12 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



January, 



THE APPALACHIAN FOREST RESERVE. 



THE SUBJECT OF A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS BY 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. 



THE movement to establish a na- 

 tional forest reserve in the South- 

 ern Appalachian Mountains has received 

 close attention in Congress during the 

 past month. On December 6 Mr. Brown- 

 low, of Tennessee, introduced a bill in 

 the House of Representatives appropri- 

 ating $10,000,000 for the purchase of 

 lands in the Southern Appalachian re- 

 gion for a national forest reserve, to be 

 known as the ' ' McKinley National Park 

 and Forest Reserve." December 17 a 

 bill was introduced in the Senate by Mr. 

 Pritchard, of North Carolina, appro- 

 priating $5,000,000 for the purchase of 

 2,000,000 acres, to be known as the 

 Southern Appalachian Forest Reserve. 

 A bill containing like provisions was on 

 the same day introduced in the House 

 by Representative Moody, of North Car- 

 olina. This was followed on December 

 19 by a special message from President 

 Roosevelt, in which he presents the 

 reasons for establishing the reserve and 

 asking the favorable consideration of 

 Congress. 



The move to establish a forest reserve 

 in the South began in i S99. Last spring 

 the legislatures of North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Vir- 

 ginia passed bills ceding to the national 

 government authority to acquire title 

 to lands within their boundaries for 

 forest reserve purposes, with exemption 

 from taxes. The text of the President's 

 message on this subject is as follows : 



To the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives : 



I transmit herewith a report of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, prepared in 

 collaboration with the Department of the 

 Interior, upon the forests, rivers, and 

 mountains of the Southern Appalachian 

 region and upon its agricultural situa- 

 tion as affected by them. The report of 

 the Secretary presents the final results 

 of an investigation authorized by the 



last Congress. Its conclusions point 

 unmistakably, in the judgment of the 

 Secretary and in my own, to the creation 

 of a national forest reserve in certain of 

 the Southern States. The facts ascer- 

 tained and here presented deser\'e the 

 careful consideration of the Congress. 

 The}^ have already received the full at- 

 tention of the scientist and the lumber- 

 man. The}' set forth an economic need 

 of prime importance to the welfare of 

 the South, and hence to that of the na- 

 tion as a whole, and they point to the 

 necessity of protecting through wise use 

 a mountain region whose influence flows 

 far beyond its borders with the waters 

 of the rivers to which it gives rise. 



Among the elevations of the eastern 

 half of the United States the Southern 

 Appalachians are of paramount interest 

 for geographic, hydrographic, and forest 

 reasons, and, as a consequence, for eco- 

 nomic reasons as well. These great 

 mountains are old in the history of the 

 continent which has grown up about 

 them. The hardwood forests were born 

 on their slopes, and have spread thence 

 over the eastern half of the continent. 

 More than once in the remote geologic 

 past they have disappeared before the 

 sea on the east, south, and west, and 

 before the ice on the north; but here in 

 this Southern Appalachian region they 

 have lived to the present day. 



Under the varying condition of soil, 

 elevation, and climate manj^ of the Ap- 

 palachian tree species have developed. 

 Hence it is that in this region occur 

 that marvelous variety and richness of 

 plant growth which have led our ablest 

 business men and scientists to ask for 

 its preservation by the government for 

 the advancement of science, and for the 

 instruction and pleasure of the people of 

 our own and of future generations ; and 

 it4s the concentration here of so many 

 valuable species, wdth such favorable 

 conditions of growth, which has led 



