public institutions. Some of the town forests in New England were 

 the earliest public forests in the United States and have yielded finan- 

 cial returns and other benefits to the communities for more than two 

 centuries. In recent years the number of community forests has in- 

 creased greatly. 



Recent reports to the Forest Service showed a total of 2,274 com- 

 munity forests aggregating nearly 3 million acres in 42 States. Of the 

 total, 1,056 were maintained by municipalities, including 312 munici- 

 pal watershed forests; 299 by counties; 869 by schools or school dis- 

 tricts; and 50 by civic or welfare organizations. 



In addition to parks for recreational purposes and purchases of 

 forested watersheds for the protection of sources of domestic water 

 supplies, many cities and counties are acquiring forest lands for invest- 

 ment and development purposes. Managed under multiple-use plans, 

 similar on a smaller scale to those applied on our national forests, such 



F-423023 



Figure 7.— An extension forester shows local farmers and their families how to build 

 fire lines in the forest. Fire lines help to halt an onrushing fire. 



17 



