PRACTICABILITY OF STATE FORESTS IN 

 THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN STATES 



By W. W. ASHE, State Forester of North Carolina 



THE political theory of the south- 

 ern states has been that of laissez 

 fairc, of non-interference with 

 the industrial activities of their citizens. 

 While this theory of government yet 

 obtains, there has rapidly developed a 

 belief that the forest situation at the 

 present time in respect to the supply 

 of timber, as well as the influence ex- 

 erted by the forest upon stream-flow, 

 justifies the exercise of a certain amount 

 of public assistance and even, under 

 some conditions, governmental supervi- 

 sion for the benefit of the people of 

 the entire community. When the citi- 

 zen by his limitations and his lack of 

 means is unable to develop or to pro- 

 tect a resource, the use of which in- 

 volves the general public welfare, 

 the state is justified in assisting 

 him. This principle was recognized 

 by nearly every southern state in the 

 aid they rendered in the financing and 

 in building of many of their railroads, 

 the construction of which would un- 

 doubtedly have been delayed many dec- 

 ades but for this assistance. 



In several of the northeastern states 

 this view of the necessity of the con- 

 trol by the state of certain classes of 

 forest lands has resulted in state own- 

 ership. New York owns more than a 

 million acres, while Pennsylvania has 

 already acquired nearly as much. The 

 financial condition of the southern 

 states is not such as to warrant, at the 

 present time, the acquisition of exten- 

 sive holdings. That these states, how- 

 ever, would seek to acquire land, if 

 they were able to do so, the private 

 ownership of which might seriously 

 jeopardize the rights of others, is amply 

 attested by the fervor with which thev 



have advocated the establishment of 

 Federal forests in the Appalachian re- 

 gion. Undoubtedly, they will eventu- 

 ally follow the examples of New York 

 and Pennsylvania and secure control 

 of forest lands which protect impor- 

 tant water-sheds; but it is doubtful if 

 they would be financially in a situa- 

 tion to do this until the timber has 

 been exploited and the ownership of 

 the land by private parties found un- 

 profitable to the owner and detrimental 

 to the best interests of the state. 



In North Carolina, where the condi- 

 tions are fairly typical of those exist- 

 ing in several other states which are 

 situated partly within the southern 

 Appalachians, there are, out of a total 

 forest area of more than 11,000,000 

 acres, between 3,500,000 and 4,500,000 

 acres of absolute forest land. By ab- 

 solute forest land is meant land which 

 is better suited for forest purposes than 

 for farming uses. Two-thirds of this 

 area is located within the Appalachians, 

 and is situated above an altitude of 

 2,000 feet ; while one-third, or more 

 than 1,300,000 acres, lies within the 

 Piedmont and coastal plain regions. 

 Between one-eighth and one-seventh of 

 the total area of North Carolina is ab- 

 solute forest land, while more than 

 one-third of the total area of the state 

 is yet nominally forest land. Virginia, 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama 

 have about the same proportion of ob- 

 solute forest land as North Carolina, 

 while a smaller proportion exists in 

 South Carolina and Georgia ; that is, 

 if the same basis is used for deciding 

 what is absolute forest land in the dif- 

 ferent states. 



Several of these states yet own small 

 areas of forested public lands which 



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