Fifth national, conservation congress 53 



such a policy. Development of forest management under this policy im- 

 plies forest planting to restock denuded and burned areas within the State forests 

 and to protect sources of stream flow. Massachusetts* has a policy of purchas- 

 ing private waste lands and has provided a small appropriation annually for their 

 reforestation by the State. Such lands, however, can be repurchased by the 

 owner subsequently. Nine hundred to one thousand acres are being planted 

 annually under this policy. No States at present are planting over one thousand 

 acres each per year and few attain that figure. 



The State can well afford to go much farther and enter into a plan of com- 

 mercial forest planting for the sake of future industry and supplies for its 

 citizens. The State does not enter into competition with private investors since 

 timber production by forest planting is not sufficiently attractive to induce ex- 

 tensive private planting. 



The State has the power to secure and appropriate funds for such work, 

 which is comparable with other public work, such as road building, swamp drain- 

 age and irrigation. Non-agricultural forest lands now denuded must be made 

 productive to meet future demands. This is just as important as making farm 

 lands of higher productive value through the building of good roads, or an in- 

 creasing of farm areas by drainage or irrigation, initiated and financed by the 

 State. The more extensive the area requiring forest planting, within the States, 

 the more advisable is the immediate commencemnt of such work. 



Federal Reforestation : The Federal Government has nearly 190 million acres 

 in the National Forests which are under management for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting stream flow and producing continuous crops of timber. Protection of 

 these forests from fire and the proper cutting of mature timber so as to provide 

 for another crop of valuable trees on sale areas are given a place of first impor- 

 tance in the federal policy. Next to this is placed the task of starting forest 

 growth on a vast area of denuded lands.f It is estimated that 7J^ million acres 

 of such land in National Forests require reforestation. The government policy 

 places planting for watershed protection first and commercial planting on lands 

 which produce heavy stands of quick growing species, second. Under present 

 plans, 30,000 acres are to be reforested annually. Planting is more difficult on 

 the whole than in the Eastern United States and continued experimentation is 

 required. Climatic factors and physical conditions of planting sites offer complex 

 problems. Planting for commercial profit will be impossible in many portions of 

 the National Forests. Gain will come to the nation through protection of stream 

 flow and in the re-establishment of forest growth on denuded lands to augment 

 future local supplies of timber. The Federal Government can carry out this work 

 in National Forests to better advantage than individual States could. There 

 should be no lowering of the present standard of annual planting or the amount 

 of funds available for this purpose each year. Increase in the National Forest 

 planting budget should be made as fast as experimental work indicates satis- 

 factory methods. 



* Reports of the Massachusetts State Forester, 1908-1912. 



t "Reforestation on National Forests," by W. T. Cox. Bull. 98, Forest Service, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, 1911. 



