APPALACHIAN AND WHITE MOUNTAIN WATERSHEDS. 35 



IMMEDIATE ACTION DESIRABLE. 



If this is a good programme of action, the Government should 

 undertake its part of it without delay. Some of the States already 

 show a tendency to act in line with it. Maine, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and Maryland have already fire laws nearly, if not quite, ade- 

 quate for the situation. Alabama, in a special session or its legis- 

 lature, has just enacted a similar law. Other States are showing an 

 intercist which indicates action within the next year or two. The 

 Government should not delay. It will clear the situation immensely 

 if the Government will say how far it will undertake to go, and imme- 

 diately enter upon its work. 



If the Federal Government is willing to purchase land in the 

 Southern Appalachians to the extent of 6,000,000 acres, and in the 

 White Mountains to the extent of 600,000 acres, it should choose 

 these lands in situations where they will have the most influence 

 upon the protection and management of the two regions. In the 

 Southern Appalachians these lands would not lie in one body. They 

 would lie in no less than ten or twelve bodies, and on different water- 

 sheds. In the White Mountains the lands would lie for the most 

 Sart in one body, which would include the Presidential, Franoonia, 

 andwich, and Carter-Moriah ranges of mountains. 



METHOD OF ACQUIREMENT AND COST OF LANDS. 



WHITE MOUNTAINS. 



The timberlands of the White Mountains are in the main held by 

 a few large companies, nearly all of whom are cutting extensively 

 on the spruce stands for pulp or lumber manufacture. The plants 

 of some of these companies represent an investment of several hun- 

 dred thousand dollars. Manifestly, in negotiating for these lands, 

 in so far as they bear uncut timber, the value of the plant must enter 

 into the consideration. In addition, the stumpage value of spruce 

 ranges from $4.50 to $6 or $7 per thousand. This would give the 

 best stands a value of $75 to $125 or more per acre. It is useless for 

 the Government to attempt the purchase of virgin stands of spruce 

 in these mountains, except on small areas surrounding points of 

 especial scenic interest. These in the aggregate will not exceed 5,000 

 acres. 



The hardwoods of the White Mountains, of which there is a large 

 area, have not the value of spruce, nor are they as yet being exten- 

 sively cut. Their stumpage value is from $2.50 to $4 per thousand, 

 depending upon location, stand, and quality. 



It is clear that in the main any purchase made by the Government 

 in this region must be on the basis of cut-over lands with respect to 

 both spruce and hardwoods. As a rule the spruce has been cut clean. 

 The hardwoods, where cut at all, are culled so that a considerable 

 stand of young timber may remain after cutting. A considerable por- 

 tion of the cut-over land has been burned over, -some of it so severely 

 as to destroy all possibility of a future stand of timber for many years 

 to come. 



The cut-over lands have a value ranging from $1 to $6 or $8 per 

 acre, depending upon the condition of the timber growth upon them. 



