A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1175 



In order fully to accomplish the purposes for which these units were 

 created, the Federal Government should further acquire within their 

 boundaries a total of approximately 5,171,268 acres. On the basis of 

 past values this area would cost approximately $23,922,332, or an 

 average of $4.65 per acre, but present price trends indicate that the 

 actual cost would be substantially lower, probably not exceeding 

 $20,000,000. If the program were carried out in full the Federal 

 Government within the 21 units would then control 9,888,575 acres, 

 at a total purchase cost of something less than $39,000,000. 



The stimulation of timber production as a Federal function in the 

 Eastern States is not wholly a process of large scale direct ownership 

 and management of land but also one of research, experimentation, 

 and demonstration. These purposes can be accomplished with 

 administrative units smaller than the areas required where watershed 

 protection is the objective. To date, 20 timber-production units 

 have been established in 6 different States, but 2 of those States also 

 contain watershed units so that the total number of States affected is 

 20. Within the 20 established timber-production units the United 

 States now controls 2,514,248 acres; of which 999,597 acres have been 

 acquired by purchase at a total cost of $2,370,354.29, or an average of 

 $2.37 per acre. To complete the 20 existing units an additional area 

 of about 2,468,474 acres should be acquired; at a cost of $7,000,000. 

 If that were done, the total area under Federal control in the 20 

 established units would be 4,982,722 acres; for which something less 

 than $10,000,000 would have been paid. 



The statements contained herein relate only to the completion of 

 the existing national forests to a point where their public objectives 

 and values can be fully realized within reasonable limits of adminis- 

 trative cost. They present only a partial and incomplete picture of 

 future requirements. The economic facts which seem indubitably 

 and imperatively to dictate the enlargement of many of the existing 

 national forests and the establishment of many others are set forth in 

 another section of this report, which presents in detailed terms of 

 distribution, area, and cost the apparent ultimate scope of the 

 national-forest system. 



A considerable part of the lands which will be proposed for acquisi- 

 tion are in the Pacific coast and northern Rocky Mountain regions. 

 The facts stated in the fore part of this section make it evident that 

 the passage of such lands to Federal ownership, under conditions fair 

 and equitable both to the public and to the landowners, would in 

 large measure relieve a situation which while originating in a some- 

 what limited territory is national in its ultimate consequences. The 

 program which will be proposed, therefore, would not be antagonistic 

 to the best interests of the private owner of forest lands but, on the 

 contrary, would be in complete accord with the evident trend of land 

 economy and forest economy. 



Lands acquired in the Eastern States would not contain the large 

 volumes of stored-up timber characteristic of the Western States. 

 The effect of their acquisition would not be to relieve private owners 

 from an accumulation of past burdens, but to afford such owners 

 better opportunities for progress and profit in the future operation of 

 the forest properties suitable for private management, by supple- 

 menting the production of such properties, by affording means for 



168342 33 vol. 2 9 



