NEW ENGLAND'S FEDERAL FOREST 



RESERVE 



By Philip W. Ayres 



[The American Forestry Association, with a number of influential organizations in New 

 England and the Southern Appalachians cooperating, will earnestly advocate the passage 

 by Congress of a bill providing an appropriation, under the Weeks Law, of $10,000,000 to continue 

 the purchase of Federal Forest Reserves in New England and the Southern Appalachians. Dele- 

 gates representing the associations will confer with Secretary of Agriculture Houston on the 

 subject in Washington on Wednesday September 22 at 10 a. m. — Editor's Note.] 



THE Weeks Act, for the purchase 

 of forest land at the head waters 

 of navigable streams, is one of 

 the great measures in the coun- 

 try's history. It is like the irrigation 

 act that is making fertile fields from 

 the desert land, or the Smith-Lever Act 

 that brings agricultural instruction to 

 the farmer's door, or the Morrill Act 

 that fifty years ago established the 

 State Universities. This measure if 

 adequately carried out will in large 

 measure safeguard the navigable stream 

 from disastrous erosion and provide a 

 timber supply to replace our vanishing 

 material for houses, furniture, tools, 

 etc. It accomplishes this through the 

 purchase of forest lands by the 

 Federal Government. General in its 

 terms, it applies to all parts of the 

 country, but is limited in action to 

 those States that pass enabling acts 

 inviting the Federal Government to 

 acquire land within their boundaries. 

 Maine and New Hampshire at the North, 

 and eight States at the South have 

 enacted the necessary laws. 



Because the West is fairly well supplied 

 with National Forests, the officers of 

 the Government have applied the first 

 appropriation under the Weeks Act 

 exclusively to the eastern or Appala- 

 chian Moimtains. The wisdom of this 

 decision becomes apparent when it is 

 realized how great are the timber re- 

 resources of the West and how depleted 

 are those of the East. 



Population is increasing at an un- 

 precedented rate. One million new 

 souls are added to our country every 

 twelve months. Our timber resources, 

 taking the country as a whole, are con- 

 sumed far more rapidly than they grow. 



It is not difficult to see the end of this 

 process. The timber scarcity is already 

 evident in the increased prices of every- 

 thing made of wood. A house, a wagon, 

 or even a rolling pin, costs twice as 

 much as a few years ago. The need for 

 action on a large scale is fully apparent. 



The Weeks Act, signed by President 

 Taft in March, 1911, carried an appro- 

 priation of $11,000,000, of which only 

 $8,000,000 became available. Three- 

 million dollars of this appropriation 

 have never been taken from the Federal 

 Treasury. The reason for this is that 

 by the terms of the measure itself three 

 separate departments of Government 

 must exercise supervision over each 

 purchase, and before any tract is 

 finally taken it must be approved by 

 the National Forest Reservation Com- 

 mission. Before these several depart- 

 ments could be coordinated into a 

 working force and the new board organ- 

 ized, the time specified for the use of 

 the first part of the appropriation had 

 gone by. Indeed, the time for using 

 the first million dollars expired before 

 the measure had gone through all of the 

 weary acid tests of Congressional com- 

 mittee opposition. Meantime plans had 

 been made for the larger expenditure, 

 which plans now await the further action 

 of Congress. 



By the terms of the Act the appro- 

 priation covered a period of five years, 

 and terminated by limitation on June 

 30, 1915. This was an experiment. 

 It has been worked out successfully. 

 Shall it be renewed? To carry out its 

 beneficent purpose the operation of the 

 law should be made continuous, until 

 the great body of wild mountain land 

 throughout the country has been placed 



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