Commission Urges Government Owner- 

 ship of 5,600,000 Acres for National 

 Forests in the East 



THAT 5,000,000 acres of non-agricultural land should be 

 secured by the federal government in the southern Ap- 

 palachians and 600,000 acres in the White Mountain re- 

 gion of New England to form national forests for the protec- 

 tion of the watersheds of navigable streams in the East, is 

 urged by the National Forest Reservation Commission in its 

 latest report. 



The commission has approved for purchase so far 1,104,529 

 acres in New Hampshire, Virginia, West Virginia, North and 

 South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, in accordance with 

 the Weeks law, which appropriated $11,000,000 for this work, 

 though only about $8,000,000 will have been spent by July 1, 

 when the appropriation will expire. 



A further appropriation providing for continued purchases 

 until 1920 at the current rate of $2,000,000 a year is recom- 

 mended by the commission. Under the terms of the Weeks 

 law, passed March 1, 1911, $1,000,000 was made available for 

 expenditure prior to July 1 of that year and $2,000,000 an- 

 nually thereafter for five years. Because of the time required 

 to examine and survey the lands and negotiate with owners, 

 the expenditures in the early years of the work were less than 

 the amounts appropriated. 



The lands thus far approved for purchase have been ob- 

 tained on what are regarded as very reasonable terms. The 

 average price is $5.03 per acre, involving a total expenditure 

 of $5,560,202.21, exclusive of the cost of examination and sur- 

 vey. About one-third of the area is virgin timberland, and, 

 while most of the remainder has been cut over or culled, much 

 valuable timber is standing on it also. In 1914 the purchases 

 approved comprised 391,114 acres at the relatively low price 

 of $4.96 per acre. Areas in which land is to be purchased 

 have been designated also in Alabama, Maine, and Maryland, 

 but no purchases in these states have yet been approved by 

 the commission. 



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