A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S SHARE 



1351 



Inasmuch as the necessity for preserving Federal protection forests 

 is based on national needs, and since the benefits will accrue primarily 

 to the inhabitants of other States rather than to the owners of the 

 land or to the States within which the forests are situated, it is equita- 

 ble that the Federal Government should bear a considerable share of 

 the costs of maintaining these forests, even where it does not own 

 them. It is proposed, therefore, that the Federal Government should 

 pay a large portion of the protection costs in addition to providing the 

 enforcement personnel (inspectors) and paying the costs of classification. 



The Federal Government would be justified in paying 50 to 100 

 percent of the cost of fire protection for forests within the Federal 

 protection zones the proportion to depend upon the relative benefits 

 from protection to the landowner, to the State or local community, 

 and to the Nation as a whole, and upon the extent of hazard due to 

 other causes than the owner's operation. The owner should bear 

 the full cost of slash disposal and other measures designed to avoid 

 the creation of hazard. The entire cost of protecting federally owned 

 land should, of course, continue to be borne by the Federal Government. 



Because of the relation of forests outside the Federal protection 

 zones to the general welfare of the country, the Federal Government 

 is justified in continuing the present policy of contributing toward 

 the cost of protecting these. A reasonable ratio would be 50 percent 

 for forests within classified State protection zones and not more than 

 25 percent for ordinary nonprotection forests. 



The division of protection costs would then be as follows : 



This arrangement would recognize the responsibility of the Federal 

 Government for insuring the protection of forests of interstate sig- 

 nificance, regardless of action by the States or the owners. At the 

 same time, it would respect the principle of cooperation with the 

 States in protecting forests in general, and hence would retain the 

 stimulus to State action that is provided by the Clarke-McNary law. 



The above Federal contributions should apply not only to private 

 forests, but also to those owned by States, counties, or municipalities 

 and located within the designated protection zones. In the case of 

 such publicly owned forests, however, Federal assistance should be 

 granted only if and so long as the forests are managed in a manner 

 satisfactory to the Federal Board. 



COST OF PROGRAM 



The cost to the public of a program of regulation such as that out- 

 lined above can be estimated only very roughly, and with a very wide 

 margin of error. It would depend on how large an area should be 



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