State and Private Forest Cooperation 



More than 450 million acres, or four-fifths of our total timber- 

 growing area, are now in State or private ownership. More than 430 

 million acres, or practically 95 percent of this, are privately owned, 

 with 185 million acres in farm woodlands. The area under State or 

 county ownership is continuously increasing through public acquisi- 

 tion for State forest purposes and through tax delinquency. 



The future of forestry in the United States depends in no small 

 degree upon acceptance and operation of better forestry practices on 

 private lands. The problem of bringing about this improvement con- 

 stitutes a challenge to the profession. Advancement in these phases 

 of forestry has been the objective of several acts of Congress. 



The Federal Government is cooperating in the protection of State 

 and private lands from fire through financial aid to the States under 

 provisions of the Clarke-McNary law of 1924. Forty-two States co- 

 operate in fire protection, in addition to the Territory of Hawaii, and 

 the total area of forest lands covered in 1943 was approximately 299 

 million acres. This is a little more than tw r o-thirds of the area in need 

 of protection. The fire-protection projects are administered by or 

 under direction of the State forestry department, the Forest Service co- 

 operating in development of plans, establishment of standards of pro- 

 cedure, and inspection of the work. Under the terms of the law, the 



igure 6.— Measuring snakeweed growth in connection with grazing studies at the 

 United States Forest Service's Jornada Experimental Range, N. M. Range investiga- 

 tions are among the major fields of research carried on by several forest and range 

 experiment stations. 



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