BONDING NATIONAL FORESTS 



By Henry S. Graves, 

 Chief Forester of the United States 



[In his annual Message to Congress, Secretary of Agriculture Houston recommends that 

 Congress advance money to communities in and adjoining national forests on which there are 

 few or no timber sales; this money to be repaid from future resources of the forests. The idea is 

 to furnish these communties with money to build roads, to construct bridges and otherwise 

 provide for their development, such money to be given only where it is apparent that the 35% of 

 the gross receipts of future timber sales on the forests, to which the communities are entitled, 

 may be used for repayment of the sum thus advanced. Chief Forester Graves, who worked 

 out the details of the plan, explains it in this article -Editor.] 



A" 



LREADY the ideal of the National is still in the condition of practical 

 Forest policy is being achieved wilderness. The very foundation of any 

 in practically all respects on a development in such sections is the con- 

 number of the Forests where struction of roads and bridges, and this 

 conditions permit of the full utilization is in many places enormously expensive, 

 of all resources timber, water power, The clearing of the land for farming, the 

 grazing, mining, agriculture, and the building of the homes, the building of 

 recreation features. On those forests schools, churches, and public improve- 

 the communities are being built up ments in the towns, in addition to the 

 through the establishment and main- road building, are the burdens of a 

 tenance of industries using the forest small struggling population, composed 

 resources; there are also thousands of largely of men possessed of great per- 

 dollars returned directly from the forest severance and courage but with little 

 receipts for schools and roads. In means. 



short, the forests yield a direct return In many cases the national forests 

 equivalent to taxes and it is an increas- occupy from 20 to 60% of the area of the 

 ing rather than a diminishing return counties and contain timber of vast 

 such as would follow forest destruction amount. Is there any wonder that the 

 such as has taken place so extensively people are protesting that the forests 

 in many regions under private owner- which are not subject to taxes and are 

 ship. not yielding much from timber sales 

 But in many of the forests the re- are not contributing as they should to 

 sources are inaccessible and the greatest the development of their communities ? 

 resource, the timber, is not saleable Often they use the phrase that the 

 under present conditions, except in small forests are blocking development or 

 quantities. Under such circumstances, that the resources are locked up. This 

 the development of the forest resources is, of course, not true, because the re- 

 is slow, and there is but little direct sources are available for use. What is 

 return to the communities from forest meant and what is true, is that the 

 receipts. While all agree that ulti- forests are not contributing as they 

 mately these forests will be of enormous should to development of the communi- 

 importance to the country, people can ties living in the counties in which the 

 not reconcile themselves to the fact forests are located. 



that the forest resources are of no This is a problem that the Govern- 



immediate help now, during the pioneer ment must squarely face and solve. But 



period of development of the country it must be met by a constructive pro- 



and at the time when such help is most gram and not by tearing down the 



needed. A great deal of the land in the national forests, as some propose, 



counties in which the most heavily which would result in public loss and 



timbered national forests are located injury not only nationally but locally. 



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