A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1227 



research and extension, planting, etc. The preceding part has dealt 

 in considerable detail with these other important factors and has 

 outlined the parts the Federal Government and the States should 

 play in developing means for promoting and maintaining adequate 

 measures of control. 



TAX DELINQUENCY 



Another factor which will undoubtedly have a far-reaching effect 

 upon State action in forestry is that of tax delinquency. In those 

 States where large areas of private forest lands revert to the counties 

 or States because of tax nonpayment, public action in forestry must 

 necessarily result. This action may find direct financial expression or 

 it may result in legislative action aimed to reestablish or maintain the 

 private owners' interest in his cut-over lands. The Oregon, Washing- 

 ton, and Idaho reforestation laws and the forest crop laws of the Lake 

 States are samples of this State legislative interest and action in 

 forestry brought about by tax delinquency of private forest lands. 



CONCLUSIONS 



In summing up the factors influencing State aid, it appears that the 

 two most important are, first, the relative damage which fires may do 

 to life and property, and, secondly, the ability of the State to pay and 

 to take legislative action necessary for control of the situation. The 

 factor of fire damage is not here interpreted as constituting damage to 

 timber values alone, but includes all other damage such as the detri- 

 mental effects on recreational use, hunting, stream flow, regulation, etc. 

 As these effects of fire become better understood and appreciated as 

 detrimental to the propserity and happiness of the people, then public 

 action may be expected to follow. 



The extent of this public demand and financial support will, of 

 course, not be uniform. In the Lake, Middle Atlantic, and New 

 England regions, particularly, individual States are manifesting in a 

 substantial way, both in funds and in legislation, their public interest 

 in forestry. This public desire appears firmly established and may be 

 expected to grow and result in future continued and increased public 

 participation. In the large pine and hardwood areas of the South, 

 the factors of fire damage are not as striking as in the Lake or Pacific 

 Coast States, and neither are the States as wealthy and therefore able 

 at present to manifest as great a public financial interest as some of the 

 richer industrial States. In the South, as elsewhere, increased State 

 participation will largely result from a better financial situation and 

 from a better realization of the use and value of second-growth stands. 



