INTRODUCTION 



This report is submitted in pursuance of Senate Resolution 175, 

 Seventy-second Congress, first session, introduced by Senator Royal 

 S. Copeland and agreed to by the Senate March 10, 1932. This 

 resolution is as follows : 



Whereas the consumption of the forests of the United States has progressed to 

 a point at which their early exhaustion is threatened; it being estimated (1) that 

 over 50 per centum of all the softwood lumber cut in the United States has been 

 cut during the last thirty years; (2) that, with a population almost 60 per centum 

 greater today than at the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States 

 has been using nearly three hundred billion feet of softwood lumber alone during 

 each decade since 1900; (3) that in 1928, with a population of more than one 

 hundred and twenty million, the annual cut of softwood lumber alone was 

 twenty-eight billion feet; and (4) that there now remain in the territory east of 

 the prairies, only about twenty-five billion feet of original timber; and 



Whereas there are great areas in the United States, which, aside from their 

 underlying minerals, are suitable for forestation only; it being estimated that of 

 the great land area constituting the thirteen Northeastern States, from Maine to 

 and including the two Virginias, about one half, or seventy-five million acres, 

 are suitable for forestation only; and 



Whereas proper utilization of such lands as a public domain under proper 

 control, would to some extent effect a modification of the climate, substantially 

 effect or control the run-off of water, supply a cheap and dependable supply of 

 lumber, and, through development, with roads, camping places, leased hunting 

 and fishing rights, and other opportunities for social activities, would afford valu- 

 able resources for entertainment and improvement- in national health, besides 

 giving wealth-producing and steady employment to a large number of persons; and 



Whereas it is desirable (1) that a coordinated plan be immediately developed 

 for the cooperation of the Federal and State Governments in the utilization of 

 such lands suitable for forestation only; (2) that information necessary as a basis 

 of legislation be compiled; and' (3) that recommendations for legislation be made: 

 Therefore be it 



Resolved, That the Secretary of Agriculture is requested (1) to advise the 

 Senate as soon as practicable whether, in his opinion, the Government should 

 undertake to aid the States in the utilization for forestation purposes of those 

 areas of land in the United States suitable for forestation only, and (2) to state 

 fully his reasons for any opinion which he may submit, together with the facts 

 upon which such opinion is based. 



The resolution stresses 



1. The threat of early exhaustion of our timber supplies, par- 

 ticularly of softwoods in the East. 



2. The existence of large areas of land suitable only for the growing 

 of timber. 



3. The fundamental and far-reaching benefits, economic and social, 

 which would be afforded by the wise utilization of such lands under 

 public control. 



4. The desirability of developing immediately a coordinated Fed- 

 eral and State program for the utilization of these lands, and asks 



5. That the Secretary of Agriculture advise the Senate whether the 

 Federal Government should aid the States in such a program, and as 

 to the facts and reasons upon which the conclusion is based. 



This report, dealing as it does with one of the most important and 

 far-reaching forms of land use, comes at a peculiarly opportune time. 



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