AGRICULTURAL APPRorRLVTION BILI,, l««. "I'M 



KXTKNHION I KATl'IlKR. 



Now, in roj;ar«l to its cxtorisioii. I'rom tlu* stiindpoint of profoct- 

 iijf; watcfshjMls, of ^rowin^ fimhcr nml of ^ivin^ a [)rariical diTnon- 

 stration in fon>strv to tlw people of a rr«;ioii. tlicn* an* (-rrtairi key 

 areas where a small I-'edeml national forest wouM he very di'sirahle. 

 We have not covered them all hy any means in this list of approved 

 units. I think it would he a very desirahle thin^, for exnmple. to 

 have a small national forest in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. 

 That is a re«;ion where there is an enormous area of rouj^h mountain 

 land not suited for agriculture, where tlie l)ulk of tlie merelumtahle 

 timher has h(>en ciil and where the land is now more or less liiin<;inj; 

 in the halance. Much of it is hurried over frecpii'fitlv. is deterioratin}^, 

 and is producing; little or nothin<;. Somehody. 1 fliink, should j;o in 

 there and (h»monstrate, in a practical way, what can h(> dotu' with 

 that kind of land. I think it would he a j;ood thin<^ to have a national 

 forest or two in the mountains of Kenlu<ky, where we have none. 

 Of course, it is a (piestion of j^jeneral policy as to how far such |)ur- 

 chases shouhi be carrierl. 



The Government, ohxiously, can not huy any lar^e |)roportion 

 of the privately owned hinds in the country, hut 1 would favor the 

 creation of small national forests at points where the three pur- 

 poses, watershed protection, the {;rowin<; of timber, and the demon- 

 stration of ^ood forest practice give the Federal (iovernment the 

 best chance to make a ten-strike. 



Mr. Buchanan. Does real timber grow on thc.se mountains or 

 just scrubby stuff? 



Colonel Greklev. Real timber; the finest poplar and white oak in 

 the world grow in the southern Appalachians. 



OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST. 

 DISPOSAL OK AND PROTECTION FROM FIRE OF WINI»-THRO\VN TIMHER. 



Mr. Anderson. The next item is on page 341. 



Colonel Greeley. That is the item which relates to special protec- 

 tion on the Olympic National Forest. We have recommended a 

 reduction from "S33,000 to S25,000 for the ensuing year. We hope 

 it will not be many years before this item can disappear altogether. 

 We have been able, by very intensive methods and with fine coop- 

 eraticm from the State of Washington, to carry this Olympic blow- 

 dowii through two fire seasons without any destructive fires at all. 

 That has meant an intensive protection organization over 2,200 

 square miles of land, which contains more or less blown-down timber, 

 batches of wind falls being scattered all over it. It will re(iuirc 

 approximately §22,000 to maintain the present organization of men 

 and equipment and S2o,000 will give us a leewav of about $3,000 for 

 keeping up and extending the trails and telephone lines which are 

 a vital factor in the protection of this enormous area. 



I presume the committee understands that what we are really pro- 

 tecting, in cooperation with the State of Wa.shington, is one of the 

 largest reserves of timber anywhere in the country, on the Olympic 

 Peninsula. The Olympic Peninsula contains. I suppose, ninety or one 

 hunclred billion feet of timber, partly in Government ownei-ship, but 

 more largely in private ownership. The timber has not yet been cut 



