390 



Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 



through western Tennessee and south- 

 western Kentucky. They therefore rep- 

 resent a fair cross section of the forest 

 types of the Tennessee Valley region. 

 Predominant types are upland hard- 

 woods, pine-hardwoods, and oak. In 

 general, most of the forest lands have 

 been heavily used and abused, having 

 in the past undergone repeated cut- 

 tings, frequent burnings, and heavy 

 grazing. Consequently, many of them 

 are in poor condition from the stand- 

 point of a commercial timber produc- 

 tion, because of the predominance of 

 defective trees and relatively few of the 

 more valuable species. 



It is the policy of the TVA, in the 

 management of these woodlands, that 

 any timber cutting must be carried on 

 in conformity with sound principles of 

 technical forestry, with selective cut- 

 ting, where such is feasible. Recogni- 

 tion is given in the forest-management 

 procedures to special values such as 

 scenic or recreational utility or to wild- 

 life needs. Some 22,000 acres have 

 been systematically treated with im- 



provement cuttings. Fire protection is 

 carried out through local or State 

 agencies if possible, or directly by the 

 Tennessee Valley Authority organiza- 

 tion where it is necessary. Timber and 

 forest products are sold on the stump, 

 through competitive bids if the ap- 

 praised value is over $250. 



In 1947, more than 7.5 million feet 

 of timber, 1,300 cords of wood, and 

 261,000 lineal feet of poles and posts 

 were sold for about $79,000. Cumula- 

 tive sales total more than 36 million 

 board feet of timber, 21,600 cords of 

 wood, and 1,050,000 lineal feet of poles 

 and posts, with a total value of nearly 

 $346,000. 



F. W. GROVER is chief of the Division 

 of Land Acquisition, Forest Service, 

 and secretary of the National Forest 

 Reservation Commission. Mr. Grover 

 is a graduate of the School of Forestry, 

 University of California. He entered 

 the Forest Service in 1930, and has 

 served as forest ranger and as national 

 forest and regional office staff assistant. 



STATE FORESTS 



STANLEY G. FONTANNA 



State forests have six uses. They are 

 demonstrations of good forestry prac- 

 tices in growing and harvesting forest 

 products. They produce valuable forest 

 products. They protect watersheds and 

 wildlife. They provide places for recre- 

 ation. Sometimes they are grazed. 



The sixth purpose, or justification, 

 has to do with the reason why most of 

 them were established public reali- 

 zation of the need to place under man- 

 agement the forest lands that other- 

 wise would be neglected. Thus, most 

 State forests (meaning, here, forest 

 lands that have actually been desig- 

 nated State forests within the re- 

 spective States and not including 

 State-owned lands, such as game areas, 

 forest parks, or forest lands not under 

 any type of management) have been 



founded on a base of tax-reverted lands 

 or low-value lands that were bought. 



In 1885, New York began the ac- 

 quisition of extensive forest land for 

 the Adirondack and Catskill Forest 

 Preserves. Other State forests organ- 

 ized at early dates were the Mont Alto 

 in Pennsylvania in 1891, the Pillsbury 

 in Minnesota in 1899, the Clark 

 County in Indiana in 1903, and the 

 Higgins Lake and Houghton Lake in 

 Michigan in 1903. Thirty-six States 

 now have State forests. 



States have come into possession of 

 land for State forests through grants 

 of land by the Federal Government; 

 tax reversion ; gift, exchange, and pur- 

 chase ; and lease of land from the Fed- 

 eral Government. Federal-grant lands, 

 the remainder of the original Federal 



