1298 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Table 16 makes possible a broad classification of relative wealth of 

 the States by forest regions. There are of course differences in rating 

 of individual States within a forest region, and the predominant rating 

 has been adopted for each region. 



In some of the wealthiest States an active State program or forest- 

 land acquisition is under way. In these there is every reason to 

 believe that the bulk of the additional public acquisition will be 

 handled by the States. But in nearly all, there are areas of water- 

 sheds on interstate streams, the ownership of which is a Federal 

 responsibility. On the average, probably 20 percent of the total 

 land acquired will be by the Federal Government and 80 percent by 

 the States. 



In the least wealthy group of States it is clearly not to be expected 

 that the States themselves will be financially able to own and manage 

 a large proportion of the acreage. But selected areas, including those 

 having great local recreational and other public values, will presum- 

 ably be acquired and managed by the States. On the average, there- 

 fore, in these groups of States probably 20 percent of the total public 

 acquisition will be by the States. 



Two intermediate grades of State financial ability are recognized 

 in which it is estimated that 40 and 60 percent of the total public 

 acquisition will be by the States. 



On the basis of these percentages, an estimate of the division of 

 the public acquisition job between the States and the Federal Gov- 

 ernment is given in table 17. In round numbers, the State share is 

 89 million acres, and that of the Federal Government 134 million 

 acres. Clearly this is an approximation, but one based on results to 

 date, current trends, and known differences in financial ability between 

 different States and regions. 



TABLE 17. Probable future distribution of additional public forests between States 



and Federal Government 



The foregoing estimates of the eventual size of State and national 

 forests go far beyond the existing official acquisition programs. The 

 area of State forest will be increased by 8,374,000 acres when present 

 State policies and plans are fully worked out (table 2). 



