804 



AAIERICAN FORESTRY 



ferred upon Congress to pass such 

 laws and to make or provide for the 

 making of such rules and regulations, 

 of both civil and criminal nature, and 

 provide punishment therefor, as in its 

 judgment may be necessary for the 

 management, protection and control of 

 such lands as may be from time to time 

 acquired by the United States under 

 the provisions of this act." 



The question of forests with their 

 manifold benefits to the continued ex- 

 istence of mankind on earth, would fill 

 volumes and cannot be properly dis- 

 cussed in an article of this character, 

 but the benefits to be derived by our 

 State and Nation by establishing a na- 

 tional forest reserve in the territory 

 mentioned is so apparent that it de- 

 serves at least some passing comment. 



The basic idea of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment in acquiring these reserves is 

 to regulate the flow of water in the 

 streams originating in these forest 

 areas, which eventually form the navi- 

 gable streams of our nation. But the 

 control of such forests by the Federal 

 Government would be of benefit in 

 other matters, such as helping protect 

 our forests from fire; maintaining an 

 even flow of our streams, thus making 

 them better for fish culture and furnish- 

 ing better protection to our game and 

 birds. While these lands will not be 

 game preserves in a strict sense, yet 

 with the protection from fire and 

 under the patrol and care of the United 

 States Government, it will, at least, 

 make a refuge where game and birds 

 can be protected from the pot hunter. 

 The public will have the right to hunt 

 and fish upon these lands, in accordance 

 with the State laws, where they are 

 located. 



One has to but take a glance at the 

 map of the portion of the United States 

 which comprises this adventure, to be 

 impressed with the wisdom of the gov- 

 ernment in acquiring same. Along 

 these two great ranges of mountains 

 the water sheds are formed that con- 

 trol the supply of water for all the 

 Eastern part of the United States. 



The position that West Virginia oc- 

 cupies in this undertaking is unique and 

 more important than that of any other 

 State afifected, for the reason that two 



of the greatest navigable streams in 

 the United States take their rise in the 

 Appalachian Mountain ranges, in the 

 counties that are covered by this propo- 

 sition. 



While there are 282 navigable 

 streams in the United States, it is 

 shown by statistics that two West Vir- 

 ginia rivers, the Monongahela and 

 Ohio, carry almost 25,000,000 tons of 

 freight each year, or about one-fifth of 

 the whole tonnage carried on navigable 

 streams in the United States. For this 

 reason, the protection of forests in 

 West X'irginia is of immense importance 

 to the nation's inland commerce, for 

 without this protection the time must 

 come when these great navigable 

 streams of commerce will fail on 

 account of the drying up of the foun- 

 tain heads of these streams. 



The Government's aid in creating 

 forest reserves in West Virginia will 

 mean even more to us than maintain- 

 ing a water supply for commercial 

 purposes, and should not only be en- 

 couraged by State aid in every way 

 possible, but corporations, firms and in- 

 dividuals should be reasonable in 

 quoting prices on land which they have 

 for sale in these designated regions. It 

 is the purpose of the commission to 

 obtain lands that can be purchased for 

 a low or reasonable price, and not pay 

 any fancy price for land for this pur- 

 pose. There are thousands of acres of 

 such lands in the mountain ranges men- 

 tioned that are scarcely valuable enough 

 to justify the owners in paying taxes on 

 same, which can be used to great ad- 

 vantage in this work and should be 

 turned over to the Federal Government 

 at a nominal price. 



By establishing these forest reserves 

 an even supply of water will be main- 

 tained for all time, and the great 

 freshets and floods that have been in- 

 creasing in the last few years will be 

 held in check ; the soil that is now held 

 in place by these forest tracts will be 

 retained and used in reforesting the 

 cut-over areas, and the care that is 

 taken of the tracts of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment will inspire others to take sim- 

 ilar care of their forests, and in numer- 

 ous ways the State will be benefited. 



Thousands of acres of land in West 



