198 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In the specific work of the Forest Service bearing upon the na- 

 tional situation, the most striking advances during the past year' 

 were the threefold expansion of forest protection in cooperation 

 with the wStates and the enactment of a general forest exchange law. 

 This legislation will make possible a substantial consolidation of the 

 existing national foreg^ts and their ultimate extension through the 

 inclusion of private cut-over lands within their exterior boundaries. A 

 significant step was recorded in the acquisition of additional national 

 forests under the act of 1911 through the approval of the purchase of 

 74,000 acres in western Pennsylvania, on the Ohio watershed, v/hich 

 will form a nucleus for the Allegheny National Forest. The service is 

 continuing the nation-wide study, in cooperation with State foresters, 

 timberland owners, and other agencies, of the barriers to refores- 

 tation which exist in each important forest region, and of the methods 

 of cutting and fire protection which are necessary to keep the various 

 types of forest land productive. One of the results of this investi- 

 gation will be to formulate in as definite terms as practicable the 

 measures which may equitably be enforced by public regulation in 

 each region to keep up the productivity and usefulness of its forest 

 lands. 



During January, 1922, extended hearings were held by the Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives on the need 

 for additional Federal legislation dealing with the national forestry 

 situation. It is earnestly to be hoped that a constructive measure 

 will be brought before Congress as the result of these hearings. 

 It is urgent that aggressive national leadership be exerted in meeting 

 what is steadily assuming the proportions of a grave national menace. 

 Our national policy of forest conservation has been a matter of slow 

 but sustained growth for over 30 years. It is not to be expected 

 that its remaining chapters can all be written at once, and particu- 

 larly that the extent and manner of exercising public control over 

 private forest lands and industries can be settled in any final way 

 until public sentiment shall have been more definitely and maturely 

 formed on this subject. But there can be no question as to the 

 wisdom or urgency of immediate legislative action on certain fun- 

 damental steps in any adequate Federal program of reforestation. 



The immediate needs are: 



1. The extension of Federal cooperation with States in forest 

 protection on a scale commensurate with the national interests at 

 stake and with a broader legislative biisis adapted to the practical 

 requirements of the situation. Such cooperation should not be 

 restricted to the watersheds of navigable streams and should be con- 

 tingent upon compliance by the cooperating States with standards 

 established by the Secretary of Agriculture. 



2. An enlarged scale of national forest purchases under the act of 

 March 1, 1911, in order that the benefits of Federal forest ownership 

 may be more widely applied in critical, or "key," areas. 



3. The extension of forest protection and management to all lands 

 now under national owTiership or control whose greatest utility lies 

 in the growing of timber or protection of watersheds. This should 

 include not only the forested lands still in the unreserved public do- 

 main, but also those within military or naval reservations, recogniz- 

 ing the prior service of lands of the latter class for national-defense 

 purposes. 



