Yes. There are direct benefits consisting of annual appropria- 

 tions for road and trail work. These are made for two purposes, 

 one for the construction of roads and trails of primary importance 

 to the States, counties, and communities, and the other for the con- 

 struction of roads and trails required primarily for the administra- 

 tive development, protection, and utilization of the national forests. 

 To June 30, 1930, the amount spent in the California region under 

 section 8, Federal forest road construction, forest highway, and for- 

 est road development appropriations totaled $10,886,939. 



Indirect benefits consist of grants of free timber for home use by 

 settlers and prospectors ; sales of timber at cost to farmers and set- 

 tlers for improvements on their farms; free grazing permits for 

 milk and work stock up to 10 head for each resident rancher living 

 in or adjacent to a national forest; cooperation with the State in 

 protection of fish and game ; and the construction and maintenance 

 of free camp grounds. The annual cash value of these benefits is 

 more than $12,000. 



8. Are the national forests a financial burden on the State and 

 counties? 



No. A detailed study of the effects of national forests on State 

 and county revenues, conducted by the Forest Service during the 

 years 1927 and 1928, showed that the national forests under the 

 present form of administration are contributing to the State and 

 counties $346,000 more per year than would be received if the 

 potentially taxable Government land in the forests were in private 

 ownership. This yearly contribution will steadily increase as the 

 national-forest resources come to be more fully utilized under an 

 economic process of development. 



FOREST INFLUENCES 



1. Do forests influence climate? 



Within a forest it is both cooler in summer and warmer in winter 

 than it is in the open. The same holds true of daily extremes. 

 This effect is due, among other things, to the shade from the direct 

 heat of the sun on the one hand and the breaking of the velocity of 

 winds on the other. As a result, largely of both of these, drying out 

 of the soil is reduced under the forest canopy, and more even humid- 

 ity and air temperatures are maintained. 



Climate in the larger sense (temperature movements, precipitation, 

 occurrence of storms, etc.) is controlled by the major factors of 

 latitude, altitude, and the relation of a given locality to oceans and 

 land masses, such as the direction, distance, height, and character of 

 mountain ranges. It is evident that forests are the result rather 

 than the cause of climate in this sense. 



2. How do trees, forests, and brush cover affect water supply? 

 Under ordinary conditions, forest soils absorb from 20 to 50 per 



cent of light or moderate rains. During a rain the free flow of 

 surface water is obstructed by the spongy litter of the forest floor 

 so that more of it sinks down into the absorptive leaf litter, down 



