THE APPALACHIAN FOREST 



The following is a statement recently issued by the President of the National Forest 

 Reservation Commission in regard to the work of the Commission, and in regard to the 

 authorization for the purchase of the tract of timberland in Georgia: 



June 29, 1911. 



CHE NATIONAL FOREST RESERVATION COMMISSION has autho- 

 rized the purchase of a tract of about 31,000 acres of land lying in 

 Fannin, Union, Lumpkin and Gilmore counties in the state of Georgia. 

 The tract is located on the watershed of the Toccoa River, which, after uniting 

 with the Hiwassee River, flows into the Tennessee. The report of the Geological 

 Survey shows that it is a very important tributary, having in mind the purpose 

 of conserving the stream flow. The tract of land which it is proposed to 

 purchase is covered with virgin forest, consisting largely of chestnut, oak, 

 poplar, white pine, maple, locust and black gum. It is a mountainous tract, 

 ranging in elevation from 2,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, in the heart of 

 the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Commission is unanimous in 

 considering that it is a tract which is admirably suited to fulfill the purposes 

 for which the law was enacted. 



The National Forest Reservation Commission consists of the Secretaries 

 of War, Interior, and Agriculture, Senators Gallinger of New Hampshire, and 

 Smith of Maryland, and Representatives Hawley of Oregon and Lee of Georgia. 

 The board has been proceeding with extreme care in making selection of the 

 tracts of forest to be first purchased, realizing the importance which such 

 purchases will serve in fixing the policy of the Commission for the future . It 

 is therefore selecting only such lands as from their location and character, will 

 directly tend to conserve the navigability of navigable rivers, and which may 

 also serve as the nucleus of any pressure to enter into haphazard or improvi- 

 dent selections, but will proceed with extreme care to lay the foundation of 

 what is intended to create a series of forest reserves in such locations and of 

 such character as will carry out the clear intention of Congress. 



The Act under which the board is proceeding was not passed until March 

 1, 1911, and the board has been acting with the utmost diligence upon all 

 of the tracts which have been presented to them, according to the statute, by 

 the Bureau of Forestry and the Geological Survey. Three members of the 

 board have visited personally the tract in question. Both the Bureau of 

 Forestry and the Geological Survey strongly recommended the present tract 

 as fulfilling all of the characteristics required by the statute; and the 

 scintific demonstration made by the Geological Survey of the importance of 

 the stream flow out of the tract in question upon the navigability of the 

 Tennessee River was very clear and cogent. 



Many other tracts, both in the southern and northern Appalachians, 

 including certain tracts in the White Mountains, are now under investigation 

 by the Forestry Bureau and the Geological Survey, and as soon as reports 

 are made by those bodies the Forest Commission will proceed to their 

 consideration. 



In view of the magnitude of the enterprise which is being thus begun, 

 the board does not propose to pay any speculative or high prices for lands 

 and will not purchase any land which will not conduce directly to the purposes 

 of the Act. This is necessary not merely on grounds of sound policy and 

 economy, but is also made necessary on constitutional grounds, as the Act 

 under which the Commission was created is based upon the power of the 

 Federal Government to regulate commerce and protect the navigability of 

 streams. 



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