278 FORESTRY, LAND USE, AND NATIONAL PLANNING 



The undertaking by our forest industries to establish a system of 

 commercial forestry on privately owned lands should be successfully 

 supported by federal and state governments. The latter should pro- 

 vide adequate fire prevention, equitable systems of taxation, advanced 

 plans of forest management, protection against insects, diseases, and 

 other injuries, and the general encouragement of sustained yield plans. 



The rate of population growth in the United States is slowing 

 down perceptibly. Statisticians estimate that the maximum popula- 

 tion will probably be reached about the year 1960 and will not be 

 more than 150,000,000 people. After 1960, population is likely to 

 decline. Northern European countries likewise face stationary or 

 declining populations. Any plan of land use must properly contem- 

 plate the per capita consumption of lumber and other forest products 

 as well as the use of our forests for the multiple purposes described 

 elsewhere in the text. The per capita consumption of lumber has 

 dropped from 510 b.f. in 1907 to 275 b.f. in 1929, 150 b.f. in 1931, and 

 95 b.f. in 1932. 



The problem of land use planning has probably become most acute 

 in the older settled sections of the Northeast, the South, and the Lake 

 States. There are the following classifications of present land use in 



the United States according to the U. S. Forest Service: 



ACRES 



1. Forest land, including commercial, non-commercial, and 



potential areas 615,000,000 



2. Farm crop land 413,000,000 



3. Pasture and range in farms 379,000,000 



4. Pasture and range not in farms chiefly in the western 



states 317,000,000 



5. Urban development including roadside areas, etc 179,000,000 



Total 1,903,000,000 



The original forest areas of the United States were about 820,- 

 000,000 acres. About one-fourth of the original forest area has been 

 converted into crop, pasture, and grazing areas. But of that one- 

 fourth, some 52,000,000 acres are now available through abandon- 

 ment or for other reasons for growing trees. The U. S. Forest Service 

 estimated that probably 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 additional acres may 

 be available by 1950. 



The Forest Service has advocated a large-scale plan of acquisition 

 of forests. The so-called Copeland Report of March, 1933, advo- 

 cated additional public forests amounting to 224,000,000 acres, of 

 which 90,000,000 should be acquired by the states and 134,000,000 by 

 the Federal Government. Of the latter, 22,000,000 acres are already 



