96 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



participation of the public itself is necessary to accomplish the establishment 

 of forestry in practice. 



While the Weeks Law does not specifically desij^nate the areas within 

 which purchases are to be made, it is understood that it was the intent of 

 Congress that there should be established, if possible, National Forests in 

 the White Mountains and in the Southern Appalachians. It is not expected 

 that all of the areas upon which it is desirable that there should be practical 

 forest conservation can be purchased by the Government. It is expected, 

 however, that, even with the a})propriation already made, a number of Na- 

 tional Forests can be established on important watersheds which may serve 

 as centers of forestry and which will aid in bringing about the protection 

 and better handling of the surrounding country. One of the first steps which 

 will be taken after the establishment of one of these forests will be an 

 effort to establish through cooperation organized fire protection in the area 

 surrounding them. Since the passage of the law a large number of offers of 

 lands have been made to the Government, and already examinations have 

 been conducted on 500,000 acres by the Forest Service and Geological Survey. 

 The mere offer of lands and subsequent examination does not, however, neces- 

 sarily mean a purchase. The examination includes a consideration of it as a 

 desirable property for the Government from the standpoint of the purposes 

 of the law, and a careful appraisal of the value of the land. It frequently 

 happens that the owner of the property and the agents of the Government 

 do not agree as to its value. I have no doubt that some people may be im- 

 patient on account of the failure of the Government to purchase certain areas, 

 when the reason for this failure is the fact that the price proposed by the 

 owner is excessive. It is, however, expected that there will be no great 

 difficulty in acquiring lands both in the White Mountains and in the Southern 

 Appalachians, whose administration in the long run will have an enormous 

 influence on the development of forestry throughout the regions in which 

 they are located. 



In the development of a National Forest policy it has consistently been 

 recognized that one of the purposes of public ownership and control of forests 

 is to insure the benefit of their protective influence in preventing erosion and 

 their effect on stream flow. In some of our National Forests the protective 

 value exceeds the timber value, as, for example, those in southern California. 

 The same idea is dominant in developing a policy of purchasing National 

 Forests in the East. In fact, the (mly legal ground on which the purchase of 

 forest lands can be made, according to the interpretation of the authority of 

 Congress by the Judiciary Committee of the House, is to protect navigable 

 streams. 



PROTECTIVE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS 



In the development of National and State forest i)olicies (juestions have 

 frequently arisen in regard to how far the influence of forests (»n streamflow, 

 on rainfall, and on erosion extends. Some have gone so far as to doubt this 

 influence almost altogether. Much of the confusion regarding the influence 

 of forests on streamflow has arisen from the failure to recognize that the 



