276 FORESTRY, LAND USE, AND NATIONAL PLANNING 



3. The value of the best plan for the most competent collection 

 and analysis of facts. 



Many community, county, regional, and state-wide planning boards 

 have been created during the past several years as a result of this 

 widespread interest in planning. Their activities center largely around 

 forest policies and plans for more and better forests and parks. In 

 1931, the National Land Use Planning Committee was informally es- 

 tablished by the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture. Sentiment has no 



CLASSES OF LAND 



MILLION 

 FOREST LAND: ACRES 



COMMERCIAL 495 



NON-COMMERCI Al I2Q 



iTs" 



CROP LAND IN FARMS -4-13 



PASTURE AND RANGE: 



IN FARMS 379 



NOT IN FARMS 317 



696" 



FARMSTEADS, ROADS, 

 URBAN, WASTE, ETC 17*9 



TOTAL LAND AREA..J9O3 



FIG. 137. Classes of land and their present use in the United States. 



doubt been crystallized in the direction of increased acquisition of 

 public forests by federal, state, and county authorities. In nearly 

 every state, a state-wide planning board has been created to study 

 problems of forestry and forest conservation, water resources, farm- 

 land abandonment, development of agriculture, the present and pros- 

 pective use of power facilities, highways including railroads, and 

 canals, in relation to transportation problems, population trends, and 

 many others. Their studies have given forest conservation a new 

 meaning and significance. Prior to this recent movement, Wisconsin, 

 Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington 

 created permanent planning commissions by legislative authority. 



Planning does not involve the regimentation of private enterprise 

 or private lives. It does not necessarily include adherence to a fixed 



