great public interest in successful forest conserva- 
tion. It would be sound policy to safeguard these 
large Government investments by public regulation. 
But more fundamental are the benefits to society 
that will flow from keeping forest land productive. 
The Forest Service and cooperating agencies, 
public and private, have been emphasizing educa- 
tional measures for more than a generation. Edu- 
cational efforts, as previously stated, should be con- 
tinued and strengthened. But the time has come 
for more decisive complementary measures. The 
need for regulation has been widely discussed for 
more than a decade. Yet today only some 14 States 
have enacted legislation looking toward forest reg- 
ulation and none fully meet the requirements 
visualized in this proposal. 
This measure would not require sustained-yield 
management. So long as cutting practices attain 
the required standards, it would not regulate when, 
or how much, any owner might cut. But it should 
stop further forest destruction and deterioration 
and so help maintain a reasonable growing stock 
as the basis for future production. 
III, Expansion and Intensified Management of the 
National Forests * 
1. The national forests should be substantially 
expanded by the addition of considerable acreages 
of badly depleted lands that are unlikely to be re- 
stored to productive condition by private owners, 
some private forest lands within established forests, 
and key areas for watershed protection and for other 
purposes. 
Public ownership is the only feasible way to as- 
sure stable and satisfactory management for a large 
acreage that is not suited to permanent private 
forestry. It has been estimated that roughly two- 
thirds of the needed expansion of public ownership 
should be in national forests and one-third in State 
and community forests. Of high priority is the 
acquisition of some 35 million acres within the ex- 
terior boundaries of existing national-forest and 
purchase units. An estimated one and a quarter 
million acres acquired and no longer needed for 
military purposes, but suitable for national forests, 
should also be given that status. 
The national forests, not counting those in Alaska 
and Puerto Rico, now comprise some 159 million 
*Only measures relating to national forests are presented 
here. Similar action is believed to be appropriate with 
Tespect to State and Community forests. 
Forests and National Prosperity 
acres, of which 73.5 million is commercial forest 
land. Commercial forest land in other Federal 
ownership amounts to 15.4 million acres and State 
and local governments have 27.1 million acres. 
Acquisition commenced in 1911 under the au- 
thority of the Weeks Law. About 18 million acres 
have been purchased—more than half during the 
emergency unemployment program between 1934 
and 1937—and about 4 million acres have been 
acquired through exchange. Except for an ap- 
propriation of $3,000,000 for the fiscal year 1947, 
acquisition has been practically at a standstill since 
the outbreak of World War II. 
Related to acquisition is the need for legislation 
that will remove inequities that exist in certain lo- 
calities under the present system of financial con- 
tributions to local government on account of 
national forests, and also make these contributions 
more stable. ‘The Forest Service favors a plan that 
will provide for an annual payment of an equitable 
percentage of the fair value of the forest property, 
probably three-fourths of 1 percent. 
2. Development and intensified management of 
the national forests should be vigorously pushed. 
These forests can contribute increasingly to our 
immediate and long-run needs for timber and other 
services. The following aspects are of high pri- 
ority. 
The first is more intensive timber management, 
to help meet the Nation’s need for lumber and 
other forest products and to sustain local industries 
and communities. The rate of cutting has more 
than doubled since 1940 and is now about 4 billion 
feet annually. ‘This can be increased considerably 
more. Many miles of new access-road construction 
are required. ‘There is need, through sales and 
otherwise, to step up thinnings and other timber- 
stand-improvement cutting. Some 314 million 
acres of partly or wholly denuded national-forest 
land should be planted within the next 15 years. 
Vigorous efforts to establish a pulp and paper in-_ 
dustry in Alaska, based on national-forest timber, 
should be continued. 
Second, certain unsatisfactory range situations 
should be cleared up. National-forest range, of 
vital importance in watershed protection, never 
fully recovered from its severe exploitation during 
World War I despite sizable reductions in livestock 
numbers and other remedial measures. This calls 
for further downward adjustments in stocking on 
some allotments, along with improved management, 
the construction of range facilities, a large amount 
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