342 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



At least 25 owners have given their 

 own farm wood lots which total 4,000 

 acres this silvicultural treatment. 



Another benefit is a sharp reduction 

 in the number of fires on these scat- 

 tered holdings. Reasons are: Under 

 the timber-sale agreements, the farmer- 

 operators are required to fight fire any- 

 where within a mile of their sale 

 boundary; they have an opportunity 

 in the woods to study the effect of fire; 

 and they have come to feel that they 

 have a personal stake in the forest. 



THE LOCAL ECONOMY has improved. 

 The Federal Government does not pay 

 the counties any taxes for the lands 

 owned by it in the national forests, but 

 it does pay 25 percent of the receipts 

 from the national forest to the counties 

 in which a forest is located. The share 

 of each county is in proportion to the 

 amount of national forest acreage in 

 the county. The average return to the 

 counties under this arrangement in 

 1943-47 has been 18.7 cents an acre 

 per year. The average land tax col- 

 lected by the counties for similar lands 

 has been 21.5 cents an acre. The gap 



between the tax rate and the annual 

 payments is closing; in 1947, the return 

 to the counties from Bienville National 

 Forest timber-sale receipts was 20.5 

 cents an acre. In addition, the State of 

 Mississippi collects its severance tax on 

 all timber cut in the national forest. 



Besides the direct monetary returns, 

 the Bienville National Forest contrib- 

 utes to the local economy in several 

 ways. The money for the improve- 

 ments adds to local income; the im- 

 provements themselves help business 

 and enhance local welfare ; the yield of 

 forest products creates opportunities 

 for the local industry and employment. 

 Since it will be a continuing yield, in- 

 dustries and jobs will continue. 



FRANK A. ALBERT joined the Forest 

 Service immediately after he was grad- 

 uated in forestry at Pennsylvania State 

 College in 1926. He has served in na- 

 tional forests in New Hampshire, Vir- 

 ginia, West Virginia, Florida, North 

 Carolina, and Mississippi. He now is 

 assistant regional forester in the Divi- 

 sion of Lands, Recreation, Wildlife, 

 and Watershed Management. 



PINYON-JUNIPER IN THE SOUTHWEST 



QUINCY RANDLES 



The short, scrubby growth of co- 

 nifers that now covers some 40,000 

 square miles in Arizona and New Mex- 

 ico has been used by man for probably 

 20,000 years. The growth is less con- 

 ventional in form and of less obvious 

 value than the forests at higher ele- 

 vations, but it served the Indians for 

 a long time. It also served the Euro- 

 peans when they arrived some four 

 centuries ago; they founded their first 

 settlements in and near the woodland 

 forest, which was more inviting as a 

 site for homes than the colder, higher 

 elevations or the hot, lower elevations. 



The woodland forest is one of two 

 broad classes in which forests in the 

 Southwest are often placed. 



One is called the saw- timber forest. 

 The products from the three forest 

 types that make up this class are used 

 largely for the production of lumber 

 and other sawn products. The three 

 types are the ponderosa pine, Douglas- 

 fir, and Engelmann spruce. They oc- 

 cur at elevations of 7,000 to 11,500 

 feet, the latter being timber line in 

 Arizona and New Mexico. 



The second class of forest, the wood- 

 land, gives products that have been 

 used almost exclusively for fuel and 

 posts. The woodland forest also com- 

 prises three types. One is the cypress 

 type, composed of Arizona and smooth 

 cypress, which grows in a limited area 

 and has only local importance. The 



