,000
annually, thus leaving private owners $340,000,000 annually as a
margin for interest on their investments.
FINANCING THE PRIVATE OWNER
If and when the program has been developed to the point shown
above there will be no question as to the ability of the private forest
owner to finance his operations. It is during this period of develop-
ment that the subject of financing needs examination.
So far as the industrial forest operator is concerned, the enterprise
is and will continue to be a strictly business one, subject to well
established laws of accounting and financing. The farm woodlot
owner will manage his forest in conjunction with his agricultural
operations wherein the woodlot becomes one of several diversified
crops. With him the question of financing is more than likely to be
absorbed in the larger field of agricultural finance.
In the section " Federal Aid in Organizing Forest Credit Facilities/'
it is brought out that the present probable total borrowed capital in
forest industries approaches $1,000,000,000 but that this borrowing
has been for manufacturing purposes rather than for care and per-
petuation of forest productivity, and that the latter purpose is not
adequately provided for in the present scheme ^ of things. The
problem ahead for industrial forest owners is to gain access to suffi-
cient capital at interest rates and at terms suitable for their purposes.
Capital will be needed for the measures designed to improve the pro-
ductivity of original forest units, including timber cultural and stand
reinforcement operations; to assist in the orderly marketing of
timber already mature; to allow the purchase and assembly of tracts
for organized forestry units; to construct necessary transportation
facilities; and to construct required manufacturing plants.
1598 A NATIONAL PLAN FOK AMERICAN FORESTRY
It is difficult to gauge just how much borrowed capital will be
needed, but it is certain that the amount will be so large and the
requirements as to favorable terms and rates so out of the ordinary
as to raise serious doubts as to the possibility of obtaining it from the
usual sources of commercial credit. The development of the business
of growing continuous crops of timber expected under such a program
as is set out here will in time create sources of borrowed money at
favorable terms, but until such a basis is established it appears that
Federal aid in organizing forest credit facilities will be necessary.
The section referred to suggests a thorough study of a plan to meet
this need by the establishment of organized institutions to provide
forest credit under the Farm Loan Board.
With the various forms of public aid proposed, and with acceptance
of the genuine opportunities on the better private land, private
owners should be able to carry the timber growing program that is
left to them.
THE PART OF QUASI-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN
FORESTRY
Occupying a position in the field of forestry which may not prop-
erly be classified as either private or public are a number of agencies
represented in part by the privately endowed universities and scien-
tific institutions engaged, usually as only a part of their activities,
in forestry education or research in forestry and related subjects.
These institutions, although independent of governmental control
and of legislative financial support, have certain public aspects which
distinguish them from private endeavor in the usual conception of the
term. They are more public than private in the sense that they are
not operated for profit and that the services which they render are
directed at the advancement of the public welfare and are generally
available to everyone. Such institutions are in a position to render
a distinctive service in the national forestry program, especially in
working for the solution of basic technical and economic problems in
which action should be unhampered by pressure for either profit or
immediate results. The forest research activities of the principal
educational and research institutions which come under this heading
have been discussed in the section "Privately Supported and Quasi-
Public Forest Research. "
The principal responsibility of the forest schools and other depart-
ments of colleges and universities referred to in this section is, of
course, education — first, the professional training of men to carry on
the national forestry program and second, general education related
to forestry which will broaden public understanding and appreciation
of the significance of forestry in -the national economy. These edu-
cational institutions have a further responsibility which is inherent
in their opportunity to assist in the molding of public sentiment toward
forestry and in the framing of public forest policies. In this as well
as in their strictly educational functions, these agencies can make a
very substantial contribution through the development and man-
agement of demonstration forests, such as those maintained by
Harvard, Yale, and Duke Universities. Because of their neutral
position, free from the profit motive on the one hand and from politi-
cal incentives on the other, these endowed educational institutions
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1599
may well continue to assume aggressive leadership in suggesting and
working for desirable State and National legislation dealing with
forestry.
Finally, these institutions have an important responsibility and
opportunity for service in the field of forest research. In this field
the forest schools and universities are joined by the independent
endowed research institutions and arboreta, such as the Carnegie
Institute of Washington, the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant
Research, Inc., the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Institute
of Forest Genetics, the Arnold Arboretum, the Missouri Botanical
Gardens, the New York Botanical Gardens, etc. All these agencies
are in an especially advantageous position because they are free to
undertake the study of any phase of technical forestry or the basic
sciences which underlie it. Their efforts may well be directed at
fundamental problems of tree growth, tree breeding, or basic economic
problems which for one reason or another may be neglected in the
programs of other agencies.
In the national programs the activities of institutions of this sort
should be given every possible encouragement. Their work might
well be supplemented by a separate institute endowed specifically for
forest research as suggested in the section "A Program for Forest
Research." No specific financial program can be set up for these
institutions, beyond an estimate that the establishment of the pro-
posed forest research institute might require an annual income of
$1,000,000.
Aside from the educational and research institutions a forest credit
agency such as that suggested in the section " Federal Aid in Organiz-
ing Forest Credit Facilities," if established, would constitute a quasi-
public institution which might play an important part in stimulating
private forest management on a large scale. Although it is contem-
plated that it is a Federal responsibility to organize and provide the
initial capital, it is believed that such an agency, once started, should
function as an independent self-supporting institution operating
under a broad legislative charter but not under direct political control
in any way. No specific financial program for such an institution
is suggested as the scope and characteristics of the undertaking should
first be given additional study.
In the category of quasi-public institutions are also the forestry
and conservation associations which have had such a large part in
the formulation of public opinion, in the passage of desirable legisla-
tion, and in defeating undesirable legislation. The opportunity for
the representation of groups of public-spirited citizens in construc-
tive action will be as great in the future as it has been in the past.
THE PART OF THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
It is undesirable to attempt, in this report, to propose a definite
forestry program for each individual State, since that is properly the
function and privilege of State authorities. In order to develop a co-
ordinated program for the Federal, State, and private agencies, how-
ever, it is necessary to estimate the combined responsibilities of all
State and local governments.
It is difficult and perhaps unnecessary to distinguish sharply be-
tween the efforts of State government and those of local government.
1600 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Both have certain responsibilities, arising from local public needs.
It is assumed that local government should accept its obligations to the
full extent of its legal authority and financial ability, but that usually
a large degree of responsibility for the local forestry program will rest
upon State government. Unless specifically explained otherwise,
therefore, the term "State'7 as used here will refer to the combined
public agencies within the State.
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE
The forestry responsibility of the State is divided into three major
fields:
(1) State-aid activities to promote and encourage private forestry;
(2) research in forestry and related problems; (3) acquisition and ad-
ministration of forest lands.
State-aid activities consist of participation in the protection of pri-
vately owned forests; production and distribution of trees for forest
planting; projects of forestry extension and education; enactment and
enforcement of legislation; and general advisory services.
State research in forestry and related problems includes coordinated
investigations calculated to supply much of the information needed
as a basis for local forestry measures. Research contributes to State-
aid activities as well as to State forest management.
When a State adopts a program of forest ownership it assumes
financial responsibility for forest-land acquisition and administration,
and responsibility for permanently managing its lands in the best
interests of the public. Such management includes intensive silvi-
cultural practice for sustained timber production; protection against
forest fire and other injury; reforestation, where necessary; and satis-
factory measures to safeguard watershed, wild-life, recreational, and
other forest values.
In setting up the State forestry program which follows, allowance
has been made for the greatest expansion of private forestry that can
reasonably be expected. Due consideration has been given to the
economic requirements and limitations of the local forest situation,
and to State ability to accept further financial or other obligations.
Federal participation has been assumed to the extent that the private
and State programs leave forestry obligations unprovided for. There-
fore this program outlines the greatest participation that can be ex-
pected from the States, and at the same tune the least responsibility
that can be considered their share.
This section summarizes conclusions stated in greater detail in the
program sections of the report.
THE STATE FORESTRY PROGRAM
THE ORGANIZATION NECESSARY
In 42 States legal provision has been made for forestry activities of
one kind or another, yet in relatively few has progress been commen-
sirate with the forestry problems. Failure in achievement has been
caused either by inadequate funds, insufficient authority, unstable
policy or organization, or political restrictions or by a combination of
these circumstances, all of which reflect lack of intelligent interest on
the part of the public.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1601
To meet its responsibilities, a State forestry organization must have
permanence, stability, authority, and freedom from political inter-
ference. Its policy must be sound and comprehensive; its financial
support. must be adequate and sustained. Its staff must be composed
largely of technically trained men of high ability and sincerity of
purpose. Lacking any of these essentials, it will inevitably fail to
achieve the objectives for which it should strive.
Some few States now approach these requirements for forestry or-
ganization, and are making satisfactory progress consistent with their
past conception of their problems; but if they accept the responsibili-
ties of the forestry program now conceived to be necessary, they will
have to increase their efforts very considerably. Other States fall
far short of meeting the desired standards of forestry organization, in
many particulars. The only remedy lies in further legislation, spon-
sored by awakened public opinion. No State can hope to fulfill its
forestry responsibilities without a strong organization.
THE PROGRAM FOR STATE AID IN FORESTRY
The program for State aid in forestry differs in the various States,
just as forest problems vary in importance between regions. How-
ever, uniformity of attack by the individual States has been greatly
increased through Federal cooperation in State-aid activities. The
magnitude of the forest problem necessitates a very considerable ex-
pansion of the State-aid program.
PROTECTION OF FORESTS FROM FIRE
State responsibility for protection of forests from fire is generally
recognized, yet the States are providing organized protection for only
227.6 million acres, or 54 percent, of the 420 million acres of State
and private forest lands estimated to require it. It is estimated that
the annual cost of adequate fire protection for State and private forest
lands will ultimately amount to $20,000,000. State fire-pro tec tipn
activities should be expanded in the immediate future, with financial
aid from the Federal Government and in cooperation with private
landowners, to cover the entire area of State and private forest lands
requiring organized fire protection. For this reason early increases
are programmed in State fire-protection expenditures, including
needed capital investments.
This (10-year) program contemplates an increase in State funds for
fire protection to $6,342,000 by 1944, with annual appropriations
averaging $4,391,000 for the 5 years 1935-39 and $5,762,000 for the
five years 1940-44. In 1932 all State expenditures for fire protection
amounted to only about $3,565,000.
PROTECTION OF FOREST FROM INSECTS AND DISEASES
The States should take a leading part in the control of injurious
forest insects and forest diseases, through cooperation with Federal
agencies in detecting infestations and epidemics, in inspecting nurser-
ies, and in enforcing necessary quarantines and other regulations.
During 1932, approximately $1,320,000 was expended by the States
in forest-insect control. It is predicted that some increase in that
sum may be necessary within the next 5 years; unless extreme emer-
gencies occur, however, it is not anticipated that the total State con-
tribution needed in any one year will be in excess of $1,500,000.
1602 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
During 1932 State and local governments spent approximately
$246,000 in the control of forest diseases, the major expenditures being
for control of the white pine blister rust, which attacks all the 5-
needled pines. In order to cope fully with the disease problems that
now exist, it is estimated that State appropriations should be increased
to $695,000 by 1939. Undue delay in the application of disease-
control measures may result in severe losses of valuable timber.
PRODUCTION OF PLANTING STOCK
The production of nursery stock for private tree planters is an im-
portant State-aid project. In the program of forest planting pre-
sented in this report it is recommended that at least 5.7 million acres
of privately owned lands be planted with forest trees within the next
20 years, at the rate of 285,000 acres per year. This represents prac-
tically twice the present rate of planting by private and public effort
combined.
The planting of 285,000 acres annually, at the rate of 1,000 trees
per acre, requires an average annual State nursery production of 285
million trees. It is estimated that for the first 10 years the total cost
of producing the nursery stock required will amount to $1,100,000
annually. With the purchase of trees by private planters at half the
cost of production, and with a Federal-aid contribution of 25 percent
of the expense, the net expenditure by the States during the first 10
years would amount to $275,000 annually. A considerable additional
State nursery production would be required to grow the trees needed
for planting State forest lands. Since the development of adequate
planting stock is essential to carrying out the proposed planting pro-
gram, planting-stock production should be greatly expanded in the
immediate future.
FORESTRY EXTENTION
The dissemination of forestry information to forest-land owners and
to the general public is one of the most effective means of bringing
desirable forestry practices into application upon^ the widely scat-
tered private forest-land holdings, and is a highly important cooper-
ative project of Federal and State government. The contribution of
the States to forestry extension is notoriously inadequate as compared
with other forms of State aid; in 1932 the expenditures of all the States
for this purpose totaled $108,000. The forestry extension services
of the States are for the most part limited to farm forestry. Together
with the need for greater forestry extension service for farmers, there
exists a great need for more extension among other classes of forest
owners. It is estimated that State funds available for these activi-
ties should be increased to not less than $400,000 a year.
FORESTRY EDUCATION
The States have assumed the major responsibility for forestry-
education. Nineteen State universities and colleges are now con-
ferring degrees in forestry, and many others are giving limited forestry
training to agricultural and other students. It is estimated that
approximately $967,000 is now expended annually by the States for
forestry education. Some institutions give comprehensive profes-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1603
sional forestry training, while others lack sufficient personnel and
facilities to do this. The general need is for better rather than more
professional forest schools. All institutions of agricultural education
should provide at least general and elementary courses in forestry,
especially for students training to become teachers or extension leaders
in agriculture.
The recent forestry education inquiry conducted under the auspices
of the Society of American Foresters led to the conclusion that the
minimum annual budget of a satisfactory forest school is between
$35,000 and $45,000. It is estimated, therefore, that an annual ex-
penditure of at least $1,200,000 by State educational institutions will
be needed to bring about the increased and improved forestry
instruction here proposed.
FOREST RESEARCH
The greatly enlarged program of direct State forest-land manage-
ment and administration and of State aid to private forest-land
owners which this report recommends calls for a very great expansion
of State forest research. This expansion should be effected in the
immediate future.
The field of State research in forestry includes local problems of
forest establishment, regeneration, protection, management, and
utilization, and also some of the more fundamental problems affecting
forest-land resources. Studies may be conducted independently or
in cooperation with Federal agencies. There is special need for State
research to obtain more accurate information concerning forest re-
sources and forest-land use, and for State studies of forest taxation.
At the present time the States are not conducting forest research on
a scale at all comparable with that of the Federal Government; in
1932, State agencies expended altogether approximately $429,000 for
research in forestry and related activities. This includes the expen-
ditures of the State forestry departments, the State forest schools and
agricultural experiment stations, and local public agencies. Within
the next 10 years the funds provided for forest research by these
agencies should be increased to at least $2,500,000 a year.
PROGRAM FOR STATE OWNED FORESTS
PRESENT AREA AND ADMINISTRATION
Some 16 million acres of forest lands are owned or being acquired by
State and local government at the present time (1932). This area
includes 405 State forest units under administration in 30 States, with
a total area of 4,395,549 acres, and 2,231,636 acres in the process of
acquisition as State forests. It includes 2,682,509 acres of State parks
composing 323 units in 28 States, nearly 1,000,000 acres of county
and municipal forests, and approximately 6,000,000 acres of State-
owned forest lands not under administration. In addition, tax-
reverting forest lands for which State or local governments have not
yet recognized responsibility are estimated to total from 20 million to
30 million acres in three important forest regions alone. Obviously,
one of the first requirements of State forestry is to place these public
forest lands under permanent management.
1604 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS NEEDED
The 6 million acres of State-owned forest lands not under adminis-
tration are scattered through all parts of the country, but the major
areas are located in the West. These consist largely of Federal grants
of forest land which the States have not placed under administration,
or for which present State policies of administration fail to insure
satisfactory permanent forest management. In many instances the
unadministered State lands consist of scattered sections which should
be blocked together by land exchange, or built up into sizable admin-
istrative units by further acquisition. The determination of logical
administrative units and the blocking of State-owned forest land, as
far as practicable, into such units, is of immediate importance in
obtaining effective State-forest management and administration.
In addition to the estimated 20 to 30 million acres of tax-delinquent
and abandoned private forest lands already reverting to the public,
there is little doubt that involuntary public ownership is pending for
a much larger forest area. In some States title to tax-reverted land
is vested in the county or local government; in others, in the State
itself. In all instances, solution of the forest problem represented by
these lands requires a recognition of public ownership responsibility,
and legislative authority for placing the lands suitable for public
management under permanent administration by the most appro-
priate public agency. Provision should be made for returning to
private ownership those lands better suited to private than to public
ownership and administration.
The classification " State-owned forest lands" includes State
forests, parks, game refuges and other wild-life areas, county and
municipal forests and parks, and institutional forest lands. Many
departments of State and local government participate in the admin-
istration and cooperate in the management of these lands. Certain
of these areas have chiefly local values; others provide widespread
benefits. The interest of public efficiency and economy is best served
when all efforts connected with administering State-owned forest
lands is closely coordinated under the leadership of a State forestry
or conservation department.
STATE ACQUISITION OF FOREST LANDS
State forests have been defined as areas specifically set aside or
established by legislation contemplating their permanent retention
and administration by the State for forest purposes and organized in
definite administrative units. Under multiple-use management State
forests may provide a variety of local benefits and uses, and at the
same time contribute very greatly to the forestry needs of the State
and Nation. To meet the requirements of a satisfactory national
forestry program, it has been estimated that the States should acquire
90 million acres of land for State forests. Of this total, 70 million
acres should be acquired by the States east of the Great Plains, and
20 million acres should be acquired by the Western States. The area
proposed for acquisition is approximately nine times the area of the
State-owned forest lands now under administration.
A considerable portion of this total area will undoubtedly come
into State ownership through tax delinquency, as sizable areas have
already done in some regions. The total expense of this State acqui-
sition program is estimated at $224,000,000 in the East and $32,000,000
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1605
in the West, on the basis of the assumption that the costs per acre
will average $3.23 and $1.60 in the two regions, respectively.
Approximately 10 million acres of State forest lands are now under
administration, and the acquisition program here suggested contem-
plates a total of 100 million acres at the end of 20 years. An average
rate of 5 percent of the total program per year is recommended, as in
the case of Federal acquisition, with equal progress in the East and
in the West. This would add 4.5 million acres per year to the State
forests, at an expense of $12,800,000 divided among the States par-
ticipating in the program.
In some instances the present condition of State finances may pre-
vent immediate initiation of an acquisition program of this size; in
many States the immediate requirement is legislative authority for
permanent public ownership and administration of the millions of
acres of abandoned and tax-reverting forest lands, and of the State-
owned forest lands not under administration at present. The use of
public funds for the constructive development of forest resources is
recognized as a productive undertaking that may contribute greatly
to unemployment relief during the present emergency.
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF STATE FORESTS
The purposes, uses, and benefits of public forests, as well as their
management, have been thoroughly discussed in other sections of
this report. Here it is sufficient to state that the costs of acquiring
and administering such forests may be partly balanced, and in some
instances exceeded, by the ultimate cash returns from their manage-
ment, not to mention the great although more or less intangible
values that accrue to the public in watershed protection, stream flow
and erosion control, wild-life perpetuation, recreation, and community
development.
Cost data pertaining specifically to State forests are not available.
Experience in administering the national forests has shown that pub-
lic forests may require a capital investment of $2 per acre for adminis-
trative improvements such as buildings and transportation systems
and for cultural measures of silvicultural management and reforesta-
tion. An additional charge of about 10 cents per acre per year is
required for protection and current management expenses. On this
basis, for the 4.5 million acres of State forests to be acquired annually
the average capital investment would amount to about $9,000,000
and the current administration expenses to about $450,000.
Although much of the land to be acquired for State forests is now
tax delinquent, in establishing State forests it is often necessary to
provide some financial return to the local tax unit for lands with-
drawn permanently from taxation. This is taken care of in part by
relieving local government of certain improvement or maintenance
costs, as for roads. In some States a fixed sum is paid annually to
the local unit in lieu of taxes ; in others a certain portion of the annual
income from the forest is paid, as is done in the case of the national
forests. In many instances an equitable arrangement may consist of
a plan combining all these methods.
1606 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
REFORESTATION ON STATE FORESTS
The reforestation program suggested in this report calls for planting
some 13 million acres of State-owned forest land within the next 20
years. This estimate is based chiefly on the proposed State acquisi-
tion of lands upon which erosion control and watershed protection
are highly important. Planting cannot proceed at a satisfactory rate
until the supplies of planting stock annually available are greatly
enlarged. This phase of the work should be carried forward rapidly
in the immediate future.
To plant 13 million acres in 20 years means annual planting of
650,000 acres. This would require approximately 650 million trees
yearly.
It is estimated that the expense of growing the trees and planting
them on State forest lands will average $7.60 per acre. The expense
of planting 10 percent of the total area of State forests to be acquired,
or approximately 10 million acres, is carried in the $2 per acre capital
investment. To plant the remaining 3 million acres estimated to
require planting will necessitate an expenditure of $1,140,000 annually
throughout the 20-year period.
NEEDED LEGISLATION
The development of the State forestry recommended in this pro-
gram is dependent to a great extent upon legislative action. Spe-
cifically, legislation is needed for the following purposes:
1. To provide for the establishment of a strong, efficient forestry
organization in each State, with ample provision for permanence,
stability of policy, adequate financial support, necessary authority,
and freedom from political interference. Where such an organiza-
tion does not now exist, its establishment is the first essential of the
State's forestry program.
2. To provide authority and funds for the proposed State land-
acquisition program.
3. To provide authority for permanent State or local ownership
of tax-reverted forest and submarginal agricultural lands suitable for
State or local management and administration for forestry purposes.
4. To provide authority for consolidation, management, and admin-
istration of State-owned forest land, such as grant and tax-reverted
land, suitable for these purposes.
5. To provide authority for land exchange to facilitate consolida-
tion and administration of State-owned forest land.
6. To provide the authority and funds necessary for State organiza-
tion and direction of State-wide forest-fire control, including reasonable
safeguards for the legitimate use of fire in the woods and provisions
for the punishment of carelessness, neglect, or arson.
7. To provide the authority for organization, the funds, and the
regulations necessary for the protection of forests against damage
from insects, diseases, acts of trespass, and other injury. In some
instances public interest may require the regulation of certain phases
of the management of private forest lands.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1607
8. To provide the authority and funds necessary for the expansion
of other State-aid functions herein discussed, including forestry exten-
sion services and the distribution of forest planting stock to forest-
land owners other than farmers, and for the expansion of forest
research.
9. To provide for equitable taxation of forest lands as rapidly as
sound tax systems can be devised.
10. To authorize the establishment of national forests, where such
legislation does not now exist, in States where Federal participation
in forest ownership is desirable or necessary to meet the requirements
of the national forestry program.
ESTIMATE OF STATE EXPENDITURES REQUIRED
STATE AID AND FOREST RESEARCH
In table 1 is given an estimate of the expenditures by State and
local government agencies needed to carry out the State-aid and
forest-research programs. For many items the State funds may be
supplemented by Federal and private financial contributions under
the cooperative arrangements previously described. Approximate
expenditures for 1932 are given by way of comparison. Expenditures
are given for 5-year periods beginning with the fiscal year 1935, since
it is estimated that the immediate program cannot get under way
before that year.
TABLE 1. — State and local government approximate expenditures involved in the
State-aid and forest-research programs
Average
Average
Average
Average
annual
annual
annual
annual
Expendi-
expendi-
Expendi-
expendi-
Expendi-
expendi-
expendi-
.-Project
tures in
tures in
tures in
tures in
tures in
tures in
tures in
1932
the 5
1940
the 5
1945
the 5
the 5
years
years
years
years
1935-39
1940-44
1945-49
1950-54
Thou-
Thou-
Thou-
Thou-
Thou-
Thou-
Thou-
sands of
dollars
sands of
dollars
sands of
dollars
sands of
dollars
sands of
dollars
sands of
dollars
sands of
dollars
Fire protection
3,565
4,391
5,182
5,762
6,342
6,594
7,518
Insect protection !
1,320
1,410
1,500
Disease protection '
246
600
695
Planting-stock production 2. . .
175
200
237
275
300
335
Extension
108
250
390
395
400
400
400
Education
967
1,034
1,100
1, 150
1,200
1,200
1,200
Forest research
429
945
1,465
1,980
2,500
2,500
2,500
1 Expenditures not estimated beyond 5-year period.
2 Estimates of expenditure for planting-stock production do not include any expense involved in pro-
duction on the present basis, since in general the planting stock now distributed from State nurseries is
sold by the States at cost. Nursery expense for State forest planting is, of course, not included in this
table.
STATE FORESTS
In table 2 is given an estimate of the expense to State and local
government agencies under the program of forest acquisition and
administration. The table includes the entire program, estimated
to be completed in 20 years.
168342° — 33 — vol. 2 36
1608
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 2. — Estimated areas, and State and local government expenditures, involved
in 20-year program of State forest acquisition and administration
First
year
Sec-
ond
year
Third
year
Fourth
year
Fifth
year
Tenth
year
Fif-
teenth
year
Twen-
tieth
year
Areas,1 in millions of acres:
Acreage to be acquired each year.
Acreage to be acquired by end of
year . _ ...
4.5
3 14.5
4.5
19 0
4.5
23.5
4.5
28.0
4.5
32 5
4.5
55 0
4.5
77 5
45
100 0
Expenditures, in millions of dollars:
Capital investment for improve-
ments and cultural measures 3_.
Additional capital investment
required for planting
1.80
1 14
5.40
1.14
7.20
1.14
10.80
1.14
14.40
1 14
18.00
1 14
1.00
1 14
1.00
1 14
Current expenses for protection
and management, at 10 cents
per acre
1.45
1.90
2.35
2.80
3 25
5 50
7 75
10 00
Total improvement, cultural,
protection, and management
expenditures, capital and
current
8.44
10.69
14.74
18.79
24.64
9.89
12 14
Annual expenditures for acquisition 4.
Total expenditures for acquisi-
tion at end of each year 4
12.80
12.80
12.80
25.60
12.80
38.40
12.80
51.20
12.80
64.00
12.80
128.00
12.80
192.00
12.80
256. 02
i The areas covered by the acquisition program total about 90 million acres.
3 Includes 10 million acres of State forests now under administration.
3 The program calls for a major capital investment for improvements and cultural measures amounting
to $2 per acre of the total area to be acquired. The portion of this investment to be made annually in-
creases to 10 percent in the seventh year and continues at that level through the thirteenth year. Addi-
tional capital investment of $1,000,000 for these purposes is allowed for annually thereafter.
4 Since areas acquired in the first few years may consist largely of tax-reverted lands, the actual expendi-
tures for this period may be less than those shown here.
Expenditures for acquisition have been based upon estimated
average costs of $3.23 per acre for 70 million acres in the East and
$1.60 per acre for 20 million acres in the West, these rates allowing
for gifts, for purchase at nominal prices, and for the low cost of
acquiring tax-reverted lands.
The estimates of a capital investment of $2 per acre for improve-
ments and cultural measures and a current expenditure of 10 cents
per acre for protection and management were based upon national-
forest experience, the necessary data not being available for State
forests. It is expected that the major capital investment for admin-
istrative improvements and cultural measures will start more slowly
than acquisition but will eventually outdistance it as purchase areas
are blocked out and will come to an end in the thirteenth year.
Through the remainder of the 20-year program the expenditure for
these purposes is estimated at $1,000,000 annually. Since the State
program calls for reforestation of 13 million acres and there are 3
million acres of State land, the reforestation of which is not covered
by the $2 per acre capital investment, an additional capital investment
of $1,140,000 annually is required. The capital investment for the 10
million acres of State forests now under administration is assumed to
be complete.
SUMMARY OF STATE EXPENDITURES
Table 3 summarizes the estimated average annual expenditures for
a 20-year program of State forestry, by current expenses and capital
investment separated into four 5-year periods.
The State and local government expenditures here proposed for
forestry shrink in significance when it is realized that the total
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1609
forestry expenditures proposed for the next 10 years constitute only
5 percent of the sum which the State and local governments spent
on their improved-highway programs during a recent past decade.
When it is realized that the $25,000,000 annual forestry expense of
the future may ultimately be returned many fold through income
from properly managed State forests alone, not to mention less
tangible values or the great increase in the productivity of private
forests through State aid, the expenditures proposed appear as
investments rather than as expenses.
TABLE 3. — Summary of estimated average annual expenditures by State and local
governments involved in 20-year program
Type of expenditure
First 5-year
period 1935-39
Second 5-year
period 1940-44
Third 5-year
period 1945-^9
Fourth 5-year
period 1950-54
Current
expense
Capital
invest-
ment
Current
expense
Capital
invest-
ment
Current
expense
Capital
invest-
ment
Current
expense
Capital
invest-
ment
Cooperative State aid
Thou-
sands of
dollars
7,800
Thou-
sands of
dollars
Thou-
sands of
dollars
10,000
1,980
Thou-
sands of
dollars
Thou-
sands of
dollars
11,000
Thou-
sands of
dollars
Thou-
sands of
dollars
12,000
2,500
Thou-
sands of
dollars
Forest research
945
2,500
State-forest acquisition .
12,800
9,040
12,800
18,420
12,800
12, 340
12,800
2,140
State-forest administration, protec-
tion, and management
2,350
4,380
6,620
8,870
Total . . .
11,095
21, 840
16,360
31, 220
20,120
25, 140
23, 370
14,940
THE PART OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY
This report has developed the view that responsibility for main-
taining and developing the productivity and values of forest lands is
an attribute of all classes of ownership. As an owner of forest land
the Federal Government necessarily has this responsibility, which in
the main has been accepted.
But, because it is the central Government, it has additional
responsibilities not contingent upon ownership. Preservation or
restoration of forest-land values is a national necessity in order to
maintain and develop the national basic wealth represented by forest
lands which gives opportunity for the productive use of capital, and
thereby serves as a source of employment for labor. It is a form of
national defense.
The Federal responsibilities do not necessarily represent the size
of the Federal Government's participation in the job, which is
dependent very largely on the ability of the States and private
owners of forest land to do the full job that needs to be done. Active
Federal participation varies in ratio to the degree that the national
interest in forest land values is protected under the ownership of
other agencies.
Because of widespread depreciation of public values on private
forest lands, and because the States have been unable to halt destruc-
tive practices or to restore values on the large accumulated area which
is definitely unattractive to private ownership, the active Federal
participation must increase if the full job is accomplished.
1610 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
Criteria which have been used in this report to mark the need for a
Federal program of action far greater than previously envisaged,
include the following:
1. The serious depletion of usable supplies of timber, and the
inadequacy of growing stock needed eventually to balance consump-
tive needs.
2. The widespread deterioration of watersheds through misuse of
the forest cover.
3. The failure to maintain and develop essential recreational and
wild-life values of forest lands.
4. The widespread breakdown of private ownership of forest land,
and the threat of an accelerating rate of abandonment.
5. The rapid increase in the area of abandoned agricultural land,
which, if used productively, must now be put back to the original
forested condition.
6. The ineffectiveness of public aid alone to make private forestry
feasible, or in many cases, even to keep forest lands in private owner-
ship.
7. The financial inability of most of the States and local units of
government to take over the forest management job where private
ownership has failed.
8. The apparent barriers of tradition and failure to appreciate
public forest-land values, which to some degree hold back effective
private forestry even where genuine financial opportunity and ability
exist.
The Federal Government has two primary methods through which
it can participate in the national forestry enterprise. The first
method is one of systematic aid and encouragement to the States and
private owners. A primary purpose of such aid in every form is to
make it possible for others to own and manage forest lands, and
thereby make it unnecessary for the Federal Government to do so.
The established forms of Federal aid and assistance, of which this
report recommends the continuation and expansion, include:
1. Direct grants of money, as for fire, insect and disease control,
extension, and planting stock.
2. Returns of money to the local government, on account of Federal
land ownership, such as the 25 percent of national-forest receipts.
3. Expenditure on account of land ownership for such projects as
forest highways, which are integral parts of local road systems, and
would otherwise be constructed by local government.
4. Carrying on of research programs, the results of which are avail-
able to all.
5. Management of Federal lands without cost to local governments,
as the national forests and parks.
The second method of participating in the national forestry enter-
prise is by direct Federal management of Federally owned or controlled
forest lands, when this proves necessary to care for the values at
stake. This report recommends national expansion in this direction,
leaving to private ownership the forest lands on which there is a real
chance for profitable business enterprise, and to the States the amount
that their financial ability will enable them to own and manage.
Many Federal agencies have a part in carrying out the forestry
program of the Federal Government. The following proposed pro-
gram covers specifically the work of each of these agencies which to-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1611
gether make up the complete Federal program. The program con-
templates a period of 20 years of constructive forestry effort. It
contemplates the intensification and expansion of resource manage-
ment. While the major program covers a period of 20 years, some of
the more essential betterment measures, involving immediate pro-
tection of existing resource values, are scheduled for shorter periods,
BUREAU OF FISHERIES (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)
Fish constitute an important forest resource. Research is essential
in solving the many problems of fishery management on forest areas,
involving (1) surveys of forested areas to determine water resources,
fish populations, and the normal demand made by fishermen upon
the natural supply of fish; (2) a determination of the need for addi-
tional production and a check on the method of increasing yields,
and (3) studies of ecological requirements of fish and improvements
in hatchery technique. The estimated cost of fishery investigative
work is $25,000 per year, for the first 5-year period.
An adequate program of fishery management on Federal lands, it
is estimated, would require $75,000 per year for fish cultural opera-
tions for the first 5 years. It is estimated that $150,000 will be needed
each year for fish cultural operations and investigations in connec-
tion therewith, for a second 5-year period, and that $75,000 will be
needed each year thereafter.
Appropriation of additional funds is needed to carry out these pro-
posed investigative and management measures. Legislation already
formulated in a bill (S. 263, 72d Cong., 1st sess.) to promote the con-
servation of wild life, fish, and game; and a bill (S. 5813, 71st Cong.,
2d sess.) to provide for the consideration of wild-life conservation
with the construction of public works or improvement projects should
be enacted.
THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR)
Adequate protection of the forest lands within the national parks
and monuments, under the control of the National Park Service, is
needed to prevent destruction of great scenic, recreation, and water-
shed values, and to safeguard adjoining forest areas. This will
necessitate: (1) completion of an adequate system of fire protection,
and (2) adequate protection of park forests from attacks of insects
and disease.
The following estimates of needed expenditures cover only forest-
protection measures for park forests. The annual expenditures for
fire protection for the period 1927-31 averaged $95,324. It is esti-
mated that $482,100 is required in the next 5 years of capital expendi-
tures for additional permanent structures and other improvements
needed for fire protection; $63,200 is needed annually for fire
prevention services and maintenance. These requirements will
necessitate an annual expenditure for the next 5 years of $159,620,
with a continuing annual expenditure after that period of approxi-
mately $63,200 for current expenses and a capital expenditure allow-
ance of $10,000 for maintenance and replacements.
Greater disease-control effort than at present is needed; the $30,000
present (1933) allotment should be increased to $100,000 at once, and
should continue in that amount.
1612
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
Adequate insect control would involve increases from the present
allotment of $50,000 to $75,000, which after 5 years might need to
be increased to $150,000 annually.
INDIAN SERVICE (DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR)
The program for adequate administration of Indian reservation
forest lands contemplates (1) completion of an adequate system of
fire protection, including needed capital expenditures for improve-
ments: (2) better protection of forests from insects and disease;
(3) completion of an adequate system of roads and trails for protec-
tion, administration, and management of Indian forest lands; and
(4) increased funds for a larger personnel, increased supervision, and
a more intensive management of all lorest work in the Indian Service.
The legislative program for the Indian reservation forest lands
should provide (1) for discontinuing the present practice of allotting
forest and range lands to individual Indians: (2) for the creation by
law of Indian forests on the several reservations having large areas
of tribal land; and (3) for increased appropriations for all forestry
work.
Estimated annual expenditures for the first 5 years of this program,
covering administration and management of Indian forests, are given
in table 4.
TABLE 4. — Estimated expenditures in a 5-year program on Indian reservation
forests
Current ex-
penditures
Capital in-
vestment
Total ex-
penditures
Fire protection
$250,000
$200,000
$450,000
Insects and disease.
20,000
20,000
Forest roads and trails
125,000
350,000
475,000
Administration (including grazing)
300,000
23,000
323,000
Total
695,000
573,000
1, 268, 000
BIOLOGICAL SURVEY (DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE)
In order to carry out adequately the needed experiments and inves-
tigations for determining the life histories and habits of forest ani-
mals, birds, and wild life, as authorized by the McSweeney-McNary
Act, the current appropriation of $20,000 for the fiscal year 1933,
should be increased up to the amounts authorized in the act, reaching
a maximum of $150,000 in 1938. Thereafter, funds should be pro-
vided as needed.
Range-destroying rodents which live on herbaceous and shrubby
vegetation are causing excessive losses in range-forage values over
large areas within the national forests. It is estimated that there
are about 8 million acres now infested with these pests, requiring
application of control measures. Other rodents cause severe damage
to tree growth. Porcupines are preventing the establishment of new
forest growth over large areas, particularly in the ponderosa pine type.
The Biological Survey estimates that, in order to obtain adequate
rodent control in the national forests, annual expenditures should be
increased from the present amount of $50,000 to $116,000 for about
5 years, that for a second 5-year period annual expenditures of ap-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1613
proximately $92,000 will be needed, for the next 10 years about
$62,000 will be needed annually for follow-up work, to prevent rein-
festations and to ^ maintain $ controlled conditions. The estimate for
porcupine work included in the above total is based on present
known conditions in the Rocky Mountain region. Further investiga-
tions may reveal additional areas needing treatment.
The predatory-animal control work of the Biological Survey has
an important bearing on use of the forage resources of the national
forests. It is not possible to segregate expenditures on the national
forests since the control work is carried on also on other lands.
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE)
AID IN DISEASE CONTROL
The control of epidemics of introduced forest diseases through
cooperative measures is a necessary function of the Federal Govern-
ment. The cooperative control work against the white pine blister
rust should be increased promptly in order to prevent excessive losses
in valuable stands of white pines, which include three imDortant
timber species.
It is proposed that the general appropriation act be changed to
authorize the Division ol Blister Rust Control of the Bureau of Plant
Industry to cooperate also in the control of other diseases, bridging
the gap between research and application. This would involve ser-
vice particularly in connection with the elimination of decayed or
disease-susceptible trees in cutting operations ; and with nursery sani-
tation and the selection of healthy sites and species combinations for
plantations. Much of the recommended expansion of duties can be
cared for by utilizing the present forces of the Division with relatively
little increase in personnel.
It is estimated that in order to handle this work adequately the
present annual expenditure of $344,500 will require increase at once
to $554,000 and progressively to $719,000 by 1939. After 1939 the
expenditures for maintaining the blister rust portion of this protec-
tion should materially decrease if the indicated program is carried
out.
RESEARCH IN DISEASES OF FORESTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS
The need for information on control of forest tree diseases and
diseases of forest products requires continued forest pathology
investigations. The current (1933) appropriation of $120,000 is
insufficient for adequate research upon the great number and variety
of problems with which the various owners of forest land are faced.
Appropriations are needed up to the $250,000 authorized by the
McSweeney-McNary Act.
For investigation on newly introduced diseases in forests, which are
not covered by the act, the present funds of approximately $24,000
need an early increase if the Dutch elm disease and the new beech
bark disease are to be adequately attacked. The seriousness of the
beech disease is only now being recognized, and the possibilities for
control cannot be determined until further study of the situation is
made.
1614 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
DISEASE CONTROL ON FEDERAL LANDS
The Bureau of Plant Industry cooperates with other Federal
agencies by advice in disease control technique on Federal lands.
The allotment of the Bureau of Plant Industry of $40,500 for advice
in control work on the national forests should be increased to $160,000
by 1935, and should progressively increase to $189,000 by 1939.
The allotment of $15,000 for disease control advice on the national
parks should be increased to $20,000 by 1935 and should, increase
progressively to $25,000 by 1939. An increase in appropriations of
$6,000 for the Bureau of Plant Industry should be made for disease
control work on the Indian reservations. This estimate is made for
a 5-year period only. Due to numerous unknown factors it is
impracticable to estimate subsequent needs. If the indicated
program is carried out it is probable that expenditures after the
5-year period will decrease.
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY (DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE)
There is need for a great deal of additional study of destructive
forest insects as a basis for satisfactory prevention and control
methods. Insects attacks cause an annual loss in timber values of
millions of dollars. Appropriations should be increased up to the
amounts authorized by the McSweeney-McNary Act which provides
for a maximum of $350,000 annually by 1938. Thereafter necessary
funds should be made available as provided for under the provisions
of the Act.
BUREAU OF PLANT QUARANTINE (DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE)
The Federal Government maintains protection against the intro-
duction of forest diseases and injurious forest insects from foreign
countries by the quarantine work supervised by the Bureau of Plant
Quarantine. Danger of the spread of destructive diseases or insect
pests is reduced by inspection and certification of shipments of plant
stock between States. This Bureau also supervises the actual
control work in the supression of the gypsy moth epidemic in the
Northeast for which $400,000 was appropriated in 1933. All of these
operations should be continued and adequately financed as a proper
governmental function. It is estimated that adequate control of
the g3rpsy moth, with small amounts for control of the brown tail,
satin, and European pine shoot moths would cost in the neighbor-
hood of $700,000 annuaUy.
WEATHER BUREAU (DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE)
In order to make adequate investigations of the relationship of
weather conditions to forest fires, as may be necessary to make weather
forecasts, the funds authorized for such research in section 6 of the
McSweeney-McNary Act should be made available, increasing from
present (1933) allotments of $4,650 up to the full authorization of
$50,000 annually in 1938. Thereafter, funds should be provided as
needed.
It is contemplated that the Weather Bureau will continue its
service of disseminating fire-weather information to public and private
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1615
fire-control agencies during the periods of serious fire hazard. The
present (1933) allotment is $37,690 for this purpose. It is estimated
that this amount should be increased to about $45,000 by 1935.
FOREST SERVICE (DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE)
COOPERATIVE FINANCIAL AID TO STATES AND PRIVATE OWNERS
The Federal Government through the agency of the Forest Service
furnishes cooperative financial aid to States and private owners for
specified purposes, which at the present time are limited to (1) fire
protection, (2) distribution of planting stock, and (3) forest extension.
Such Federal forestry aid makes up less than one percent of all
Federal aid funds.
FIRE PROTECTION
Funds for fire protection make up the bulk of Federal aid. Some
degree of organized protection from fire is now obtained on only 54
percent of the total State and privately owned forest area in the
United States. The cost of this cooperative fire protection was
$5,943,000 in 1932, of which the Federal Government put up
$1,573,000 (27 percent), the States $3,276,000 (55 percent), and
private funds amounted to $1,094,000 (18 percent).
The present Federal authorization as carried in the Clarke-McNary
Act amounts to $2,500,000 on the basis of a former estimate that
$10,000,000 would be the total amount necessary to protect State and
private forest land. Estimates indicate that the cost of adequate
fire protection may ultimately amount to approximately $20,000,000.
On the 75-25 percent basis fpr meeting control expenditures as ex-
plained in the section entitled, " Federal Financial and Other Direct
Aid to the States," the present limitation on Federal authorizations
contained in the Clarke-McNary law should be increased to $5,000,-
000. Appropriations should be immediately increased to 50 percent
of the total current expenditures, provided that no State should in
any year receive more than 25 percent of its total needs. On this
basis $2,680,500 could be spent immediately to good advantage on
this project. This represents a substantial increase over the 1933
appropriation, which was $1,611,580. During the following 10 years
Federal aid in forest-fire protection should be increased each year
until it reaches $3,703,500 in 1944; thereafter additional funds will
be needed as additional areas are placed under protection and for
adequate protection on all areas needing protection.
FOREST PLANTING
It is estimated that approximately 25 million acres in the United
States, of which 5,755,000 acres are listed as private timber lands,
should be planted to forest trees during the next 20 years. It is
desirable to continue the present method of Federal cooperation
whereby the Government contributes to the costs of establishing and
operating State forest nurseries.
Legislation is needed to increase the expenditures authorized by
section 4 of the Clarke-McNary Act from $100,000 to $350,000 and
to broaden the scope of the act so that its provisions will benefit
all landowners. Expenditures should increase progressively from
$150,000 in 1935 to approximately $350,000.
1616 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
A greatly enlarged forest-planting program such as that proposed
for public and private agencies requires aid in securing sufficient seed
supplies and all agencies should be protected against inferior seed or
seed unsuited to the locality where it is planted. This can best be
attained if the Federal Government as a form of public aid will
supply of a seed testing and certification service, the cost of which
is estimated at $50,000 per year. Legislative authority to conduct
the work and appropriation of funds is needed.
FOREST INSECTS
In insect control work the Federal Government now assists the
States and private timberland owners by conducting control work
where serious insect epidemics threaten. Legislation authorizing
Federal cooperation to the extent of $250,000 annually for cooperative
survey and local insect-control work on State and private lands is
needed. Appropriations should begin at $50,000, increasing in a
5-year period to $250,000 annually, or as rapidly as private and State
cooperative funds are made available. Further increases may later
be found necessary for adequate control.
FOREST EXTENSION
Advice on the ground is one of the most effective forms of aid that
the Government can give to private owners. The work can probably
best be handled through a special advisory service similar to that
whereby the Federal Government and the States cooperate in main-
taining extension foresters in farm forestry.
At present the Federal cooperative forest-extension activities are
limited by the Clarke-McNary Act to farmers. The Federal co-
operative effort for the most part fails to reach a large class of other
private owners who actually own 270 million acres of forest land.
Needed expansion of this work will necessitate an amendment to the
Clarke-McNary law providing authorization for increased expendi-
tures for the purpose and broadening the scope of the act to benefit all
forest landowners. It is estimated that $625,000 will be needed for all
Federal extension activities. Of this $225,000 should be available
the direct forest-extension work by the Forest Service; $150,000
additional should be provided the Forest Service to match State
funds for work with timber landowners other than farmers; and a
maximum of $250,000 should be provided ($100,000 at present) to be
used annually to match expenditures by the States for farm forest
extension through the Extension Service (Clarke-McNary law, sec. 5).
Total funds for these three purposes should be increased progressively
from $200,000 the first year to $625,000 the tenth year, and $625,000
annually thereafter.
FOREST RESEARCH
Earlier sections of this report have recommended an enlarged
Federal forest-research program.
Forest research has been hopelessly inadequate for the forestry
effort of the past and work on the present scale would be even more
so for the greatly enlarged effort recommended by this report.
The Federal Government's responsibility for adequate forest-
research covers not only the problems with which the Federal Govern-
ment is confronted in the management of Federal forest lands, but
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1617
also forestry problems which are of a national or regional character.
Technical knowledge is needed on all phases of forestry to guide the
work efficiently and prevent serious mistakes.
Research work of the Forest Service has not kept pace with the
authority granted by the McSweeney-McNary Act, due to lack of
funds. Adequate financing is needed to carry out the program out-
lined to 1938. It is now apparent, however, that the maximum limita-
tions set up in the McSweeney-McNary Act represent no more than
a satisfactory beginning if the need for research is met on an adequate
basis. Certain forest-research work that has been authorized has not
yet been started. Practically nothing has been done toward setting
up an adequate forest experiment station in the central Rocky
Mountain region, nor has any attempt been made toward establishing
the stations authorized for Alaska, Hawaii, or the West Indies.
Expansion and speeding up of certain lines of research is of immediate
importance and amply justifiable as an emergency measure.
EROSION AND 8TREAMFLOW INVESTIGATIONS
Of foremost importance at this time is the need for studies of the
relationship between forest cover and erosion and streamflow con-
ditions as a basis for erosion control and streamflow regulation.
A bill similar to that introduced in the Seventy-second Congress
(H.R. 4608) which provided for an additional section in the Mc-
Sweeney-McNary Forest Research Act to cover erosion-streamflow
investigations on forest, range, and other wild lands should be
enacted. The legislation should provide an authorization for annual
appropriations of not more than $500,000 until 1938, and additional
amounts thereafter as needed.
FOREST SURVEY
Since work on the forest survey, a Nation-wide study, was begun
in 1930, it has become apparent that its maximum value cannot be
attained unless the job is completed in a relatively short period of
time.
The results of the forest survey are urgently needed for such things
as land-use planning and in fact are already being used for this pur-
pose. The importance of accelerating the work is being strongly
urged by States, counties, and other agencies. They recognize the
pressing need for such an inventory and analysis as the basis for the
formulation of public policies and programs.
The present authorization of $250,000 should be increased to
$500,000. Provision should also be made for keeping the data
current indefinitely, at a probable cost of $200,000 annually.
LAND CLASSIFICATION
The general land-use situation is one of the most critical of the
national internal problems. Prompt and intelligent action based
upon a clear understanding of the uses for which different classes of
land are best suited is essential in determining the National land-use
policy. Classification of our existing and potential forest land
according to the use to which it is best adapted is an important part
of the whole vexing problem. The funds needed for the forestry part
of such a program should begin at $75,000, the first year, and increase
1618 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
progressively to $250,000 the fourth year. It may later be found
that as much as $400,000 will be needed.
Legislation is needed to authorize forest land classification work
and to provide funds. Provision may be made either in connection
with general classification legislation or as an amendment to the Mc-
Sweeney-McNary Act.
FOREST ECONOMICS
Forest economics investigations should strike directly at the heart
of the baffling economic difficulties which confront the intelligent
management of both public and privately owned forest land. They
should help to furnish the factual foundation for making forest land
use in the broad sense of the term take its proper place in our entire
economic and social structure.
To carry out such a program the appropriation for this work for the
fiscal year 1933 of $70,240 should be increased progressively to
$250,000 by 1938. Appropriations thereafter .should be increased
progressively to $400,000 by 1944.
FOREST PRODUCTS
As one means of assuring full land use, forest products must be
kept in a position to compete on equal terms with other commodities,
and research is necessary to this end. Forest-products research
would also be effective in alleviating some of the emergency con-
ditions growing out of the depression such as the need for much
cheaper houses. Any improvement would be reflected in increased
demands for lumber and relief of acute unemployment in communities
and regions dependent on the forest industries.
To meet the needs of this program, appropriations for forest prod-
ucts investigations of $613,640 for the fiscal year 1933 should be
increased progressively to $1,050,000 by 1938, and to $1,650,000 by
1944.
EXPENDITURES NEEDED FOR ALL FOREST SERVICE RESEARCH
To cover the classes of forest research indicated and in addition
research in forest management for the growing of forest crops and
their protection against fire, research in the management and utiliza-
tion of forest ranges, and studies of forest taxation and insurance
progressive increases from $1,666,750 for the fiscal year 1933 to
$3,885,000 by 1938 and to $5,235,000 by 1944 will be needed.
Since the results of Forest Service research on the broad regional
and national forest problems, as well as on the local problems of
federally owned and managed lands are of direct benefit to the States
and private owners, research constitutes an important form of
Federal aid.
NATIONAL-FOREST ACQUISITION
AREA PROPOSED
The total area recommended for acquisition and addition to the
national forests (exclusive of the public domain) is about 134 million
acres. This is approximately 60 percent of the forest acquisition
program for all public agencies and contemplates the purchase or
acquisition by other means of 107 million acres east of the plains and
27 million acres in the West over a period of 20 years. Acquisition
is recommended at an average annual rate of 5,350,000 acres in the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1619
East and 1,350,000 acres in the West. The program includes the
purchase within the first 10 years of about 90 billion feet of stumpage
in the West primarily as a means to maintain the existing forest
capital.
In addition about 22 million acres of forest land now in the public
domain are recommended for immediate addition to the national
forests.
LEGISLATION NEEDED
1. An authorization act covering a period of not less than 10 years,
with an annual authorization of $30,000,000 made available until
expended.
Stumpage purchases it is estimated would require $10,000,000 of
the above amount. It is suggested that a plan might be worked out
for stumpage purchases whereby the Federal Government would
purchase the stumpage but would defer payment for a period not to
exceed 20 years, until the stumpage is cut. Such a plan would ease
the burden on the Treasury by providing for payment coincident
with income from stumpage, would relieve the holders of the stumpage
in the interim from excessive carrying charges, and would make
possible the speeding up of the land-purchase program.
2. An act to permit exchanges of private lands within 6 miles of
the exterior boundary of any existing national forest.
3. Legislation providing for the addition to the national forests of
about 22,179,000 acres of public domain.
COSTS OF ACQUISITION
Some part of the proposed area will no doubt be acquired by dona-
tion and part (mostly in the West) will probably be acquired by
exchange. Allowing for this, the cost of acquisition for the entire
eastern area is estimated at $3.23 per acre, or less than two thirds of
the average price paid to date. In the West the cost is estimated at
$1.60 per acre exclusive of additions from the public domain which
do not involve any costs for land.
THE ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EXISTING NATIONAL
FORESTS
The section entitled " Ownership Responsibilities, Costs, and
Returns" deals specifically with additional measures needed ade-
quately to administer and manage existing national forests. This
program contemplates the intensification and expansion of resource
management. It provides for speeding up capital expenditures for
physical improvements and cultural operations in order to add value
to the resources and to increase returns and services.
In estimating the average annual expenditures for a 20-year
period, a lump-sum allowance has been made for replacement and
maintenance of roads and trails and structural improvements, after
the completion of the programed construction period. In the case of
betterment operations for which increases are programed for less
than the 20-year period, such as control of the white-pine blister-rust
disease, it is assumed that the amounts that are now being expended
for these various operations will be sufficient for necessary continuing
work.
1620 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE
Protection against fire is particularly critical on about 30 million
acres in three important forest regions. Major conflagrations still
occur under adverse climatic conditions, are suppressed at great cost,
and with loss of public property and life. The average annual area
burned over should be reduced at the earliest possible date.
Completion of an adequate fire-protection system, including the
construction of fire roads and trails and other fire improvements,
involves an estimated annual expenditure of $3,700,000 for fire roads
and trails programed for 10 years and $780,000 for other fire improve-
ments programed for 5 years. It is estimated that a progressive
annual increase in expenditure will be needed, beginning at $80,000
and continuing up to $625,000 the tenth year, for increased man power
in inaccessible areas to replace road and trail workers who were
available for protection during construction periods. This increased
expenditure for man power should continue after the tenth year at
the rate of $625,000.
PROTECTION AGAINST DISEASE
Of first importance in the program for protection against disease
is the control of the white-pine blister-rust, which attacks all of the
five needle pines.
It is estimated that an increased annual expenditure of $1,700,000
will be required for about 5 years for adequate control work on
3 million acres in the West where the highest commercial values in
white and sugar pine are threatened.
The bulk of this project is concentrated in the first 5-year period
beginning with 1935, because delay will jeopardize existing timber
values.
PROTECTION AGAINST INSECTS
Work now conducted must be permanently expanded to obtain
adequate current control of insect damage, to meet emergencies, and
prevent severe losses caused by epidemic insect attacks. This
involves an increase of $100,000 over present annual expenditures of
about $100,000.
TIMBER MANAGEMENT
Probable increases in the sale of timber on the national forests
during the next 20 years will, it is estimated, result in a material
increase of work, and will necessitate an increase in average annual
expenditures of $215,000.
At the present time stand-betterment work, which is important in
placing the forest property in condition to yield maximum timber
supplies, is done only on going timber sales. There is no direct
expenditure for it. It is proposed to extend this work to areas
outside of the immediate timber-sale operations throughout the
20-year period. This would require an annual expenditure of at
least $1,000,000.
The total planting program for the existing national forests is
2,100,000 acres, scheduled for the 20-year period. This will require
an increase of $840,000 over present annual expenditures.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1621
GRAZING MANAGEMENT
Intensification of grazing management is needed to provide ade-
quate protection of forage and watershed values, and to obtain
maximum returns from proper grazing use of the forage resource.
The work will be a continuing management job, and the estimated
needed increase over present annual expenditure is $50,000. It may
be found that additional increases will be needed in the future.
Additional improvements, such as fences, watering places, count-
ing corrals, etc., needed to facilitate and improve the administration
and use of the forage resources, are a necessity in developing and
protecting forage and water-shed values. For this reason the work
and expenditures should be concentrated in the first 10-year period.
The increased annual expenditure needed is estimated at $180,000.
About 100,000 acres of valuable range lands are estimated to be
badly infested with poisonous plants, which limit the use of such
areas and cause excessive losses of domestic livestock. There is, of
course, urgent need that this menace to livestock be removed at the
earliest opportunity, and the eradication work is therefore programmed
for the first 10-year period. Thereafter current follow-up will be
needed to protect the investment and maintain the value of the
improved ranges. It is estimated that increased annual expenditures
for this project should begin at about $50,000 and increase progres-
sively in the 10 years to about $500,000.^
Control of range-destroying rodents is also an important factor
in restoring the productivity of large areas of rodent-infested range
lands on the western national forests. The work, which is carried
on in cooperation with the Biological Survey, should be prosecuted
aggressively, to prevent reinfestation of areas already treated and to
provide adequate control on all areas.
The bulk of the work is programmed for the first 10-year period,
and for this purpose increased annual expenditures are needed.
Increases should begin at about $50,000 and advance progressively
to $68,000. The work is important not only to the Federal Govern-
ment but to users of national-forest range.
Serious erosion is resulting from the depletion of vegetative cover
on some 810,000 acres of national-forest range land and immediate
control is needed. Artificial reseeding will hasten the restoration of
vegetative cover and aid in watershed protection. Reseeding of
this area is planned for the next 20 years, at an estimated annual
expenditure of $125,000.
RECREATION
It is estimated that the rapid increase in the recreational use of the
national forests involves an increased annual expenditure of $100,000
adequately to handle the supervision of this activity.
Adequate sanitation and other facilities for use of recreational
areas are essential to public health and to other benefits to be derived
from recreational use of the forest. Construction of needed recrea-
tional improvements is regarded as sufficiently urgent to be pro-
grammed for the first 5-year period, at an estimated increase in annual
expenditures of $450,000.
The expansion and intensification of wild-life management work
needed to provide for the best use and development of the wild-life
1622
A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
resources of the national forests will necessarily be of a continuing
character. The estimated needed increase in annual expenditures
for this purpose is $153,000.
Legislation needed to establish and protect the recreational re-
sources of the national forests includes :
(1) Legal recognition of recreation as a national forest resource
to be developed.
(2) Authorization for the development and regulation of camp-
site areas.
(3) Amendment to present legislation to allow granting of term
permits for areas up to 80 acres. The present limitation is 5 acres.
All of the legislation concerning recreation needs is embodied in a
bill (H.R. 58) introduced in the House of Representatives March 9,
1933, and now pending before the Seventy-third Congress.
LANDS
Expansion of the present organization is needed to handle ade-
quately the proposed program for acquisition of forest land, and for
management of commercial national forest land uses. The work will
be continuing in character. The needed increases over present annual
expenditures is estimated at $64,000.
MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS
Construction of additional forest-development roads and trails,
such parts of the forest highway program as are chargeable to the
development of the national forests, telephone lines, structures,
pastures, and other improvements are all needed for adequate national
forest administration and management.
Road and trail construction and forest highways chargeable to the
national forests are programmed for 10 years, at an estimated increased
annual expenditure of $4,840,000. Other improvements are pro-
grammed for 5 years, and are estimated to require an increased
annual expenditure of $300,000.
ESTIMATED AVERAGE ANNUAL EXPENDITURES NEEDED
Expenditures for the fiscal year 1933 will amount to approximately
$7,384,275 for the current management of the national-forest proper-
ties, and $12,036,689 for capital investments. The program of
administration and management for existing national forests proposed
in the preceding paragraphs on a 20-year basis will require estimated
average annual expenditures by 5-year periods as shown in table 5.
TABLE 5. — Estimated average annual expenditures for administration and manage-
ment
Period
Current
maintenance
Capital ex-
penditures !
Total cost
First 5-year period 2 .._ .
$8, 272, 000
$17, 250. 000
$25, 522, 000
Second 5-year period
8,581,000
14, 280, 000
22, 861, 000
Third 5-year period
8, 691, 000
3 4, 465, 000
13, 156,000
Fourth 5-year period --- - -
8, 691, 000
4, 465, 000
13, 156, 000
1 Capital investment includes $3,300,000 forest highway considered as a direct charge to the national
forests.
2 The decrease in capital expenditures after the second 5-year period is due to the fact that most of the large
construction and betterment projects are scheduled during the first 10-year period.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1623
Estimated expenditures needed for the first 10-year period of the
program are shown in table 6. Many of the major increased expendi-
tures for capital investments, as far as can now be foreseen, should be
completed during this period, some as early as the fifth year. A
few of the additional expenditures increase progressively during the
first 5-or 10-year period. Therefore the table is arranged to show the
estimated expenditures for each year of the first 5-year period, and
the estimated average annual expenditures for the second 5-year
period, segregated as to current and capital expenditures. The esti-
mated division of fiscal year 1933 appropriations by current and capital
expenditures for administration and management are carried through
the 10-year period as lump sums, since it is assumed that these appro-
priations will be continuing. Needed additional expenditures are
segregated by the activities to which they contribute.
168342°— 33— vol. 2 37
1624
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
•s,
1
I I
»o !
8
8
4« H
si
8
8
I 8
J|ffi| g^
li^S-gg Ss
llll!
w M n 0^4 H *% w«rt w w H —
'tc3nSo3 O>aJ«2>-<*JrC3'Ci'3»3j3
"Of>S,wa'£Sp'"c'':d"^2"tJ''^aW>>-SSc3jg-i2'^
'o.t)Ci2S-"®S^^fl"rt03'oO"£"o3yfl5^3ooS^O "*
.®pMh2S5fi-gQMPH-SMtfPHtf<1£-H5?:'|gfefeS h -g
Sfi e o « ^3
IliK
! o b b a
\ a c a 2
U.-H .rH -— C3
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1625
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF AREAS PROPOSED
EXTENSION OF THE NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM
FOR
This program assumes that administration and management of
acquired lands will begin as soon as the Federal Government assumes
ownership. Table 7 shows the estimated average annual expendi-
tures for administration and management of the 107,100,000 acres
proposed for acquisition east of the plains, and of the 27,100,000 acres
in the West, and areas recommended for addition to the national
forests from the public domain. The estimated annual expenditure
for the above addition from the public domain is $1,038,000, and this
figure is included in table 7, which is arranged in four 5-year periods
covering the total 20-year program.
A progressive percentage increase is assumed for capital expendi-
tures, beginning at 1 percent in the East for the first year and increas-
ing to 8 percent for the fifth and sixth years. Thereafter the capital
expenditures are figured at 10 percent until the total of annual ex-
penditures reach 100 percent in the thirteenth year. Thereafter,
beginning with the sixteenth year an annual allowance is made for
replacement, maintenance, and emergencies.
In the West it is assumed that 5 percent of the total capital expendi-
tures will be made the first year, will increase to 25 percent the fifth
year, and will be about 10, 10, and 5 percent, respectively, the sixth,
seventh, and eighth years. Beginning with the tenth year, an annual
allowance of $500,000 is made for replacement, maintenance, and
emergencies.
TABLE 7. — Estimated average annual expenditures for administration and manage-
ment of proposed additions 1 to national-forest system
Region
First 5-year period
Second 5-year period
Third 5-year period
Fourth 5-year period
Current
expendi-
tures 2
Capital
expendi-
tures 3
Current
expendi-
tures
Capital
expendi-
tures
Current
expendi-
tures
Capital
expendi-
tures
Current
expendi-
tures
Capital
expendi-
tures
East. .
$2, 506, 140
1, 444, 500
$9, 424, 800
4, 065, 000
$6, 683, 040
2, 122, 000
$20, 563, 200
1, 355, 000
$9, 253, 440
2, 799, 500
$12, 852, 000
500,000
$10, 752, 840
3, 477, 000
$2, 000, 000
500,000
West
Total ._
3, 950, 640
13, 489, 800
8, 805, 040
21, 918, 200
12, 052, 940
13, 352, 000
14, 229, 840
2, 500, 000
1 Total acquisition program for East, 107,100,000 acres, or 5,355,000 acres per year; total acquisition program
for West, 27,100,000, or 1,355,000 acres per year and about 22,179,000 acres of additions from public domain.
2 Protection for East figured at 5 cents per acre and for double area actually acquired for first 10 years.
For West protection figured at 5 cents per acre. Administration for East figured at 5.6 cents per acre and
for West at 5 cents per acre for all areas exclusive of public domain.
3 Total capital investment for eastern acquisition computed at $2 per acre and for West at $1 per acre.
Under the proposed program current expenditures will progres-
sively increase as the acquisition program proceeds. Capital ex-
penditures, however, increase rapidly during the first 10 years, and
then decline rapidly to an allowance for maintenance and replace-
ment. Table 8 is arranged to show the estimated annual expendi-
ture for each year of the first 5-year period and the average annual
expenditure for the second 5-year period. The expenditures are
divided by areas east of the Plains and the West.
Current expenditures are separated into those for (1) protection,
and (2) administration and management. Capital expenditures can-
not be satisfactorily divided and are therefore included as a lump
sum.
1626
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
This table also includes a summary of expenditures which brings
together in total amounts for a 10-year period the estimates for ad-
ministration and management for existing national forests and the
areas proposed for acquisition, including additions from the public
domain.
TABLE 8. — Estimated expenditures for administration and management of area
proposed for acquisition and extension of the National Forest System 1
[First 10-year period]
Administration and manage-
ment
First year, 1935
Second year, 1936
Third year, 1937
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
East of Plains:
Capital expenditures
$2, 142, 000
$6, 426, 000
$8, 568, 000
Protection 2
$535, 500
299,880
$1, 071, 000
$1, 606, 500
899, 640
Administration 3
599, 760
Total for East .
835, 380
2, 142, 000
1, 670, 760
6, 426, 000
2, 506, 140
8, 568, 000
West of Plains:
Capital expenditures
1, 355, 000
2, 710, 000
4, 065, 000
67, 750
135, 500
135, 500
203, 250
Administration *
67, 750
203, 250
Total for West
135, 500
970, 880
1, 038, 000
1, 355, 000
3, 497, 000
271,000
1, 941, 760
1, 038, 000
2, 710, 000
9, 136, 000
406,500
2, 912, 640
1, 038, 000
4, 065, 000
12, 633, 000
Total, East and West...
Public-domain additions to
national forests, administra-
tion and management
United States, total
2, 008, 880
3, 497, 000
2, 979, 760
9, 136, 000 .
3, 950, 640
12, 633, 000
Administration and manage-
ment
Fourth year, 1938
Fifth year, 1939
Second 5-year period,
1940-44
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
East of Plains:
Capital expenditures
$12, 852, 000
$17, 136, 000
$20, 563, 200
Protection 2
$2, 142, 000
1 199,520
$2, 677, 500
1, 499, 400
$4, 284, 000
2, 399, 040
Total for East—
3, 341, 520
12, 852, 000
4, 176, 900
17,136,000
6, 683, 040
20, 563, 200
West of Plains:
Capital expenditures
5, 420, 000
6, 775, 000
1, 355, 000
Protection *
271 000
338, 750
542,000
542,000
Administration *
271,000
338, 750
Total for West
542,000
3, 883, 520
1,038,000
5, 420, 000
18, 272, 000
677,500
4, 854, 400
1, 038, 000
6, 775, 000
23,911,000
1, 084, 000
7, 767, 040
1, 038, 000
1, 355, 000
21,918,200
Total, East and West—
Public-domain additions to
national forests, administra-
tion and management
United States, total
4, 921, 520
18, 272, 000
5, 892, 400
23,911,000
8, 805, 040
21,918,200
1 Total purchase program for East, 107,100,000 acres, or 5,355,000 acres each year. Total purchase pro-
gram for West, 27,100,000 acres, or 1,355,000 acres each year. Additions from public domain, 22,179,000
acres.
3 Protect double the area acquired at 5 cents per acre for 10 years or until total area is under protection.
8 5.6 cents per acre.
* 5 cents per acre.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1627
Summary of estimated expenditures for administration and management of the
national forests
[First 10-year period]
Administration and manage-
ment
First year, 1935
Second year, 1936
Third year, 1937
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Existing national forests
$8, 146, 275
2, 008, 880
$17, 146, 689
3, 497, 000
$8, 191, 275
2, 979, 760
$17, 198, 689
9, 136, 000
$8, 266, 275
3, 950, 640
$17, 250, 689
12, 633, 000
Additions to national forests _.
Grand total
10, 155, 155
20, 643, 689
11,171,035
26, 334, 689
12,216,915
29, 883, 689
Administration and manage-
ment
Fourth year, 1938
Fifth year, 1939
Second 5-year period,
1940-44
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Existing national forests
$8, 341, 275
4, 921, 520
$17, 302, 689
18, 272, 000
$8, 416, 275
5, 892, 400
$17, 354, 689
23,911,000
$8, 581, 275
8, 805, 040
$14, 280, 689
21, 918, 200
Additions to national forests. .
Grand total
13, 262, 795
35, 574, 689
14, 308, 675
41, 265, 689
17, 386, 315
36, 199, 889
SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED FEDERAL EXPENDITURES
FIRST 10 YEARS
Table 9 contains a summary of the estimated expenditures for the
first 10 years of the Federal program, arranged by agencies, and
divided by the broad activities of aid, research, and administration, and
management. In a few cases where protection is the major function
of forest management " protection" has been used as a designation
rather than " administration and management." In some cases
other terms are used which will indicate the character of the activi-
ties. Under " Forest Service" a slightly more detailed breakdown
of activities has been made than for other agencies, due to a wider
range of forestry activities and to give a better understanding of the
purpose of the expenditures.
The table is divided into two 5-year periods. Estimated annual
expenditures are shown for each year of the first 5-year period, and
the average anual expenditure for the second 5-year period.
1628
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
TABLE 9. — Federal forestry program summary of estimates for each year for the first
5 years and average annual estimates for second 5-year period
[10-year period]
Agency and character of ex-
penditure
1935, first year
1936, second year
1937, third year
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Department of the Interior
Indian Service, management- -
National Park Service, protec-
tion
$695, 000
238,200
100,000
35,000
45,000
700,000
554 000
$573, 000
96,420
$695, 000
238,200
100,000
40,000
45,000
700,000
595,000
207,000
$573, 000
96,420
$695, 000
238,200
100,000
45,000
45,000
700,000
636,000
240,000
$573, 000
96,420
Department of Commerce
Bureau of Fisheries, manage-
ment and investigations
Department of Agriculture
Weather Bureau:
Research
Forest fire weather- warn-
Plant quarantine aid
Plant industry:
Aid
Research
174,000
186,000
100,000
245,000
55,000
Disease control on Federal
land
195,000
125,000
280,000
85,000
203,000
150,000
315,000
115,000
116,000
3, 298, 500
225,000
150,000
Extension service, aid (farm
Bureau of Entomology, re-
Biological Survey:
Rodent control on national
forests
116,000
2,680,500
200,000
50,000
100,000
2, 220, 000
116,000
2, 958, 500
212, 500
100,000
150,000
2, 815, 000
Forest Service:
Aid:
Fire protection
Insect control
Forest extension
200,000
3, 420, 000
Research
Acquisition
29, 464, 650
17, 146, 689
3, 497, 000
29, 464, 650
17, 198, 689
9, 136, 000
29, 464, 650
17, 250, 689
12, 633, 000
Management existing na-
tional forests . . .
8, 146, 275
2, 008, 880
8, 191, 275
2, 979, 760
8, 266, 275
3, 950, 640
Managementextensionna-
tional forest system
Total, Forest Serv-
ice
15, 405, 655
18, 648, 855
50, 108, 339
50, 777, 759
17, 407, 035
20, 828, 235
55, 799, 339
56, 468, 759
19, 510, 415
23, 108, 615
59, 348, 339
60, 017, 759
Grand total, Federal
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
1629
TABLE 9. — Federal forestry program summary of estimated expenditure for each
year for the first 5 years and average annual estimates for second 5-year
period — Continued
[10-year period]
Agency and character of ex-
penditure
1938, fourth year
1939, fifth year
Annual average for
1940-44, second 5-year
period
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Current
Capital
Department of the Interior
Indian Service, management . _
National Park Service, protec-
tion .
$695, 000
238,200
100,000
50,000
45,000
700,000
677,000
$573, 000
96, 420
$695,000
238,200
100,000
50,000
45,000
700,000
719,000
274,000
220,000
200,000
350,000
150,000
116,000
3, 668, 500
250,000
250,000
300,000
$573, 000
96,420
$695, 000
313, 200
150,000
50,000
45,000
700,000
$65,000
10,000
Department of Commerce
Bureau of Fisheries, manage-
ment and investigations
Department of Agriculture
Weather Bureau:
Research
Forest fire weather warn-
ings. ._. .. .
Plant quarantine, aid
Plant industry:
Aid
Research
274,000
211,000
Disease control on Federal
land..
Extension service, aid (farm
forest extension)
175,000
350,000
150,000
116,000
3, 628, 500
237,500
245,000
350,000
150,000
92,000
3, 703, 500
287, 500
250,000
360,000
4, 597, 000
Bureau of Entomology, re-
search. _ _
Biological Survey:
Research. .
Rodent control on na-
tional forests ...
Forest Service:
Aid:
Fire protection
Forest planting
Insect control
200,000
250,000
3, 885, 000
Forest extension
Research
4, 250, 000
Acquisition
29, 464, 650
17,302,689
18, 272, 000
29, 464, 650
17, 354, 689
23,911,000
29, 464, 650
14, 280, 689
21, 918, 200
Management existing na-
tional forests
8, 341, 275
4, 921, 520
8, 416, 275
5, 892, 400
8, 581, 275
8, 805, 040
Managementextensionna-
tional forest system
Total, Forest Serv-
ice
21, 463, 795
25, 244, 995
65, 039, 339
65, 708, 759
23, 027, 175
26, 884, 375
70, 730, 339
71, 399, 759
26, 584, 315
29, 374, 515
65, 663, 539
65, 738, 539
Grand total, Federal.
The ^ estimates do not contain complete expenditure figures. In
minor instances the responsible agencies have not cared to make esti-
mates beyond a five-year period. In the main, however, it is believed
that the total amounts shown represent a reasonable estimate of ex-
pectancy for such a sizeable program.
SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED FEDERAL EXPENDITURES FOR 20 YEARS
Table 10 contains a summary of total Federal expenditures for the
Federal Forestry Program, arranged by agencies and activities in the
same manner as table 9.
The estimated expenditures are on the basis of annual averages for
four 5-year periods.
Explanations of preceding tables with regard to methods of com-
puting capital expenditures by periods, and allowances for replace-
ments apply to table 10.
The table does not include an estimate for construction of check
dams and bank protection works for control of runoff for which as
much as $20,000,000 may be needed. Further investigations are
necessary to obtain fully satisfactory estimates.
1630
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
000 rHO <0 10 00 00
iOO ^H^H Tf CS *O O ^
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1631
SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION NEEDED FOR THE FEDERAL PRO-
GRAM
NATIONAL FOREST LAND ACQUISITION
Authorization covering a period of not less than 10 years, with an
annual authorization of $30,000,000, made available until expended.
Stumpage purchases it is estimated would require $10,000,000 of the
above amount. It is suggested that a plan might be worked out for
the stumpage purchases, whereby the Federal Government would
purchase the stumpage but would defer payment for a period not to
exceed 20 years, until the stumpage is cut.
An act to permit exchanges of private lands within 6 miles of the
exterior boundaries of any existing national forest.
Legislative action providing for the addition to the national forests
of about 22 million acres of public domain lands.
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS
It might be advantageous in financing the management and ad-
ministration of the existing and proposed national forests if the
program received congressional sanction as a long-term authorization.
This plan should be given further consideration.
Legislation needed to establish and protect the recreational re-
sources of the national forests includes the following :
(1) Legal recognition of recreation as a national forest resource to
be developed.
(2) Authorization for the development and regulation of camp-site
areas.
(3) Amendment to present legislation to allow granting of term
permits for areas up to 80 acres. The present limitation is 5 acres.
All of the legislation concerning recreation needs is embodied in a
bill (H.R. 58) introduced in the House of Representatives March 9,
1933, and now pending before the Seventy-third Congress.
RESEARCH
Amendment of the McSweeney-McNary Act (45 Stat. 699) to
authorize erosion and stream-flow research and to authorize annual
appropriations of not less than $500,000. Such legislation has been
introduced in the House of Representatives, Seventy-second Congress
(H.R. 4608).
An amendment to the McSweeney-McNary Act (45 Stat. 699)
authorizing an increase in annual appropriations for the Forest Survey
up to $500,000, and up to $200,000 for keeping data current after the
completion of the initial survey.
Either as an amendment to the McSweeney-McNary Act or as a
part of general legislation, to provide for the forest-land phase of land
classification and including an annual authorization of not less than
$300,000 for this purpose.
Legislative authority for the establishment of a seed-testing and
certification station, and authorization for an annual appropriation
of not to exceed $50,000 for this purpose.
1632 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMEEICAN FORESTRY
AID TO STATES AND PRIVATE OWNERS
An amendment to section 4 of the Clarke-McNary Act (43 Stat.
653) to broaden the scope of the act so that its provisions for aid in
forest planting will benefit all landowners and to provide for increasing
from $100,000 to $350,000 the amount that may be appropriated
annually for this purpose.
An amendment to section 5 of the Clarke-McNary Act (43 Stat.
653) to broaden the scope of the act so that its provisions for forest
extension will benefit all landowners. It should also provide for in-
creasing from $100,000 to $400,000 the amount that may be appro-
priated annually for aid to the States in carrying on State extension
work, of which $150,000 should be made available to the Forest
Service for work with timber land owners other than farmers, and
also authorize an additional $225,000 for direct expenditure by the
Forest Service in forest extension work.
An amendment to the Clarke-McNary Act to provide for coopera-
tive financial aid to States and private owners in the control of insect
attacks upon State and private forests, and authorization for expendi-
ture of funds for the purpose to the extent of $250,000 annually.
Legislation is needed authorizing the Bureau of Plant Industry,
through its Blister Rust Division, to cooperate in the control of forest
diseases, other than the white pine blister rust disease.
INDIAN RESERVATION FOREST LANDS
Needed legislation for Indian reservation forest land should provide :
(1) For discontinuing the present practice of allotting forest and range
lands to individual Indians; (2) for the creation by law of Indian
forests on the several reservations having large areas of tribal land;
and (3) increased appropriations for all forestry work.
WILD LIFE CONSERVATION
Legislation authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secre-
tary of Commerce to provide expert assistance to Federal, State, and
other agencies in rearing, stocking, and increasing the supply of game
and fur-bearing animals and fish; in combating disease, and in devel-
oping a Nation-wide program of game conservation, and rehabilita-
tion, and to cooperate with such agencies to that end. Such legisla-
tion is embodied in "An act to promote the conservation of wild life,
fish and game, and other purposes" (S. 263, 72d Cong.), passed by
the Senate December 17, 1931.
Legislation providing for consideration of the effect of the construc-
tion of any public works or improvements upon the replacement and
conservation of wild life, embodied in a bill, S. 5813, Seventy-first
Congress, passed by the Senate January 26, 1931.
FINANCING THE PROGRAM
The expenditures needed to carry out the foregoing program fall
into two classes, which suggest and perhaps indicate different methods
of financing. Except for very small holdings such as farmer's wood-
lots, forestry involves the setting up of organized forest units, each
of which is a going business project in itself. As such it is run like
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1633
any other business, and is subject to the same general system of finance
and accounting. Disbursements are either current expenditures or
capital investment, depending on whether they are a part of carrying
on every-day productive business or are a means of increasing the
capital assets. For example, the costs of fire protection, of logging
and milling, of repairs and maintenance, are current expenditures.
The costs of planting vacant land, of a new road, of the purchase of
additional land, or of constructing a planing mill represent additions
to assets and as such are capital investments. Capital expenses add
to the value of the business, so that it will thereafter become more
productive and will eventually return the added investment with
interest and a profit. Current expenses are recovered out of current
income as a part of the cost of the goods sold. This leads to the uni-
versal business practice, once a project is organized and on a produc-
ing basis, of meeting current costs out of current income and of con-
sidering capital expenditures as investments to be met from surplus
set aside from profits or from borrowed money.
FINANCING OF CAPITAL EXPENDITURES
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
An analysis of the Federal Government's estimated part of the cost
of this program divided between average annual current and capital
expenditures for four 5-year periods, has been given in table 7.
There is no doubt of the soundness of the principle of financing
current expenses from Treasury income by annual appropriation of
funds. This has always been the practice in governmental business
as well as in corporation financing. The Government, however, has
generally also financed capital expenditures in the same manner,
without distinguishing them in any way either in appropriations or in
later accounting. This is, of course, good practice so long as the
funds to be raised are within the annual Treasury income. But when
strict adherence to this concept leads to the abandonment or curtail-
ing of desirable going projects, because of a slump in Treasury income ;
or when increased expenditures for investment in needed improve-
ment or facilities that beyond the immediate capacity of Treasury
income must be indefinitely delayed; then it is time to consider the
use of borrowed capital.
The Federal program involves the purchase of 134 million acres of
forest land in the next 20 years, the planting of a part of this land,
and the construction of roads and trails, fire-lookout towers, telephone
lines, houses and other improvements at an average annual capital
cost for the first 10 years of around 63 million dollars and for a second
10-year period of around 31 million dollars. Both the main financial
and intangible returns from this investment will accrue to a following
generation of Americans who will harvest the forest crop now being
started. The major money income from the investment will thus
commence to materialize in from 20 to 40 years after initiation and
will reach its maximum in from 50 to 80 years, depending upon the
section of the country involved.
This suggests that money might be borrowed for a term of years
corresponding to the average financial rotation of the forests, that is,
the period of growth up to the time when it is most profitable to cut
1634 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
the timber. This would provide a means of liquidating the principal
of the loan from current returns at the time of harvesting.
A financial plan for the capital needs of the Federal Government
might be worked out that would involve:
(1) Authorization to the Treasury to issue 30-year, 3-percent,
forest-development bonds in each of the next 10 years as called for
by the Secretary of Agriculture, and not exceed a specified amount
in any one year.
(2) Provision for the retirement of these bonds at an amortization
rate of 2 percent per annum which would redeem all the bonds during
the next 40 years.
(3) Payment of interest and amortization expense out of Treasury
receipts each year as a part of current expenses.
While financing by the issuance of bonds would, in the end, cost
somewhat more than it would by the annual appropriation on the
pay-as-you-go basis, the advantages are threefold: first, it would
allow the prompt initiation of the plan even though Treasury funds
might not at once be available ; second, it would guarantee and stabilize
the financing of the project in a manner highly desirable in a a long-
time plan; and third, it would place the greater part of the amortiza-
tion on the period of time during which the income from the invest-
ment would be greatest.
STATE GOVERNMENTS
The same general principles of public finance may be readily
applied to the porposed State forestry program. Although some
States with ample incomes have adopted the pay-as-you-go system,
it is recognized as a sound business principle to pay for current ex-
penditures from current income or treasury surpluses, and to finance
capital investments from borrowed money. However, the scope of
the forest problem varies from State to State, as well as the sources
of wealth, so that no general proposal can be made to meet conditions
in all States.
The capital investments of the forestry program include the acqui-
sition of State forests, and the permanent improvements thereon that
increase the value of the property and add to its productivity. Since
the acquisition and development of State forests is largely a self-
liquidating investment which will be of greatest benefit to future gen-
erations, it appears fair and logical to expect future generations to
help pay for them. For this reason it is suggested that capital invest-
ments might be made from borrowed capital; for instance, 30-year,
3-percent bonds with a 2-percent amortization rate.
The States have already explored and developed the field of financ-
ing by borrowing, and in most instances have determined the methods
best adapted to individual needs and to conditions of the existing
financial structure of the States.
From the previous tables it will be noted that for the first 10-year
period current expenses amount to approximately one third of the
total expenditures required, and that in no instance do current ex-
penses exceed an annual average of $300,000 for each of the 48 States.
Of course, the expenses will not be evenly divided, because the States
with the major forest problems will naturally carry a proportionately
large share of the expenditures. However, when it is considered that
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1635
the total expense in any one State may be divided among the many
units of State and local government, it becomes apparent that in many
instances current expenditures can be met from current treasury re-
sources with little difficulty. Federal aid — financial and through the
establishment of national forests — is expected to be greatest in those
States least able to finance their forestry program.
FINANCING CURRENT EXPENDITURES
As stated before the current expenditures involved in Federal,
State, and private operations will broadly include the annual disburse-
ments for protection, administration, cultural operations, surveys and
plans, forestry extension, and harvesting costs. Such disbursements
in private business practices are usually met either from current in-
come, from surplus in the event and to the extent that current income
is insufficient, or from working capital borrowed on short- time loans
anticipating current income.
In the case of governmental agencies, these expenditures are usually
met from appropriations of funds against actual or expected treasury
income. Deficiencies in income and sums needed prior to realization
of income are met from treasury surplus or by short-term borrowings
on warrants or on treasury certificates. There is no reason to question
the soundness of this method of financing and thus no occasion to
suggest any departures.
THE OFFSETS TO TREASURY DRAIN
FEDERAL FORESTS
The outlay required for the protection and management of the
national forests must for some years to come exceed the Treasury
income from this source. If it were possible, however, to express the
dollar value of forests in the form of conservation of water, soil,
recreational resources, forest ranges, and timber there would be no
such deficit.
Of the 140 million acres of land in the national forests of the con-
tinental United States alone, 75 million acres are covered by commer-
cial forest growth and of these only 7 or 8 million acres are so situated
as to be available for immediate intensive management involving full
realization of timber values. Sixty-five million acres of national-
forest land are above timber line, or are covered with noncommercial
brush, scrub growth, and open lands. This area is essential for the
maintenance of water and other services and values and requires and
justifies the expenditure of money to protect, but it holds no immedi-
ate promise of financial returns sufficient to meet expenses.
The commercial timber land area now inaccessible for use will grad-
ually come into intensive development as the demand for timber
increases, and in the meantime it must be given protection. All of
this means that the cost of managing the whole property will tem-
porarily exceed the immediate income from the relatively small area
that can produce high returns. The acquisition program set out here
provides for the addition of 90 billion feet board measure of com-
mercial timber in the next 10 years. With this addition, plus about
40 million acres of the 75 million acres of commercial timberland now
1636 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
in Federal ownership, for which demand can be expected to develop
within 20 years, the possibilities of financial return takes on an en-
tirely different aspect.
The average annual cost, chargeable to current expenses, of the
first 10 years of the Federal part of the program is around $26,000,000.
There is no question, of course, of the Treasury's ability to meet such
a relatively small expenditure annually by appropriation from in-
come. By the end of 20 years, if the program is carried out as
planned, an annual gross yield of $160,000,000 worth of marketable
products or services might be possible. This is not a forecast of
expected returns, but is rather a measure of the value, in place, of the
timber and other products that should be available for utilization
annually under the management and with the facilities provided for.
Just what part of this annual production can be converted into
fiscal receipts it is impossible to forecast 20 years in advance. The
studies of forest growth and of trends in requirements point con-
vincingly to a total production by the end of 20 years of less than our
needs, and it appears not unreasonable to anticipate a market for most,
if not all, of what can be produced on the national forests.
The national forests of the future as balanced by the addition of
commercial forest areas to present areas, and as improved and made
marketable by the facilities and cultural operations planned, should
ultimately pay their way and more.
STATE FORESTS
For the State, as for the Federal Government, if it were possible to
determine the actual money value of forests in the conservation of
water, soil, wild life, and recreational resources, these services alone
would justify their investment. There are, in addition, many sources
of direct income from State and private forests, which contribute to
the public treasury to offset the drain of initiating their establishment
and development.
As timber crops mature under adequate protection and proper
silvicultural management, a very considerable income may be expected
from the sale of timber products. The returns will vary according
to the character of the forest; certain areas of low productivity
required for watershed protection may return no income, whereas
other areas of high productivity may yield net returns of several
dollars per acre per year. After the initial period of their establish-
ment and development, State forests may be expected to return
many times the amount of their current carrying charges.
OTHER SOURCES OF TREASURY INCOME
FROM NATIONAL FORESTS
As a means of financing immediate expenditures, there are other
possible sources of Treasury income that should be considered. Upon
the principle that the chief beneficiaries of the management proposed
should bear a share of the cost roughly commensurate with the
special benefits enjoyed, one must take into account the industries
and communities that use water on a large scale, such as hydro-
electric power companies and municipal water users, as well as those
engaging in traffic on the navigable rivers and inland waterways.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1637
All of these benefit greatly and uniquely from the water-conservation
and flood-control effects of managed forests — especially those on
drainages of major interstate streams.
In 1931 the production of electricity from water power was 30,603,-
000,000 kilowatt-hours, about a third of the total electric current
produced from all sources. The gross sales value of the current at
an average of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour is roughly estimated at $600,-
000,000 per annum. An excise tax of 2 percent on gross sales would
produce now around $12,000,000 annually. Probably with complete
development of the water power resources of the whole country the
installed capacity would amount to 80 million horsepower or more.
This is more than five times the present developed horsepower and
indicates the possibilities of this source of tax income.
Our urban population is, according to the last census, about 69
million. It is estimated that cities and towns consume 1,800 billion
gallons of water for domestic and industrial uses annually. The
greater part of this water is taken from streams and the quantity
and purity of the supply depends largely on the maintenance of forest
cover on the watersheds. It is difficult to appraise the money value
of this service of forests but the magnitude of the possibilities of
income will be realized when so small a rate as 1 cent per thousand
gallons would produce $18,000,000 annually.
The commerce carried on the principal rivers and fresh-water
canals of the United States in 1929, not including commerce on the
Great Lakes, aggregated 130 million tons of freight. The probable
increase in this freight traffic may lead to as great an annual business
as 500 million tons by the end of 20 years. The development of
water-borne commerce on our inland streams depends in large part
on the control of run-off at headwaters and upon checking the silting
up of channels caused by erosion of watersheds. In both of these
cases forests play an important part, and it does not seem illogical
to charge this business with a share of the cost of forestry.
It is apparent that in dealing with charges or taxes on water-power
development, or water used for domestic or industrial purposes in
cities and towns, and on water-borne traffic, there are legal, consti-
tutional, and economic questions to be solved which are beyond
anything attempted in this report. Nevertheless these are special
beneficiaries of forestry and the field is of such magnitude as a source
of Treasury income that it is worthy of consideration.
One of the possibilities for increasing Treasury income from Fed-
eral forests lies in licensing the large and rapidly growing recreational
use. In 1931, 32 million persons from all parts of the United States
visited the national forests. Some of these undoubtedly were entirely
transient travelers, many of whom were probably counted more than
once. Millions of persons, however, spent one or more days in the
national forests in camping and hunting or fishing. At present there
is no charge of any kind for this use of the forests, although the
Forest Service has for years had to use an appreciable part of its
funds to employ personnel and maintain facilities to care for this
traffic. In addition it has been necessary to increase fire protection
to meet the materially augmented fire hazard introduced. A hunt-
ing, fishing, and camping permit or license costing $2 per person per
season would work no hardship on individuals and should bring in an
additional income of many millions of dollars.
1638 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY
FROM STATE FORESTS
Upon the principle that those who use the forest and who benefit
directly from it should help to defray its expenses, game and recrea-
tional facilities become possible sources of forest income for the
States also. The States now derive considerable revenue from the
sale of hunting and fishing licenses; it appears not illogical to suggest
that part of these funds should be devoted to the maintenance of the
forest cover upon which wild life depends to a large measure for food
and shelter. Nominal charges for the recreational use of State forests
is already recognized in some States as a legitimate source of income.
The development of hydroelectric power, of most potable water
supplies, and of commercial water navigation, is dependent in a
large measure upon the regulation of stream flow from forested water-
sheds. Therefore, it would appear equitable to help pay the costs
of forest protection and administration by some system of water
taxation.
The expenditure of public funds for forestry, particularly through
State aid to private owners, contributes directly to increased State
income. As private forest lands are kept productive, and as profit-
able forest industries are maintained, the entire tax base is widened
and the income from taxation is increased. By the establishment of
State or other public forests in backward regions, with the abandon-
ment of decadent communities and costly public improvements no
longer necessary in those regions, large savings of public funds may
be made. These savings may contribute very greatly to the accom-
plishment of the State forestry program.
APPENDIX
168342° — 33 — vol. 2 38 1639
APPENDIX
FOREST CONDITIONS AND FOREST PROBLEMS IN ALASKA
AND PUERTO RICO
ALASKA
B. F. HEINTZLEMAN, Assistant Regional Forester, Alaska Region
The forests of Alaska which will contribute to the general timber
supply of the Nation are confined to a narrow mainland strip and
islands adjacent, extending for 800 miles from the British Columbia
boundary northwest to the entrance of Cook Inlet. The forest type
is an extension of that found on the coast of Oregon, Washington,
and British Columbia, and consists of heavy dense stands of conifers,
principally western hemlock and Sitka spruce with some intermixed
western red cedar and Alaska cedar. This type is known as the " coast
forest." Its presence on the relatively small section of Alaska men-
tioned above is due to the warm Japan current which reaches this
shore line and serves to moderate the temperature and provide a
heavy precipitation.
The total area of commercial timberland in the coast-forest type is
somewhat more than 6 million acres. Practically all of this is owned
by the Federal Government, with more than 98 per cent in national
forests and most of the remainder open public domain. The amount
of privately owned timberland in Alaska, both in the coast forest and
other forest types, is negligible.
Aside from this coast-forest area Alaska has the vegetative cover
types common to the whole extreme northern portio of the American
continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Arctic Ocean drain-
age areas and the littoral of Bering Sea for a width of 100 to 150 miles
are almost wholly treeless, the covering being tundra. The Alaska
Peninsula and its extension, the Aleutian Island Chain, are grass-
covered. The remainder, which constitutes the major portion of the
Territory, is covered with a patchlike arrangement of types embracing
coarse grass, brush, tundra, and peat moss, all of which may have
some stunted black spruce of pole size; scattered limby trees of white
spruce, white birch and cotton wood with intermixed brush; and dense
stands of small slow-growing trees of the above species. The last
two types, which are the true forest types, constitute the "interior
forest."
The interior forest is a highly important factor in the upbuilding
and maintenance of populous and prosperous communities throughout
vast sections of the Territory, but it will not be drawn on to supply
any material amount of products for the general markets of the United
States.
1641
1642 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
No field surveys have been made to determine the extent of the
interior forest but information from many sources indicates that it
covers in the aggregate perhaps 100 million acres, of which as much as
40 million acres is in dense (closed) stands with trees of good timber
form though of very small size. The interior forest has suffered
severely from forest fires since the coming of the white man, the orig-
inal area of dense forest being materially greater than at present.
Practically all of these interior-forest lands, as well as the nonforested
lands, are open public domain of the Unite States.
THE COAST FOREST
The 6 million acres of western hemlock-Sitka spruce forests on the
southern coast of Alaska contain around 80 billion board feet in
stands having trees predominantly of sawtimber size and 8 million
cords in stands classified as cord wood. The average stand per acre
is around 16,000 board feet, and the trees average about 2 feet in
diameter and 80 to 100 feet in height. The timber is thus not so
heavy as that of the corresponding forest type in Oregon and Wash-
ington, and in addition it contains a higher percentage of defect, as
well as less clear stock. The Alaska timber is readily accessible, since
it is confined to the lower slopes and adjoins a greatly indented shore-
line and a net work of sheltered waterways.
The virgin timber of this region is virtually still intact. Fire has
done little damage owing to a heavy precipitation well distributed
throughout the year and utilization has been but a small fraction of
the possible sustained output under forest management. The present
rate of cutting is less than 50 million board feet yearly and the total
amount removed since 1900 is about one billion board feet; but studies
of the tree growth indicate that fully one billion board feet could be
cut yearly without depleting the future supply.
The present output of the forest is used almost exclusively to supply
local needs with the leading industries, fishing and mining, accounting
for most of it. Efficient modern sawmills producing a great variety of
products are within reach but only the highest grades of lumber can
economically be sent into the general markets outside the Territory
and these constitute a small percentage of the mill output.
The development of an extensive sawmill industry in these Alaska
forests is considered inadvisable in view of the better opportunities
for lumber production in the forests of Oregon and Washington, with
which it would have to compete, ^ and because of the outstanding
chances for paper production, especially newsprint, in Alaska. Local
lumber production should properly be gauged to the local lumber
demand, and only the high grade lumber not salable locally going to
the general markets of the United States. This excess for the
general markets would approximately balance shipments of special
lumber orders going into Alaska, and the Territorial production or
consumption would therefore affect very little the general lumber
situation of the United States.
The Forest Service, administering over 98 percent of the timber
volume of the coast forest of Alaska as a resource of the Tongass and
Chugach National Forests, is committed to the policy of managing
this forest land for the production of pulp and paper, since conditions
are more favorable to such use than any other. The natural advan-
A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 1643
tages for pulp and paper making appear sufficient to allow of success-
ful competition with other large pulp and paper manufacturing
localities in the United States and foreign countries.
The Forest Service will manage these pulpwood forests under an
adequate system of sustained yield and also limit the development of
the local pulp and paper industry to a total woodusing capacity that
can be supplied indefinitely through the growth. Studies made to
date indicate a forest rotation period of 90 years with an output of
wood within the first rotation period sufficient to produce 1 million
tons of newsprint paper yearly. The second and subsequent periods
should have a materially higher output as the new forests grown
under management should be heavier in volume per acre than the
E resent virgin forest with its extensive overmature and somewhat
roken stands.
The average yearly consumption of newsprint in the past five
years in the United States has been 3,500,000 tons, of which 2,180,000
tons, or 62 percent, was produced in Canada and other foreign
countries. With a possible sustained output of 1,000,000 tons
Alaska can be a material factor both in contributing to the total
available supply for the United States and in increasing the percent-
age of the country's requirements which is produced on home soil.
The pulp and paper industry has not yet been established in Alaska.
THE INTERIOR FOREST
The timber on the dense forest areas of the interior consists of a
mixed stand of any two or all of the three species, white spruce, white
birch and cottonwood. Most of the trees are less than 12 inches in
diameter and the average is not over 8 inches. White spruce fre-
quently reaches a diameter of 18 to 24 inches, which is sufficiently
large for sawlogs, but as these larger trees occur as individuals
scattered throughout the smaller timber and as the principal forest
products are and will continue to be material in the round and in
corewood form, the volume of standing timber is best expressed in
cords. The average stand per acre is estimated as 10 cords, giving a
total volume of 400 million cords for the estimated area, 40 million
acres. No satisfactory estimate can be made of the usable material
available in the very extensive type consisting of scattered trees and
brush and the total volume of the interior forest should be considered
as that given above for the dense stands.
Timber cutting has been confined to supplying material for local
purposes and while the aggregate so far removed from the forest has
been large it is a negligible percentage of the total available. At
the same time, fires and heavy cutting around some of the settle-
ments have about exhausted the supply of readily accessible material
at those places.
The per capita consumption of timber in interior Alaska is very
high even for a frontier country as practically all activities are heavy
wood users. One of the principal uses is for fuel during the long and
intensely cold winters. Wood-burning river steamers t and mining
operations also make unusually heavy demands. Sawmill utilization
is small with one plant at Fairbanks cutting 25,000 board feet daily
during the summer season and three other commercial plants of much
smaller size operating intermittently. Many small portable mills are
1644 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
operated by mining companies at intervals to produce sawn material
for their individual use.
The use of the timber resources in material quantities began about
1900 when the discovery of rich gold placers started an influx of
miners, totaling tens of thousands, to interior Alaska. By 1910 the
gold rush period was past and a large percentage of the miners had
left the country. The permanent population has grown very slowly
in the past 22 years and within the sections where the interior forest
exists is now about 18,000. Consequently, the yearly consumption
of wood has not been increasing materially and may even have de-
creased in the past 10 years or since the construction of the Alaska
Kailroad, which has made the local coal available to the more populous
communities.
The possibilities for future general development in interior Alaska
are based on metal mining, coal mining^ reindeer grazing, fur trap-
ping, fur farming, big game hunting, tourists, and agriculture. Esti-
mates of available lands satisfactory for agriculture run as high as
42 million acres, but farming is likely to be confined to supplying
Alaska markets and its growth would thus be dependent on the
expansion of the other activities named above. The settlement of
this region may proceed quite slowly because of its isolation, but it
is only reasonable to expect that eventually interior Alaska will have
a population and an industrial development more nearly commen-
surate with its available resources. Norway, Sweden, and sections
of other countries in the same latitude as Alaska support fairly
dense populations.
Very little timber from the interior forest will be used for products
going into the general markets of the United States or foreign coun-
tries, but local activities will need increasingly large quantities and
these forests are of inestimable value for supplying such requirements.
With a light stand per acre and very slow rate of growth the perpetu-
ation of the existing forests on all lands not needed for other purposes
is essential in order to have the required timber supplies available.
Another highly important value of the forest lies in the cover
afforded and the direct and indirect food supplies provided for game
and fur-bearing animals. The timber and woodland areas of Alaska
contain important resources in game birds and animals, in fur bearers,
and in forage resources for reindeer and caribou. The areas suitable
to reindeer have been thoroughly investigated by the officers of the
Biological Survey resident in Alaska. The Survey acts in an advisory
capacity to the Governor of Alaska, who has the responsibility for
the general management of the reindeer resources. Birds and game,
including grouse, ptarmigan, waterfowl, moose, deer, caribou, moun-
tain sheep, bears, and rabbits, are of extreme importance as a source
of food for pioneers and prospectors. The annual output of fur from
Alaska, valued at more than $4,000,000 in 1928 and 1929, but mate-
tially less in 1930 and 1931, constitutes the chief source of revenue
for the scattered population over many parts of the interior. Con-
tinued trapping has reduced the number of the fur bearers — otter,
mink, marten, weasel, fox, lynx, muskrats, and beavers — to the point
where it has been necessary to adopt vigorous protective measures.
The Alaska Game Commission has been organized for the purpose
and restrictive regulations adopted. It is generally recognized, how-
ever, that forest fires by destroying the shelter and food for these fur
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1645
bearers, as well as for birds and^game, and by killing them outright,
do tremendous damage to this important resource. Similarly graz-
ing values are affected adversely. Biologists tell us that it takes
many years to again grow the lichens or reindeer moss, so important
to the reindeer industry as well as big game, after it has been burned.
The interior forest has a high fire risk and losses have been heavy.
The annual precipitation is less than 16 inches and the forest becomes
very dry during the short warm summer of almost continuous day-
light. All fires are man made. Lightning is not a menace. An
estimate of the area burned and the damage done can be little more
than a guess as no field studies have ever been made, but according
to the general observations of those who know the country, enormous
areas of both forest and tundra have been burned over in the past
30 years and the yearly losses are still very heavy.
From the early gold-rush days the great majority of the local
inhabitants has been at best apathetic regarding fire but the last 5
years have been a small but growing sentiment in favor of protection,
owing in large part to a greater appreciation of fire damage to such
natural resources as big game, fur bearers, reindeer forage, and game
birds, and to a realization of the extra cost and inconvenience experi-
enced when a local supply of timber for settlement and industry has
been wiped out. The dissatisfaction of tourists over the screening
of the scenery with a heavy pall of smoke has also been a factor. A
campaign of educational work could likely extend and strengthen
this sentiment very easily. Owing to the small population almost
every local inhabitant could be reached in person.
The interior forest has practically no fire protection.. The General
Land Office of the Department of the Interior spends a few thousand
dollars yearly on suppression and the Government-owned Alaska
Railroad gives attention to prevention and suppression of fire on
its right of way but further than this nothing is done by the Federal
Government, Territory, or other public agency, or by private corpora-
tions. There are no organized detection and suppression forces, no
intensive and systematic educational work is being done, and no
survey is made of fire losses.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The great bulk of the timber of the coast forest is included in the
national forest system and is so administered as to keep the lands
continuously productive and provide a sustained yearly output of
timber products. The only changes which need to be made are those
common to all national forests.
A satisfactory fire prevention, detection, and suppression organiza-
tion is needed on the interior forest and tundra lands. This should
be established by the Federal Government, as the owner of the public
domain, which includes virtually all the land of the region. The
protective organization could be small in comparison with the area
to be covered due to a scant population and the fact that all fires are
man made. Good cooperation at little expense could be furnished
by representatives of various branches of the Federal Government
who are stationed at many places throughout the region.
As a basis for establishing a fire-protection system an extended field
study should be made of the problem. This should cover such fea-
tures as: (1) The extent and value of forest and tundra resources in
1646 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
relation to present and future local needs; (2) damage by fire, past
and present, on forest and tundra lands; (3) localities in which fire
protective measures are justified; (4) kind, size, and cost of the pro-
tection organization needed.
This reconnaissance survey of interior Alaska, necessary as a
preliminary to establishing organized fire protection in this territory,
would be made largely by airplane, and would require about 3 years.
The survey and the fire-preventive organization are estimated to cost
$50,000 a year.
Fire protection is the only important forestry measure for the
interior forest which appears to be justifiable at this time. It is
doubtful if any system of intensive forest management will be justifi-
able in view of the slow growth and small size of the trees and the
restricted markets for a long time to come.
PUERTO RICO
By R. M. EVANS, Assistant Regional Forester Eastern Region
Puerto Rico is very sparsely wooded. The impenetrable forest
jungles, commonly associated with the West Indies, are so scarce that
one may cross and recross the island without seeing them, for, with
the exception of those in the Sierra de Luquillo, they are tucked away
in the more inaccessible places into which few except the "jibaro"
ever penetrate. The island is, however, by no means devoid of wood
growth. Around almost every habitation there are groups of trees,
and numerous scattered trees dot the open landscape. The protective
cover of shade trees of the coffee plantations gives a decidedly forested
appearance to many localities.
Puerto Rico presents an unusual combination of physical and
economic conditions. The insular and geographic position of the
country, its small size, its restricted area of level lands, and its density
of population, to mention but a few of many influences, have occa-
sioned unusual demands on the forests. The same cycle of change is
found here as is recorded by civilization everywhere — a profligate
waste and despoliation of the bounties of nature, followed by an acute
need for what has been destroyed.
Puerto Rico is the eastermost and smallest of the Greater Antilles.
It is approximately 100 miles long and 35 miles wide and is remarkably
rectangular in outline. Its area is approximately 3,435 square miles,
or 2,200,000 acres. Puerto Rico and the other islands of the Antilles
and Central America and northern South America were formerly,
according to geologists, a united and distinct continental land mass —
the Antillean Continent.
Puerto Rico embraces three main physiographic regions — a central
mountainous core of volcanic origin, an elevated area of coral lime-
stone surrounding the mountainous portion, and the coastal plain.
The central mountainous area occupies by far the largest portion of
the island; it is also the most important from the standpoint of the
island's forests. Viewed from the sea, it presents a rugged and ser-
rated aspect; numerous peaks and summits, with no definite crest line,
rise from a general mass, which has been cut by erosion into lateral
ridges, separated by deep, steep-sided gorges.
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1647
The Sierra de Luquillo, the most easterly of the three ranges making
up the central mountains, is nearly surrounded by low coastal plains
and is practically isolated. The remaining mountain mass forms an
uninterrupted expanse of broken uplands. The eastward portion is
known as the Sierra de Cayey ; that to the west, the Cordillera Central.
This region has an average elevation of about 2,500 feet, above which
the higher peaks project irregularly, a few to an elevation of more than
3,500 feet.
As a result of the almost uninterrupted action of abundant precipi-
tation, a high relative humidity, and a warm temperature, rock
weathering at the higher elevations is more rapid than erosion, as
shown by a soil mantle of unusual depth and almost no bare rock.
The characteristic soils are deep, reddish clay loams and tenacious
red clays. So cohesive, unctuous, and compact are these soils that
they are able to maintain themselves in an almost vertical position.
Cultivation, in consequence, is in many places carried on to the very
tops of the ridges and on the steepest slopes, yet evidence of gullying
and landslides in the high country is surprisingly inconspicuous.
Sheet erosion, which removes the top layers of the soil, is common,
but ordinarily escapes notice.
There can be little doubt that at one time Puerto Kico was com-
pletely forested. Following the Spanish settlement, early in the six-
teenth century, land passed rapidly into the hands of private owners.
Final clearings, severe burning, and the previous cutting of the more
desirable timber trees, all in preparation for the planting of coffee,
tobacco, cane, or other crops, continuing over a long period of time,
has resulted in the present naked state of the island 's hills and valleys.
The valleys and other topographically suited and fertile areas have
been justly devoted to tillage or coffee growing; but there remain
today approximately 1,100,000 acres of forest, brush, swamp, and
barren lands of which but an insignificant part contains forest growth
of economic value. According to statistics of the Department of
Agriculture and Labor of Puerto Rico, the land area of the island is
classified approximately as follows :
Acres
Percent
Cultivated land
550, 000
25
Pasture or grass land --- ..
550,000
25
Forest, brush, or waste land -- -
1, 100, 000
50
Total
2, 200, 000
100
The "conuco" system of farming, a shifting method of agriculture
employed by primitive people throughout the tropics, is responsible for
much of Puerto Rico's deplorable forest condition. Years of cutting,
burning, and clearing succeeded by the planting of some small food
crop, continuously cultivated until the surface soil is worn out
(usually in 3 to 4 seasons), followed by complete abandonment of
the plot to grass, weeds, and other volunteer growth, is the cycle of
operations which has caused the present barren and exposed state of
thousands of acres. Charcoaling, an adjunct of " conuco" farming,
is a further factor contributing to the deforested condition of the land.
Of the once unbroken tropical forest there now remain only isolated
remnants scattered over the island in its most mountainous parts.
1648 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY
The best known of these, and the largest as well, covers about 12,000
acres of the Luquillo Range and is now under Federal management.
The aggregate of all the other remnants is believed to be well within
5,000 acres, making the total area of original forest less than 1 percent
of the total land area. The Insular Forest Service estimates that
Puerto Rico has not more than one eighth of its area in growing
forests of any kind, including the areas under coffee culture.
Of the 1,100,000 acres in the third classification above, there are
about 400,000 acres which have been assessed as " timber and brush
lands" and a few thousand acres more classed as swamps and largely
under mangrove. Of the " timber and brush" areas, the bulk are
found in the southern, southeastern, and southwestern parts of the
island. Insular authorities estimate that altogether 400,000 to
450,000 acres are unsuited to profitable agricultural use and should
be kept perpetually in forest.
About 95 percent of the land area is in private ownership. Of the
less than 130,000 acres remaining in public ownership, by far the
greater part lies in the mountains. Federally owned lands within the
Luquillo National Forest amount to 13,885 acres. Insular forests
account for about 40,000 acres, of which 25,000 acres are in the
uplands and 15,000 acres in mangrove swamps. Thus, less than
54,000 acres of the public lands are under definite control and
management.
Forests make their presence felt^ through their influence on climate,
on stream flow, and on soil erosion. In a country as abundantly
watered as Puerto Rico whether the forests cause slightly more rain
in the aggregate matters little. The most important influence of the
forest is in the checking of floods and erosion, though the conditions
in Puerto Rico are such as to make the control of floods by forestation
alone impossible. Throughout a greater part of the year the forest
soils in the mountains are nearly, if not quite, saturated with moisture.
Steep slopes and rain in the form of brief but torrential downpours
are the rule and complete a combination favorable to most rapid
run-off. These make it necessary to supplement forestation by a
succession of reservoirs and a cleaning up of the channels if any
noticeable reduction of the eroding effects of floods is to be accom-
plished.
Forests aid in conserving the water in the soil. The trees increase
enormously the amount of water that goes into the soil instead of
running off on the surface and then help the soil to retain it.
Forests influence erosion in two ways: By reducing the force and
interrupting the passage of the run-off in the catchment areas around
the headwaters of the streams, they slow up the washing away of the
surface layers of the soil and greatly impede gullying. At the same
time, the ability of the run-off to transport eroded material is very
considerably lessened.
The greatest damage is done when the run-off is gathered into the
streams of the island and reaches the foothills country, wherethee
heavy clays of the interior are replaced by the lighter and more
readily eroded coast soils. The rivers are generally too short to choke
up and overflow ; yet they are continually widening and shifting their
channels, cutting off islands from adjoining fields, and undermining
their banks. The close relation of the existing forest cover to stream
flow and erosion is not difficult to observe. For this purpose, the
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1649
lower reaches of the north coast rivers, particularly those rising in the
coffee district or the Luquillo, may be compared with the south coast
rivers. The former show relatively few abandoned channel beds
and less spreading stream bottoms, are obstructed only by sandy or
gravelly bars and relatively small boulders, and maintain a reasonable
flow of water even in the dry months. South side rivers, which are
largely fed by the rains falling on the steep grass slopes of the Cor-
dillera Central, have wide, dry bottoms showing often no less than
six different channels separated by low islands. The boulders,
which are everywhere strewn about, are several times the size of those
in the north coast rivers, and in the dry months the stream is of
insignificant proportions in the midst of surroundings indicative of
destructive power.
In the larger commercial sense, the forests of Puerto Rico are
particularly deficient. In their present condition, they neither add
to the island's export trade nor provide the raw material for important
local industries. They furnish only one fourth of the wood materials
actually used on the island. Even as they stand, however, they are
vitally important as a source of domestic wood supply.
The principal fuel of the island's \% million inhabitants is charcoal,
of which enormous quantities are used. There is also a demand for
stakes, posts, cabinet woods, and construction timbers. In normal
years, Puerto Rico imports wood products to the value of 5 to 6
million dollars, much of it in the form of softwood lumber from the
Southern States. Importation of this class of material will probably
continue, since no pines or other softwoods are native to the island,
but there appears to be no reason why the 400,000 or more acres of
land unsuited to agriculture should not be made to produce such
other forest material as is needed, with a surplus of valuable cabinet
woods for export.
The insular government is not unmindful of its forest problems, and
legislation has already been enacted which will aid greatly in remedy-
ing the deplorable condition of forest areas. Existing laws provide
for—
A forest service to have custody and management of lands reserved
for insular forest purposes.
An assessed valuation of $1 per acre of all areas over 5 acres in size
planted with 600 trees or more per acre.
Authority for the insular department of agriculture to purchase
lands for forestry purposes, at a price not in excess of $15 per acre.
Authority to establish auxiliary insular forests on private lands
above 1,000 feet elevation and to exempt from all taxation lands so
classified.
Authority for the Federal Government to acquire land for forstry
purposes, unspecified as to amount.
The three forest nurseries of the island produce about 1% million
seedlings annually, most of which are distributed free of charge to
landowners. Although the financial condition of Puerto Rico does
not permit any great increase of forestry activities at present, there is
a growing interest in forests on the part of the general public. Some
owners who are awakening to the value of tree crops as a part of
diversified agriculture are reforesting their nonagricultural lands as a
business undertaking.
1650 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY
More than 330 tree species are native to the island, and many useful
species have been introduced. On favorable sites, tree growth is
rapid. In 1922 a plantation of casuarina (an imported species) was
established near the village of Luquillo on the north side of the island
in soil too poor to grow sugar cane. Ten years later the trees in this
plantation averaged 6.1 inches in diameter breast high, and 57.5 feet
in total height. The volume of wood per acre in various products
amounted to 2,678 cubic feet, or 31.2 cords, or 600 poles (42 feet long),
or 4,200 fence posts. This plantation had grown during the 10 years
at the rate of 3.12 cords each year.
Another plantation of casuarina on the northern slopes of the
Luquillo Mountains reached an average diameter breast high of 2.85
inches and an average height of 34 feet in 3 years and 11 months.
In the same location mahogany averaged 1.41 inches in diameter and
11.1 feet in height at 3 years of age; cedro (Cedrela odorata), one of the
most valuable native species, at the age of 2 years and 4 months
averaged 1.71 inches in diameter and 12.8 feet in height. Many
valuable native species, such as capa bianco, capa prieto, ausubo,
laurel sabino, algarrobo, maria, and tabonuco, reach sizes suitable for
cabinet work and construction purposes in 30 to 50 years. Fuel wood,
charcoal, posts, etc., can be produced in 5 to 15 years from rapid
growing native species, such as guaba, guama, and bayahonda, and
from introduced species such as black wattle, tulipan, saman, and
eucalyptus.
In the higher portions of the mountains, particularly on the exposed,
wind-swept southern slopes, growth is slower, and a forest cover
would be more difficult to establish by planting.
Informed opinion, both local and Federal, holds that lands in the
central mountain ranges above 2,000 feet in elevation, totaling some
150,000 acres, should be publicly owned and kept perpetually in forest
as a source of wood products and for the purpose of water and soil
conservation. These lands, now mostly in private ownership, will
have to be purchased, and on large areas a new forest can be estab-
lished only by planting. Because of their inaccessibility, the greater
difficulty and cost of planting them, and the relatively long liquidation
period involved, they would hardly be attractive from the standpoint
of private forest enterprise.
To acquire the bulk of these mountain lands and place them under
management is perhaps the most important forestry project in the
island. The Federal Government should share in it to the extent of
expanding the Luquillo National Forest to a unit of 55,000 to 60,000
acres, which can be accomplished through the purchase of adjoining
lands worn out or abandoned for agriculture. Authority for such
purchases to a maximum of 50,000 acres was granted in 1931 by an
amendment to the Clarke-McNary Act. A rough estimate of time
requirements and ultimate cost suggests a 15-year program, with an
appropriation of $100,000 a year for the two purposes of purchase and
planting, making an aggregate budget of $1,500,000. This budget
should be apportioned $600,000 to the Federal Government, which
would purchase some 40,000 acres to supplement the present 14,000
acres of the Luquillo National Forest, and $900,000 to the insular
government, which would purchase 60,000 or more acres to supple-
ment the 25,000 acres of uplands already in insular forests. The costs
are figured roughly at $10 per acre, on the average, for the land, and
A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1651
$5 per acre for planting and seeding. By means of such a program
reenforced by the work of the insular Division of Forestry, the con-
tinued cooperation of private owners, and the power of example, the
island of Puerto Rico, instead of producing, as at present, only one
fourth the amount of wood sufficient for her needs, should within 50
years be producing the wood needed for the industrial uses of a greatly
increased population and should in addition number among her most
valuable exports a considerable volume of rich cabinet woods, such
as mahogany, tabonuco, ausubo, and cedro.
Under a cooperative agreement between the United States Forest
Service and the Insular Department of Agriculture and Labor, of
which the Division of Forestry is a unit, the Federal forest officer in
charge of the Luquillo National Forest is also employed as Chief of
the Puerto Rico Forest Service; thus complete cooperation in the
forestry work is secured by the Federal and insular governments, and
duplication of effort is avoided. This arrangement has worked well
and should be continued. The public lands in charge of this officer at
present consist of about 14,000 acres in the Luquillo National Forest
and about 40,000 acres of insular forests, widely scattered in six
forest districts, each under a guard or inspector. The service includes
also the work of the three forest nurseries, the distribution of seedlings,
and aid and advice in planting and forest cultural work. The present
annual forestry budget amounts to about $32,000, of which the cost
to the Federal Government for the administration of the Luquillo
National Forest is slightly more than $2,000. The rest of the work
is charged against insular funds. The ultimate annual cost of admin-
istering publicly owned land, if the acquisition and planting programs
previously mentioned are consummated, should be in the neighbor-
hood of 15 cents per acre, or about $10,000 for the Federal Govern-
ment and $20,000 for the insular government.
There is urgent need for the establishment in Puerto Rico of the
tropical forest experiment station already authorized by the Mc-
Sweeney-McNary Act. Growth and management of Puerto Rican
tree species, native and introduced, present practically a virgin field of
investigation. The multiplicity of species, their complex habits and
characteristics, the variable climatic factors, and the prevailing lack
of basic knowledge concerning them offer many practical but unusu-
ally difficult problems. Until the basic knowledge required can be
made available through the facilities of a well organized forest experi-
ment station, progress in forestry, both public and private, will be
slow. Furthermore, such a station will be of value not only to Puerto
Rico; its influence should be felt in forestry matters throughout the
West Indies and in tropical America.
INDEX
A Page
Abandoned agricultural lands:
Areas 164
Watershed problems:
Central States 1524
East Gulf 356
Missouri River Basin, lower 402
South Atlantic 349
Abandonment:
Agricultural land 148, 151, 158, 164, 417
Cut-overland 881
Forest land, causes 880
Land, lessened by forest-fire protection 803
Uncut timber-land 882
Accessibility of timber. (See Availability.)
Acquisition:
County, objects of 1158
Expenditures (chart) 20
Federal:
Accomplished and proposed (table) 575
Considerations governing 1160
By donation 1167
Effect on counties 1161
By land exchange 1162, 1250
Methods 1162
Objectives 1160
Private stumpage, future supply 1284
Program, national forest 574
Program 1173, 1300
By purchase 1165, 1248
Proposed for watershed protection 52
(table) 1533
Weeks law 1171
Municipal, objects of.. 1158
National forest:
Proposed program of.. 1618,1622
Legislation needed for 1631
Public 1171
Accomplished and proposed (table) 1173
As aid to private forestry 1147
Of depleted land, justification for 1150
Economic justification for extension of... 1150
Of forest land in national plan, summary. 68
Future, by all agencies (table) 1298
Of heavily timbered lands, justification
for 1151
Program, cost of 1299
Progress to date, existing programs
(tables) 1264
Types of land desirable for 1150
Ultimate (table) 1295
Watershed areas (chart) 52, 1288-1293
State:
In process (table) 825
Objects of - 1159
Program 1300, 1604
Expenditures involved (table) 1608
By purchase 1249
Action, public, influence on permanent own-
ership of private industrial timberland 1266
Administration, forest:
Forest recreation areas 482
Forest, relationship with research 655
National forest:
Cost 1104
Efficiency (chart) 603
Program, State expenditures involved 1608
State:
Lake States 834
Northwest 832
Agricultural expansion, passing of 249
Agricultural land, abandoned. (See Aban-
doned, Abandonment.)
Agricultural land available for forestry, sum-
mary 18
Agricultural land: Page
Factors that deter conversion from private
to public 884
Requirements, future 162
Watershed conditions on 1512
Agriculture:
Areas used for, formerly forested (table)... 154
Consumer of forest products 97
Decreases in land used for (charts) 156-157
Erosion resulting from... 326, 408
Range use of forest land 144
Service of forests to 98
Soil wastage resulting from 414
Aid, Federal:
Appropriations, 1933 (table) 1053
Development of cooperative fire protection
1911-31 (table) 776
Effect on State forestry 776
Factors affecting 1208
Farm forest planting 1076
Distribution of trees, 1930 (table) 1079
Expenditures (table) 1078
Farm forestry extension 1081
Expenditures 1915-33 (table) 1082
Financing the system 1219
Fire protection 1054,1208
Distribution of costs 1063
Distribution of expenditures (table) 1063
Financing of 1062
Forestry extension 787
Land grants to States 1088
Needed in control of tree diseases 1218
Needed in research 1216
Proposed in land acquisition by States 1219
Ratio of Federal to State and private funds. . 1221
Results of 1056
Roads 1087
State agricultural colleges 1092
State experiment stations 1092
Vocational education 1093
Woodland management 1213
Aid, public:
To private owners:
In national plan, summary 60
Versus private expenditures (chart) 77
See also Public aid.
Aid, State:
Analyzed by regions 1185
Annual cost (tables) 1178-1179
Clarke-McNary law 1180
Control of forest insects 1182
Cost of projects (table) 1179
Fire protection 803,1180
Forest and economic surveys 1184
Forest extension 1181
Forest planting 1181
Forest research 1183
Forest taxation 800
Reforestation 798
Scope and functions of 1177
To private forest owners (charts) .. 1179, 1185, 1186
Tree-disease control 1182
Alaska:
Coast forest 1642
Forest conditions and problems 1641
Interior forest 1643
Pulpwood supplies 201
Algeria, regulation of private forests 1014
Alienated lands, national forests (table) 569
Allotted Indian forest lands, areas (table) ... 611
Allotment policy, Indian lands 614
Alternatives to national-forest system _ . 1110
American Association for Advancement of
Science:
Contribution to forestry 8
Initiation Federal forestry activities 746,748
1653
1654
INDEX
Page
American Forestry Association, contribution
to forestry 8
American Tree Association, contribution to
forestry. 8
Amortization rates, forest loans 1132
Antelope, on national forests (table) 493
Appalachian Mountains, critical watershed
problems 1527
Appropriations:
Forest research (chart) 1144
Increases needed, management present
national-forest areas 1313
State, for forestry 1224
See also Expenditures.
Arboretum, national 1568
Areas:
Abandoned agricultural, watershed protec-
tion, public acquisition (table) 1288
Abandoned farmland, future ownership- . 1275
Alienated lands, national forests (table) ... 569
Annually burned (charts) (table) ... 14,1070,1396
Available for:
Forestry, proposed distribution (chart).. 1232
Planting (chart) 50
Timber use, by regions (table) 1280
Federal and State, in national plan 77
Forest:
Allowable burn, by agencies 1399
Annually burned (table),. 1396
Available for planting (chart) 50
Burned annually, Indian forests. 627
Burned annually, public and private
(chart) 14
Burned yearly, State and private 1070
Commercial (chart) 127
County forests — 847
Devastated annually (table) 852
Devastated, public and private (charts) . 12
Devastation, deterioration, eastern soft-
woods 853
Devastation, deterioration, western soft-
woods 855
Distribution by timber size (chart) 225
Federal and State, in national plan 77
Future acquisition, by public agencies
(table) 1298
Future management of (table) 1281
Future ownership of— 1253. 1280
Indian lands (table).. 611,627
Influence on watersheds (chart) 28
Old-growth and second-growth (chart) . . 128
Present ownership (table). - 1255
Private 134-135
Private ownership, basis 1256
Public 136-138
Public, for fishing 615
Public ownership, basis - 1256, 1259
Public share in (chart) 78
Re quring fire protection (table) 1396
State, county, and municipal- 824
Timber production, summary 43
Types of management, proposed (table) - 231
Under cooperative fire protection
(chart) 105-109
Usable for game (table). 502
Watershed-protection value, ownership
(table) 1286
Forest range (table).. 528
Management (chart) 18
Program, summary 55
Forestry enterprise, comparative (charts).- 39-40
Future public ownership, timber produc-
tion (table)—. 1283
Harvested crops, decrease and increase
(maps) 251
Industrial timberland (charts) 130-134
Industrial timberland, private ownership,
future.-. 1271
National-forest acquisition program (table). 575
National-forest lands, present and prospec-
tive (table).. 1264
National forests:
By regions (table) 569
Total (chart) 1097
Necessary, national timber requirements.. 1280
Present private forest, future division, man-
agement (table) 1282
Private forest land used in public interest. 1265
Areas— Continued Page
Private industrial timberland, growth
classes, future (table) 1273
Private watershed protection, public ac-
quisition (table) 1288
Productive timberland, public and private
(chart) 26
Protected, public and private (chart) . 13
Public, acquired to date, existing pro-
grams (tables) 1264
Basis division between agencies 1261
Closed to hunting (table) 508
National plan, summary 68
Public and private, versus expenditures
(chart) 77
Public domain included in national forests. 571
Recreation 435
Requirements, summary ".".' 53
Area required, extensive forest management
• program, summary 47
Intensive forest management program,
summary 47
Areas, saw-timber, cordwood and restocking
(chart) 134
1950 (table)... 227
Area, State forests, present and prospective,
(table) 1264
Town and municipal forests (table) 845
Under forest management, public and pri-
vate (charts) ... 17
Under management, present and proposed
(chart) 48-49
United States, by major uses (chart) 121
Watershed, feasible for public ownership 1291
Recommended for public ownership
(table) „ 1293
Western State grant lands 840
Woodland on farms, future ownership
(table) .. 1278
Argentina, regulation of private forests 1005
Arkansas and Red River drainages 404-411
(map) 359
Arnold Arboretum 990
Artificial reforestation research 671
Austria, regulation of private forests 1006
"Auxiliary forests", States providing for
control of (map) 1002
Availability:
Naval stores 203
Pulpwood . 195
Timber stands 189
Badlands, critical erosion problems... 1529
Missouri River basin 399
Baker, Willis M., coauthor 1587
Balance between timber supplies and re-
quirements . . 235
Bankruptcy, private ownership breakdown! 872
Bavaria, protection forests in 1017
Bear, on national forests (table) 493
Beetles, bark:
Control 627
National forests """ 600
Losses from 724
Behre, C. Edward:
Acknowledgement to _ 173
Coauthor 1231
Belgium, regulation of private forests . 1008
Wood use 286
Biolley, H. C., example of forest management
by 906
Biological Survey, Bureau of, coauthor 1547
Forest research program for 1566, 1612
Birds, forest resource 489
Positive values in (table) 495
Blister rust, white pine 712,1420
Campaign against 1137
See also Diseases.
Blueberries, a forest by-product 558
Board (s), paper:
Consumption (table).- 259
Production 261
Pulp requirements for 261
Boards, wall, world production 294
Boise River watershed, erosion survey on 454
Boxes, lumber consumption for 253
INDEX
1655
Page
Boyce, J. S., coauthor 695, 1135, 1419
B oyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research 988
Brazil, regulation of private forests in 1008
Breakdown of private forest-land ownership
(section) . _ 869
Breaks and Badlands, critical erosion prob-
lems in 1529
Breaks forests, erosion in 410
Brown-spot needle disease... 696
Brush, W. D., acknowledgment to 173
Brushlands, semiarid watershed problems 1531
Budget, timber, problem of balancing, sum-
mary 22
Building, world use of wood in 294
Bulgaria, regulation of private forests 1008
Bureaus, Department of Agriculture. (See
Bureau name.)
Burn(s), acreage versus precipitation, nation-
al forests (chart) 596
Annual public and private land (chart) 14
National forests versus recreation use 597
In re run-off (chart) 319
Business administration of national forests. . . 602
California drainages:
Map 419
Watershed conditions 420, 424
California, early attempts at development of
State forestry 750
Callaghan, F. P., acknowledgment 495
Campbell, R. S., coauthor 527,1537
"Camp-site areas" for recreation... 477,486
Canada, imports, paper, etc 265
Capacity, carrying, of western ranges 541
Capital:
Borrowed, cost to forest industries 1129
Credit, limitation of 1130
Forest:
Annual gain and loss (chart) 25
Source of 1128
Investment:
All forest land, in national plan, sum-
mary „ 72
And current charge increases, national
forest expenditures 1314
National forests (table). 605
Carnegie Institute of Washington, research
by 987
Car, railroad, lumber consumption for. 255
Carrying capacity. (See Capacity.)
Cascades, drainages (map).. 451
Cascara bark 557
Cassidy, H. O., acknowledgment 527
Causes of fires, national forest, State, private
lands (table)... 1404
Cellophane, pulp requirements for . 263
Central coast drainages, California, watershed
conditions on. 424
Central States:
Abandoned farm lands, critical watershed
problems 1524
Agricultural land abandonment in 160
Federal cooperation in 1072
Forest planting needs 1503
Forest range use in 552
Hardwood forests, private, condition and
management 957
Opportunities for intensive forestry 1475
State aid in 1195
Chapline, W. R., coauthor 527, 1509, 1537
Chemistry and Soils, Bureau of, research
program... 1566
Chemistry, wood, research 1387
Chestnut:
Blight 711
Blight-killed, salvage of 706
(See also Forest diseases.)
Christmas greens, a forest byproduct 558
Civil service, essential to State forestry organ-
ization. 816
Clapp, E. H., author 1,651
Clarke-McNary law:
Appropriations authorized by 1615
Extension administration under (chart) . . _ 1083
Forestry extension activities under 1575
Modifications in national forestry plan 75
National-forest development 517
168342°— 33— vol. 2 39
Clarke-McNary law— Continued Page
Part in cooperative fire costs 820
Purpose of 1172
Sections 2 and 3 .."Ill 1055
Section 4, cooperation under 1076
Section 5, cooperation under. 1081
Climate, watersheds:
South Atlantic drainages 341
West Gulf drainages 359
Cloquet Forest Research Station 794
Colleges, agricultural, Federal cooperation
with in forestry extension 1575
Colorado, early attempts at establishment of
State forestry 750
Colorado River Basin 430,437
Map 431
Columbia River Basin drainage 430, 451, 457
Map 451
Commercial forests, private:
Areas and character (table) 892
Conditions on . 896
Lake States (table) 962
Commercial forest land, ownership:
Areas (chart) n
Present and proposed (chart) 69
Committees on land use 1247
Commodities, classification of 246
Community development:
Forest exploitation and destruction.. 106
Permanent forest industry on. 109
Community forests 843
Composition, wood, research 138&
Conditioning for use of forest products,
research in 677
Conditions of growth, research in 680
Conifers:
Commercially important, growth and yield
(table) 903
Diseases of 696
Pacific coast, management, sustained
yield 915
(See also Pine.)
Conservation:
Fish supply 515
Forest, development of policy . 1591
Water:
Indian forests 623
National forests 539
Conservation department, origin of concept
of- - 762
Construction:
Competition of materials in.. 250
Direct-to-. (See Direct-to-construction.)
Lumber use, factors affecting trends 249
Residential. 250
Trends (chart) 252
Urban nonresidential 249
World use of wood in 294
Consumption:
Crossties (table) 271
Forest products:
Central States 958
Importance of increase 1356
Lake States.. 962
New England and Middle Atlantic
States 968
Pacific coast 912
Program for extension, summary 50
Rocky Mountain region 933
South 940
Lumber:
Estimated normal (table) 256
Hardwoods versus softwoods _ 257
Manufacture of (table) 253
Rural 249
Tables.. 247,249
Trends 246
Chart 247
Naval stores 273
Newsprint:
Trends in... 263
Versus newspaper size (chart) .._ 262
Paper:
By kinds (chart) 261
Per capita (chart) 258-
Tables 259,262
World's (table) 293
Raw materials, in paper manufacture
(table) 259
1656
INDEX
Consumption— Continued Page
Timber:
Central, Northern, and Western Europe
(table) 288
Commodities (table)-.. 214-215
Great Britain (table)— — - 285
Wood:
Decreasing throughout world? 283
Denmark (table) 286
European trends 283
Fuel - 272
Minor products (table) 275
Prior to industrial era 280
World trends 279
'Containers:
Wood and fiber-board, research in 991
World's use of wood in 294
Control:
Fire, national forests 597
Insect damage, national forests 600
Public, of private forests in other countries.. 1005
Conversion trend, tree volume to mill tally
(chart) 953
Cooperation:
Forest products research... 1391
With States:
Farm forestry extension 1081, 1576
Farm forest planting. _. 1076
Financial aspects 1219
Fire protection 1054
Cooperative fire costs, distribution (table) . . . 819
Coos Bay Wagon Road land grant 647
Copeland, Senator Royal S.:
S.Res. 57 submitted by II
Resolution requesting report .- 81
Cordwood:
Areas:
Industrial (chart) - 134
Public (chart) 136
Woodland (chart) 135
Drain, annual:
Chart.... - — - 210
Tables... 207,209
Ownsership 188
Paper manufacture (table) — 182
Private lands (table) 893
Producing areas, present and proposed
(chart) — 225
Stand, ownership (chart) 188
Volume (tables) - 180,181
Costs:
Fire protection, cooperative (table) 819
Increases, future, management present
national forest areas 1313
Indian forests 628
Table 629
Logging, versus log prices, Columbia River
(chart) - 924
Measures to prevent devastation:
Douglas fir type - 1434
Hardwood types 1450
Larch-fir type 1438
Longleaf-slash pine type 1445
Ponderosa pine type 1443
Shortleaf-loblolly pine-hardwoods type.. 1446
Spruce-hemlock type 1432
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine type 1441
Western white pine type 1437
National forests 1305
Management, reasons for increase 1308
State, and private (chart) 20
National forestry plan , summary 71
Prevention of devastation on private lands.
(See Expenditures.)
Private forest management (table) 1320
Private ownership, in national plan, sum-
mary 72
Production:
Influence on permanent ownership of pri-
vate industrial timberland 1265
Versus selling value, ponderosa pine
(chart) 938
Protection, management, national forests
(table) 1306, 1307
Public regulation program 1351
Resource management, fire protection on
representative national forests (table) 1307
.State forest management , 1318
Page
Costs and returns, ownership responsibilities. 1303
County:
Forests (table) 847
Land, forest wild life areas on 1552
Parks, administration, summary 484
Cover, forest:
Consumption of water by 310
Defined 305
Effects of disturbing 316
Effect of fire on 316
Function in regulating stream flow 305
Influence:
On erosion 314,416
On percolation 311
Interception of precipitation 308
Reduces evaporation 309
Retards snow melt 308
Coville, Perkins, coauthor 1485
Crates, lumber consumption for 254
Credit, forest, Federal aid in organizing 1126
Crossties:
Consumption (table)... 271
Hewed, drain 217
Railways, steam, mileage (table) 271
Cull, due to decay in standing saw timber
(table) 702
Current forest devastation and deterioration. 851
Cut:
Annual, public and private (chart) 13
And losses in United States timber stands
(charts) 206, 212
Timber 210
Annual average (table) 207
Indian lands (table) 613
Russia 287
Table -— 211
Versus use and growth (chart) . 238. 239
Cutting:
E astern hardwood stands (table) 862
Forest, sanitation 719
Hardwoods 1447, 1448
Longleaf-slash pine type 1444
Notice, State regulation 1346
Ponderosa pine type 1442
Practices, Indian forests 621
Refraining from, as an element of intensive
forestry 1460
Selective 904,907
As an element of intensive forestry 1459
Shortleaf-loblolly pine-hardwoods type 1446
Southern softwood stands and California
(table) 866
Spruce-hemlock fog belt, relation to devas-
tation 1432
State regulation 1346
Systems:
Distribution of volume in residual stands
(charts) 906,917,922,
923, 926, 929, 934, 944, 949, 970, 972, 973, 974, 976
Even-aged forest (chart). 904
Selection forest (chart) 905
Czechoslovakia, regulation of private forests. 1010
Damage, fire, on national forests 595
Dayton, W. A., author 554
Decay:
Cull in standing timber. ._ 702
Forest products:
Loss due to -- 708
Prevention of 709
Prevention, forest products research 1369
Timber losses due to 701
White fir, rate of increment (chart) 703
Deer on national forests (table) 493
Deferred grazing 539
Delinquency. (See Tax reversion.)
Demand, forest products, changing 1355
Demmon, E. L., coauthor 1587
Demonstration activities of U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture. .. 1146
Denmark:
Regulation of private forests 1010
Wood use (table) - 286
Depleted western ranges, restoration of 539
INDEX
1657
Page
Depletion, forest, relation of national land-
use policies to 1589
Desert basin, California, watershed condi-
tions in 425
Design and adoption of forest products, re-
search in 679
Deterioration:
Current forest 851
Eastern softwood areas 853
Effect of cutting, eastern hardwoods (table) 862
E rf ect of fire, hardwood stands (table) .... 857-858
Fire:
Effect on eastern softwoods 859
Effect on western softwoods 860
Forest, hardwood areas 852
Responsibility of private owner, summary. 12
Western softwood areas 855
Devastated land, public and private (chart) 12
Devastation:
Annual (chart) 12
Annual, forest land (table). 852
Current forest ... 851
Deterioration:
Effect of cutting, California and southern
softwood stands (table) 866
Effect of cutting, eastern hardwoods
(table). 862
Eastern softwood areas -. 853
Fire:
Area burned annually (table) 861
E fleet on eastern softwoods. _ - 859
Effect on western softwoods 860
Forest, hardwood areas 852
Prevention program, summary 47
Responsibility of private owner, summary 12
Western softwood areas .- 855
(See also Forest devastation.)
Diameter limit, cutting:
Realization values (table) 908
(See also Selective cutting.)
Direct-to-construction consumption of
lumber (table) - 249
Diseases:
Control. 708, 719, 1423-1424
Exotics— - 698
Immature forests 699
Forest 46, 695, 1135, 1218, 1419, 1601, 1613
Agencies needed for prevention of. 1422
Control, status of 717
Introduced.. 710
Need for Federal aid in control 1218
Protection from 1419
Forest Service program, proposed 1620
Relation to recreational use 705
Relation to watershed protection 705
Research and control, status of 717
State aid in control of 1182
Timber losses due to 701
Plant, introduced 710
State activities 718,
1135, 1218, 1422, 1427, 1428, 1601
Tree . ( See D iseases , forest . )
Disposition of tax-title lands, present provi-
sions (examples) 885
Distribution, forest land:
Future acquisition, by public agencies
(table).. - 1298
Future ownership 1253, 1280
Public agencies - 1296
Present ownership (table) 1255
Donations, land:
Private ownership breakdown 871
To public.. 1167, 1251
Douglas fir:
Management to maintain productivity 916
Measures to prevent devastation in 1431
Table 1451
Typical stand, western Washington (table) 920
Drain:
And growth, problem of balancing, sum-
mary 23
Annual, saw timber and timber (chart) 24
Estimated, 1930-50 (table) 223, 227
Forest.. 205
Charts 206-211
Measure of requirements (table) 237
Relation to current growth (table) 222
Page
Drainages:
United States (maps) 331,332,
341, 351, 359, 371, 379, 396, 419, 431, 445, 451
(See also Northeastern, South Atlantic, East
Gulf, West Gulf, St. Lawrence River,
Hudson Bay, upper Mississippi River,
Ohio River, Missouri River, Arkansas
and Red River, lower Mississippi River,
California, Colorado River, upper Rio
Grande, Great Basin, Columbia River,
Pacific Cascade.)
Duke University, forest research by 987
Dunes:
C oastal, critical watershed situation 1525
Formation and control 316
Northeastern coast 336
South Atlantic coast 345
Dutch elrn disease. .. 714
East Gulf drainages (map) 351,355
Eastern forests, measures to prevent devasta-
tion in 1444
Table 1451
Eastern States, development of national
forests in 1171
Eastern United States, agricultural land
abandonment in 152,164
Eberly, H. J., author 1177,1224
Economic benefits, full realization of, a major
forestry objective 41
Economic effect private ownership on forest
industries, summary 15
Economic values of wild life 490,494
Economics, forest:
Federal research in, as a form of State aid. . 1142
Forest Service research program, proposed. 1618
Research in 681, 1562
Economics, public ownership, forest land .1257, 1259
Education:
Expenditure (chart) 20
Fire prevention, State. 818
Forestry 785-786
State function. 784
In forest wild life 1554
Need in fire-control program 1405
Vocational, as aid to forestry __ 1093
Eldredge, I. F., coauthor 1575,1587
Elk, on national forests (table) 493
El Salvador, regulation of private forests 1011
Employment:
Emergency, forests as a source of 105
In forest industries 96, 102
Under sustained-yield forestry:
In Europe 103
In the United States 104
Enlarging the consumption of forest products
(section).. 1355
Entomology:
Bureau of, author 1415
Activities and expenditures 1139
Federal research in, as aid to States 1139
Forest insect work of 723
Forest research program for 1565, 1614
Preventive aspect 729
Progress in 723
Research, private and quasi-public _ 985
Research, program for ._ 1565
Research, by States -~ 1140
Equipment, fire-control organizations 1407
State fire protection .-. 818
Erosion:
Arkansas and Red River drainages .. 404, 408-409
Breaks forests 410
Burned areas, southeastern California 425
Colorado River Basin 433
Columbia River drainage 454
Control, need for Federal aid in 1206
Program for 1509
Description of 304
East Gulf drainages 351,355
Effect of fire on 316
Effect of logging on 321
Forest planting for control of 1488
Great Basin - 449
1658
INDEX
Erosion— Continued Page
Hudson Bay drainage 368
Illinois, counties affected (map) 375
Influence of forest cover on 314
Mississippi River Basin:
Lower 402,414
Upper 372
Northeastern drainages 335
Ohio River Basin 384,387
Overgrazed forest ranges 323
Piedmont Plateau 356,357
Plots protected by litter (table) 315
Problems, magnitude of 300
On semiarid woodlands and brushlands.. ]531
Critical, Appalachian Mountains 1 527
Critical breaks and badlands 1529
Central States abandoned farm lands 1524
Coastal dunes 1525
Mississippi bluff lands and silt loam up-
lands 1521
Piedmont and upper coastal plains 1523
Resulting from agriculture 326
Resulting from improper agriculture. ._ 1522, 1523
Resulting from smelter fumes 325, 423
Rio Grande Basin, Upper 439
San Joaquin River Basin 421
South Atlantic drainages 342
South Atlantic region, control measures 348
Stream flow, forest and range influences-
research 675
Forest research by Forest Service 1563
Survey in Boise River watershed 454
West Gulf drainages 361
Western ranges... 535
Wind 316
Yazoo River watershed 416-417
(See also Watersheds.)
Europe:
Employment in forestry and forest indus-
tries in 103
Forest planting in 1496
Proportion of forest land publicly owned ._ 139
Timber consumption (table) 288
Evans, C. F., acknowledgment 1303
Coauthor 1395
Evans, R. M., author—. 851
E vaporation, from forest vegetation 310
Reduced by forest cover 309
Even-aged forest (chart) 904
Exchange, land, acts authorizing (table) 1163
Cases (table) 1171
Exotics, disease situation resulting from use
of 698
Expenditures, additional needed in national
plan, summarized 75
All forest activities, 1932, summary 70
Cooperative fire protection (charts) 1061, 1067
Federal insect control 1139
Federal, on navigation facilities (table)-.. 303
And State, proposed for 1935-39 (table) .. 1340
Fire control, national forests, ultimate
(table) 1409
Present and needed, State and private
lands (table) 1270
Fire protection (tables) 1408
Cooperative (table) 819
Distribution (table) 1063
Program, summary 44
Forest activities (chart) 20
Forest disease protection program, sum-
mary 46
Forest insect protection, program.summary. 46
Forest-planting, estimated 1508
Forest research (table) 1557
Prospective 690
By private and quasi-public agencies 1571
State 1603
Forest Service research, needed 1618
Forestry extension 1576,1577
Proposed. 1584, 1585, 1586
Forestry program, estimated (tables) 1628
Federal bureaus 1609
Financing of 1632
Forestry, public and private (chart) 10
Public and private versus area (chart) ... 77
Increases needed, management present
national forests 1314
Page
Expenditures, indian forests (table) 628,629
Insect control 1417
Management, and protection, new national
forest units (table) 1316,1318
National forest, involved in proposed Forest
Service program 1622
Segregation of capital-investment and
current -charge increases 1314
National forestry plan, all agencies 70
Needed, fire control national forests-
State— private land (and tables) ... 1409, 1410
To prevent devastation on private lands. 1451
Planting program, summary 50
Public, regulation, protection forests 1351
And receipts, national forests (table) 605
Recreation, national 468
Research, Forest Service 1143
State aid (tables) 1178, 1179
State and Federal aid, 20-year program
(table) 1341
State, forest acquisition, suggested. 1604
Involved in forestry program 1607
State forests management 1318
Stopping forest devastation, summary 47
Experiment stations, Federal forest 1141
Experimental forests, forest-school 986
Exploitation, forest, detrimental effects of. . _ 993
Exports:
Lumber, all countries post-war (table) 291
United States (table) 247
Wood , world trends in (tables) 290
Extension:
Expenditures (chart) 20
Farm forestry, administration 1083
Expenditures (table) 1082
Federal aid to States 1081
Methods 1086
Organization for expansion of 1583
Results of cooperation in._ 1084
Statistical results (table) 1085
Federal aid 1337
Forestry, activities, Federal and State 1576
Additional Federal organization pro-
posed 1585
Appraisal and program 1575
Benefits to private owners 787
Industrial, organization for 1584
Methods 784
State activity 786
State aid to private owners 1181
Ten-year program 1581
Noncommensurate with forest research,
summary 35
Extensive forestry:
Definition — 230
Estimated growth on areas allocated to
(table) 232
Growth under (chart) 233
Three management plans (table) 242
Extensive management, forest land, areas
(chart) 48
Factors affecting Federal and State aid
(section) 1203
Factory consumption of lumber (table) 249
Factory products, lumber consumption in..- 253
Farm, a diminishing market for lumber 249
Farm forestry extension. (See Extension.)
Farm forests, Federal aid in establishment-. 1212
Farm land (s):
Abandoned, future ownership 1275
Abandonment of, lower Mississippi River
Basin 414
Marginal, Ohio River Basin 393
Watershed conditions on Ohio River Basin. 391
Farm woodland (s):
Conditions in 897
Desirability of planting.... 1491
Managenemt, Central States 959
Owners' forestry extension needs 1581
Products, quantity and value 897
(See also Woodlands; Ownership, private.)
INDEX
1659
Farm(s):
Abandoned, available for forestry 151
Abandonment, problems of 167
Areas in, formerly forested (table) 154
Decrease in area of (charts) 156-157
Farmers, trees distributed to (table) 1078
Federal:
Aid in organizing forest credit facilities
(section) 1125
Extension. 1337
Planting 1336
20-year program (tables) 1340-1341
Summary of 4
(See also Aid, Federal.)
Contribution t9 progress of forestry... 2
Forest acquisition program (table) 575
Forest land used by game 506
Forest research program, summary 55
Grant lands, unreserved (table) 826
Land, wild life areas on 1552
Land bank system, relation of forest loans
to aims of. 1132
Legislation required in national plan 75
Responsibility, public regulation 1344
Regulation scope 1347
Share in fire costs (table) 819
Share in forestry expenditures (chart).. 10
Federal Government responsibility for for-
estry 1609
Federal-State aid, protection, insects... 1336
Federal regulation, protection forests 1351
Fiber, processing, research 1384
Fiber-producing plants, a forest byproduct... 560
Field units of research— most effective 656
Finances, for research 663
Financial program, fire control, national for-
ests, parks, Indian lands, public domain 1412,
1413, 1414
Financing current and capital costs in nation-
al plan 74
Financing fire-control program 1405
Financing Indian forest work (table) 628, 629
Financing of private forestry 1125, 1129
Financing of national forestry pi an, summary. 7 1
Finland, regulation of private forests 101 1
Fire:
Area and cost, Indian forests (table) 627
Fire control:
Costs national forests (table) 1409
Expenditures 1407
Present and needed, State and private
lands (table) 1270
Financial program, national forests, parks,
Indian lands, public domain.... 1412, 1413, 1414
Needed expenditures, national forests,
State and private land (tables) 1409-1410
Organization, functions and equipment 1405
Program needs 1403
Fire(s):
Damage to watershed values, Columbia
River Basin 456
Indian forests (table) 627
Devastation, area burned annually (table). 861
Effect on eastern softwoods 859
Effect on floods 316-320
Effects of, in fringe forest type of Arkansas
and Red River drainages 409
Effect on hardwoods 857
Effect on run-off, Ozark-Ouachita forests.. 409
Effect on western softwoods 860
Effect on run-off and erosion 316
Excessive run-off following, southern Cali-
fornia 427
Expenditures (chart) 20
National forests (table) 605
Forest, in Massachusetts and Pennsyl-
vania 1921-31 (table) 808
Prevention stressed by States 806
On protected areas 1067
On protected areas, 1926-30 (table) 1068
Protection from. (See Protection, forest
fire.)
On unprotected areas, 1926-30 (table) 1068
Laws, needed 1405
Losses, annual 207, 218
Number and causes (table) 1396, 1404
Ohio River Basin 390
Precipitation versus acreage burned, na-
tional forests (chart) 596
In re precipitation and run-off (chart) 319
Fire protection:
Adequacy on national forests (chart) 599
Cooperation, expenditures (charts) 1061, 1067
Areas involved (chart) 1059
Expenditures, State, private land (tables) .. 1408
Indian forests 626
National forests 595
National forests versus recreation (chart).. 597
National parks 635
Needed and given (chart) 13
Needed for correction of watershed condi-
tions:
Ozark-Ouachita area. ._ 1527
Pacific slope dense forests 1529
Private land, needed to prevent devasta-
tion (table) 1451
Program, summary 44
Progress and requirements of research 672
Public domain 641
Simple, defined 230
State organization needed 818
States providing for regulation (map) 1000
State and private, progress in (chart) .. 1059, 1061
Fires:
Speed of attack 1405
Timber killed by (table).. 218
Use of by landowners— _ 1210
Fire weather research by Weather Bureau. . 1568
Fish hatcheries in national parks 522
Fish, in national forests.. 595
Positive forest values in (table) 495
Resource, conservation and upbuilding 516
Fish life, influence of forests on 511
Fish, in streams on western forest range 538
Fisheries, Bureau of, forestry program, pro-
posed 1611
Forestry research program for _ . . 1567
Fishery, program of management 515-519
Management in forest waters 510
Research in forest waters, by Bureau of
Fisheries 1567
Research required 523
Fishing, public areas for 515
Flood control, need of Federal aid in. 1206
Flood problems, critical:
Central States 1524
Mississippi River bluff lands and silt loam
uplands 1521
Piedmont and upper coastal plains 1523
Floods, disastrous, summary of (table) 304
Effects of overgrazing on 535
Arkansas and Red River drainages 404
Colorado River Basin 435
Columbia River Basin 455
From burned areas, southern California. . _ 427
Great Basin 447
In lower Mississippi River Basin 413
In Yazoo Delta 413
Increased by fire 316
Mississippi River, magnitude of 303
Missouri River Basin:
Lower 400
Upper 397
Northeastern drainages 336
Ohio River Basin .- 381
Pacific Cascade drainages 458
South Atlantic drainages 346
West Gulf drainages.... 360
Yazoo River, measurements of run-off and
erosion in 416
Forage. (See also Grazing, Overgrazing,
Range.)
A major forest resource 144
Forage crops on southern range 551
Forage, an imp9rtant forest land resource 527
Forage production, in eastern States 552
In the South 547
Western forest range 530
Forage, selection and hybridization of 540
Forage use on national forests 586
Forest activities, public and private share
(chart) ...- 19
Total expenditures (chart) 20
Forest areas, commercial (chart) .._ 127
Old-growth and second-growth (chart> 128
Forest capital, annual gain and loss (chart) .. 25
Forests, classified by watershed influence 329
Commercial, area of (table) 126
Classification of 128
Distribution of 126
Community 843
1660
INDEX
Page
Forest cover. (See Cover, forest.)
Effectiveness in controlling run-off 1522
Influence in controlling run-off and erosion,
Southern California 426
Influence in regulating stream flow, study
in Clearwater River drainage 453
Watershed protective value. (See Run-off,
erosion.)
Forest, dependence of wild life on, summary.. 30
Forest devastation, agencies responsible for.. 1429
Definition 1429
Hardwoods, measures to prevent in 1447
How to stop (section) 1429
Measures to prevent in larch fir type 1437
Lodge-pole pine type 1443
Longleaf-slash pine type.. 1444
Measures needed to prevent in eastern
forests 1444
Western forests 1430
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine type 1439
Ponderosa pine type 1441
Private land (table)... 1451
Expenditures needed to prevent, private
lands 1451
Measures to prevent in, redwood type 1443
Shortleaf-loblolly pine-hardwoods type. . _ 1445
Softwoods 1446
Spruce fir type 1443
Western-larch-western white pine type. . 1435
Forest diseases, preservation of recreation
areas 481
State control efforts 821
National forests 601
Protection program, summary ,.. 46
Regulations for control of 1001
Forest drain. (See Drain.)
Forests, economic importance of - 96
Forest economics, research in 681
Forest fire. (See Fire.)
Forest fire protection, progress and require-
ments of research 672
Forests:
Foreign, public control of 1005
Habitat of wild life 95
Indian. (See Indian forests.)
Industrial, owners' and managers' forestry
extension needs 1582
Forest industries:
A plan for perpetuating 1588
Dependent on solution of forest problems,
summary 36
Difficulties, private owner's responsibility
for, summary 15
Migration of 192
Forests:
Influence on fish life 511
Influence on watersheds, zones of (maps) . . 332,
341, 351, 359, 371, 379, 396, 419, 431, 445, 451
Forest insects:
Beneficial 731
Activities and control 723-729
Cooperation in efforts to control 728
Indian forests 627
Interrelation with fungi 731
On national forests 600
Preservation of recreation areas 481
Protection program, summary 46
State-control efforts 821
Forest 1 and (s):
Acquisition, Weeks law 1171
Cost public program 1299
Acquisition, cost 1299
Administration, State 823,832
Annual burn (table) 1396
Area(s) devastated annually (table) 852
For full use of timber production, sum-
mary 43
Future public ownership (table) 1283
Private, used in public interest 1265
Balancing uses 1238
Barren and unproductive 1485
Reforestation program for 1498
Burned over, public and private (chart) ... 14
Classification, proposed by Forest Service. 1564
Closed to hunting (table).. 508
Commercial and noncommercial, owner-
ship, present and proposed (chart) 69
Cut over annually (chart) 13
Forest land (s)— Continued Page
Devastated, public and private (chart) 12
Federal acquisition of, by exchange 1163, 1250
By purchase 1165, 1248
Methods 1162
Program (table) 1173
Federal purchases of (by fiscal years) 1 1 65
Forest wild-life management unification. . . 1548
Future acquisition, public agencies (table) _ 1298
Future management areas (table)-. 1281
Future ownership 1253, 1280
Indian, allotment policy 614
Areas (table) 612
Grazing on 621
Industrial, area (charts) 130-134
Influence on watersheds (chart) 28
Management, plan for, to meet require-
ments 241
Plans for full use of 242
Relative financial capacity, State groups
(table) 1297
National cost of management, reasons for
increase 1308
Needed for range and livestock 1235
Recreation 1234
Timber production 1235
Watershed protection 1234
Wild life 1235
Needed to meet timber requirements,
summary 44
Objectives in use of 1233
Ownership (chart) . 11
Anticipated shifts in 1242
Future distribution public agencies 1296
Present and planned (chart) 52
Present (table) 1255
Responsibilities, costs, and returns 1303
Present private, future division, manage-
ment (table) 1282
Private, basis for ownership 1 256
Areas in national plan, summary 59
Management costs (table) 1320
(See also Tax delinquency.)
Ownership situation 869
Public acquisition, watershed protection
(table) 1293
Public control in other countries 1005
To public, factors that deter 884
Visitors to (table) 465
Watershed protection values conserved .. 1287
Privately owned, public regulation of 993
Problem of private ownership, summary.-. 11
Productivity, a major forestry objective— 41
Program of fishery management 519
Public acquisition justified 1150
Public, acquisition, progress to date, exist-
ing programs (tables) 1264
Acquisition by donation 1167, 1251
Basis division between agencies 1261
Basis for ownership 1256, 1259
Desirability of State ownership 1262
Multiple use 1294
Purposes of public acquisition of— — 1158
Recommended for public ownership for
watershed protection (table) 1293
Regulation of use of, as remedy for exploita-
tion — - 994
Resource, capital value, summary 73
Restrictions on use of fire by owners of 998
State acquisition by purchase - 1249
Tax delinquent 1250
Tax delinquency and reversion (See Tax) . . 887
Tax reversion future trends 887
Tax reverted, problems of, summary 21
Total areas, available 1231
Use, anticipated shifts in 1242
Use by game ----- 506
Watershed protection, public ownership
feasible 1291
Value, ownership (table) 1286
Wild life dependent on 489
Population, values of 492,494
Forests, livestock ranges 95
Local public, income 1326
Forest loans, amortization rates - - 1 132
Organization of : 1132
Forest management, blocking up of private
areas for 900
Central States hardwoods — 957
INDEX
1661
Page
Forest management— Continued
Cutting and sil vicultural system 904
Even-aged forest (chart) 904
Extensive, areas (chart) 48
Program, summary 47
Farm woodlands, Central States 959
Intensive, forest areas (chart) 49
Program, summary 49
Multiple-purpose, defined 89
Naval -stores production 955
Practices, regional _. 911
Other classes research 673
Private, Lake States 961
Measures for improving 978
New England and Middle Atlantic
States 966
Pacific coast 911,916
Rocky Mountain region 931-7
Separation from manufacturing de-
sirable 981
South 939
Single-purpose, place of 90
Summary 16
Progress and requirements of research 669
Public and private (charts) 17
Research by Forest Service 1557
State, costs 1605
Southern properties ._ 953
Selection forest (chart) 905
(See also Intensive forestry, Liquidation
policy.)
Forest mensuration, progress and require-
ments of research 671
Forests, national. (See National forests.)
Forests as natural laboratories for research.. 560
Forest pathology. (See Diseases, forest.)
Diseases, in national forests 601
Forests, permanent, as basis of community
development 108
Forest policy, Indian 620
Forest practice, distribution of volume in
various cutting systems (charts) 906,
917, 922, 923, 926, 929, 934, 944, 949, 970, 972,
973, 974, 976.
Forests, private, income (table) 1323
Public control of, in other countries 1005
Forest problems, solution constitutes national
problem _ 35
Summary 11
Forest products. (See also Products.)
Central States 958
Changing demand . 1355
Classification of 246
Construction material, competition with.. 251
Consumed in agriculture. 97
Decay, prevention of 709
Demand for 899
Farm, value of 98
Farm woodland, quantity and value 897
Federal research in as a form of State aid-. 1143
Fungous injury to 707
Importance increasing of consumption 1356
Improvement of production 1362
Industrial organization and practice 1358
Insect damage to 726
Integration of industries 1360
Lake States 962
Loss from decay 708
Merchandising... 1364
Minor, wood consumption in (table) 275
Miscellaneous 554
New England and Middle Atlantic States. 968
Pacific coast 912
Production and consumption:
Central States 958
Lake States. 962
New England and Middle Atlantic States. 968
Pacific coast 912
Rocky Mountain region (table) 932
South 940
Forest products research 676, 1365
Better unit construction 1 367
Better use of wood 1367
Conversion 1376
Design of fabricated products.. 1371
Engineering resources 1367
Form of product 1372
Page
Forest products research— Continued
Fiber processing 1384
Fire retardants 1369
Fundamental and utilization 1391
Gluing 1371
Log grading 1377
Logging equipment, methods. 1378
Markets, expansion, proposed action 1357
Mechanical, physical properties 1388
Mill waste utilization, prevention 1385
M ore marketable products, lower costs 1372
Naval stores harvesting 1379
New pulping processes 1381
Painting and moisture proofing 1370
Paper machine operating 1385
Prevention of decay 1369
Production improvement 1362
Pulp and paper 1379
Pulping processes, improvement 1381
Pulping new species 1382
Rocky Mountain region 932
Seasoning 1374
Selection and grading 1373
Selective logging 1378
Selective logging, sustained yield 1360
Shrinkage, prevention 1369
South 940
Timber-growth conditions • 1389
Transportation.. 1358
Uses, coordination 898
Users' forestry extension needs 1582
Utilization, improved, as an element of in-
tensive forestry 1463
Wood chemistry 1387
Wood-destroying organisms 1 390
Wood structure 1386
Wood structure, composition, properties.. _ 1386
Forest Products Laboratory 1143
Forest production:
Financing of _ 1125
Public returns from 111
Small-timber holdings 1361
Forest properties:
Economic size 900
Organizing 901
Investments involved in building up 1127
Forests, protection, Federal regulation 1351
Classification 1347
Forests, protection, in foreign countries._.1005, 1035
Forests, public, income possible (table) 1322
Watershed protection, limiting factors 1288
Forest ranges 527
Areas, public share of (chart) 78
Eastern United States, forage production.. 552
Improvements ._ 543
Indian reservations 546
Influences, research, erosion, and stream
flow 675
Investigations, research 673
Management problems, western 535
On national forests 544
Ownership (table) 528
Ownership, western 544
Problems, southern 550
Problems of, summary 32
Program, summary 55
On public domain _ 546
In the South 547
Management program 1537
Research program, suggestions regarding .. 1540
Use and revegetation 539
Western, conditions of 532
Carrying capacity 541
Livestock, distribution on. 542
In private ownership 547
Seasonal use 542
In State ownership 546
Extent and importance 528
Forage production 530
Forest for recreation 463
Regulation. (See Regulation, public.)
Recreationists (table) 465
Forest (s) :
Regions of United States (map) 123
Relation to watershed problems West Gulf
drainages _ 363
Watershed protection, summary 27
1662
INDEX
Page
Forest research, agencies conducting projects
in New England and New York (table)—. 792
Appropriations (chart) 1144
Artificial reforestation, progress and re-
quirements 671
Branch of, establishment 651
By products 561
State agricultural experiment stations _ _ . 796
States, pathological 718
Scope of 791
C onditioning forest products 677
Design and adaptation of forest products. 679
Development of 788
Development of organization and facil-
' ities 655
Economics 681
Endowed research institutions 987
Entomological 728
Enlarging consumption of forest products,
summary 51
Expenditures (chart) 20
Federal activities in 791
Finances for 663
Financial needs 690
Fishery, required in management 523
Forest fire protection 672
Management, other classes 673
Progress and requirements in research. 669
Products 676
Forest and range influences, erosion-
stream flow 675
Forest range investigations 673
Forest Service, history 651
Forest survey, by Forest Service 1560
Gains in efficiency after segregation of divi-
sion 653
In Forest Service, objectives— 651
In grading and selection of forest products. 677
In growth conditions 680
Industrial 990
Mensuration, progress and requirements _ _ 671
Methods of harvesting forest products 676
Modifications of McSweeney-McNary Act
needed in national plan 75
Of properties of forest products 678
Most effective field units 656
Satisfactory working facilities 661
National and State aspects 791
Natural reforestation, progress and require-
ments of research 670
Need for cooperation in demonstrating re-
sults 980
For extension, summary 33
Objectives, past, present, and future 682
Pathological 717
Participation of States in initiation of 790
Personnel 665
Private, expenditures for 992
And quasi-public 985
Products. See Forest products research.
Program as applied to entomology 1417
Federal, State, and private, summary 55
Progress made and still required 669
Projects in New England and New York,
1932 (table) 792
In properties of forest products 679
Pulp and paper, private and quasi-public .. 990
Relationship with administration 655
State activities, scope of 793
Expenditures for 797
Facilities for... 794
Summary 5
Supervision required 668
Training of personnel 665
Tropical, private and quasi-public... 986,988,990
Resource, wild life 489
Range 527
Resources, wild life 505
Schools, research by, endowed 985
State, research facilities 795
Forests, service to agriculture 97
Forest Service, acquisition program 574
Expenditures in acquisition program, sum-
mary 70
Forest administration and management
program, proposed 1618
Planting, forest acreage and survival 1497
Program 1506
Research, results .... 1495
Page
Forest Service, Progress of national forests. . . 565
Program, proposed, acquisition, national
forest 1618
C ooper ative 1615
Research 1617
Research 651, 1140
Section 1140
Organization __ 1141
Expenditures 1143
Forests, State-owned, program for 1603
Source of recreation 93
Emergency employment 105
Wood 91
State. (See State forests.)
Forest survey by Forest Service 1560
Tree diseases, Indian forests 627
National forests - 601
Types, western, forage produced in 530
Of United States (map) 123
Use, financial aspects of, South 941
Forests, value of for conservation of water and
soil 92
Watershed-protective function 305
Forest waters, fishery management in 510
Wild life.... .— 489
Areas 1551
Forest land management unification 1548
Management 1547
Forester, letter of transmittal from x
Foresters, extension, functions of 787
Extension, present and suggested numbers
of (table)... 1584,1585
State, methods of appointment of 778
Forestry, activity programs in national plan,
summary 42
Agency programs in national plan, sum-
mary.. 57
Forestry branch, Indian Service. (See
Indian Forest Service.)
Forestry, contribution of national forests 565
Definition of 88
Departments, State, fire protection major
activity of State, organization and
methods in fire protection 805
Personnel, selection of 807
Research activities, scope 793
Research facilities of 794
Results of protection efforts 807
Enterprise, compartive areas (charts) 39-40
Public share in (chart) 78
Expenditures, public and private (chart)-. 10
Extension. (See also Extension, forestry.)
Administration (chart) 1083
And farming, in Great Britain 99
Federal, beginnings of, 1876-91 746
Contribution to progress 2
Program, proposed 1610
As a form of land use 115
Federal program, proposed financing of 1632
Indian reservations 607
Intensive and extensive defined 230
Justification of measured by public interest. 116
Lands available, proposed distribution
(chart) - 1232
Land available for, agricultural 151
Policies, "conservation department" idea. 762
Development of in Pennsylvania 763
Fire protection, development of 764
New England States 734
Southern States 739
State:
Diversity of „ 733,737
Effect of Federal cooperation on 734, 740
Origin and development of 742
Western States 740
Private, aided by public acquisition. 1147
Encouragement of as State function 783
Income 1327
Investment in.. 1125
Local opportunities, effect on permanent
ownership 1267
Problems of 85,130
Promotion of 783
Problem of adequate knowledge of, sum-
mary 33
Program, Federal legislation needed for 1631
State, proposed financing of 1634
Summarized as to responsibility 1587
INDEX
1663
Page
Forestry, Progress of in United States, sum-
mary .-- 1
Public, misconception of in nineteenth
century 745
Need for 743
Problems of... 86
Returns from Ill
Relation to recreation 484
Responsibility for 1592
Responsibility for:
Federal Government 1609
State and Ipcal governments 1599
State, analysis of organizations 779
Development of, 1885-1911 766
Development, in New York 753
Development in Pennsylvania 763
Diverse policies in 733
Early attempts at establishment 749
Factors affecting 1225
Factors in development of - . 742
History of ... 742
National importance of 1205
Obstacles to establishment of 750
Organization of departments of 778
Organizations analyzed (table) 779
Origins of 749
Present status,. 778
Reasons for Federal interest in 1205
Status of in 1911 776
Unproductive areas available for 1485
France, regulation of private forests. 1012
Landes region, planting results in 1496
Wood use 287
Fringe forest, of Arkansas and Red River
drainages, conditions in.. 409
Frothingham, E. H., author.. 985, 1140, 1555
Fuel wood, drain 216
Consumption 272
Furniture, lumber consumption for 255
Fur, wild life values in (table) 495
Future adjustments in land use and owner-
ship (section) 1241
Fungi, injury to forest products 707
Injury to forests by 695
Interrelation with insects. . . 731
Game, big, national-forest population (table). 493
Commissions 1553
In re western range use 638
Management, areas for (table) 502
National forests 593
Refuges, State 830
Use of forest land for 143, 506
(See also Wild life.)
Genetics, Institute of Forest 988
(See also Seed, source of.)
Germany, regulation of private forests 1015
Wood use 285
(See also Europe.)
Gibbons, W. H., coauthor. 121, 173
Gipsy moth, State aid in control of 1 182
Girdling, as an element of intensive forestry. . 1456
Hardwoods... 1449
Gluing, forest products research 1371
Goats, mountain, on national forests (table) . 493
Grading, forest products, research 1373
Log, research 1377
Grading and selection of forest products, re-
search in 677
Granger, C. M., author 565
Grants, land. (See Land grants.)
Grazing, by hogs, longleaf-slash pine type 1445
Central, Lake, Middle Atlantic, and New
England States. 552
Cost of management on national forests 1311
Effect on watershed values, California 429
Forest ranges... 144,527
Hardwood types 1448, 1450
In re other forest resources on western lands. 535
In re wild-life management 498
National forests 586
Returns. _ 1324
Ohio River Basin... 390
Page
Grazing, Ponderosa pine type relation to
devastation.. 1442
Regulation for watershed protection, upper
Rio Grande Basin 443
Southern forest land, problems of 550
Grazing management, Forest Service pro- v
gram, proposed.. 1621
Grazing methods, deferred and rotation 539
Grazing problems, Central and Eastern
States 553
Great Basin (map) 445
watersheds 444,449
Great Britain, timber consumption (table) ... 285
Timber imports (table). 284
Wood use 283
Greece , regulation of pri vate forests 1022
Gr0n , Prof. A . H . , acknowledgment to 286
Growing stock, deficiencies, summary 24
Eastern, present required (chart) 25
Present condition 1279
Preservation of, vital 1278
Required to meet timber requirements
(table) 233
Growth, commercial areas (table) 221
Commercially important conifers (table).- 903
Estimated, 1950 (tables) 223,227
Under different types of management
(table) 232
Forest, present versus future (chart) 233
National timber budget, summary 23
Relation to drain (table) 222
Timber 220
Versus use and cut (chart) 238-239
Growth conditions:
Timber, forest products research 1389
Research in 680
Growth and drain, saw timber and all (chart) 24
Guatemala, regulation of private forests 1022
Gullying, upper Mississippi River basis 375
(See also Erosion.)
Gum and lacquer producing plants 560
Hallauer, F. S., author 245
Hardwoods, Central States, conditions and
management 957
Jordwood stand (tables) 181
Cut and destroyed annually (table) 207
Measures to prevent devastation in 1447
Northern, all-aged stands in White Moun-
tains (table) 970
Oak, well-stocked stand, Mont Alto State
Forest (table) 974
Practices to prevent devastation in (table) . 1452
Production (table) 247
Requirements 257
Saw timber, eastern and western, total
stand (table) 179
Present and proposed stands (chart) 226
Saw-timber stand, United States (charts) 174-177
Southern bottomland (table) 951
Stand, all timber 184
Table 176
Used for paper, stand (table) 182
Hartley, Carl, coauthor 695,1135,1419
Harvard Forest, intensive forestry on. 1473
Research 985
Harvesting methods, forest products, research
in 676
Hastings, A. B., author. - 1053,1145
Heintzleman, B. F., author - 1641
Hemlock bark for tanning 555
Hendrickson, C. I., author 151
Heredity, forest tree. (See Seed, source of.)
Hiking on forest "outing areas" 479
Hogs on southern range 551
Holly — 559
Honey plants, forest by product 560
Huckleberries, forest by product 558
Hudson Bay drainage, stream-flow and
erosion conditions 368
Map 396
Humus, contained in forest soil 311
Hungary, regulation of private forests - 1022
1664
INDEX
Page
Hunters, wild-life values in re (table) 495
Hunting, forest land closed to (table) 508
Hunting grounds, public, need of 1550
Requirements, summary 54
Idaho , tax delinquency (table) 875
Illinois, erosion (map) 375
Imports:
Lumber, 1809-1931 (table) 247
Paper, etc., pulpwood equivalents (table) . 265
Relation to pulpwood requirements 264
Timber, relation to requirements 237
Versus requirements (chart) 267-269
Wood, pulp, and paper, in terms of wage
earners (chart). __ 270
Improvements :
Cost, on national forests 1313
Forest, expenditure (chart) 20
Incendiarism on national forests - 595
Income:
Federal forest, prospective 1635, 1636
Managed forest lands 1320
National forests 1323
(Table) 605
Contributed to States 1326
Grazing 1324
Possible gross 1325
New sources 1324
Recreation 1324
Private forestry 1327
Private forests (table) 1323
Public forests, possible gross (table) 1322
State and local forests --- 1326
State-forest, prospective 1636, 1638
Timber, due to growth (table) 909
Indian:
Affairs, Bureau of:
Forestry in 607
Forestry program, proposed 1612
Forests 607
Areas (table).— , 611
Costs (table) . - - 628,629
Fire area and cost (table) 627
Fire control, financial program 1414
Fire protection 626
Grazing administration 621
Land and allotment policy .. 614
Management 614
Personnel - - 628
Policy, general 620
Program, proposed, legislation needed for. 1632
Progress in forestry 4
Recreation - 624
Roads, trails, etc. (table) 626
Sawmill operation 624
Watershed protection 623, 1519
Reservations, forest range on 546
Industrial forest research, program, sum-
mary 57
Industries:
Commercial forest lands owned by. 130
Forest research by - 990
Forest:
' Communities permanently sustained by. 109
Economic importance of 96
Employment in 96,102
Forest products, integration of 1360
Influences, forest, watershed and related 299
Information, forestry, diffusion of— — 1145
Informational activities 1145
Insects, forest:
Aid in control of.. 1182
Control of, Federal activities and expendi-
tures 1139
Policy, National Park Service 1416
Losses from 1139
Need for Federal aid in control research.. 1216
Protection against, Forest Service program,
proposed 1620
(See also Entomology, forest insects.)
Institute:
Of Forest Genetics 988
Of forest research recommended 1573
Institutions, quasi-public, responsibility for
forestry 1598
Intensive forestry, a program for 1455
Areas allocated to (table) 232
Areas suggested for 1468
Page
Intensive forestry, definition __ 230
Estimated growth on areas allocated to
(table) 232
Examples of 1473, 1474
Growth under (chart) _. 233
Improved utilization 1463
Management plans (table) 242
Need for 1465
Objectives 1467
On the Harvard Forest 1473
Opportunities for, by regions 1471
Central States . 1475
Lake States 1475
Northern Rocky Mountains.. 1479
Pacific coast . 1480
South 1476
Southern Rocky Mountains. 1479
Planting 1461
Protection from injuries 1462
Refraining from cutting 1460
Selection of areas for 1469
Selective cutting 1459
Transportation 1464
Weeding, girdling, thinning, and pruning. 1456
Intensive management, forest land, areas
(chart) 49
Interest rates, relation to earning capacity of
forests 1131
Investment, capital, forest, elements of 893
Forest land and industries, Pacific coast. 914, 915
In private forest enterprises, nature of 1125
Private forest land 893
Liquidation of 898
Private forestry 1127
Timber, earnings due to growth (table) 909
Irish Free State, regulation of private forests 1022
Irrigation, agriculture dependent upon,
Colorado River Basin .._ 433
Areas served by (table) 302
Columbia River Basin 453
Great Basin 444
Importance of 301
Pacific Cascade drainage 459
Italy, regulation of private forests 1023
Wood use... 862
Japan, regulation of private forests 1024
Kelley, Evan W., coauthor 1395
Acknowledgment 1303
Kellogg, R . S . , acknowledgment to 260
Kircher, Joseph C., author 1241
Kirkland, Burt P . , acknowledgment 1303
Author 891, 1125
Kneipp, L. F., author - 1095, 1147
Kotok, E. I., acknowledgment 1253
Author 1303
Coauthor.... 1395
Lacquer-produci ng plants 560
Laird, H. A., acknowledgment to 260
Lake States:
Agricultural land abandonment in 159
Forest planting:
Needs 1502
Problems of 738
Range use and 552
Opportunities for intensive forestry in 1475
Private forestry in. 961
Significance of Federal cooperation in 1072
State aid in 1190
Tax delinquency in 876
Land, abandoned, abandonment. (See
Abandoned, Abandonment.)
Agricultural:
Available for forestry 151
Changes in area in East (table) 155
Decreases in (charts) 156,157
Acquisition program for watershed protec-
tion 62
Available for forestry, classification (chart). 1232
Available for planting (chart) 50
Exchanges, as evidence of private owner-
ship breakdown™. 871
INDEX
1665
Page
Land, forest:
Classification proposed 1564
Commercial cl assiflcation
Extent and character (table)- 122
National resource
Protective function of... ---
Range resources of
Use for game iff
Use for recreation
Irrigated, acreage of (table) . - - 302
Private, taxability in national-forest States
(table) — - 1114
(See aiso Forest land.)
Land grants:
To States --- *
1785-1931 (table) 1089
Present status l
Land management requirements for water-
shed protection, summary - - 52
Land use:
Agricultural future 162
Anticipated shifts in 1^1
Balancing objectives "»
Forest:
Classification proposed ioi<
Objectives in... 1*»
Recreational survey suggested .. 1543
Areas now unproductive available f or . _ . 1485
As a form of — --—-100, 115
National policies, and their relation to
forest depletion -- l
Ohio River Basin- ---.- 391
Problems of, f9rest planting as a solution- 1
Public regulation ------ 994
Landowners, private responsibility for for-
estry.
1593
Larch canker IV.""-- ........ ------ - ---- -— 714
Larch fir type, measures to prevent devasta-
tion ______________________ 1437
Latvia, regulation of private forests ---------- 1025
Lawrence College, research in paper chemis-
try
987
. ______ ....... . .....
Laws, State forest tax, acreage classified
under ___________________________________ °
(See also Legislation.)
Legality, public ownership, forest land ...... 1257
Legislation:
Authorizing land exchanges within national
forests (table) ____________ ............ ---- n63
Civil service status for State forestry per-
sonnel _______________ ...... ---------- 7— 816
Federal, administration of fire protection,
cooperation _______ ......... - ........... 1°56
Aid, results of— ........ ------------ ..... 1056
Fire protection ___________________ ........ 1054
Weeks law, effect on State forestry -------
Fish in forest waters ...... ---- .......... --- 619
Foreign, controlling private forests --------- l
Defining watershed-protection forests ---- o28
Forest tax, aiding private owners —
Historical summary -------------- .......
Land classification by State -------- ..... 802
Relief principle. ..... ----------------
Wisconsin _________ ...... ---------------- ***•
Yield-tax principle _______________
Recreation permits ------------------------
Needed for Federal forestry program ------- 1631
Needed for fire-control program ------------ 1405
Eegulatory , effectiveness -------- .......... 101*
State ___________ ...... ___________________ 822
Required in national forestry plan, sum-
mary _ ______________________________ *
Restricting land use by owners --------- 997-1001
State, aiding private owners ...... --------
For forestry purposes, 1885-1911 ---------- 766
Forestry _________________________ ........ I224
Needed for forestry program ---------- - - - 160€
Requiring teaching of forestry in schools . 785
Weeks law, acquisition of land under ------ 1171
Wisconsin, severance tax ............... — 1193
Liquidation:
Private forest land _________ ................ 898
Policy:
Effect on forest resource ------ ....... ---- 895
Pacific coast ___________________ ...... ---- JJJ1
Rocky Mountain region ................. 938
Contributes humus to soil --------------- 310, 311
Destroyed in woodland pastures ----------- 325
Litter— Continued Page
Effect on soil freezing- 313
Influence on percolation - 311
Livestock, areas grazed by (table) 528
Class to which western range best suited . _ 540
Distribution on watershed ranges 542
Forest range 527
Grazing, in re wild-life management 498
Indian forests 621
Land needed for 1235
Southern forest range 547
Western range, management problems 535
(See also Grazing, Overgrazing, Range,
Forage.)
Locust borer -- 729
Lodgepole pine type, measures to prevent
devastation in 1443
Logging, costs versus log prices, Columbia
River (chart) - 924
Effect on run -off and erosion
Equipment and methods, research 1378
Ponderosa pine type .- I442
Practices needed to prevent devastation on
private land (table) - 1461
Selective. (See Selective logging.)
State regulation of
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine 1440
(See also Cutting, Lumbering.)
Longleaf-slash pine type, measures to prevent
devastation in.. r — I444
Practices to prevent devastation in (table) - - 1452
(See also Pines, southern.)
Lookouts, Indian forests (table)
State fire protection 818
Losses, timber, versus growth £>»
Volume - 218
Lower Mississippi River Basin:
Map.
359
StreVm-flow'and" flood problems 413-416
Lumber companies, forest planting by. -.1491, 145
Construction material, competition 251
Trends in use of 24»
Consumption (table) f*1
Estimates normal (table) 256
Hardwoods versus softwoods 257
Trends ~(~chafts~)V-~-~ "II - ' "II - - - - - - - - - - 246, 247
Direct-to-construction, consumption of
(table) 249
Drain on. ^
Imports and exports (table) ^47
Lumber industry:
Migration of— ........... 192
Statistical position, Lake States (table)
Lumber manufacturers, research by — -
Lumber production, United States (tables) . 216, 247
Lumber production, United States (chart) . 212
And consumption, Central States (table) .. 959
Lake States (table) ---
New England and Middle Atlantic
States (table) 969
Pacific coast (table) 914
Rocky Mountain region (table) 933
South (table) -----
Lumber, requirements, estimated normal-
Use in construction, factors affecting trends
jn 249
Use in'manuf acture (table) 253
Lumbering, Indian forests. 624
Ohio River Basin 391
M
McAtee, W. L., acknowledgment to—--- 495
McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act.. 683
1555
Expenditures (table) 1557
Modifications in national forestry plan 75
Proposed amendments l
Provision for pathology research 1137
Madagascar, regulation of private forests 1015
Maine, forest policies of .-- 734
Major problems and the next big step in
American forestry (section)
Mammals, a forest resource
Management: _
Business, of national forests __ 602
National forests (table) ...... 1306, 1307
New national forest units (table) 1316, LJls
1666
INDEX
Management— Continued
Costs— Continued
Private forests (table)-- „ 1320
State forests .-. 1318
Distribution of volume in residual stands
(charts) 906, 917, 922, 923, 926,
929, 934, 944, 949, 970, 972, 973, 974, 976.
Fishery 510, 516
Management:
Forest. (See Forest management.)
Forest lands:
Financial capacity of States for (table)... 1297
Future areas (table) 1281
Income 1320
Intensive 1455
Private, need for planning in 979
Waters bed protection, summary. 52
Forest range:
Program of 1537
Public and private (chart) 18
Growth under different types of (table) 231
Income:
Public forests (table)... 1322
Private forests (table) 1323
Indian forests 614
Land, requirements for adequate watershed
protection.. 1532
National forest:
Program, legislation needed for 1631
Program, proposed 1619
National forest land, costs, reasons for in-
crease 1308
National forest resources 577
Range:
National forests 587
Western problems of. 535
Resource, on representative national forests
(table) 1307
Restrictions, Federal regulation 1348
Sustained yield possibilities 228
To meet wood requirements. 241
Types of:
Areas allocated to (table) 231
Denned 231
Southern pines.. 945
Timber:
Cost on national forests 1310
Even-aged forest (chart) 904
Extensive, areas, summary 43
Intensive, areas, summary 43
Plans, on national forests 580
Selection forest (chart) 905
Wild-life -. 501
Woodland, Federal aid in 1213
Management systems, allotment of forest
areas under (table) 1282
Manti Canyon, Utah, floods on 447
Manufacture:
Lumber consumption in (table) 254
Paper, raw materials consumed in (table) . 259
Naval stores consumption in (table) 273
Manufacturing plants, unwise location and
excess construction 898
M aple sirup, a forest byproduct 555
Market:
Forest products, measures for holding 1357
Timber, foreign, relation to domestic sup-
plies 240
Marshall, Robert, author 463,633, 1543
Marsh, R. E., coauthor . 121,173
M assachusetts, forest policies of 735
Mechanical pulping process, wood require-
ments (chart) 269
Medicinal barks 557
Mellon Institute of Industrial Research 988
Merchandising, forest products 1364
Merrick, G. D., acknowledgment. 527
Methods, logging, equipment, research 1378
Methods of harvesting forest products re-
search in 676
Mexico, regulation of private forests 1025
Michigan Forest Fire Experiment Station 795
Michigan University, forest research by 986
Middle Atlantic States:
Agricultural land, abandonment in 158
Contrasting forest policies in 736
Forest range use in 552
Private forest conditions and management
in 966
Significance of Federal cooperation in 1071
State aid in... 1188
Page
Migration of forest industries 192
Mill stocks, 1923-31, changesin (table) 247
Mill waste, utilization, prevention, research . . 1385
Millwork, consumption of lumber for (table). 249
Mining, effect on world wood use 293
Mining property, Central States, forest man-
agement of 957
Minnesota University, forest research by 986
Minor byproducts of the forest (section) 554
Mississippi bluff lands and silt loam uplands,
critical watershed problems in 1521
Mississippi River:
Contribution of Arkansas and Red Rivers
to 404
Contribution of Missouri River to 400
Floods.. 412
See also Lower Mississippi River Basin and
Upper Mississippi River Basin.
Missouri Botanical Gardens 990
Missouri River Basin (map) 396
Missouri River Basin:
Lower 398-402
Upper.. . .. 397-398
Mistletoe 700, 1420
Modificati9n, properties of forest products,
research in 678
Moisture proofing, forest products, research
in 1370
Mold, injury to forest products 707
Monuments, national. (See National monu-
ments.)
Moose, on national forests (table) 493
Morrell, Fred, author 1203
Mortgage foreclosure, private ownership
breakdown . 872
Multiple-use, public ownership, forest land— 1294
Munger, Thornton T., author 869,1455
Municipal forests, watershed-protection con-
ditions and requirements on 1515
Municipal forests 843-845
Municipal parks, administration of, sum-
mary 484
Municipal land, forest wild life, areas on 1552
Munns, E. N., coauthor 1231,1509
Munns, E. N., acknowledgment to 173
Mycorrhiza 697
N
National Academy of Sciences, contribution
to forestry 8
National Committee on Wood Utilization.— 1146
National Forests, section 565
Acquisition program 574,1175
Acquisition recommended, cost of manage-
ment, summary 72
Acts authorizing land exchanges (table) — 1163
Adequacy of protection (chart) 599
Administration 602
Costs, existing. 1624
Cost of proposed additions (table) 1626
Efficiency (chart).— 603
Program, proposed 1619
Summary. 483
Alienated lands (table) 569
Alternatives to creation of 1110
Appropriation increases needed for proper
management 1313
Areas:
By regions (table). 569
Present and prospective (table).. 1264
Area burned versus rainfall (chart) 596
Area burned versus recreation use (chart) . . 597
Average annual expenditures, summary. . . 71
Benefits:
To counties 1098, 1105
To States 1098, 1105
Big-game population (table) 493
Contributions:
To public welfare 1100
To States and counties (table) 1106
Costs 1305
Of administration — 1104
Fire protection (table) - 1409
Protection, management (tables) 1306, 1307
Creation and contribution 565
Development of 1168
Disease control 601
Donations of land to— . 1167
INDEX
1667
Page
National Forests, eastern, development of. _. 1171
Effect on costs of local government, 1923-27
(table) 1108
Enterprise, summary 2
Expenditures for local administration,
1923-27 (table) 1104
Expenditures, segregation, capital-invest-
ment, and current charge increases 1314
Financial status, 1923-27 .. 1104
Fire control:
Allowable burn (table) 1399
Costs (table) 1409
Financial program 1413
Ratio of allowable to actual burn
(tables) - 1400, 1402
Forage use on.. 586
Form of Federal aid to the States 1095
History of 1096
Income 1323
Contributed to States 1326
Grazing 1324
Prospective 1636, 1637
Recreation 1324
Watershed 1325
Insect control . 600
Land closed to hunting (table) 508
Losses to States if administered as State
forests (table) 1121
Management and use of resources of 577
Net gain to States compared to alternative
uses (table) 1122
New units, cost of management and pro-
tection (tables) 1316, 1318
Planting, 20- year program 1506
Possible gross income 1325
Potential taxability of lands (table) 1114
Primeval areas reserved (table) . - 473
Probable effects of State ownership of 1118
Program _ 1587
Legislation needed for 1631
Property, how built up T 569
Proposed additions from public domain
(map) _ 573
Purchase program under Weeks law 1171
Range areas on 544
Range management on 587
Receipts and expenditures (table) 605
Recreational values 1101
Recreational use 591
Regional map 570
Relationship to forest situation 1095
Replanting, progress _ 585
Representative costs, resource management,
fire protection (table) 1307
Reservation C ommission, creation of 1 1 66
Southern, area grazed 551
Streams heading in (map) 589
Study of relationships, 1923-27 1101
Suggested additions from public domain. .. 646
System, development and present status. . 1168
Theoretical results of private and State
ownership of _ 1116
Theoretical returns from private and State
ownership (table).. 1117
Timber returns 1323
Total area (chart) 1097
Visitors to (tables) 465
Water conservation 589
Western, development of 1 170
Wilderness areas 473,476,485
National Monuments.. 633
Administration summary 482
Names, locations, areas, etc. (table) 636
National Parks. 633
Administration, summary 482
Closed to hunting (table) 508
Fire-control financial program 1413
Fire protection 635
Forest area of 633
Forestry program, proposed 1611
Insect control policy 1416
Names, locations, areas, etc. (table) 634
Progress, summary 4
Standards of establishment 633
Visitors to (tables) 465
Watershed-protection conditions 1517, 1519
National plan for American Forestry: Page
Activity programs required, summary 42
Agency programs required, summary 57
Capital investment required, summary 72
Cost and financing, summary 71
Essentials summarized in national plan 76
Financing, summary 74
Forest-land management 241
Legislation required, summary 74
Need for, to attain forestry objectives 40
Programs required and responsbility for
them, section 1229
Saw timber as major object 235
Natural reforestation, progress and require-
ments of research 670
Naval stores:
Consumption (table). 273
Harvesting, research 1379
Production 272
Table 273
Management for 955
Research by Bureau of Chemistry and
Soils 1566
Timber, availability 203
Navigation:
Facilities, Federal expenditures (table) 303
Northeastern drainages 334
Ohio River Basin.. 386
South Atlantic drainages 345
Netherlands, regulation of private forests 1026
Wood use 286
New England:
Agricultural land abandonment in 157
Contrasting forestry policies in 734
Forest range use in 552
Forest research projects, 1932 (table) 792
Private forest conditions and management- 966
Significance of Federal cooperation in 1071
State aid in 1185
New England and Middle Atlantic States:
Forest-planting needs 1501
Opportunities for intensive forestry. 1472
New Hampshire, forest policies 734
Newsprint consumption:
Table 259
Trends in 263
Versus newspaper size (chart) 262
New York:
Development of State forestry activities in. 753
Forest policy in the Adirondacks... 759
Forest research projects 1932 (table) 792
Problems in development of State forestry. 756
Reforestation program 799
Noncommercial forest land, ownership, pres-
ent and proposed (chart) 69
Noncommercial land ownership (chart) 11
North coast drainages, California watershed
conditions on 423
Northeastern drainages:
Critical watershed problems 1526
Map 332
Watershed conditions 331,338
North Rocky Mountain region:
Significance of Federal cooperation in. 1073
State aid in 1199
Norway, regulation of private forests 1026
Nurseries, forest:
Diseases affecting 695
State facilities... 799
Technique, fires, etc 1495
Nuts and seeds, edible 558
Oak, hardwoods, well-stocked stand, Mont
Alto State Forest (table) 974
Objectives, fire control— 1397
Allowable burn (table) 1399
Criteria regarding 1397
Objectives:
Forest research.. 651
Forest wild-life program 1547
Forestry , major, and a national plan 40
Saw-timber production as 235
Research, past, present and future 682
Timber management on national forests. .. 580
Obligations, public, public regulation 1349
O'Donnell, C. M., coauthor 733
1668
INDEX
Page
Ohio River Basin_.. 380-393
Floods 381
Lumbering 391
Map 379
Topography 369
Old-growth saw-timber stand, U.S. (charts) _ 175
Old-growth timber areas (chart) 128
O'Malley, Henry, author 510
Oregon and California Railroad land grant. . 647
Oregon, tax delinquency (tables) 873-874
Organization:
Development and facilities of, research 655
Industrial, forest products 1358
National forest, administrative efficiency
(chart) 603
Ornamental forest plants 558
Other Federal activities as forms of State aid
(section) 1135
4 ' Outing areas ' ' for recreation 479, 486
Overgrazing:
Effect on run-off and erosion, from forest
ranges 322
Effects on woodland pastures. 325
Farm woodlands 554
Influence on watershed values, Columbia
River Basin 457
Range management problem 535
Relation to watershed values in San Joa-
quin River Basin - 422
Owners, private. (See also Ownership.)
Private:
Need for improved practices by 1038
Attitude toward public acquisition by... 1147
Restrictions on, in United States 997
Share of protection costs in certain States
by 807
State aid received by (charts) ... 1179, 1185, 1186
Ownership:
Abandoned farm land, future 1275
Agricultural land, decreases in (charts) . . 156-157
Commercial forest lands:
Distribution (table) 131
Farm woodlands 136
Industrial 130
Public 137
Commercial and noncommercial land, pres-
ent and proposed (chart) 69
Cordwood stands (chart) 188
Effect on State or county resources (chart) . 1122
Farm woodland, future 1276
Federal:
Cordwood stands (table) 188
National forests 565
Saw timber (table) 185
Forest land:
Anticipated shifts in 1242
Areas of (chart). 11
Central States, classification of 957
Effect of Federal acquisition on 1161, 1162
Future - 1253, 1280
Future acquisition by public agencies
(table) 1298
Future distribution, by public agencies. . 1296
Lack of balance in (chart) 77
Missouri River Basin:
Lower 401
Upper .- 398
Northeastern drainages 338
O and C and C oos Bay land grants 647
Ohio River Basin 392
Pacific coast... 931
Present (table) 1255
Present and planned (chart) 52
Private (charts) 134-135
Private, consolidation and stabilization of 979
Private, financial aspects of, Pacific coast 913
Private, Lake States 963
Private, New England and Middle At-
lantic States 966
Private, problems of 891
Private, stabilization of 900
Public (charts) 136-138
Public, transfer from private 884
By States, desirability of 1262
Use by game, in relation to 502
Watershed protection value by (table)— 1286
Forest productivity (chart) 26
Ownership— Continued
Forest range, areas (table) 528
Forest, relation to watersheds, summary ._ 27
Future, of private commercial forest land
(table) 1272
Future public, areas for timber production
(table) 1283
Land, bearing on critical watershed situa-
tions 1522, 1523,
1524, 1525, 1527, 1528, 1529, 1530, 1531, 1532, 1533
Need of forest planting by 1506
Public domain disposal plan 644
Public domain, history of 637
Watershed conditions and requirements
correlated with 1512
Yazoo River watershed 417
National forest areas, present and pros-
pective (table) 1264
Nature of investment in forest enterprises
by 1125
Private:
Acts authorizing land exchanges (table). 1163
Administration and management of forest
land, summary 16
Aided by public land acquisition 1147
Annual cost of State-aid for (tables) ..1178-1179
Area industrial timberland, future 1271
Area industrial timberland, growth
classes, future (table) 1273
Complementary to public 1259
C ontribution to forestry, summary 7
Cordwood stands (table) .- 188
Cost of share in national plan 72
Effect on forest industries 15
Effect on public welfare, summary 16
Essential obligations in national plan 76
Evidences of breakdown in 870
Failure of laissez-faire policy of, summary. 41
Financing share in national plan 72
Forest land, basis 1256
Forest land, situation 869
Industrial (charts) 130-134
Industrial timberland, factors influencing
permanence 1265
Instability, summary 14
Limiting factor in timber supply, sum-
mary 23
Place in national forestry plan, sum-
mary 58
Possible forest income, summary 73
Present status of 1153
Possible forms of public aid to 1155, 1157
Problems of, summary 11
Program for watershed protection, sum-
mary 53
Projects receiving State aid (table) 1180
Public aid to, in national plan, summary. 60
Range lands 547
Regulation of lands in, in national plan,
summary 64
Responsibility for devastation and
deterioration, summary 12
Saw timber (table) 185
Share in forestry expense (chart) 10
State aid in fire protection to 1 180
State aid in forestry to 1177
State aid in forest planting to 1 181
State regulation of— 822
Tax-reverted land, problems of, sum-
mary 21
Watershed values, degree conserving 1287
Public:
As aid to private forestry 1147
Complementary to private 1259
Essential obligations of, in national plan. 76
Estimated returns of, in national plan,
summary 73
Forest land, basis 1256,1259
Forest land, basis division between
agencies 1261
Forest land, multiple use of 1294
Justification of, summary 67
In national plan, summary 67
Program for, cost, summary
Purposes of 1158
Relation to responsibility for forestry 1593
Remedy for forest exploitation 994
Share in forestry expense (chart) 10
Share in forestry enterprise (chart) 78
INDEX
1669
Ownership— Continued
Public— Continued
Timber production through 1278
Watershed areas recommended for (table) 1293
Watershed protection 1286
Watershed protection areas feasible for . . 1291
Responsibilities, costs, and returns (sec-
tion) 1303
Saw timber (tables) 185,187
Saw timber stand, U.S. (chart) 186
Share of devastated land (charts) -. 12
Share in forestry activities (chart) 19
Share in timber-growing job (chart). 69
Southern forest range 551
Stability prerequisite to forestry 1253
State:
Definition of. 824
Areas in 824
Cordwood stands (table) 188
Forest areas, present and prospective
(table) 1264
Forest land 823
Importance in fire protection 819
Saw timber (table) 185
Timber supplies 184
Watershed conditions classified by:
Colorado River Basin.. 437
Columbia River Basin 456
Pacific Cascade drainages 460
Upper Rio Grande Basin... 443
Western forest range 544
Woodland, on farms, future (table) 1278
Ozark-Ouachita:
Forests, conditions in 408
Area, critical watershed problems 1527
Pacific Cascade drainages:
Floods.. 458
Irrigation 656
Map 451
Water supplies, demand for 458
Watershed conditions on 458
Watershed conditions classified by owner-
ship 459
Waterpower resources 458
Pacific coast:
Forest planting needs 1504
Opportunities for intensive forestry 1480
Private forest conditions and management- 911
Pacific coast region, significance of Federal
cooperation in 1073
Pacific slope dense forests, critical watershed
problem 1529
Pacific States, State aid in 1198
Paint and varnish research 991
Painting, forest products, research 1370
Paper:
Consumption by kinds (chart) 261
Consumption of, by kinds (table) 259
Consumption, per capita (chart) 258
Consumption trends in 262
Consumption, world's (table) 293
(See also Pulp.)
Paper boards. (See Boards, paper.)
Paper industry, Lake States (table) 963
Paper machine operating, research. 1385
Paper:
Manufacture, material, raw, consumed in
(table) 259
Requirements, future 263
Imports (table) 265
Parasites:
Insect 731
Plant 695
Parks, national. (See National parks.)
State. (See State parks.)
Pathology, forest:
Federal activities in 1135
Projects in 695
Research and control, status of 717
Research , private and quasi-public 987
Pecans . 557
Pennsylvania, development of State forests
in 763
Pennsylvania Forest Research Institute 794
Percolation, influence of forest cover on. 311
Personnel:
Indian forests 628
Needed in research 665
Page
Physiography, upper Mississippi River
Basin 359
Piedmont Plateau , erosion on 342
Piedmont and upper coastal plains, critical
watershed problems 1523
Pine(s):
Longleaf and slash, Florida (table) 950
Longleaf and slash, management for naval
stores production 955
Shortleaf and loblolly, stands in southern
Arkansas (table) 946
Southern, intensive management of 1477
Selective cutting of 952
Stands and increments (table) 944
Typical stands, condition and manage-
ment 945
White, enemies, disease. 712,714
Enemies, insect 729
Pinonseed industry 557
Pisgah game preserve management plan 504
Plan, national. (See National plan.)
Planning, national, to attain forestry objec-
tives 41
Plant Industry, Bureau of:
Author 1419
Forest pathology activities.. 695, 1135
Forestry program, proposed 1613
Plantations, forest diseases affecting 696
Planting, area available for, and 20-year
program (chart) 50
Areas covered by (table) 1497
Characteristics of cut and burned sites
(table). ._ 1493
Costs 1497
Costs, estimated... 1508
Difficulties of. 1493
Diseases relating to 1419
As an element of intensive forestry 1461
Expenditure (chart) 20
Federal aid 1336
Forest, accomplishmens 1496
Forest Service 20-year program 1506
Industrial, success of 1498
By lumber companies 1491
As mode of unemployment relief 1492
Nursery methods 1495
National forests... 585
Program, summary 50
Reasons for 1488
Regional, aspects of Federal aid 1078
Regional needs for 1501
Results of Federal cooperation in 1077
Site characteristics, study needed 1493
Source of seed for 1494
State aid to private owners in 1181
State share, regulation 1350
Survival 1497
Timber production 1490
20-year program of 1500
Watershed protection.. 1488
(See also Reforestation.)
Watershed protection, Columbia River
Basin.. 457
Great Basin 449
Pacific Cascade drainages 460
Upper Rio Grande Basin 444
Plywood, world production 294
Poisonous plants on the range 543
Poland, regulation of private forests 1028
Policies, forestry:
(See also forestry policies.)
Foreign , in private forest regulation 1037
Ponderosa pine:
Lodgepole pine belt streamflow, importance
of-. — . - 1530
Measures to prevent devastation 144 1
Table - 1452
Typical stand, eastern Oregon (table) 930
Portugal, regulation of private forests 1028
Possible program of public regulation (sec-
tion) 1343
Posts, fence, drain 217
Power, water, industrial importance of
(table) - 302
Precipitation:
Arkansas and Red River drainages 405
Deficiency and fire on national forests 596
East Gulf drainages 351
Interception by forest cover 308
1670
INDEX
Precipitation— Continued Page
Mississippi River Basin, upper _ 370
Missouri River B asin, lower 400
Ohio River Basin 380
Quantity and distribution 306
Precipitation and run-off (chart). 319
Predators on forest range 544
Preservation, wild life, on national forests. . . 593
Prevention, mill waste, research 1385
Price indices:
C otton versus southern yellow pine (chart) . 943
Log versus logging costs, Columbia River
(chart) 924
Selling versus production costs, ponderosa
pine (chart) 938
Stumpage, trend, southern yellow* pine
(chart) 942
Primeval areas " for recreation (tables) _471, 473, 485
Private agencies, forest research, program for. 1571
Private forests:
Administration, summary. 484
Conditions, regional 896-911
Cordwood on- 893
Economic size 900
Extent 892
Investment in 893
Financial aspects of Pacific coast _ 913
Potential productivity (chart) 26
Saw timber on 893
Stabilization 900
Sustained yield practice on 896
Private forest land:
Cut-over annually (chart) 13
Expenditures needed to prevent devastation 1451
Fire control, allowable burn (table) 1399
Tinder management (charts) 17
Forest, wild life management on 1549, 1551
Protected and unprotected (chart) 13
State, fire protection costs (table) . 1408
Used by game 507
Watershed-protection conditions and re-
quirements. 1513
Private forestry:
Distribution of volume in residual stands
after cutting (charts) 906,
917, 922, 923, 926, 929, 934, 944, 949, 970, 972,
973, 974, 976.
Financing of 1125, 1129
Status and opportunities of 891
Private land, agricultural, watershed pro-
tection, conditions and requirements 1512
Private owner, or ownership. (See Owner-
ship, private).
Private share:
In fire costs (table) 819
In forest activities (chart) 19
In forestry expenditures (chart) 10
Probable future distribution of forest land
ownership (section) 1253
Products, factory, lumber consumption in... 253
Farm, research 1372
Forest. (See Forest products.)
Marketable, lower costs forest products re-
search... 1372
Production, forage:
Eastern United States 552
South 547
Western.. 530
Forest products, improvement 1362
Small timber holdings.. 1361
Lumber (table) 247
United States (chart) 212
Naval stores (table) 273
Pulp, world's (table) 293
Timber:
Areas, future public ownership (table)-. 1283
Land needed for 1235
National forest (table) 576
Needed areas, summary 43
Public land acquisition (table) 1295
Public share in (chart) 78
Timber, provision for, summary— 44
Wild life and... 497
Productivity, potential forest land (chart) ... 26
Protection:
Against fire (section) 1395
Against forest diseases (section) 1419
Agencies needed 1422
Protection— Continued Page
Against forest insects (section) 1415
Allowable burn (table) 1399
Costs, national forests 1306-1307
New national forest units 1316-1318
Disease, Indian forests 627
Program, summary 45
Expenditures, national forests (tables). 1408-1409
Federal regulation. 1349
Protection, fire:
Adequacy on national forests (chart) . 599
Areas and costs, 1915 and 1931 (table)-.. . 1057
Benefits to State from 804
Cooperative, areas involved (chart) " 1059
Expenditures (charts) 1061,1067
Cost on national forests 1308
Costs on representative national forests
(table) 1307
Development of as State policy 754
Distribution of costs of 1065
Efficiency 813
Expenditure (chart) 20
State, regional, per acre 809
Federal aid to States 1208, 1332
Financing of 1060
Growth of as cooperative activity, 1911-31
(table) 776
Indian forests 626
Land abandonment, lessens 803
Major activity of State forestry organiza-
tions 805
National forests. 595
Need for trained personnel 815
Organized, area covered by 1059
Prevention, stressed by States 806
Program, summary 44
Progress and requirements of research 672
Results of Federal aid in 1074
Significance of Federal cooperation by
regions 1071
Simple, defined 230
Standards 811
State, aid in 803
Developments and difficulties 814
Equipment for 805
Financing 807
Organizations and methods 805
Personnel, selection of 807
Private owners, to.. 1180
Private progress in, and (chart) 1059, 1061
Providing for regulation (map) lOOO
Regulation 1345
Results (tables) 807,809,814
Share, regulation 1350
Forests, as an element of intensive forestry . 1462
Forest diseases, organized control 1423
Cost on national forests 1309
Forest insects, cost on national forests 1309
Indian forests 627
National forests _ 600
Program, summary 46
State activity 821
State, Federal aid... 1336
State regulation 1345
Forest land, needed and given (chart) 13
National forests, area burned versus precip-
itation (chart) 596
Area burned versus recreation use (chart) _ 597
Public interests, State regulation 1346
Recreation areas 480
Regulation, Federal Government 1351
State and private land versus burns (chart) . 1070
Watershed, areas feasible for public owner-
ship 1291
Areas recommended for public owner-
ship 1293
Forest land ownership (table) 1286
Indian forests 623
Private land, degree conserving values. . . 1287
Problems of, summary 25
Program summary 51
Public acquisition, objective.. - 1291
Public acquisition, private areas (table). 1288
Public forests, establishment, limiting
factors.... 1288
Public land acquisition (table) 1295
Public ownership 1286
Pruning as an element of intensive forestry. . 1456
INDEX
1671
Page
Prussia, protection forests in 1018
Public acquisition, an aid to private forestry. 1147
Public aid:
Expenditure (chart). 20
Federal. State, 1935-39 compared 1932
(table) 1340
Principles underlying .. 1329
State and Federal, 20-year program (table). 1341
(See also Aid, public.)
Public:
Commercial forest land owned by 137
Contribution to forestry (chart) 10
Public domain:
Additions to national forests from 669
Administration, summary. 483
Areas valuable for watershed protection... 639
Disposal plan.. 644
Other Federal forest land (section) 637
Fire control, financial program 1412
Fire protection 641
Forest-land area 639
Forest range on 646
Program summary 65
History 637
Management recommended for watershed
protection 1536
Probable receipts from management 647
Problems of, summary 21
Proposed additions to national forests
(map) .- 573
Range management 642
Problems 1538
St ates and counties, problems of, summary. 22
Timber areas. — 640
Timberland management 640
Watershed-protective conditions and re-
quirements 1520
Watershed protection needed 643
Potential productivity (chart) 26
Public forest regulation. (See Regulation,
pub\ic.)
Public:
Forestry extension needs 1582
Hunting grounds, State 830
Land cut over annually (chart) 13
Under forest management (charts) 17
Protected and unprotected (chart) 13
Public obligations. (See Obligations.)
Public ownership. (See Ownership, public.)
Public regulation of private forests (section). 993
State, summary 7
Public share in forest activities (chart) 19
Puerto Rico, forest conditions and problems. 1641
Forest conditions and problems 1646
Pulp:
Consumption (table) 259
Mills, investment in Pacific coast 915
Requirements... 261-263
And paper, research 1379
Research 990
Wood used for (table) 182
World production (table). 293
World wood use for 293
(See also Paper.)
Pulping new species 1382
Processes, improvement 1381
Wood requirements of. 195
Pulp wood:
Drain.. 217
Industry, Lake States (table). 963
Production, Lake States... 961
South 941
Requirements 258
Domestic and imported (chart) 267-269
Imports 264
Supplies 182
Availability 195
Purchase areas, national forests, by regions
(table) 569
Purchase units in national forest program 574
Quarantine:
Bureau of Plant, proposed forestry pro-
gram 1614
Federal plant 715, 720, 1135, 1140
Quasi-public expenditures (chart) 10
Quasi-public forest research, program, sum-
mary. 57
168342°— 33— vol. 2 40
R Page
Rags, consumption in paper manufacture
(table) 259
Railroads, effect on world wood use 292
Railways, steam, mileage (table) 271
Rainfall. (See also Precipitation, run-off.)
Range, forest:
And forest influences 675
Extent and distribution 144
Investigations by Forest Service 1559
Land needed for 1235
Livestock, forests as 95
Management, public domain 642
Public and private is
National forest, use 586
On national forest 686
Overgrazing on 322
Western, management principles 640
(See also Forest range.)
Rayon, pulp requirements for 263
World production 294
Receipts and expenditures, national forests.. 605
Recreation, forest 453
Administration 432
Camp-sites areas 477,486
Cost of management, national parks 1312
Evaluation 454
Factors in 435
Forest Service program proposed 1621
General problems 479
Income from, possible. 1324
Indian forests 624
Investments in 455
Land needed for. 141, 1234
On national forests 590
"Outing areas" 478,486
"Primeval areas" 472,485
Problems, summary ._ 29
Program for 53,1543
Public land acquisition (table) 73
Public share in (chart,). 73
Purposes 468
Relation of forestry to 434
Reservation for (table) J" 143
Residence areas _. 478,486
Roadside areas 476,486
Source of 93
"Superlative areas" 471,485
Survey proposed 1543
Types of areas for 53,470
Use for, relation of disease to 705
Volume and value 465
Wild life values in (table) __ 495
Wilderness areas 473,476,485
Recreationists on forest land (table) _ 465
Red River drainage (map) 359
Red spruce, flat type, White Mountains
(table) 972
Redwood type, measures to prevent devasta-
tion in.... 1443
Reforestation. (See also Planting.)
Agricultural land available for 152,166
National program of i486
Natural, estimated areas (table) 1488
Satisfactory minimum stocking 1488
In the South 1504
Planting, on national forests. ._ 585
Retarded by insect activities 729
State, activities and policies 798-9
Refuges, game, State 830
Regions, forest. (See Forest regions.)
Regional interdependence for timber supplies 237
Regulation(s) :
Cutting 1002
Federal, enforcement 1349
Protection forests , classification 1 347
Restrictions on management 1348
Scope 1347
Fire protection, States' share... 1350
Mandatory, obstacles to 1045
Practices justifying - 1042
Optional, proposed policy 1039
Of private forests, desirability in United
States 1038
In national plan, summary 64
Planting, States' share.. 1350
Policies abroad... 1037
1672
INDEX
Regulations— Continued Page
Public, arguments for and against 1047
Cost 1351
Desirable policies 1044
Division of responsibility 1343
Federal responsibility 1344
Obligations.- .;. 1349
Of private forests, as remedy for exploita-
tion -. -- 994
Of private property 995
State, scope of 1345
State 821
Cutting 1346
Fire protection .- 1345
Insects, disease 1345
Providing for control of subsidized forests
(map) -- 1002
Requiring fire protection (map) . 1000
Requiring slash disposal (map) 998
Responsibility- -.'. 1344
Taxation, State 1350
Reproduction, forest, grazing, damage to 537
Requirements:
In research 669
Lumber, estimated normal 256
Paper, future 263
Relation of imports to (table) 265
Plan for forest management to meet (table) . 242
Pulp, for cellophane 263
For paper boards 261
For rayon - 263
Pulpwood - 258
Imports in relation to... 264
Sil vicultural, of forest land owners 1002
Timber, area needed for (chart) 48,49
Area needed to meet, summary 43
General outlook 277
Growing stock needed to meet (table). . _ 233
Growth necessary to meet (table) 232
National.. 245
National, areas needed . . 1280
Normal, present and prospective 236
Summary 23
Wood, national, a major forestry objective. 40
Russia (table) 288
World's continuous.-- 296
Research, better use of wood 1367
Forest, entomology 1564
Erosion-streamflow. 1563
Expenditures (table) 1557
By Federal agencies 1555
Federal program, proposed legislation
needed for 1631
Forest biology. - 1566
Forest economics 1562
Forest land classification 1564
Forest products 1560
By the Forest Service as a form of State
aid 1140
Forest Service, program for 1556
Forest Service program, proposed 1616
Fire weather 1568
National arboretum 1568
National institute of, recommended 1573
Naval stores 1566
Need for Federal aid to States 1216
In nursery technique, some findings 1495
Management 1557
Pathology, Federal — 1135
Products. (See Forest products research.)
Program for 1555
Program of State expenditures involved
(table) - - 1607
By quasi-public and private agencies 1571
Range investigations 1559
Forest Service 1140
State 1183
By States 1569
State, expansion proposed 1603
(See also Forest research.)
Forage recommended for watershed pro-
tection:
Columbia River Basin 457
Great Basin 449
Upper Rio Grande Basin 444
Beseeding western ranges 539
Reservations, Indian, forest land and timber
(table). 612
Page
' ' Residence areas ' ' for recreation .. 478,486
Resolution, Senate, 57. u
Resources, forest, Indian reservations 607
Grazing land, Indian forests 621
National-forest land 119
National forest, management and use 577
Natural, results of too rapid exploitation of. 106
Timber, present and potential . 1 73
Wildlife, State 830
Restrictions on use of fire by forest-land
owners 998
Restocking areas, industrial (chart) . . 134
And planting program (chart) 50
Present and proposed (chart) 225
Public (chart)... 136
Timber stand (chart) 178
Woodland (chart) 135
Revegetation of western ranges 539
Revenue, national forests, new sources, now
free-.. , 1324
Ringland, Arthur C., acknowledgment to. . _ 288
Rio Grande Basin, lower (map) 359
Rio Grande. (See also Upper Rio Grande
Basin.)
Rio Puerco River, N.Mex., floods and erosion
on... _ 439
Roads:
Federal-aid, cost (table) 1 087
Necessity of, for intensive forestry 1464
And trails, Indian forests (table) 626
' ' Roadside areas ' ' for recreation 476, 486
Roberts, Paul H.:
Author 1547
Coauthor 489,1587
Rocky Mountain forests: Arkansas and Red
River drainages, conditions in 407
Rocky Mountain region, northern:
Forest planting needs 1504
Opportunities for intensive forestry 1479
Private forest conditions and management. 931
Rocky Mountain region, southern:
Forest planting needs 1505
Opportunities for intensive forestry 1479
Rodents on forest range 544
Rosin. (See Naval stores.)
Rotation grazing 539
Rubber, native forest plants containing 560
Rumania, regulation of private forests 1029
Run-off. (See also Stream flow.)
From agricultural land, increase with slope. 327
From burned areas, southern California. . . 427
Effect of fire on 316
Logging on 321
Influence of forest cover on 306
Litter on 310
Ohio River Basin — 387
From overgrazed forest ranges 323
And precipitation (chart) 319
In Yazoo River flood, measurements of 416
Russia, regulation of forests 1030
Wood requirements, 5-year plan (table) 288
Wood use 287
S
Sacramento River Basin, watershed condi-
tions in 422
St. Lawrence River Basin:
Dune lands -- 366
Erosion problems of 366
Lower (map). 332
Mountain areas 366
Upper (map) 371
Sales, timber, management on national
forests.. 582
San Joaquin River Basin, watershed condi-
tions in— 421
Sap stain of lumber 707
Sawmills, investment in Pacific coast 914
Saw timber:
Areas:
Industrial (chart) 134
Public (chart). - 136
Woodland (chart)... 135
Cull due to decay in (table) 702
C ut and destroyed annuall y ( table) 207
208-209, 74b, 75a
Cut, use, and growth (chart) 23S
INDEX
1673
Saw timber— Continued
Drain:
Charts - 209-212
And growth (chart) 24
E uropean consumption (table) 288
Future growth and drain (table).. 223
Growth (table) 79a
Major objective in national plan... 235
Ownership (tables) 185,187
Present and proposed stands (chart) 226
On private land (table).. 893
Producing areas, present and proposed
(chart) 225
Stands:
On Indian lands 612
Present distribution 174
Present volume 174
Present volume (charts) 174-7,190
Sustained yield volumes (table) 229
Total stand, hardwoods and softwoods
(table) 176
Scenic areas for recreation 471
Schnur, Luther Q., coauthor 1509
Schools, forest:
responsibility for forestry. 1598
(See also Forest Schools.)
Seasoning, forest products, research 1374
Second-growth:
Saw timber stand, United States (charts) .. 175-6
Timber areas (chart) 128
Total stand (table) 176
Secretary of Agriculture, letter of transmittal
from 3a
Seed:
Forest, testing and certification 1506
Improvement work, suggested organization
for.— 1494
Source of:
Importance in forest planting 1494
Influence on disease conditions 698-699
Trees:
Douglas fir type as related to devastation. 1433
Hardwoods 1449
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine 1440
Selection cutting:
Douglas fir type as related to devastation.. 1433
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine 1440
(See also Selective cutting.)
Selection forest (chart) 905
Selection and grading of forest products, re-
search in 677, 1373
Selective cutting 904
A pplication to southern properties 953
Of Douglas fir 917
As an element of intensive forestry 1459
Of southern pines 952
Stumpage realization values (table) 908
(See ateo Selection cutting.)
Semiarid woodlands and brush lands, erosion
problems on 1531
Senate Resolution 57 Ib
Senate, United States, resolution requesting
report _. __. 81
Sheep, mountain, on national forests 493
Shooting grounds, public ._ 509
Shortleaf-loblolly pine— hardwoods type,
measures to prevent devastation in 1445
Table... 1452
Show, S.B.:
Author. ..... 1253
Coauthor 85, 1587
Shrinkage prevention, forest products, re-
search 1369
Silt load of the Arkansas River 404
Silting:
C hannel , West Gulf drainages 361
Reservoir, following fire 424
Silviculture:
Private land, distribution of volume on
residual stands (charts) - - . 906, 917, 922, 923,
926,929, 934, 944, 949, 970, 972, 973, 974, 976
Profitable, examples of 1473, 1474
Progress in, on national forests 582
Systems.. 904
Silvicultural practice, Indian forests 621
Silvicultural requirements of forest -land own-
ers 1002
Slash disposal:
Compulsory, State 823
Douglas fir type as related to devastation. _ 1434
Slash disposal— Continued Page
Hardwoods 1449
Larch-fir type 1438
Ponderosa pine type 1442
Private land, needed to prevent devastation
(table) 1451
Softwoods 1446
States providing for regulation (map) 998
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine type 1440
Spruce-hemlock fog belt, relation to devas-
tation 1432
Western white pine type 1436
Smelter fumes:
Disturbance of forest cover, effect on stream-
flow and erosion 325
Erosion from areas devastated by, Colum-
bia River Basin. 452
Kennet area in California devastated by,
erosion conditions on 423
Smith, Herbert A., coauthor 733
Snow melt retarded by forest cover 308
Society of American Foresters, survey of pri-
vate commercial forests 896
Social benefits, full realization of, a major
forestry objective 41
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire
Forests 8
Social values of wild life 491,493
Soda pulping process, wood requirements
(chart) 269
Softwoods:
Cord wood stand (table) 181
Lumber, world exports, postwar (table) 291
Measures to prevent devastation in. 1446
Table... 1452
Production, 1899-1931 (table) 247
Requirements 257
Saw timber stand 174-177
Eastern and western, total (table) 179
Present and proposed (chart) 226
Total, United States, (charts) 174-177
Total stand, all timber 184
Table ." 176
Used for paper, stand (table) 182
Soils:
Arkansas and Red River drainages 406
Evaporation from, reduced by forest cover. 309
Forest:
Absorptive capacity of.. 312
Humus content of (table)... 311
Freezing, influence of litter on 313
Lower Mississippi River Basin, erosibility
of .-.. 414
Ohio River Basin.. 300
Upper Mississippi River Basin 372
(See also Erosion.)
South:
Forest planting needs 1504
Opportunities for intensive forestry 1476
Private forest conditions and management- 939
South Atlantic drainages:
Character of forest as influencing watershed
conditions.. 347
Climate and physiography 341
Erosion 342
Floods 346
Navigation.. 345
Water power 345
Water supplies, urban 346
South coast drainages, California, watershed
conditions in 425
South Rocky Mountain region:
Significance of Federal cooperation in 1074
State aid in 1200
Southern Appalachians, erosion in 344
Southern forest range lands 547
Southern States:
Agricultural land abandonment in. 161
Forest problems in 739
Significance of Federal cooperation in 1072
Stateaid in 1196
Tax delinquency- 877
Spain, regulation of private forests 1031
Sparhawk, W. N.:
Acknowledgment to 173, 1253
Author 993, 1343
Coauthor 85,279
Speed of attack, vital need of State fire organi-
zation 818
1674
INDEX
Page
Spruce-fir type, measures to prevent devasta-
tion in 1443
Spruce-hemlock fog belt type:
Measures to prevent devastation in 1431
Practices needed to prevent devastation
in (table) 1451
Spruce pulpwood requirements (chart) 268
Stain, injury to forest products by 707
Stands:
All timber _ 184
United States (chart) 178
Indian forests (table) 612
Remaining, availability, summary 23
Saw-timber:
Having conversion value (chart) 190
Ownership (table) 185
Present and proposed (chart) 226
Timber, world's, decreasing 295
United States (charts) 174-8, 186
Stand tables:
Bottomland hardwoods, lower Mississippi
Valley 951
Douglas fir, western Washington 920
Longleaf and slash pine, Florida 950
Northern hardwoods, White Mountains. .. 970
Oak hardwo9ds, Mont Alto State Forest.. 974
Ponderosa pine, eastern Oregon 930
Red spruce, White M ountains 972
Shortleaf and loblolly pine, southern Ar-
kansas -- 946,947
Sugar pine, California 927
Western white pine, Idaho 936
White pine, hemlock, and hardwoods,
Pennsylvania 977
State accomplishments and plans (section) _ _ 733
State agricultural experiment stations, forest
research by 796
State aid:
Federal forest-insect activities as a form of. . 1 139
Federal forest pathology activities as a
form of - 1135
Federal program, proposed, legislation
needed -- 1632
Forest Service research as 1140
Forestry, program for - 1601
In forestry, summary 6
Necessity for, reduced by forest produc-
tivity. i--- 113
To private owners and local political units
(section) • 1177
Program of, State expenditures involved
(table) 1607
State contribution to forestry, summary 5
State, county, and town share in fire costs
(table) — - - 819
State-Federal aid:
Future expenditures 1933-39 (table) 1340
Protection, insects 1336
Indirect --- 1330
20-year program (table) 1341
State fire protection:
Federal aid in - 1332
Organization - 818
Regulation - 1350
State forests:
Area (tables) 825,1264
Definition 824.831,833
Development of, in Pennsylvania 763
Income from 1326, 1636, 1638
Management costs 1318
And parks, summary of 6
Program for 1603
Reforestation program for 1606
Regional concentration 839
Visitors to (table) 464
Western, areas 840
State forest land:
Administration 823,832,834
Not in forests and parks (table). -- 826
Ratio to all commercial (table) 827
Tax reverted 829
Used by game 507
Watershed protection conditions and re-
quirements 1516
State forest planting, regulation 1350
State forest research... 1569
Program, summary 56
Page
State forestry, organization for 1600
State forestry organizations:
Need of civil-service status 816
Present status 773
State game commission 1553
State game refuges and hunting grounds 830
State land:
Fire control , allowable burn (table) 1 399
Forest wild life areas on 1552
Private land, fire-protection costs (table). . . 1408
Statelegislation required, national plan, sum-
mary 74
State and local governments, responsibility for
forestry 1599
State, management .of .forest lands, relative
financial capacity (table) 1297
State organizations for forestry, summary 5
State parks:
Area (table) 825
Definition. 824, 831
And forests, administration, summary 483
State participation in national forest income. 1326
State range lands, western 546
State regulation:
Of private owners 822
Scope - 1345
State responsibility:
In fire-control program 1405
Public regulation.. 1344
State taxation regulation 1350
Steer, H. B., author 607
Stewart, George, acknowledgment 527
Stock. (See Livestock.)
Stock, forest planting:
Distribution by regions 1930 (table) 1079
(See also Planting Stock.)
Stock, growing. (See Growing Stock.)
Stocking:
Deficiency in cut-over California and south-
ern softwood stands (table) 866
Deficiency in cut-over hardwoods (table) . . 863
Stone, J. H., coauthor 489
Straw, consumption in paper manufacture
(table) 259
Streams heading in national forests (map). 589
Stream flow:
Affected by logging 321
Conditions:
Hudson Bay drainage 368
Upper Mississippi River Basin 370
East Gulf drainages 351,354
Forest influence on, foreign laws recognizing 328
Forest planting for regulation of 1489
Influence of forest cover on, study in Clear-
water River drainage 453
Ohio River Basin.. 387
Power development from 302
(See also Run-off, watershed.)
Stream-flow erosion, research by Forest
Service 1563
Stream-flow problems:
Critical, Appalachian Mountains 1527
In lower Mississippi River Basin 413
Magnitude of 300
West Gulf drainages:
Character of flow 360
Floods. - 360
Silting of channels.. 361
Stream-flow utilization 360
Stream-flow regulation, a program for 1509
Stream-flow and water conservation on na-
tional forests --- 589
Structure, wood, research 1386
Stumpage:
Private, Federal acquisition, future supply. 1284
Western, classification of, on conversion
basis 1157
Stumpage price trend, Southern yellow pine
(chart) - — - 942
Stumpage realization values, selective cutting
(table) - — - 908
Stuart, R. Y., forester, signature, letter of
transmittal *
Subsidies, present public, influence on per-
manent ownership of private industrial
timberland 1269
INDEX
1675
Page
Sugar pine-ponderosa pine type, measures to
prevent devastation 1439
Table. 1452
Sugar pine, typical stand, California (table) . 927
Sulphate pulping process, wood requirements
(chart),
ulphit
Sulphite pulping process, wood requirements
(chart) 269
Summary:
Of arguments for and against public regu-
lation. 1047
Of expenditures for private forest research. 992
Historical, of forest taxation legislation 800
Of progress in State forestry, 1885-191 1 766
Of report on S.Res. 175 1
Of results of Federal aid in forest-fire pro-
tection 1074
Of State forestry movement, 1819-85 .. 742
Summer range on forest land 537
"Superlative areas" for recreation 471,485
Supervision required in research 668
Supply, future timber, Federal acquisition,
private stumpage.— 1284
Surveys:
Fishery 524
Forest and economic, by States 1184
Forest, national program, proposed.-. 1617
Land classification 1246
Sustained yield:
Essential for permanent communities 110
Forest products, selective logging 1360
Possibilities (table) 228,229
Selective logging research 1378
Under three management plans. 242
Sustained -yield management, private:
New England and Middle Atlantic States. 968
Pacific coast 911
Sustained-yield practice, extent on private
forest lands 896
Sweden, regulation of private forests 1032
Switzerland:
Example of forest management in 906
Regulation of private forests. 1034
Wood use 286
Tanganyika, regulat ion of private forests 1035
Tanning, raw materials for 555
Tax delinquency:
Causes 880
Idaho (table) 875
Lake States 876
Land acquisition through 1250
Oregon (tables) 873,874
Other regions and States 879
Private ownership break-down 870
Reason some land remains private 883
Southern States 877
Washington (table). 875,876
(See also Abandoned lands, Abandonment.)
Tax reversion:
Delinquency, extent 872
Future trends 887
Private ownership break -down 871
Tax-reverted forest land, problems of, sum-
mary.... _ 21
Lake States 835
State.. ....... 829
Tax-title lands, present provision for dis-
position, examples 885
Taxation:
Effect of productive forests on.. 112
Forest. (See also Legislation, Forest taxa-
tion.)
History of legislation 800
In State forestry policies. 800
State regulation 1350
Telephone lines, Indian forests (table) 626
Thinning, as an element of intensive forestry. 1456
Ties. (See Crossties.)
Tillotson, C. R., author 843,733
Timber, adequate provision for, summary.. 43
Annual commodity cut (table)... 214,215
Annual cut, consumption, and growth
(table) 1205
Availability 189
Summary 24
Budget, problem of balancing, summary. . 22
Page
Timber, Consumption, European, trends. .. 283
Cut (table) 210,211
Annual (chart) 13
Or destroyed annually (table) 206, 208
Indian lands (table) 613
Russia 287
Use, and growth (chart).. 239
Drain. (See Drain.) (Charts) ...206-211
Exports, world trends in (tables) 290
Foreign supplies in relation to markets 240
Great Britain, imports by (table) 284
Growing job, public and private (chart) ... 69
Growth. .. . 220
Chart 24
Holdings, small, production forest prod-
ucts 1361
Indian lands, volume 613
Investment, earnings due to growth (table). 909
Killed, deterioration of 706
Disease, insects, etc. (table) 219
Fire annually (table) 218
Losses.. 218
Due to insects 724
Management, extensive, areas, summary.. 43
Public domain ._ 640
Forest Service program, proposal 1620
Intensive, areas, summary 43
Plans on national forests 580
Ownership 184
Private acreages, Pacific coast 911
Timber production:
Areas available for 149
Areas needed for, summary 43
In East, balancing grazing with 554
Forest planting for 1490
Intensive methods of 1455
Land available for 125
Land needed for 1235
National-forest acquisition for (table) 576
Public domain 640
Wild life and 497
(See also Intensive forestry.)
Timber requirements:
Area needed for (chart) 48-49
Estimated growth necessary to meet
(table) 232
Growing stock needed to meet (table) 233
Our national 245
Normal, present and future 84
Versus supplies.. 235
Timber resources (chapter heading) 171
Present and potential 173
World, decreasing... 295
Timber, returns, national forests 1323
Saw. (See Saw timber.)
Sawed, production by States (table) 1206
Timber stand of United States 184
Timber supply, interdependence of States 1205
Regional interdependence 237
Timber use on national forests.. 579
World use in construction 294
Timberland(s):
Cut-over, abandonment 881
Indian reservations 607
Industrial, area, future 1271
O. & C. and Coos Bay land grants 647
Old-growth and second-growth (chart) 128
Private industrial, factors influencing per-
manent ownership 1265
Uncut, abandonment 882
(See also Forest land.)
Topography:
Arkansas and Red River drainage 405
East Gulf drainages 352
Ohio River basin... 378
Town forests (table) 843,845
Training:
Fire fighting, State organization.. 818
Personnel, needed in research. 665
Transpiration, canyon-bottom vegetation,
California 426
Transportation, as an element of intensive
forestry 1464
Forest products 1358
Trees, distributed to farmers (table) 1078
Trends, consumption, meeting the challenge. 1393
Future, tax reversion, forest land. 887
Regional, influence on permanent owner-
ship of private industrial timberland 1267
1676
INDEX
Page
Trends, world wood consumption (section
heading) 279
Tribal lands and forestry 618
Tropical forest research, private and quasi-
public 985,988,990
Tropical Plant Research Foundation 988
Tugwell, R. G., Assistant Secretary, signa-
ture, letter of transmittaL.--..- x
Turkey, forest regulations 1035
Turpentining, long leaf-slash pine type 1445
(See also Naval Stores.)
U
Unallotted Indian forest lands, areas (table). 611
Unemployment, forest planting as mode of
relief 1492
United States, forest regions and types (map) . 1 23
Universities:
Forest research by, endowed .*.. 986
Responsibility for forestry . 1598
Upper Mississippi River Basin (map).. 371
Watershed conditions 369- 376
Upper Rio Grande Basin (map) 431
Watershed conditions 438-440
Use:
Land. (See Land use.)
National forest resources, correlated 577
Timber versus cut and growth (chart). .. 238-239
Western range, seasonal . 512
Utilization:
Forest products, as an element of intensive
forestry .-- 1463
Lumber, in construction .. 249
Timber, wild life in relation to 497
Values, positive, saw-timber yields based
on (table) - 229
Wood:
Modern... 281
Prior to industrial era 280
Program, extension of, summary 50
Research:
Fundamental - 1391
Mill waste... . - 1385
Veneer, world production 294
Virgin timber. (See Old-growth timber).
Visitors to forest land (table) 464
Volume, tree, converted to mill tally (chart). 953
W
Wall board. (See Board, wall.)
Wallace, H. A., Secretary^ signature, letter of
transmittal - x
Water:
Conservation:
Indian forests.. 623
National forests 589
Consumption by forest vegetation 310
Navigation facilities, Federal expenditures
on 303
On western ranges. 543
Streams heading in national forests (map) . . 589
Supply, problems of:
Columbia River Basin 453
Great Basin -. 444
Northeastern drainages 333
Ohio River Basin 383
South Atlantic drainages 346
Southern California 425
(See also Precipitation, Evaporation, Run-
off, Percolation.)
Water power:
Colorado River Basin 432
Columbia River Basin 453
Northeastern drainages... 334
Ohio River Basin 385
Pacific Cascade drainages 458
South Atlantic drainages 345
Watershed conditions:
Arkansas and Red River drainages 407
California drainages 420
Colorado River Basin -. 430
Northeastern drainages 331
Ohio River Basin 387
Watershed conditions— Continued Page
Upper Mississippi River Basin 370
Pacific Cascade drainages 458
And requirements correlated with land
ownership 1512
Upper Rio Grande Basin 438
Watersheds:
Forest areas influencing (chart). 28, 78
Forest protection of, foreign laws recogniz-
ing 328
Forests as a protection of 139
Grazing on 535
Income, national forests 1325
Major, United States (maps) . .. 331,332,
341, 351, 359, 371, 379, 396, 419, 431, 445, 451
Streams heading in national forests (map) . 589
Watershed protection:
Acquisition program, summary 52
Adequate land-management requirements. 1532
Forest areas classified as to. 1509
Forests classified as to 329
California 438
Colorado River Basin 430
Columbia River Basin 451
Great Basin 449
Upper Rio Grande Basin 440
Forest planting for 1488
Forest Service research program, proposed. 1617
A function of forests 299
Indian forests 623
Land needed for 1234
Major critical situations 1521
Measures needed for:
Arkansas and Red River drainages 411
Northeastern drainages 340
Upper Mississippi River Basin 376
National-forest acquisition for (table) 575
Needed on public domain 643
Need for regulations ____ 1043
Needs, West Gulf drainages 364
Problems, summary.. 25
A program for 1509
Program, summary . 51
Public-domain areas of value for. 639
Recognized by law as function of forests 305
Relation of forest disease to 705
(See also Protection, watershed.)
Washington, tax delinquency (table) 875,876
Waste, woods, resulting from lack of coor-
dination 899
Watts, LyleF., author... 637
Coauthor. 1485, 1509
Weather Bureau:
Forest fire weather research program for.. 1568
Forestry program, proposed 1614
Weather, forest fire, research in 1568
Weeding, as an element of intensive forestry. 145f>
Weeks Law:
Acquisition under 1171
Effect on State forestry 776-
Introducing new national-forest policy 571
Provisions for Federal aid in fire protection. 1054
Weevil, white pine. 729
West Gulf drainages (map) 359
Character and extent of forests as affecting
watershed conditions — 362
Character of stream flow 360
Climate 359
Erosion problems 361
Floods 360
Forests:
Character and extent 362
Relation to watershed problems 363
Silting of channels 361
Stream flow utilization. 360
Watershed needs 364
Western forests, measures to prevent devasta-
tion (table) 1430,1451
Western forest ranges, principles of manage-
ment 540
Western larch-western white pine type,
measures to prevent devastation (table) .. 1435,
1452
Western States:
Development of national forests in 1170
Forest problems in 740
Western white pine, heavy stand, Idaho
(table)... 936
Western white pine type, measures to prevent
devastation- - 1435
INDEX
1677
Page
White fir, decay in, rate of increment (chart) . 703
White pine blister rust. (See Diseases.)
White pine, virgin stand, Pennsylvania
(table)... 977
Wild life, management:
Areas usable for (table) 602
Big-game population (table) 493
Conservation, proposed Federal program,
legislation needed 1632
Dependence on forests 489
Depletion of, summary 31
Economic and social values, summary 30
Estimate of value (table). 495
Forest land used by... 605
Forest problems, summary 30
Forest, research 1553
A forest resource (section) 489
In Indian forests 623
Land needed for 1235
Management:
Development of 501
Summary 30
Preservation on national forests... 593
Production relation to other forest uses. . 497, 538
Program 64, 1547
Social and economic values 492, 494
In State forests 830
Supply.. 505
(See also Forest wild life, game.)
"Wilderness areas" for recreation 473, 476, 485
Willow blight... 713-714
Winslow, Carlile P., author 1. 1355
Wood:
Advantages of domestic supplies. _ 91
Competition of other materials with. 251
Consumption in minor products (table) . . - 275
Consumption, world trends in (section
heading) 279
Destroying organisms, research 1390
Forests as a source of 91
Fuel, consumption 272
Wood-Continued Page
Imports, Great Britain (table) 284
Preservation, research in 991
Requirements for paper (chart) 267
Use:
Constant changes in... 292
European, trends. 283
In modern times 281
Prior to industrial era 279
World 283,294
World need continuous.. 296
World supply decreasing. 295
(See also Forest products.)
Woodland:
Areas (charts) 130,132,136
Effects of overgrazing on 325
Farm, area and condition 136
On farms, future ownership.. 1276
Table 1278
Overgrazing, effect on watershed 554
Semiarid, watershed problems 1531
(See. also Farm woodlands.)
World production of pulp and paper 293
World trade in wood, trends in (tables) 290
World War, effect on timber exports (tables) . 290
Wurttemberg, protection forests in 1020
Yale School of Forestry, research by 986
Yazoo Delta:
Flood, measurements of run-off and erosion. 416
Floods in- - 413
Measures needed for flood control 417
Yield:
Commercially important conifers (table) . . 903
Saw-timber, theoretical, 1950 (table) 229
Sustained. (See Sustained yield.)
Yugoslavia, regulation of private forests 1035
Zon, Raphael, coauthor 279
O
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11