A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1291 



sheds having such costly public improvements automatically assumes 

 a high priority. The reports of the major watersheds indicate the 

 location of the high value projects. 



EXTENT AND LOCATION OF WATERSHED AREAS FEASIBLE FOR 

 PUBLIC OWNERSHIP 



In table 14 are summarized by regions the total acreage of forest 

 and already abandoned agricultural land which is in units such as 

 have been suggested as feasible for public ownership. The figures 

 were derived in the following manner: 



For each county indicated by the watershed studies as having 

 major or moderate watershed importance, the acreage of woodland 

 on farms, woodland in other ownership, and farm land abandoned for 

 cropping were combined to give a total figure. This is the area 

 potentially obtainable for public forests, as explained previously. 

 The percentage of the total area of the county which the potentially 

 obtainable land makes up was then calculated, and each county was 

 thus classified as having less than 20 percent potentially available 

 land, from 20 percent to 34.9 percent, from 35 percent to 49.9 percent, 

 from 50 percent to 64.9 percent, and over 65 percent. 



The diagram maps then made it possible to determine the location 

 of groups of countries having 35 percent or over of potentially obtain- 

 able land, and thus to block out units of not less than 100,000 acres. 

 The process was applied to the States in the South, Central, and 

 Lake regions where the individual watershed reports indicated par- 

 ticularly critical problems of watershed protection. 



Not all of the potentially obtainable land can be regarded as actually 

 available within the price range of public purchase. Some owners of 

 forest land, for example mining companies, do not figure their property 

 as timber land but as mineral land. So long as the minerals are being 

 extracted the property is not on the market. 



A certain amount of woodland within the units is attached to farms 

 which will remain in cultivation. Where the farm land and woodland 

 on an individual farm are intermingled, the owner would be little inter- 

 ested in selling the woods only. 



In table 14, a reduction of the " potentially available" figures has 

 been made to give recognition to the fact that certain individual own- 

 ers of forest land are likely to hold their properties. The estimate of 

 "actually available" land, which is recommended for eventual public 

 purchase, is necessarily an approximation. The amount of land finally 

 obtainable in a given unit can be determined only after many years. 

 This analysis inoticates that in the Central States region feasible public 

 ownership units totalling 44.1 million acres of potentially obtainable 

 land might be blocked out. The great bulk of this lies within the 

 major influence zone. In the Southern States the total area is 73.3 

 million acres, and in the Lake States 3.1 million acres, both almost 

 wholly within the major influence zones. Even these very large areas 

 are not estimated to take care of all the watershed areas or existing 

 problems in the regions mentioned. They would, however, take care 

 of major value areas with important immediate problems. 



Most of the recommended units in these regions would be entirely 

 new, that is not tied into existing public forests. Most of the States 

 in the Central and Southern regions have no forest acquisition pro- 

 gram and national-forest purchase areas already established cover 



