Federal, State, and local governments, or possibly farmer 

 organizations. Costs could be shared by the cooperating 

 agencies. 



5. To provide more assistance to industrial and other 

 nonfarm owners of timberland. Work ol this character 

 was started in November 1938, when the State and Federal 

 forest services agreed to share the cost ol a technical for- 

 ester whose time was to be devoted to forest management 

 work on private lands. In the first 2 years this forester 

 made recommendations to 172 cooperators for improved 

 management practices on 849,400 acres of forest land. 

 The demand for expansion of this service is increasing, 

 and with nearly 6 million acres of industrial and other 

 private nontarm forest land not yet under organized man- 

 agement, there is need tor at least two more technical for- 

 esters. 



6. To provide State forests for demonstration, timber 

 production, watershed protection, and recreation. Prob- 

 ably the most important function of these forests would 

 be to provide demonstrations, under natural conditions, 

 of the methods and results of various types of forest man- 

 agement. For this reason, they should be distributed 

 throughout the several forest regions ol the State in order 

 to be available to a large proportion of the forest-land 

 owners. In case the State cannot provide the necessary 

 funds for the purchase of State forests it may be able to 

 obtain Federal assistance through the provisions of the 

 Fulmer Act, if funds are provided by Congress, and through 

 Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. 



7. To provide a satisfactory legislative framework for 

 the taxation of forest land. As mentioned previously, the 

 present system has an unfavorable influence upon the 

 adoption of forest management practices. Taxation 

 specialists of the United States Forest Service have already 

 studied the problem in North Carolina and have made 

 recommendations to the Classification Amendment Com- 

 mission. These recommendations have been incorpo- 

 rated in a bill submitted to the general assembly. 



8. To collaborate with the Federal Government in the 

 regulation of forest practices on private lands. 



Federal Action 



Since abundant forests, wisely used, contribute to a 

 strong Nation with a secure and prosperous people, the 

 Federal Government has a direct interest in the use and 

 management of the forests in each State. This public in- 

 terest has been recognized through financial assistance to 

 the States for cooperative fire protection, planting, and 

 similar activities designed to increase the forest's contri- 

 bution to the whole social and economic life of the Nation- 

 The progress made should not be minimized, but forest 



conditions in North Carolina and the rest of the Nation 

 indicate clearly that the Federal and State Governments, 

 along with the private owners and local governments, 

 have failed to meet their obligations in respect to the forest 

 resource. To help remedy the situation, the Forest Service 

 submitted general recommendations to the special commit- 

 tee of Congress appointed in 1938 to study the forest situ- 

 ation nationally. These recommendations included lines 

 of activity in which the Federal Government has major 

 responsibility and were sufficiently inclusive to cover the 

 following, which are deemed necessary to improve the 

 forest situation in North Carolina: 



1. Public regulation of forestry practices on privately 

 owned forest land. 



2. Increased Federal contributions to the State for fire 

 control. The Federal share to meet the full State contri- 

 bution as estimated above would be approximately $300,- 

 000, instead of the $7 1,000 provided in the fiscal year 1942. 



3. Financial cooperation with the State to support a 

 forest pathologist and a forest entomologist. This would 

 cost about $10,000 of Federal funds annually. 



4. Federal participation in the production of tree seed- 

 lings tor industrial and other nonfarm forest-land owners. 

 The present Clarke-McNary Act limits seedling distri- 

 bution to farmers. The proposed program would involve 

 an increase in the present annual contribution from about 

 $2,000 to at least $10,000. 



5. Expansion of the Federal-State cooperative farm- 

 forestry program to provide additional forestry personnel 

 for assisting farmers in the management of their farm wood- 

 lands and in the marketing of their wood products. 



6. Greater cooperation with the State Division of 

 Forestry in extension work with industrial and nonfarm 

 forest owners, as recommended as a part of State action. 

 The Federal Government's share of the cost would be 

 about $10,000 annually. 



7. Provision for credit facilities for industrial and other 

 nonfarm forest owners which at present do not have access 

 to adequate credit. Credit is needed to make forest invest- 

 ments more liquid without liquidation of the growing stocks 

 to facilitate organization of sustained-yield units, to pre- 

 vent sacrifice of immature timber, to meet carrying costs, 

 to make necessary improvements, to refund oppressive 

 debts, and to assist small owners in processing and market- 

 ing forest products. Basically, forest credits should be 

 restricted to forest properties capable of yielding regular 

 income and managed in accordance with sound principles 

 of good forest practice. Forest credit for commercial tim- 

 berlands under forest management is new and, because of 

 fire, insect, and disease hazards, it has a large element of 

 risk if too localized. For these reasons it should be adminis- 



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