66 ANNUAL, REPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



EXTENSION OF PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF FORESTS ESSENTIAL. 



One line of attack will certainly have to be an increase of publicly 

 owned forests. That it is entirely practicable for the public to 

 acquire woodland on terms that make its management profitable has 

 been fully proved by the Federal Government, which has purchased 

 more than 2,000,000 acres. The average price of these lands has been 

 $6.29 per acre. Their market value is to-day materially greater than 

 their cost; they are the source of a considerable revenue from the 

 sale of timber products, and they are growing new forests at a satis- 

 factory rate. Similar business considerations testify to the soundness 

 of the policy of forest purchases undertaken by a number of States. 



The amount of denuded forest land in the Eastern States is enor- 

 mous. While much of it can and should be brought back to produc- 

 tiveness on the initiative of its present owners, there are millions of 

 acres which, either because of the relatively slow rate at which trees 

 will grow, the cost of reclamation, or inaccessibility to markets, will 

 not for a long time, if ever, be reforested through private enterprises. 



The public can promote timber production where private owners 

 can not. One reason for this is that a reasonable return on public 

 capital invested in such an enterprise falls below what prviate 

 capital would expect. Another reason is that the returns in eco- 

 nomic prosperity and varied forms of public service can be made 

 so great that the success of the enterprise does not stand or 

 fall solely on its Treasury receipts. Any comprehensive plan for 

 dealing with our timber situation must include large acquisitions 

 by the public of forest lands which in no other way can be made 

 productive within a reasonable time. 



The National Forest Reservation Commission should be em- 

 powered through appropriate legislation to extend Federal acquisi- 

 tion of forest land. If it seems necessary to rest this policy wholly 

 upon the constitutional ground of protecting the flow of navigable 

 streams, the Congress should prescribe a broad limitation to that 

 effect, but should not handicap the judicious selection of areas by 

 a specific form of determination in each instance. Since local as 

 well as national welfare is at stake, every reasonable encouragement 

 should be given to the States to cooperate with the Federal Govern- 

 ment in buying idle forest land which can be restored to productive 



