THE CREATION OF THE EASTERN NATIONAL FORESTS 



525 



ture of Pennsylvania authorized purchases in that state 

 for National Forests by the Federal government. The 

 establishment of the Allegheny Purchase Unit was the 

 result. This unit has a gross area of more than 400,000 

 acres, within which the purchase of 74,000 acres has 

 just been authorized by the commission. This unit, 

 which in time will become a National Forest, will very 

 largely protect the drainage basins tributary to two of 

 these proposed reservoirs on the upper waters of the 

 Allegheny River. Within its borders is the seat of the 

 last white pine operation of magnitude in Pennsylvania. 



Neither should the recreational advantages of the east- 

 ern National Forests be overlooked. While the purchase 

 of scenery and trout streams has not been an objective, 

 it is nevertheless true that there is much on the pur- 

 chased forests to lure the vacationist. Mr. Thomas H. 

 Gill has recently considered their recreational features 

 in the Maj issue of American Forestry. He particularly 

 calls attention to the accessibility of the eastern National 

 Forests to the massed population of the Atlantic Sea- 

 board. They are located from Maine to the mountains 

 of northern Alabama and Arkansas and are within easy 

 reach of four-fifths of our population ; and offer varied 

 conditions and sports to the vacationist. 



While the underlying function which has guided the 

 selection of the areas within which lands are being ac- 

 quired is the protection of navigable streams, and for 

 that reason it has been necessary to restrict purchases to 

 the rougher and mountainous lands or such as are a 

 menace through erosion, their value for timber produc- 

 tion has not been lost sight of. Since the enactment of 

 the Act there have been radical changes in the economic 

 timber supply situation in the eastern states. Ten years 

 ago southern yellow pine controlled the eastern market 

 for structural wood. Today it is realized that the zenith 

 of yellow pine production has passed, that its cut is 

 well on the wane and the field which it has lost has 

 been taken by woods from the northwest coast. This 

 condition leads to the realization of the impending crisis 

 which must soon be faced in the East when the greater 



part of the timber required for its industries must be 

 brought from a great distance with the accompanying 

 high freights. Pennsylvania, at one time producing 

 timber for export, now manufactures only one-fifth of 

 the lumber required by the state. Ohio, another leading. 

 industrial state, produces within its borders only one- 

 eighth of that required. Illinois, formerly dependent 

 entirely on timber from the nearby states to the north, 

 now pays a freight tax of more than twenty-five million 

 dollars a year to supply its needs by bringing timber 

 from a distance. Still further changes are imminent. 

 With a further reduction in the supply of yellow pine 

 timber it will become necessary to fill its place with 

 material from a greater distance. To assist in meeting 

 this situation, the eastern National Forests should be 

 greatly expanded. It is necessary that this enormous 

 area of cut-over land, now largely unproductive, should 

 be placed on a productive basis as soon as possible that 

 it may be adequately protected and managed with a view 

 to meeting this impending timber shortage. 



The adequate expansion of the eastern National For- 

 ests and the maintenance of the forest lands of the East 

 on a producing basis is as essential to Pennsylvania, 

 Ohio, New York, and Illinois, which are large consum- 

 ing states, as it is to the states within which the large 

 forest areas are located. As a matter of fact these are 

 the states which will profit most, since the regenerated 

 forests will assist in supplying timber for their indus- 

 tries and domestic needs. It means not only the main- 

 tenance of their wood-using industries but an enormous 

 saving in freight. 



Looking toward the continued growth of these forests 

 the National Forest Reservation Commission at its last 

 meeting went on record without a dissenting vote of 

 those present, in favor of a yearly appropriation of $2,- 

 000,000 for the purchase work. This would be a return 

 to the prewar basis, the original appropriations being at 

 the I'ate of $2,000,000 a year. 



*Report Commission of Water Conservation of New Hamp- 

 shire, 191 1, 1918. 

 **J. C. WeUivcr in Am. Riv. of Rev., April, 1922. 



From the United States Forest Service, Intermountain Daily Neivs, comes this cheerful bit of philosophy: 



BE THE BEST OF WHATEVER YOU ARE 



"If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill. 



Be a scrub in the valley but be 

 The best little scrub at the side of the rill ; 



Be a bush if you can't be a tree. 



"If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass, 



Some highway to happier make. 

 If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass 



But the liveliest bass in the lake! 



"We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew. 

 There's something for all of us here; 



There's big work to do and there's lesser to do, 

 And the task we must do is the near. 



"If you can't be a highway, then just be a trail. 

 If you can't be the sun, be a star; 



It isn't by size that you win or you fail 

 Be the best of whatever you are." 



