APPALACHIAN AND "WHITE MOUNTAIN WATERSHEDS. V 



country be in want of hardwood materials which in the past it has 

 had in great variety and abundance. The streams of the Appala- 

 chians are of enormous value to the nation for water power and 

 navigation. If the forests are removed from the mountains, this 

 value will be reduced to a iraction, because the soil from the denuded 

 watersheds will so rapidly fill reservoirs and channels that even the 

 resources of the Government itself will be insufficient to keep them 

 clear. 



That some special means must be taken to protect the resources of 

 these mountains no reasonable man after a full study of the situation 

 is likely to deny. The time to begin is now. Every year that action 

 is deferred the conditions are made worse and the cost of reclamation- 

 becomes commensurately greater. The undertaking is so immense 

 that the National Government can not be expected to assume it alone^ 

 Important action must be taken by the States directly concerned, and 

 extensive cooperation must be had with individual landowners of the 

 region. It is the duty of the Government to undertake a part of the 

 work and to do it without delay, in order that by example and 

 influence it may lead the way to the more rational treatment of these 

 regions and their resources. 



In this report it is pointed out how far, in my opinion, it will be 

 necessary for the Government to go and what the cost will be. I 

 have also indicated the action which it seems necessary for the several 

 States to take, and have suggested a basis for securing the coopera- 

 tion of individual landowners. All three — Government, State, and 

 individual — must, it seems to me, participate in the movement. 



As a result of the work done imder the special appropriation,, 

 several reports are being published which show how the commercial 

 importance of these regions depends upon keeping their forests 

 under systematic control. The water resources branch of the Geo- 

 logical Survey, imder the direction of Mr. M. O. Leighton, has pre- 

 pared two reports, one on the Relation of the Southern Appalachian. 

 Mountains to the Development of Water Power, the other on the 

 Relation of the Southern Appalachian Mountains to Inland Water 

 Navigation. The report of Mr. PhiHp W. Ayres, already referred 

 to, on the Commercial Importance of the White Mountains, is being^ 

 pubUshed. Mr. William L. Hall, of the Forest Service, has pub- 

 lished a report on The Waning Hardwood Supply and the Appalachian 

 Forests. All of these papers are respectfully brought to the atten- 

 tion of Congress as contaming in large part the data which form the 

 basis of the conclusions and recommendations of this report. 



IMPORTANCE OF APPALACHIAN FORESTS FOR HARDWOOD 



SUPPLY. 



The future hardwood supply lunges on the control of the Appa- 

 lachian Mountains. This is shown in Circular 116 of the Forest 

 Service, on The Waning Hardwood Supply and the Appalachian For- 

 ests. To briefly summarize the reasons, the hardwood lumber cut 

 of the country has faUen off over 15 per cent in the last seven years^ 

 and this decrease took place at a time when the industries made un- 

 precedented demands upon every kind of structural material. The 

 output of pig iron increased 86 per cent, that of cement 229 per cent, 

 24072—08 2 



