CHAPTER XXVII 

 FORESTRY, LAND USE, AND NATIONAL PLANNING 



Within recent years many conferences have been assembled and 

 many committees and individuals have met to discuss the subject of 

 land use in connection with local, regional, state-wide, and national 

 planning. Frequently these discussions have revolved around the con- 

 traction in areas devoted to agriculture and the expansion of forest 

 areas, and how best to handle this problem. Articles and publica- 

 tions have been issued freely on the subject. 



Planning consists of a systematic, continuous, and forward-looking 

 application of the best facts and information available to programs 

 affecting our individual and national welfare. In many states east 

 of the Mississippi River, considerable land has been released from 

 agricultural production or been permitted to become waste or aban- 

 doned land. 



In April, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the heads 

 of several governmental agencies dealing in land and land use to 

 confer with him and the Cabinet about the formation of a national 

 plan for land use. This resulted in the creation of the National Re- 

 sources Board, headed by Frederick A. Delano. The board appointed 

 a series of technical committees, one each for land, water, minerals, 

 power, industry, and transportation. 



The President instructed the board to prepare and submit by De- 

 cember 1, 1934, a complete and detailed plan for a national land use 

 policy. This report * set forth several considerations which are im- 

 portant in devising plans for national planning, as follows: 



1. The necessity and value of coordination of our national and 



local policies instead of allowing them to drift apart or pull 

 against each other, with disastrous effect. 



2. The value of forethought in national life, rather than after- 



thought the value of preventing fires rather than putting 

 them out. 



* See "A Report on National Planning and Public Works in Relation to 

 Natural Resources," by National Resources Board, Washington, D. C., December 

 1, 1934. 



275 



