A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1263 



management is confined to lands where national interests are para- 

 mount or where State and private efforts are factually found to have 

 failed or to be failing. The question of form of ownership is merely 

 one of what action will obtain the essential result, and what agency is 

 able to carry it out. 



As to the desirability of a large increase in ownership and manage- 

 ment of forest lands by the States, there can be no doubt. The basic 

 question between the States and the Federal Government is not one 

 of competition in forest-land ownership, but of whether interstate or 

 other national interest is involved and the extent to which individual 

 States are able financially to undertake the full task on the forest 

 lands not properly cared for in private ownership. 



The problem of whether the State or the Federal Government or 

 both should handle the additional public forest acquisition in a par- 

 ticular area is thus in the main a question of determinable fact and 

 not of abstract theory. What is important, and urgently so, is that 

 a realistic determination of each local situation be made, as a basis 

 for effective action. 



In individual States, therefore, the best division of public-forest 

 ownership will range from predominantly State to predominantly 

 Federal. Sometimes it may be advantageous to have State and 

 National forests in separate parts of the State. The sole criterion of 

 the success or failure of the public-forest program is not who does the 

 job, but whether the full job of management of lands which private 

 ownership does not keep in good forest production, is done. 



From the standpoint of experience to date there is little basis for 

 arguing for or against State or Federal forests as inherently superior or 

 inferior. There are examples of able professional management of both. 

 Continuity of policy, freedom from politics, technical per- sonnel, and 

 adequacy of funds are the essentials in both Federal and State forestry. 



That some of the States are still disposing of their forest lands and 

 resources without the application of forestry principles no more proves 

 the inherent incompetency of State forestry as a whole than does the 

 fact that the United States is disposing of its public domain and rail- 

 road grant lands in the Northwest, now revested in the United States 

 without proper care prove its inability to manage Federal forests. 



PROGRESS TO DATE IN PUBLIC FOREST ACQUISITION 

 AND EXISTING PROGRAMS 



In table 2 there is summarized the area previously acquired for 

 State forest purposes, the area being acquired, and the ultimate area 

 to be owned when present policies and plans have had full effect. The 

 grand totals under these three captions are 4,396,000 acres, 2,232,000 

 acres, and 12,770,000 acres, respectively. A few of the Northern 

 States, notably Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and 

 Wisconsin, account for the bulk of the acreage in all categories. A 

 considerable number of States have small or nonexistent ownership 

 or plans for ownership. The section on " State AccompHshments and 

 Plans" describes in detail the State forest programs. 



The New England, Middle Atlantic, and Lake groups of States now 

 own almost 90 percent of the total area of State forests, and the 3,925,- 

 000 acres of State forests makes up but 3.5 percent of the total forest 

 area in these regions. In the South the 45,000 acres of State forests is 

 but 0.02 of 1 percent of the forest area. 



