994 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



POSSIBLE REMEDIES 



These processes are still going on. Neither the States nor the 

 Nation can afford to let them continue. There are three possible 

 ways of putting an end to them, all of which already have a place in 

 our public policy. These are: (1) Education and persuasion of the 

 private owners, coupled with assistance by the public; (2) public 

 regulation of the practices of private owners; and (3) acquisition of 

 the forests by the public. 



PUBLIC OWNERSHIP 



The simplest and the surest method would be for the public to take 

 over the forests and manage them as public properties. This is being 

 done on a comparatively small scale. It may be done on a much 

 larger scale in the future. (See section on the "Probable Future 

 Distribution of Forest Land Ownership.") However, acquisition by 

 purchase is likely to be expensive and consequently slow, and judging 

 from past experience, acquisition by gift, exchange, or default is 

 uncertain, unsystematic, and most likely to come about after the 

 forest values have been seriously impaired. It is necessary, therefore, 

 to consider whether other methods may also be effective in protecting 

 the public's interests. 



UNDER CONTINUED PRIVATE OWNERSHIP 



Policies with respect to public acquisition of forest land will depend 

 to a considerable extent on whether the land will be utilized by private 

 owners in such a manner as to safeguard the public interests. If this 

 could be depended on, public acquisition would be largely unnecessary. 

 Four fifths of our productive forest land is privately owned. Ob- 

 viously, public acquisition of all of it in the near future is put of the 

 question. The greater portion of it is likely to remain hi private 

 ownership, at least for many years. Public welfare requires con- 

 tinued maintenance of forest cover on most of it, and continued 

 production of timber on a very considerable portion. 



Experience here and abroad does not indicate that private owners 

 on their own initiative and unassisted will utilize the land for timber 

 growing or even maintain a forest cover to the extent that is desirable 

 or necessary. Their failure to do so results from several causes, 

 including lack of knowledge as to how to use the land effectively for 

 forestry; the belief that other uses will be more profitable; lack of 

 financial resources; lack of assurance that such use will yield a profit, 

 or even a well-founded belief, in many instances, that it will not; 

 desire to liquidate their investment and lack of interest hi the land 

 after the timber has been removed. 



Public agencies can do much to stimulate private forestry through 

 research and education, and demonstration of forestry practices. 

 They can do more through various measures of public cooperation 

 and assistance, as discussed in other sections of this report. However, 

 cooperation which is optional with the forest owners, or public assist- 

 ance which is not accompanied by the obligation to handle the forest 

 conservatively, has yielded almost negligible results so far as the 

 adoption of good forest practices is concerned. Even though the 

 public pays a considerable portion of the cost of fire protection in 



