A NATIONAL PLAN. FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1525 



scope, although some of its local aspects place responsibility on 

 various public agencies in the several States. Certain of the States 

 have enormous wealth, while others find it difficult to finance the usual 

 functions of government. Some of the most critical situations are so 

 located at the borders of States that, however important nationally, 

 they have only minor significance for the State. 



Obviously each agency involved should make the maximum 

 equitable contribution. Private owners should handle situations in 

 the farm-woodland class involving only a small part of their entire 

 property; counties and municipalities financially able to do so should 

 participate on areas not subject to blocking up for more specialized 

 management; States should carry a large part of the burden, on the 

 basis of responsibility for damage originating within their jurisdiction; 

 finally, the Federal Government should assume the responsibility for 

 large areas and for special conditions beyond the reach of local 

 agencies. 



With the dedication of these abandoned lands to watershed protec- 

 tion must go a planting program such as that set up in the section of this 

 report entitled " Reforestation of Barren and Unproductive Land." 

 Generally, planting should be concentrated at first on land that other- 

 wise would continue to wash after cropping is eliminated. In very 

 many cases this will mean only a small part of a farm otherwise in 

 satisfactory condition. Farm- woodland planting is inexpensive, and 

 besides contributing to watershed protection converts idle areas on 

 the farm to a definite productive use. In most of the public planting 

 timber production would be incidental to the benefits of erosion and 

 flood control; it would be a real factor, nevertheless, in a region that 

 imports great quantities of wood products. The use of land primarily 

 for watershed protection usually need not eliminate timber cutting, 

 game production, and recreational use. 



Along with public acquisition and management must go improved 

 fire protection on forest lands in all types of ownership. 



COASTAL DUNES 



The coastal dunes include sand dune lands along the eastern shores 

 of Lake Michigan and other Great Lakes and in places along the 

 Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts. Of special interest are the dunes 

 of Cape Cod, Long Island, the New Jersey coast, Maryland, North 

 and South Carolina,, Florida, and Oregon. These dunes menace 

 harbors, transportation systems, agricultural lands, summer homes, 

 and other improvements. The individual areas are small. Taken 

 together they may compose a strip several miles wide along a thousand 

 miles of coast line, totaling probably half a million acres. 



At the present time a very small area of dune land is in public 

 ownership. Part of this is in parks such as those in northwestern 

 Indiana and at San Francisco. * The greater part is in private owner- 

 ship. 



The control of sand movement on coastal dune areas will require 

 planting grasses and shrubs, scattering litter and other humus ma- 

 terial, building sand fences and traps, and reforesting by many 

 different methods. 



Fire control in the dune region is relatively simple, because the 

 cover is usually insufficient to carry flames. After dunes have been 

 stabilized, however, such a cover can be developed as will be subject 



