1276 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tive practices, such as fire protection, planting, and conservative graz- 

 ing, can be begun. 



Extensive land abandonment is an index of local poverty, and tends 

 to aggravate it. Towns and counties with large areas of idle land are 

 likely to be financially weak and to require heavy subsidies from the 

 States for the support of roads, schools, and other public functions. 

 They cannot, therefore, be expected to invest much cash either in 

 acquiring forest land or in rehabilitating and managing it even where 

 it is acquired at little or no cost. Outside capital will be required. 

 This will have to be supplied by the States or the Federal Government. 



Where the area of idle land plus land already in forest constitutes a 

 relatively large proportion of the total land area, and where agricul- 

 tural use of the remaining land is generally submarginal and tending 

 to decline, or is injuring the public welfare through erosion, silting, 

 and disturbance of stream flow, public forestry is indicated. 



Probably at least half of the 50-odd million acres of idle land that is 

 now available for forestry, and much of the land that may be aban- 

 doned for agriculture in the future, will eventually find its way into 

 public forests. It is safest to assume that about 50 million acres pre- 

 viously classed as farm land will come into public ownership in one 

 way or another. The regional distribution of this class of land is 

 shown in table 1. 



THE PROBABLE FUTURE OWNERSHIP OF WOODLAND ON FARMS 



In addition to the 52 million acres of abandoned farm land now 

 available for forestry, and the possible 25 million acres to be available 

 subsequently, about 127 million acres of commercial forest land is 

 owned by farmers in the form of woodlands. Its regional distribution 

 is shown in table 1. Some part of this 127 million acres is attached to 

 the 52 million acres of abandoned agricultural lands. Without 

 extensive field surveys there is no way even to approximate the 

 woodland area so involved. It is probably not less than 25 million 

 and may be 50 million acres. 



The fact that most farm woodland is readily accessible to trans- 

 portation facilities and that a large part of it is above the average 

 in potential productivity for timber favors continued private owner- 

 ship and management. Woodlands on many farms are closely linked 

 with the farm economy. The farmer depends on them for firewood, 

 posts, and other farm timber. They shelter his fields and buildings 

 and livestock against excessive winds and extremes of heat and cold. 

 They give variety to the scenery and contribute in many ways to the 

 pleasantness of his environment. In numerous instances they also 

 supply a cash crop which he can harvest and market when other crops 

 fail, or at times when other farm work is slack. They require very 

 little investment except the farmer's own tune, and the carrying 

 charges are commonly very small. In many cases, the farm wood- 

 land constitutes a sort of land reserve, upon which the owner can draw 

 when he wishes to increase his acreage of crops or pasture. 



It is likely, then, that a large proportion of the woodland on per- 

 manently established farms will remain in private ownership. Its 

 area will fluctuate more or less, as some forest is cleared and as other 

 land reverts to woods. For the most part, the owners will have 

 sufficient interest and opportunity to keep it reasonably productive. 



