1150 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMEEICAN FOKESTRY 



ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF AN 

 ENLARGED PUBLIC ACQUISITION PROGRAM 



Even the tentative proposal of an enlarged program of public 

 acquisition of forest lands will immediately give rise to a series of 

 vitally important questions. One will be that of cost; of the ability of 

 the public to finance such a program and the economic soundness of 

 that type of public investment as compared to other pressing needs for 

 constructive public action. Another will be that of political policy, 

 of the logic and merit of a program which contemplates enlarged 

 public participation in a field hitherto quite commonly regarded as one 

 primarily of private initiative. Both of these questions hinge largely 

 upon the answer to a third question, namely, the economic justifica- 

 tion and consequences of such a program. The question of costs is 

 not one of amount but of economic and social necessity and net bene- 

 ficial consequences. The question of jurisdiction is not exclusively 

 one of prerogative but of the most logical and effective method of 

 collective public action. The facts which follow seem logically to 

 imply that a substantially enlarged future program of public forest- 

 land acquisition is fully justified and promises large beneficial economic 

 consequences. 



In any program of public forest-land acquisition the lands requiring 

 consideration fall into two broad classes, viz : (1) those largely denuded 

 of their forest cover or supporting only seedlings or saplings, or ad- 

 vanced second growth not yet of merchantable dimensions or quality, 

 and (2) those supporting mature stands of timber of commercial size, 

 quality, and volume. Units meeting the minimum requirements of 

 efficient and economical public administration occasionally contain 

 lands of only the first class but more commonly they embrace lands of 

 both classes and in their adequate development as public properties it 

 frequently is necessary to decide whether the heavily timbered lands 

 shall be acquired as fast as funds are available and price agreements 

 can be reached, or whether they shall be excluded from the purchase 

 program until their mature values have been exploited by private 

 enterprise and they can be acquired at low unit costs as cut-over lands. 

 Past experience creates serious doubts as to whether the latter policy 

 is in the long run the most economical, as the lower prices at which the 

 cut-over and often seriously damaged lands can be acquired frequently 

 are offset by losses of the revenues which could have been secured 

 through sound operation of the mature stumpage, and/or by the added 

 costs of restoring the lands to productive condition. Aside from this 

 factor of the initial investment required to carry out a program of 

 acquisition, other considerations of public policy deserve attention. 



ACQUISITION OF LANDS DENUDED, DEPLETED, OR IN VARIOUS 

 STAGES OF REGROWTH 



Much of the land in this category has lost much or all of its power 

 to provide men with creative employment, to support industries, to 

 contribute to costs of local government or to otherwise promote desir- 

 able economic and social objectives. Any measure that will restore 

 that power to a degree which in beneficial returns exceeds the costs 

 of restoration has definite economic justification and beneficial con- 

 sequences. There can be little question as to the essentiality of 

 steps to conserve the social values of such lands. The only question 



