1352 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN 



classified as protection forest, and on the division of costs between 

 the public and the forest owners. The public would have to pay as 

 much or more if the forests were brought into public ownership. A 

 large portion of the costs would also be borne by the public under a 

 policy of public assistance to private owners, even if no regulation 

 were involved. 



The major costs peculiar to a program of regulation would be the 

 expenses of the Feaeral and State forestry boards or their agents in 

 classifying protection forests and formulating regulations, and the 

 costs of maintaining a force of inspectors to see that regulations are 

 complied with. The work of the boards would be heavy during the 

 first few years, until the bulk of the classification is completed; after 

 that the task would be considerably smaller. Expenses of the Federal 

 board might be about $50,000 a year, and of the State boards about 

 $100,000 a year altogether. The preliminary task of classification, 

 which perhaps would be spread over a 5-year period, might cost alto- 

 gether $250,000 for Federal protection forests and $150,000 for 

 State protection forests. Enforcement of the law might require 50 

 to 60 Federal inspectors, at a total cost, including salaries, travel, and 

 clerical assistance, of about $500,000 a year. Additional cost to the 

 State forest departments for enforcing fire laws and restrictions on 

 State protection forests might aggregate $150,000 a year. 



At a rough estimate, possibly 160 million acres of the present pri- 

 vately owned commercial forest area might fall within Federal protec- 

 tion zones, and 65 million acres additional within State protection 

 zones. This would leave about 172 million acres of privately owned 

 nonprotection forest. If the costs of protection should be divided 

 somewhat as proposed above, and if the total cost of protecting pri- 

 vately owned forests should be about $20,000,000, as indicated in 

 another section of this report (" Protection Against Fire")? the Fed- 

 eral Government would pay approximately $9,500,000 a year, the 

 States about $6,750,000, and private owners about $3,750,000. This 

 does not take into account the noncommercial forest area, a relatively 

 small proportion of which is privately owned, nor the abandoned farm 

 land that is reverting to forest but not yet classed as forest land. 



CONCLUSION 



The plan outlined above is in line with the policies which have been 

 worked out by a large number of countries that are in approximately 

 the same stage of economic development as the United States. It 

 recognizes the fact that a large proportion of our forest land will 

 continue for many years in private ownership. It seeks to avoid 

 interference with private property beyond what is necessary to safe- 

 guard the rights and welfare of the public. Except for requirements 

 designed to prevent the spread to other property of fire, insects, and 

 disease, mandatory regulation would be limited to classified protec- 

 tion forests, and there only when such interference is necessary. The 

 Federal Government would have jurisdiction over protection forests 

 where the injury threatens to pass State boundaries or to affect 

 Federal property or interests within the State. Beyond this, control 

 would be left in the hands of the individual States. In either case, 

 the control measures would be formulated largely by boards or 

 commissions in consultation with forest owners. 



