The South's Concern in the Appalachian Project 

 and How to Make Its Influence Felt 



By JOHN H. FINNEY, Secretary Appalachian National Forest Association 



THE Appalachian Forest Project, 

 that proposed plan whereby the 

 National Government shall ac- 

 quire a forest area in the Southern 

 Appalachians of about 5,000,000 acres 

 lying at the headwaters of the impor- 

 tant southern streams, is no new thing. 



In one form or another, as a great 

 "National Park," "National Forest Re- 

 serve," etc., it has been proposed for 

 nearly twenty-five years ; it has been be- 

 fore the Congress for the past ten years 

 at almost every session, asking for na- 

 tional recognition as a national duty 

 owed by the Nation to itself. It has, 

 in all this time, received the earnest 

 support and indorsement of patriotic 

 men, women, and national leaders 

 everywhere, of associations, scientists, 

 engineers, geologists, agriculturists, 

 foresters, commercial bodies, naviga- 

 tion, power, and manufacturing inter- 

 ests, almost without number. Testimony 

 that cannot be disputed as to the value 

 of it ; as to its vital necessity to the 

 South and to the Nation, has been 

 piled up in an absolutely convincing 

 manner, that this area should be ac- 

 quired two Presidents of the United 

 States have earnestly recommended and 

 worked for it. 



The only unconvinced body seems to 

 be the Congress of the United States ! 



Let us look into the basis for the 

 South's concern : The first, because 

 most obvious, is the timber question. 



The South contains, in its 234,000,000 

 acres of timber lands, nearly one-half 

 of the Nation's remaining, and its most 

 valuable, timber. It contains, in the 

 largest portion of the 75,000,000 acres 

 lying within the Appalachian range, 

 four important timber facts : 



(a) That this area, which in the main 



is non-agricultural, is the natural home 

 of the hardwoods, where they most 

 flourish and best grow, and where, in 

 the main, only trees can grow ; (&) that 

 here is contained practically the only 

 remaining stand of hardwoods in the 

 Nation; (c) that here is practically the 

 only remaining source of supply of 

 hardwoods for the future ; and equally 

 as important, (d) that this area is being 

 cut and devastated as rapidly as lum- 

 bering skill and ample capital can do 

 it, and that a continuance of these op- 

 erations, under present conditions and 

 at the present rate, means the practical 

 extinction of this whole timber area and 

 industry in from fifteen to twenty 

 years ! 



The second fact of the South's con- 

 cern is that this vast area lying in eight 

 states is an interstate problem involv- 

 ing, were it solely an intrastate duty 

 to be performed by the states, the simul- 

 taneous cooperation of these eight sep- 

 arate states, to render any action ef- 

 fective but it is more than that ; for 

 while the states do have a grave duty 

 and a heavy responsibility (which they 

 must in time assume in forest con- 

 servation), the largest duty rests on 

 the Nation, because of its guardianship 

 of the streams. 



See how this is true in just one il- 

 lustration : In North Carolina rise the 

 important streams such as the Broad, 

 the Wateree, Pedee, Saluda, Pacolet, 

 Tugaloo, Savannah, etc. Their head- 

 waters are not navigable ; they are small 

 streams in North Carolina ; and, while 

 useful for some power in North Caro- 

 lina, they reach their greatest useful- 

 ness for power and their use for navi- 

 gation solely within, and for the bene- 

 fit of, South Carolina. Surely, North 



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