PUBLIC ACQUISITION OF PRIVATE LANDS AS AN AID TO 

 PRIVATE FORESTRY 



L. F. KNEIPP, Assistant Forester, Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



General reaction of private timberland owners to principle of public 



acquisition 1147 



Economic justification and consequences of an enlarged public acquisition 



program 1150 



Acquisition of lands denuded, depleted, or in various stages of re- 

 growth 1150 



Acquisition of lands supporting merchantable timber 1151 



Public agencies engaged in the acquisition of forest lands 1158 



Present purposes and objectives of Federal acquisition program 1160 



Considerations governing Federal acquisition program 1161 



Effect on financial integrity of counties involved 1161 



Effect on existing or contemplated State or county forest-land acqui- 

 sition programs 1162 



Effect on actual or probable private management of forests 1162 



Methods by which Federal Government can acquire forest lands 1162 



Land exchanges 11 62 



Cash purchases 1165 



Donations of lands suitable for national-forest purposes 1167 



Development of national-forest system and present status 11 68 



In western public-land States 1168 



Eastern States 1171 



Within and contiguous to existing public forests is a great deal of 

 privately owned forest land integrally related to and demanding man- 

 agement in common with the public holdings. Additionally, there 

 are many forest areas not in public ownership where public action 

 will be necessary to conserve the social and economic values of such 

 lands. Some of such land may revert to the public through tax 

 delinquency, but much of it can be publicly acquired only by equitable 

 compensation to the owners thereof, either by payments, in cash or 

 bonds, or by grants of other publicly owned natural resources, or by 

 agreement to special conditions of donation. The term " acquisi- 

 tion " as used in this discussiou therefore means the systematic estab- 

 lishment of public ownership in forest-productive lands by dedicating 

 to that purpose public funds, resources, or administrative facilities. 



GENERAL REACTION OF PRIVATE TIMBERLAND OWN- 

 ERS TO THE PRINCIPLE OF PUBLIC ACQUISITION 



The reactions of owners of private forest lands toward past, present, 

 and proposed programs of public acquisition of forest lands may be 

 divided into four broad classifications one negative, the others 

 favorable. In recent years a certain minority has envisioned the 

 public-forest properties chiefly as potential future competitors in the 

 function of timber supply, apprehensive of the effect upon future prices 

 that would result from timber produced without taxation, with funds 

 obtainable without interest charge or at rates of interest lower than 



1147 



