FOR THE PRESERVATION AND 



FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF A 



SPLENDID REGION 



Why the American Forestry Association Favors the Creation of a 

 National Forest Reserve in the Southern Appalachian Mountains 



HT HE creation of a Southern Appa- 

 lachian Forest Reserve would 

 secure the best permanent develop- 

 ment of a region of vast commercial 

 and economic importance. Its re- 

 sources have been steadily and dan- 

 gerously depleted by reckless lumber- 

 ing, by forest fires, and by flood. With- 

 out change in methods of manage- 

 ment, this destruction will go on in- 

 creasingly. Prompt and effective 

 change in methods is possible only 

 through government ownership and 

 care. 



That part of the Southern Appala- 

 chian region in which the proposed 

 forest reserve will be situated is rich 

 in timber, water power, and minerals. 

 It also possesses limited, but definite, 

 agricultural opportunities. It is of the 

 first importance, not only to the re- 

 gion concerned, but to the whole 

 South, that these resources be wisely 

 used. The movement for the creation 

 of the Appalachian Forest Reserve is 

 not based upon sentiment. It rests 

 upon the understanding of the com- 

 mercial and economic advantage of 

 the preservation by wise use, of 

 resources which originally were vast, 

 but already so far depleted that the 

 end is clearly in sight. 



PESOURCES OF THE SOUTHERN APPALA- 

 CHIAN REGION. 



'Timber. The greatest single re- 

 source of the Southern Appalachian 

 Mountain region is its timber. The 

 n -ion contains the largest and the 

 t valuable hardwood forest in the 

 United States. Present methods of 

 lumbering are reckless, expensive, and 

 destructive, not only to the lumber in- 

 dustry itself, but to water power, and 



to agriculture. Conservative methods 

 of lumbering are not only necessary 

 for the perpetuation of the forest, but 

 advisable from every other point of 

 view. Those interested in the lumber 

 industry of this region will raise the 

 question as to the effect of the estab- 

 lishment of the reserve on the produc- 

 tion of lumber. Under government 

 supervision conservative lumbering 

 will not only be permitted, but encour- 

 aged. All mature timber will be sold 

 at once, without waiting for a rise in 

 timber values, as private owners so 

 often do. The attitude of the govern- 

 ment from a business standpoint, is 

 well shown by the management of ex- 

 isting forest reserves. Since the ad- 

 ministration of the federal forest re- 

 serves was transferred from the Inte- 

 rior Department to the Forest Service, 

 of the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, timber sales have increased five 

 times in amount. 



Not only will the cutting of all mer- 

 chantable timber consistent with good 

 management be encouraged, but de- 

 pendant forest industries and the man- 

 ufacture of forest by-products will be 

 actively fostered. The net result will 

 hr not only to prevent decrease but 

 make a steady increase, in production 

 incident to the forest. 



Water Poiver. The application of 

 the vast possibilities for the utilization 

 of water power in the Southern Appa- 

 lachian region have just begun. Wa- 

 ter power values depend essentially 

 upon constancy of flow, which in turn 

 depends more than any other factor 

 upon the maintenance of a permanent 

 and sufficient forest cover on the 

 mountain slopes. In the year 1901 

 alone, floods caused $10,000,000 dam- 



