TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



69 



nomic advantage of its enormous timber-growing resources, 

 and that it should go on using up its forests with no provision 

 for growing more until wood products are priced on the basis 

 of imported luxuries and their use is restricted to the lowest 

 possible scale of civilized existence. The concerted action neces- 

 sary to put an end to forest devastation must enlist the Na- 

 tional Government, the respective States, and the landowner. It 

 is impracticable to nationalize all of the forest land in the 

 country, or even the major portion of it. On the other hand, 

 the results needed can not he attained if timber production is 

 left to the initiative of the private owner of land or is sought 

 solely through compulsory regulation of private lands. Not only 

 has the public very large interests at stake which justify an 

 assumption of part of the burden ; certain fundamental causes 

 of forest devastation can be removed only by public action. 

 Chief among these are the fire hazard of forest properties, par- 

 ticularly of growing forests, and a property tax system which 

 discourages or may prevent the landowner from engaging in the 

 business of growing timber. 



On the other hand, the public can not and should not do it 

 all. A measure of responsibility rests upon the land owner, 

 and should be recognized in equitable requirements in handling 

 his land. It is a case of the public and the private owner 

 alike doing their part. Our policy must aim toward timber 

 production on somewhat the same footing as in France or 

 Scandinavia as an established national practice. This calls 

 for a core of public forests, public instruction and example, 

 public encouragement in protection and taxation, and a respon- 

 sibility recognized by forest owners to keep their lands pro- 

 ductive. This report would not be complete without indicating 

 the essential steps which should be taken to stop timber de- 

 pletion. The plan here outlined is built up on the belief that 

 the most. rapid progress will be made by utilizing the recog- 

 nized police powers of the several States to stop forest fires 

 and bring about better handling of privately owned forest 

 land. The equitable adjustment of timberland taxes in such 

 ways as will promote timber production is a responsibility of 

 the individual States. At the same time the national im- 

 portance of stopping timber depletion calls for the taking of 

 an active part by the Central Government, particularly in 

 aiding the forest activities of the States, standardizing tech- 

 nical practice in fire protection and forest renewal, and largely 

 extending national acquisitions of forest land. 



THE FEDERAL LEGISLATION NEEDED. 



The Federal legislation needed may be summarized briefly 

 as follows : 



COOPERATION WITH STATES IN FIRE PROTECTION AND FOREST 

 RENEWAL. 



Legislation is needed, as an extension of section 2 of the act 

 of March 1, 1911 (Weeks law), which will enable the Forest 

 Service to assist the respective States in fire protection, methods 

 of cutting forests, reforestation, and the classification of lands 

 as between timber production and agriculture. It should carry 

 au initial annual appropriation of not less than $1,000,000, ex- 

 pendable in cooperation with the States, with a proviso that 

 the amount expended in any State during any year shall not 

 exceed the expenditures of the State for the same purposes. 

 The Secretary of Agriculture should be authorized, in making 

 such expenditures, to require reasonable standards in the dis- 

 posal of slashings, the protection of timbered and cut-over lands 

 from lire, and the enforcement of equitable requirements in 

 cutting or extracting forest products which he deems necessary 

 to prevent forest devastation in the region concerned, and to 

 withhold cooperation, in whole or in part, from States which 

 do not comply with these standards in their legislative or ad- 

 ministrative measures. Federal activities under this law should 

 not be restricted to the watersheds of navigable streams but 



should embrace any class of forest lands in the cooperating 

 States. 



This law greatly extending the very limited Federal aid now 

 given to the States in fire protection, will enable the Forest 

 Service to organize and carry forward a nation-wide drive 

 against the chief cause of devastation forest fires and to fol- 

 low fire protection with such other measures as may be needed 

 in particular forest regions to stop denudation. It will also aid 

 States and private owners in restocking lands already denuded, 

 where tree growth will not come back of itself. 



THE EXTENSION AND CONSOLIDATION OF FEDERAL FOREST 

 HOLDINGS. 



Legislation is needed, in part as an extension of section 1 

 of the act of March 1, 1911 (Weeks law), which will permit 

 the rapid enlargement of the National Forests and the consoli- 

 dation of existing forest units for more effective administration. 

 This legislation should : 



(1) Continue the purchase of forest or cut-over lands, as ini- 

 tiated under the Weeks Act, with annual appropriations of at 

 least $2,000,000. 



(2) Authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange Na- 

 tional Forest land, timber, or transferable timber certificates for 

 private timbered or cut-over land within or adjoining existing 

 National Forests. 



(3) Withhold from any form of alienation, except under the 

 mineral laws, all lands now in Government ownership or control 

 but not embraced in National Forests or National Parks, includ- 

 ing canceled patents or grants, unreserved public lands, and 

 Indian and military reservations, which are valuable chiefly 

 for the production of timber or protection of watersheds, and 

 all lands of similar character hereafter revested in or acquired 

 by the United States, and authorize the President, upon recom- 

 mendation of the National Forest Reservation Commission or 

 otherwise, to incorporate such lands in National Forests. 



About a fifth of the forest land in the United States Is 

 now publicly owned. One of the most direct and effective 

 means of arresting devastation and offsetting the dangers aris- 

 ing from concentration of timber in private ownership is the 

 extension of publicly owned forests. It is, under present con- 

 ditions, the only effective means for overcoming the depletion 

 of old-growth timber of high quality and for restocking many 

 denuded areas which require planting. 



The public should own a half of the timber-growing land in 

 the United States, well distributed through all the principal 

 forest regions. Every encouragement should be given to the 

 States and to municipalities to acquire forest land, but the 

 Federal Government must take the lead. In all Federal acquisi- 

 tions there must be an equitable compensation to communities 

 for the tax returns of which they are deprived. 



Appropriations for the purchase of forest lands should be 

 used, first, to complete the program laid out for the protec- 

 tion of the watersheds of navigable streams under the Weeks 

 Act, through acquiring about 1 million acres in New England 

 and about 5 million acres in the southern Appalachians, and, 

 second, to acquire cut-over land, not necessarily upon important 

 watersheds but distributed through all the principal forest 

 regions where areas suitable for Federal management can be 

 obtained. Much desirable timber-growing land in the vicinity 

 of existing National Forests can be acquired by exchange from 

 National Forest timber or timber certificates, and the adminis- 

 tration of the National Forests will be improved and simplified 

 through such consolidation. As part of this policy it is of 

 the utmost importance that all timber-growing land and hind 

 valuable chiefly for watershed protection which the Govern- 

 ment now owns or controls or in any manner may acquire 

 shall be withheld from other disposition, with a view to its 

 incorporation in National Forests. An effective administrative 

 agency for carrying out this policy and for determining the 



