I have said that it does not seem to me possible 

 for the Federal government to assume the regulation 

 of private lands. I believe that this must be done by 

 the States, as a practical matter of getting results, 

 because the States control the other essential factors 

 in the whole problem. What then should be the part 

 of the national government in bringing about the 

 reforestation of private lands? I believe that the 

 nation can best lead this great movement, not by man- 

 date, but by co-operation, by education, by fixing 

 the requirements essential to reforestation in each 

 region, and by encouraging their adoption. The Fed- 

 eral government should be prepared to give generous 

 financial assistance to any State in protecting all 

 sorts and conditions of its forest land from fire, 

 once the State puts into effect the requirements up- 

 on forest owners which make the joint protective 

 effort effective. These should include fire-proofing 

 logged-off lands or some effective control of the 

 slash hazard. In other words, the States must adopt 

 such regulatory measures as will make the Federal 

 funds expended a genuine investment in growing tim- 

 ber. I know of no better way to insure a future 

 supply of timber for the prairie and industrial States 

 than to invest Federal funds in the protection of 

 growing forests, north, south, and west, with such 

 safeguards in the use of these funds as will actually 

 make the protection effective. 



The national government should not stop with fire 

 protection. It should define and recommend to each 

 State all of the steps essential to reforestation, in- 

 cluding methods of cutting or extracting forest prod- 



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