2 BULLETIl^ 364, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



the annual cut has already reached the high point. If pine is to 

 continue to pla}^ an important part in commerce and industry in the 

 South, steps will have to be taken now to protect cut-over areas from 

 fire and unrestricted grazing, and to manage them in a way to insure 

 continuous production. 



Investigations have shown that the removal of the forest ground 

 cover by repeated fires has increased the amount of soil washed into 

 such streams as the James, Roanoke, Wateree, Savannah, Alabama, 

 Pearl, Eed, Arkansas, Trinity, Brazos, and Colorado (of Texas). 

 Great sums of money are spent annually in dredging work to remove 

 sand bars from the rivers of this region. Bare groimd from which 

 rain runs off as quickly as it falls also increases the danger from 

 floods; and floods in the Southern States have in the past caused 

 millions of dollars damage to property and the loss of many lives. 

 Watershed protection will not of itself prevent floods, but it will 

 lessen their frequency and seriousness; and it will prevent excessive 

 erosion over the whole area covered. 



The solution of such problems as these is necessary to the future 

 welfare of the whole community., and experience has demonstrated 

 bej^ond question that they can be solved satisfactorily only through 

 public action. Adequate forest legislation would involve in each 

 State : 



(1) A nonpartisan department of forestry. 



(2) A technicallj^ trained forester as State forester. 



(3) A forest fire protective sj^stem. 



(4) Cooperation with private owners and towns in preparing 

 plans for the management of timberlands and woodlots and for 

 commercial and shade tree plantmg. 



(5) State-owned forests b}^ gift or purchase. 



(6) An adequate appropriation of funds. 



Besides the steps just outlined, each State might well make an 

 examination of its own lands (if it possesses any), and withdraw 

 from sale those chiefly valuable for timber production, setting them 

 aside as State forests. Measures might also be taken to restrict the 

 running at large of live stock. 



The southern pine States lie in a region especially favorable to 

 the rapid growth of desirable tree species and offer an exceptional 

 opportunity for the practice of forestry. Virginia, North Carolina, 

 and Texas already have adopted forest policies, but their combined 

 yearly appropriations for putting them into effect amount to less 

 than $20,000. 



At the request of each of the States in the southern pine region, 

 except Georgia, and in cooperation with them, the Forest Service 



