22 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



open before cutting. Some form of permanent public administration 

 is needed. 



THE NEW PUBLIC DOMAIN OF THE STATES AND COUNTIES 



The new public domain of the States and counties is growing 

 rapidly from tax reverted forest land while the remaining public 

 domain of the Federal Government is decreasing. The status of the 

 new public domain is so uncertain that even its area is highly con- 

 jectural. Most of it is in a twilight zone between State, county, and 

 private ownership. 



In 29 States the title reverts to the counties pr towns and in 19 

 to the State. The 25 million acre total for the Lake, Southern, and 

 Northwestern States already referred to is only a part of what is 

 already tax delinquent. The possibility that half of the forest land 

 area in the Lake States will be in public ownership in 10 years is 

 some indication of what is likely to happen to a greater or less extent 

 elsewhere. The productivity of much of the tax-delinquent forest 

 land has been wrecked by forest devastation so that private owners 

 have no further interest iji it. 



In most States no effort Has been made to define the status of this 

 land by law or to attempt any administration beyond partial and 

 inadequate fire protection. Only seven States have laws which even 

 look toward classification and permanent administration. The indi- 

 cations are that some of these States will be overwhelmed with the 

 problem. It is merely another instance where the development of 

 political machinery has lagged seriously behind econonic events. 



This public-ownership problem has grown directly out of one phase 

 of that of private ownership. 



Sooner or later more or less of the abandoned submarginal agri- 

 cultural land already discussed will probably also become tax delin- 

 quent. When and as it does, still another problem of private-land 

 ownership will become an even more serious public problem. New 

 York alone has made definite provision for solving it by setting up a 

 20-year program of acquisition and reforestation. 



An additional area of State forest land of more or less uncertain 

 status, and only in part under any form of management or protec- 

 tion, is the remnant of Federal land grants to the States. It totals 

 several million acres. 



Minnesota, Washington, and Montana alone have legally defined 

 its status and made some provision for blocking it into State forests 

 and placing it under management. In Idaho, Arizona, and New 

 Mexico similar policies depend soley upon the decision of the State 

 public-land administrative agency. 



THE PROBLEM OF BALANCING THE NATIONAL TIMBER BUDGET 



DRAIN AND REQUIREMENTS 



The total drain from the forests of the United States is now about 

 16K billion cubic feet. 



Nearly 90 percent is cut and the remainder is the loss from fire 

 and other causes. Of great significance is the fact that about 70 

 percent of the total drain, or the equivalent of about 59 % billion 

 board feet, is from the large or saw-timber sizes. The largest single 



