Timber Depletion and the Answer. 13 



(3) The Reforestation of Denuded Federal Lands. 



The current appropriations of the Forest Service should provide 

 for the progressive reforestation of denuded lands in National Forests 

 to be completed in not more than 20 years, with a yearly sum begin- 

 ning at 8500,000 and increasing to $1,000,000 as soon as the work 

 can be organized on that scale. 



The National Forests contain several million acres of forest land 

 so severely burned that it can not be restocked without planting. 

 To restore this land to timber production is an immediate Federal 

 responsibility. Tree planting is most urgent on denuded watersheds 

 from which water is obtained for power, irrigation, or municipal use. 

 The work already done by the Forest Service has established meth- 

 ods, costs, and the limits of successful reforestation by artificial 

 methods. This project can therefore be undertaken upon an assured 

 basis of costs and results. 



(4) A Study of Forest Taxation and Insurance. 



Legislation carrying a moderate appropriation is needed which will 

 authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to study the effects of the 

 existing tax methods and practices upon forest devastation, to devise 

 model laws on forest taxation, and to cooperate with State agencies 

 in promoting their adoption. The same law should authorize a study 

 of forest insurance looking to the assembling af authentic data on 

 risks, practicable forms of insurance, the distribution of losses, etc. 



The annual property tax is not adapted to lands employed in 

 growing 50 or 75 year timber crops, and is an important cause of 

 forest devastation. While land taxes rest with the States, the 

 Federal Government can do much to further wise changes by an 

 authoritative investigation and the formulation of equitable tax 

 laws adapted to timber-growing land. While forest insurance must 

 be developed by private initiative, investigation will be of material 

 help in promoting this important aid to timber growing by private 

 land owners. 



(5) The Survey and Classification of Forest Resources. 



Legislation is needed, with an appropriation of $3,000,000, to be 

 available for from two to four years as the work may require, which 

 will permit the Secretary of Agriculture to survey the forest resources 

 of the United States, determine the present volume together with the 

 present and possible production of each class of timber in every 

 important forest region, and ascertain the requirements, as to quan- 

 tity and character of timber, of each State and of every important 

 wood-using industry. This survey should mark out, by broad lines 

 timber-growing land from land suited to farm crops, to the end that 



