38 PRELIMINAEY STUDY OF 



Bill which has recently become a law appropriates the sum of $200,- 

 000 from the Federal Treasury to enable the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture to cooperate with the States, when requested to do so, in or- 

 ganizing and maintaining a system of fire protection on private or 

 State forest lands situated upon the watersheds of navigable rivers. 

 The amount expended in any State cannot exceed the amount ap- 

 propriated by that State for the same purpose in the same fiscal 

 year. No agreement will be made, however, with any State that has 

 not provided by law for a system of fire protection. In order, 

 therefore, that Tennessee may take advantage of this provision and 

 obtain a share of the appropriation, the State should undertake at 

 once the organization and support of such protective system. 



In addition to mere legislation, an educational campaign to show 

 the damage that results from surface fires in woodland is greatly 

 needed and will do much to protect the forests from this danger. 

 It is now recognized by many States that it is to their advantage to 

 promote better methods of forestry just as they are encouraging 

 improvement in agriculture. Sixteen States employ one or more 

 trained foresters in such work, and some of these have also State 

 forest reserves. 



The need of educating the owners to increase the productiveness 

 of their woodland is especially important in Tennessee. It is esti- 

 mated that about 35 per cent of the total area of the State, or 9,300,- 

 000 acres, is in woodland. The average annual growth per acre of 

 forest throughout the State is probably not over 100 board feet. 

 Through the application of forestry this should be more than dou- 

 bled. If, however, it were increased by only 10 board feet, this 

 would mean that the annual timber production of the State would 

 be greater by 93,000,000 board feet. At the low rate of $15 per 

 thousand, this is equivalent to an increased annual income from 

 timber products of $1,395,000, to be distributed among the land- 

 owners and those who furnish the labor and materials for market- 

 ing these products. Such a gain might be very easily obtained on 

 second-growth lands by giving them a little attention and protec- 

 tion; and as soon as better methods become general, the increase 

 should be much greater. Since culled lands in which old growth 

 still predominates has practically no annual increment, their pro- 

 ductiveness can be increased even more by the introduction of 

 proper forest management. The State could well afford to invest 

 an annual appropriation of $20,000 or $30,000 in order to increase 

 the annual income from forest products by over a million dollars. 



