34 APPALACHIAN AND WHITE MOUNTAIN WATERSHEDS, 



Inaccessible lands, lands where the rate of timber growth is mod- 

 erate or slow, or lands on which the timber when mature is not of the 

 best quality, can scarcely be affected by this procedure. Something 

 additional must be done to protect them. Such lands in the White 

 Mountains and the Southern Appalachians lie almost altogether within 

 thS^areas designated in Maps I and II of this report. For the most part, 

 they make up the 668,000 acres in the White Mountains and the 

 5,000,000 acres in the Southern Appalachians, already mentioned as 

 being of first importance for protective purposes. 



In the control of these lands does not the Federal Government 

 have a large obligation and a corresponding opportunity ? A careful 

 study of their character and of then- relation to the administration 

 of the entire region convinces me that it has, for the following reasons: 



1. The safeguarding of these lands can not be accomplished by 

 action of the States in passing fire and tax laws. Some special action 

 taken with a view, primarily, of public welfare is necessary. 



2. These lands are of value solely for timber production. They 

 lie above the limits of fruit growing and farming. If not in timber 

 they must come to a condition of absolute waste, the prey of fire and 

 any sort of abuse or mismanagement. Cared for, they will form a 

 valuable addition to the future timber supply, which the Govern- 

 ment must take action to secure. 



3. These lands form the most important part of the two regions. 

 Having_ the greatest elevation, they receive the largest amount of rain- 

 fall; being steepest, they are most subject to erosion. Therefore their 

 influence on the streams of the region is far greater, for good or ill, 

 than the influence of any other areas of equal extent. 



4. Every acre of these lands is on the watershed of a navigable 

 stream on which for the removal of sand and silt the Government is 

 even now spending money in large amounts. The sand and silt which 

 are now in the rivers have come from the cleared slopes of gentler 

 gradient and lower elevation than those remaining in lorest. If the 

 forest is destroyed from these higher lands the expense of keeping the 

 stream clear will be multiplied many times. 



5. The States can not afford to protect these lands. The timber 

 which they can produce is not valuable enough for the State to protect 

 them for the timber crop. Almost without exception they ho on the 

 watershed of a stream which has its chief commercial importance in 

 another State. Therefore no State is willing to put them under con- 

 trol for the protective value of their forest. 



6. By taking control of these lands the Federal Government would 

 be in a position to exert by example and cooperation a far-reaching 

 influence for the safeguarding of the two regions. With relatively 

 small bodies of land on each of twelve or fifteen important water- 

 sheds, it could -cooperate with other landowners on each watershed 

 in protecting the locality from fire and in the introduction of improved 

 methods of forest management. Advices from timberland owners 

 in many localities justify the opinion that in this way conservative 

 forest management caji be effected over millions of acres of private 

 lands. In my judgment it is clear that by the ownership of 5,000,000 

 acres in the Southern Appalachians and 600,000 acres in the White 

 Mountains the Government can lead the way to the right manage- 

 ment and use of the entire areas designated on the maps. 



