Alahdjustnients in Land Use 



productive parts, the tibandonment of farming on much 

 of the least desirable land has already taken place in 

 response to changing economic conditions, particularly 

 in New England. This adjustment has been facilitated 

 by the development of sources of industrial employ- 

 ment in the region, and by the openmg of more pro- 

 ductive agricultural lands inthe West, both of which 

 offered better livelihood than agriculture on the steep 

 and stony lands. Despite tliis economic adjustment 

 in the past, there appears to renuim m agricultural 

 use a considerable body of farm land so poor as to offer 

 little hope of yielding a reasonable return for the 

 farmers' labor even under conditions of national pros- 

 perity. (See description of social and economic con- 

 ditions in areas in which it appears desirable to encour- 

 age discontmuance of croj) farming.) 



Much of the land in the region is forest luiul not in 

 farms. Although intensive forest management is prac- 

 ticed in some localities, and although the recreational 

 use of forests is important, much forest land is con- 

 tributing very little to the support of local communi- 

 ties. It is believed that a more constructive use of 

 the forest land in parts of tliis region would provide 

 alternative or supplementary emploj-ment in siifficient 

 quantity to support stable part-tune agi'iculture and 

 local wood-using industries, antl to maintain com- 

 munities which would otherwise be decadent. Local 

 e.\am])les of woodworking industries using nearby forest 

 land inider sustained-3'ield management, and providing 

 a stable basis for community support, are to be found 

 in this region, notably in New England. An imjjortant 

 consideration m regard to the importance of construc- 

 tive forest management in this region, is its proximity 

 to |)opulous industrial wood-consuming centers, now 

 deriving much of their forest products from regions 

 1,000 to 3,000 miles distant. 



Probably the most noteworthy example of desirable 

 forest land utilization under private ownership is pre- 

 sented by northern Maine. Unlike most other forest 

 regions, much of northern Maine has almost no scat- 

 tered agricultural settlement and no local governmental 

 organization. Having Uttle interspersed settlement, 

 the forest land has not the burden of supporting roads, 

 scliools, and other governmental services. Tax revenue 

 from forest land, therefore, needs to be little more than 

 enough to provide fire protection. Moderate taxation 

 in this section permits forest landowners to hold their 

 properties for continued forest production. It reduces 

 the tendency to "cut out and get out", notable in 

 regions where the forest must support local govern- 

 mental activities. 



By reducing the cost of carrying tuuberland, and 

 thereby fostering sustained forest production, the 

 tendency to unload forest land onto the agricultural 



land market is reduced, and the tendency to introduce 

 scattered or uneconomic agricultural settlement in the 

 forest area is avoided. In part, the situation has 

 resulted from the early lumbering practice of culling 

 rather than clear-cutting. The continuously producing 

 forest resulting from this practice is in contrast with 

 the idle forest land remaining after clear-cutting in 

 our more recently exploited forest regions, where cut- 

 over lands, unprofitable to hold for forest production, 

 have been disposed of for agriculture, or have become 

 tax delinf[uent. 



Tins example of desirable forest land-utilization is 

 noted because it appears to be an outstanding case of 

 the avoidance of the maladjustment of forest-land use 

 characteristic of many of our forest regions, and is 

 indicative of what might be achiextMl tliinimh coiu- 

 parable land-use adjustments elsewiiere. 



Sotdhern Highlands and their Alargins. — Major ad- 

 justments advocated: (1) Widespread local withdrawal 

 of crop farming in the roughest areas, converting lanil 

 to constructive use (see description of social and eco- 

 nomic conditions in areas in which it is proposed to 

 encourage withdrawal of arable farming); (2) institu- 

 ting of constructive management of forest land; (3) in- 

 creasing size of farm units in the less rugged areas to 

 permit greater acreage of pasture per farm, and to 

 provide enough acreage per farm for an adequate family 

 living; and (4) instituting of erosion control measures 

 in the better farming areas, where no increase in size 

 of farms is necessary. 



UnHke the rougher and less desirable parts of the 

 Northeastern Highlands, the steeper parts of the 

 Southern Highlands have not, in general, experienced 

 much migration from rural areas. On the contrary, 

 in some sections farm population has increased, and in 

 some, notably in eastern Kentucky, it has increased 

 mucn beyond the capacity of the agricultural land 

 resources to support it. 



Unlike the Northeastern Highland region, urban and 

 industrial enterprises were not present in this region in 

 sufficient number to provide alternative employment 

 to very many of the people in the poorer areas who 

 failed to make an adequate living on the lantl. It is 

 beheved, however, that a more efi'ective use of the forest 

 land in the steep or stony sections would support a 

 part of the population which would otherwise be forced 

 to migrate from the area, or to suft'er jirogressively 

 greater future privation. 



Much of the smoother land in the nortiiern and west- 

 ern part of the region, particularly in Missouri ami 

 Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and 

 southwestern Ohio, is relatively poor crop land. It 

 might be better suited to pasture than forest, and when 

 operated in large livestock farm units should be capable 



