TIMBER DBPLEXIOIT, PKICES, EXPOBTS, AND OWNERSHIP, 



71 



segregate areas which should be Incorporated in State forests. 

 It should unify in one body all forest activities of the State. 

 The make-up of this commission should represent the general 

 public, its forest owners, its wood-using industries, and other 

 Interests or organizations concerned with timber production. 



STATE AND MUNICIPAL FORESTS. 



Effective progress in restoring the enormous areas of de- 

 nuded land to timber growth can be made only by largely in- 

 creasing public forests. Supplementing the policy of forest 

 acquisition by the Federal Government, every State, including 

 States in the prairie regions, should acquire forest lands or 

 lands adapted to tree growth, and provide systematically for 

 the planting of such areas as will not otherwise restock with 

 timber of valuable species. In the forest regions State acquisi- 

 tion should be concentrated largely upon cut-over lands not 

 needed for other purposes. As a part of this program, pro- 

 vision should be made for the classification of lands owned by 

 the State or acquired through nonpayment of taxes or other- 

 wise, and for the segregation as permanent State forests of 

 areas best suited for growing timber or protecting watersheds. 



State laws should encourage the acquisition of forest lands 

 by municipalities, to the end that public-forest ownership may 



be extended by any agencies capable of undertaking it. Public- 

 forest ownership not only is the most efEective direct attack 

 upon timber depletion; it serves other vital public interests, 

 particularly recreation, the protection of water sources, and 

 the conservation of wild life. 



Furthermore, publicly owned and administered forests, 

 widely distributed and setting standards of technical prac- 

 tice, will be of the greatest educational value and stimulus 

 to the general adoption by private owners of methods which 

 will keep their lands productive. 



TAXATION OF FOREST LANDS. 



The adjustment of existing methods of taxation to the grow- 

 ing of timber crops Is one of the most essential steps for ar- 

 resting devastation. Every State containing forest areas should 

 provide for an exhaustive study of the effects of existing 

 methods and local practices of taxation upon forest devastation, 

 to the end that needed revision of tax laws may be drafted 

 and considered by Its legislature. The nation-wide study of 

 forest taxation proposed for the Federal Government would 

 serve to assist and correlate the consideration of this problem 

 in the respective States. 



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