A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



1609 



forestry expenditures proposed for the next 10 years constitute only 

 5 percent of the sum which the State and local governments spent 

 on their improved-highway programs during a recent past decade. 

 When it is realized that the $25,000,000 annual forestry expense of 

 the future may ultimately be returned many fold through income 

 from properly managed State forests alone, not to mention less 

 tangible values or the great increase in the productivity of private 

 forests through State aid, the expenditures proposed appear as 

 investments rather than as expenses. 



TABLE 3. Summary of estimated average annual expenditures by State and local 

 governments involved in 20-year program 



THE PART OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY 



This report has developed the view that responsibility for main- 

 taining and developing the productivity and values of forest lands is 

 an attribute of all classes of ownership. As an owner of forest land 

 the Federal Government necessarily has this responsibility, which in 

 the main has been accepted. 



But, because it is the central Government, it has additional 

 responsibilities not contingent upon ownership. Preservation or 

 restoration of forest-land values is a national necessity in order to 

 maintain and develop the national basic wealth represented by forest 

 lands which gives opportunity for the productive use of capital, and 

 thereby serves as a source of employment for labor. It is a form of 

 national defense. 



The Federal responsibilities do not necessarily represent the size 

 of the Federal Government's participation in the job, which is 

 dependent very largely on the ability of the States and private 

 owners of forest land to do the full job that needs to be done. Active 

 Federal participation varies in ratio to the degree that the national 

 interest in forest land values is protected under the ownership of 

 other agencies. 



Because of widespread depreciation of public values on private 

 forest lands, and because the States have been unable to halt destruc- 

 tive practices or to restore values on the large accumulated area which 

 is definitely unattractive to private ownership, the active Federal 

 participation must increase if the full job is accomplished. 



