Maladjustments in Land Use 



9 



necessity for providing the unduly expensive public 

 services required by sucli settlements. The establish- 

 ment of a sustained yield management of forest land, 

 it is believed, would be facilitated if the expensive local 

 governmental services which exist, in many instances, 

 to serve impoverished uneconomic settlement, were 

 eliminated. It is believed that constructive manage- 

 ment of the forest land would tend to stabilize em- 

 ployment by providing a contmual source of material 

 for wood-using industries. State and Federal accjuisi- 

 tion of much forest land has taken place. 



Atlantic and Gulf C\it-orer Region. — Major adjust- 

 ments advocated: (1) Instituting constructive manage- 

 ment of forest land ; (2) widespread local withdrawal of 

 arable farm land. It is indicated that more construc- 

 tive use of the forest land should furnish additional 

 sources of income for resident farmers, in some 

 instances in sufficient measure to facilitate continuance 

 of agriculture that would otherwise be decadent. The 

 forest country bordering the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is 

 a sparsely settled region, in which large-scale exploita- 

 tion of the timber resources has, except in the north- 

 eastern part, taken place relativelj^ recently. The 

 forest is composed in large measure of fast-growing 

 species of high utility, and its comparative advantage 

 in wood production is high. It is therefore, a region 

 of desirable forest land utilization. 



While local bodies of desirable agricultm-al land 

 exist, a large part of the region is either poorly drained 

 or has relatively unproductive sandy soils or both. In 

 attempts to settle or colonize cut-over timberlands 

 there has been a failure to distmguish properly between 

 desirable and undesirable land. It has been com- 

 monly supposed that the long frost-free season and 

 mild winter clmiate adequately compensates for any 

 deficiency in soil productivity. In a measure, it is 

 true that clunate is a compensating advantage, but 

 on the whole, agricultural settlement in this region has 

 not been notably successful. After 200 years, during 

 which the rest of the countiy was agriculturallj^ appro- 

 priated, the region remains almost wholly in forest. 



It is believed desirable to eliminate some of the most 

 scattered settlement on poor land in tliis region, and 

 to institute constructive management on the forest 

 land, so as to use most effectively a productive and 

 desirable forest region. 



Pacific Forest and Cut-over Hegion. — Major adjust- 

 ments advocated: (1) Withdrawal of scattered farm 

 settlement occupying poor land; (2) institutmg con- 

 structive numagcment of forest land; (3) increasing 

 acreage of improved land on farms by further clearing, 

 and in some localities, by increasing size of ownersliip 

 units. 



Of the great forest regions of the United States, that 

 of the Pacific coast has been most recently exploited. 



The appropriation of cut-over lands for agricultural 

 settlement in this region has probably been retarted 

 by the very great cost of clearing land of the charac- 

 teristically large and thickly set stumps. Neverthe- 

 less some scattered settlement does exist in shoestring 

 valleys and on relatively poor land. It is believed 

 desirable to ehminatc such scattered settlement and to 

 concentrate agriculture in more compact communities 

 on better lands in more accessible locations. 



Subsequent to the Forest Homestead Act of June 1 1 , 

 1906, many isolated and scattered tracts were entered 

 for agricultural use within the boundaries of national 

 forests. Only in exceptional instances have these 

 isolated farms been capable of supplying themselves 

 with public services and providing their operators with 

 an adetjuate livmg. It is believed desirable to eliminate 

 many, if not most, of the scattered, privately owned 

 farms within national forests, in the interest of facili- 

 tating the administration of the forest and reducing 

 uneconomic farm settlement. 



Equally or even more desirable is the introduction of 

 some sort of sustained yield management of the private 

 forest land in order to stabilize employment through the 

 continuance of forest industries wliich provide markets 

 and possibly part-tune employment for farmers. 



Of the farms now located on desirable land in devel- 

 oped communities, many have an acreage of cleared 

 land inadequate to sujjjjort a family. The expense of 

 clearing additional land is, in many instances, beyond 

 the financial ability of the operator, except through the 

 application of labor over many years. It is believed 

 that assistance to farm owners, possibly in the form of 

 credit, in increasing their cleared acreage, is desirable 

 in the interest of community well-being. 



In a considerable area bordermg Puget Sound, par- 

 ticularly near the lai^er cities and on the islands the 

 controlling or guidmg of future land-use developments 

 is believed to be a problem. No specific adjustment 

 appears to be necessary in this area at the moment, 

 but it is believed desu-able to undertake a classifica- 

 tion of land, and to establish some use-control to avoid 

 undesirable developments in the future, and to provide 

 a direction for developments to assure the uses socially 

 and economically most desirable. 



The Arid and Semiarid Regions 



Western Great Plains. — Major adjustments advocated: 

 (1) Replacement of some of the crop farming in the 

 driest and agriculturally least desirable sections by 

 stock ranching or other grazing use; (2) enlargement of 

 farms in these and other sections to permit more ex- 

 tensive types of fanning, with more pasture and less 

 crop land per farm. 



Parts of the Great Plains arc subject to recurring 

 drought of such frequency and severity thai arable 



