The Appalachian Forest Purchases 



By Hon. John W. Weeks 

 L'. S. Senator from Massadiiisctts 



PERHAPS I cannot do better in speaking about forest 

 conservation than to call attention to the work 

 of the National Forest Reservation Commission 

 which has had charge of the purchases made in the \Miite 

 Mountain and Appalachian regions under what is known 



as the Weeks Act. 

 purpose amounted 

 to eleven million 

 dollars, to be ex- 

 pended during the 

 six years fol- 

 lowing the passage 

 of the act ; but the 

 Commission fol- 

 lowed such a pru- 

 dent and careful 

 course that it was 

 not possible to or- 

 ganize 'sufficiently 

 to take up the ex- 

 amination and pur- 

 chase of lands dur- 

 ing the first two 

 years of the life of 

 the appropriation. 

 For that reason 

 three million dol- 

 lars of the appro- 

 priation lapsed and 

 only eight millions, 

 or substantially that 

 amount, has been 

 ex])ended up tn 

 this time. 



Senator Gal- 

 linger, of New 

 Hampshire, who is 

 a member of the 

 Commission, re- 

 cently ofifered an 

 amendment to the 

 Agricultural 



The original aiiprnpriation for thi"; 



mendable actions taken in forestry matters since the 

 passage of the original law. 



Having followed with some care the work of this 

 Commission from the financial standpoint, it is my im- 

 pression that the purchases made have been entirely 

 justified and that, as in the case of the State of New 



York, the Govern- 

 ment will eventu- 

 ally reap a very sub- 

 stantial profit if it 

 wishes to dispose of 

 the lands, and if the 

 timber is carefully 

 cut that there will 

 be for all time a 

 substantial return 

 on the original 

 investment. 



In addition to 

 this work, the pro- 

 visions in the origi- 

 nal law for the 

 protection of for- 

 ests from fire have, 

 in my judgment, 

 saved timber hav- 

 ing a value of many 

 tunes the cost of 

 the service ; in fact, 

 one of the greatest 

 advances made in 

 recent years has 

 been the effective- 

 ness of the fire 

 service, codperated 

 in by the States in 

 the East and con- 

 ducted by the For- 

 est Service in the 

 Rocky ^lountain 

 sections. While 



Appropriation Bill jiroviding a niillidii dollars to be there is no way to com]Hite the actual results in dol- 

 expended in continuing these forest purchases during lars and cents, based on the destruction from fires 

 the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of next June and in years jiast, it is safe to say that the sav- 

 two million for the fiscal year ending the thirtieth of ing from this one service has been greater than the 

 June, 1918. This measure passed on August 5th. This whole expenditure f(.)r the Forest Ser\'ice since its 

 is really a reappropriation and is one of the most com- establishment. 



Photo by Ilcnry Havdock Piirce. Boston. Mass. 



HOX. JOHN W. WEEKS 

 United States Senator from Massachusetts and Vice-president of the American Forestry Association. 



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