The Federal Government, through the Forest Service, also cooperates with 

 the States under the Clarke-McNary law in the production and distribution 

 of tree seedlings to farmers for the planting of windbreaks, shelterbelts, and 

 farm woodlands. In normal years from 75 to 100 million trees are sold 

 and distributed by State forestry departments and comparable agencies. 

 Interest in forest planting is due to increase rapidly, and existing nurseries 

 are making plans to meet the future demand for trees. 



Naval Stores Program 



The naval stores conservation program of the Department of Agriculture 

 is administered by the Forest Service in cooperation with the Agricultural 

 Adjustment Agency. The general objectives are : ( 1 ) Conservation of tim- 

 ber resources; (2) the prevention of uneconomic use and wasteful exploita- 

 tion of naval stores trees through the adoption of approved turpentining 

 practices; (3) better fire protection; and (4) better cutting practices. Sev- 

 eral thousand operators, producing the major part of the naval stores output 

 in the South, are cooperating in the program. 



AID TO THE STATES 



Under the provision of the Clarke-McNary law of 1924 the Federal Gov- 

 ernment offers financial aid to 42 States and the Territory of Hawaii to 

 bring fire protection to private and State-owned lands. The total area in 

 the United States in need of organized fire protection is estimated at 428 

 million acres, but that under actual protection is approximately 291 million 

 acres. Thus, one-third of the area needing protection, the bulk of which 

 lies in the South, is still unprotected. The Forest Service is endeavoring 

 to extend and strengthen organized protection. 



Each year approximately 200,000 forest, brush, and grass fires burn over 

 30 million acres on State and private lands. More than 60 percent of the 

 fires occur on unprotected areas, and more than 90 percent of the burned- 

 over land is not under protection. 



Cooperative fire-prevention projects are administered by the State for- 

 estry departments, aided by the Forest Service, which furnishes over-all 

 supervision and inspects the work. Under the Clarke-McNary law, Federal 

 expenditures in any State are limited to a sum not greater than that ex- 

 pended by the State and cooperating private owners. At present about 

 $15,000,000 is spent annually on cooperative fire prevention. The Federal 

 Government contributes about 41 percent of the total, the States 42 percent, 

 and private owners 1 7 percent. 



COMMUNITY FORESTS 



Community forests are an old and accepted form of forest conservation, 

 dating from the Colonial period. There are more than 2,200 community 

 forests in the United States, covering more than 3 million acres. They in- 

 clude municipal, county, village, township, school, and other local public 

 forests. 



Community forests bring forestry close to the people. They grow timber 

 for local industry, yield income which helps reduce taxes, provide recreation 

 areas, protect domestic water supplies, furnish work for unemployment 

 relief, beautify the landscape, and, when used as an educational laboratory, 

 are important adjuncts of public school systems. 



Despite the fact that the earliest managed forests were community forests, 

 this branch of forestry for many years lagged far behind that of national, 



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