\Ve must produce the great bulk of the timber which 

 we need ourselves and we have the resources for 

 doing so. 



The solution of the problem presented by forest 

 depletion in the United States is a national policy of 

 reforestation. Increased and widely distributed pro- 

 duction of wood is the most effective attack upon 

 excessive prices and monopolistic tendencies. Deple- 

 tion has not resulted from the use of forests but from 

 their devastation, from our failure, while drawing 

 upon our reservoirs of virgin timber to also use our 

 limber-growing land. If our enormous areas of forest 

 growing land, now idle or largely idle, which are not 

 required for any other economic use, can. be restored 

 to timber growth, a future supply of forest products 

 adequate in the main to the needs #f the country 

 will be assured. 



I therefore most earnestly request your considera- 

 tion of the practical measures proposed in the accom- 

 panying report for putting a stop to forest devastation 

 and restoring our idle land to timber production. I 

 would emphasize especially the immediate urgency of 

 legislation (1) which will permit effective co-operation 

 between the Federal Government and the several 

 States in preventing forest fires and growing timber 

 on cuf-over lands, and (2) which will greatly extend 

 the National Forests. Enlargement of the National 

 Forests offers immediate relief. On these publicly ad- 

 ministered areas high quality timber can be grown 

 and utilized to the maximum advantage; regrowth 

 will follow cutting; and, under the regulations of 

 the Forest Service, the disposal of timber will foster 



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