1318 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



TABLE 4. Cost for first 5 years of maintaining acquisition program, capital 

 investment (exclusive of land} , and current expense l 



1 5 percent of total area acquired each year. Eastern program, 107,000,000 acres; capital investment, $2 

 an acre; protection (double acquired area), 5 cents an acre; administration, 5.6 cents per acre acquired. 

 Western program, 27,000,000 acres; capital investment, $1 an acre; protection, 5 cents an acre (land adjacent 

 to national-forest land); administration, 5 cents per acre acquired. 



2 Capital investment includes planting costs. 



STATE FOREST COSTS 



As more of the States enter into the venture of acquiring forest 

 lands with the purpose in mind of permanent management, they will 

 undoubtedly assume the full obligation of responsible stewardship and 

 the costs that go with it. Otherwise, no particular reason exists for 

 the creation of a State forest system. 



No detailed data are available for analysis of present costs of State 

 forests. Their management and development will iindoubtedly 

 follow closely those worked out in national-forest experience, where 

 provision is made for the protection, development, and utilization of 

 all the resources as local exigencies dictate. Multiple-purpose 

 management will feature the State forest as it has the national forest, 

 with here and there one resource singled out as dominant partic- 

 ularly watersheds and recreation. In the case of watershed forests, 

 all other uses may be considered of secondary importance and some- 

 times restricted or excluded entirely. Where recreational demands 

 are high, some of the State forests (as has already occurred) may be 

 set aside for exclusive use as State parks. But in the main, if multiple- 

 purpose management is skillfully carried out, alt of the resources in 

 State forests can be equally utilized or enjoyed. 



The public benefits involved in stream-flow regulation or erosion 

 control may not produce direct revenues, but they will promote the 

 economic welfare, and are one of the chief reasons for the creation of 

 State and national forests. Costs for the development and manage- 

 ment of public forests, whether in State or national ownership, will 

 probably be about the same, and the costs estimated for the national 

 forests can be applied safely to the State forests. It was estimated in 

 the first part of this section that State forests may reach a total area 

 of approximately 100 million acres and States must be prepared, if 

 management is to be applied, to spend about 12 cents per acre for 

 protection and administration and to make a total capital investment 



