108 FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



than to increase in growth, practically all sound and thrifty trees over 

 two feet in diameter have been saved. Though little lumbering is 

 being done, improvement cuttings have been going on all the time. 

 By the sale of 1,500 cords of tanning extract wood and 1,000 cords of 

 tan bark annually, the removal of much old and decaying chestnut 

 timber and mature and slow growing chestnut oak is accomplished, to 

 make room for the young and thrifty specimens of these, or even more 

 valuable, species. 



Roads and trails have been constructed in every direction. A total 

 of 37 miles of main roads, 43 miles of byroads and 198 miles of trails 

 make this one of the most readily accessible, as it was one of the most 

 beautiful and attractive mountain forest properties in the United 

 States. 



Every effort has been made to protect these forests from fire. Rang- 

 ers have been employed to patrol the woods winter and summer. Not 

 only this, but everyone living on or near the property has been encour- 

 aged not only to report but to assist in extinguishing any fires that 

 may occur. Altogether, this estate is one of the best examples of the 

 application of practical forestry to be found in this country. 



APPALACHIAN NATIONAL FOREST LAW. 



A bill, providing for the purchase of forest lands by the Federal Gov- 

 ernment, commonly known as the Weeks Bill, or the Appalachian Bill, 

 passed the 62d Congress, and became a law when President Taft signed 

 it on March 1, 1911. This law has for its purpose the protection of 

 the watersheds of navigable streams, by the purchase and care of forest 

 lands on the headwaters of such streams, to be held and administered 

 as National Forests. The bill also provides for cooperation between 

 the Federal Government and the different States in the organization 

 and maintenance of systems of fire protection on the forested water- 

 sheds of navigable streams. The North Carolina Legislature in 1901 

 passed an enabling act for the purchase by the Federal Government 

 of lands within the State. 



The law carries a Federal appropriation of two million dollars a 

 year for five years for the examination, survey, and purchase of land. 

 Much land in the Southern Appalachians as well as in the White 

 Mountains has already been offered to the government for purchase 

 and not only is the work of examination well under way, but nego- 

 tiations have been entered into looking toward actual purchase. 



For the purpose of cooperative fire protection in the different States, 

 $200,000 is appropriated to be available until expended. Already eight 

 States, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, 



