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STATE AND COUNTY FORESTS 
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FARMS AND FARM WOODLOTS 
OTHER PRIVATE FORESTS 
FicuRE 29.—A typical eastern national-forest area, in Wisconsin, showing intermingled ownership. Such patchy holdings 
usually are difficult to administer. 
which public values are paramount or where pri- 
vate forestry is clearly a losing game. 
Opposition to enlarging the national forests is 
often based on the effect of public ownership on 
local tax revenues. This usually overlooks the 
indirect benefits and pay rolls which national-forest 
protection and development bring to the local 
communities. It also overlooks the fact that to a 
large extent acquisition involves cut-over or low- 
value lands, much of which would yield little tax 
revenue had they remained in private ownership. 
Yet it is evident that Federal financial contributions 
to local governments on account of Federal owner- 
ship should be put on a more uniform and stable 
basis. At present there is no consistent contribu- 
tion policy; in some instances no Federal payment 
at all is made. 
The national forests pay 25 percent of gross 
receipts to the States for redistribution to the 
counties in which the forests are located.42 In ad- 
dition 10 percent of the receipts are appropriated 
for construction of roads and trails in these 
counties.48 This generally affords adequate re- 
turns to local government, especially since there 
have been very substantial increases in national- — 
forest receipts in recent years. However, there are 
local inequities, particularly where the tax base is 
limited and where forest land is so depleted that it 
will yield only nominal revenue for many years. 
A main difficulty is that the present system of 
“For the year ending June 30, 1947, the contribution to 
some 653 counties totaled more than 4.5 million dollars. 
‘S For the year ending June 30, 1947, the road fund amount- 
ed to 1.8 million dollars. 
92 Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
