HOW THE NATIONAL FORESTS OF CALIFORNIA 

 BENEFIT THE STATE 



By S. B. Show, Regional Forester, California Region, Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



C oncerning the proposition that the national forests pay no taxes 3 



The 25 per cent fund 3 



The 10 per cent fund 4 



Direct appropriations for forest roads and trails 4 



Indirect contributions to local communities 4 



Summary of direct returns and benefit of State and counties 5 



Present returns versus probable tax revenue 5 



Future returns from the national forests 6 



Concerning the proposition that the national forests are locked up or restricted in use 6 



Concerning the proposition that the State is entitled to a larger share of the national-forests receipts. 7 



Major benefits of the national forests 7 



Conclusions 8 



The effect of the national forests on the economic and industrial 

 welfare of California and on its local government is a frequent subject 

 of discussion among citizens of the State. Newspaper comment and 

 other forms of public debate continually evidence the general interest 

 in the question. 



Most of the discussion concerning the Federal policy of ownership 

 and management of the national forests may be classified under three 

 principal heads : 



(1) That the national forests pay no taxes, thereby throwing a heavier burden 

 on citizens of the State than on citizens of States that have no national forests. 



(2) That the resources of the national forests are locked up, or that their use 

 and development are restricted, to the detriment of industry and growth in 

 population. 



(3) That the Government is reaping large profits from the sale of timber, 

 grazing, and other uses and products of national-forest lands and should, there- 

 fore, turn over a larger share of the receipts to the State. 



These three main propositions, with variations or combinations, 

 have been debated in California for several years. In 1926 the 

 Forest Service therefore decided to undertake a detailed study to 

 determine as accurately as possible the effect of the national forests 

 on State and county tax revenues. This project was completed in 

 1928 and covered 85,826,560 acres of Government, State, and private 

 lands in the 39 counties of California in which national forests are 

 located. 



The main objective of the study, since the various questions 

 hinged on money values, was an actual comparison of the taxable 

 value of Government lands in national forests with the cash value of 

 the contributions which these Federal reservations are now making 

 to the State. Much information was secured from State officials, 

 county assessors, tax collectors, auditors, and engineers of the coun- 

 ties affected in any way by the Federal forests. In order to show 

 accurately the effect of national-forest land on taxation, all classifica- 

 tions, assessment values, and tax rates used in appraising Govern- 

 ment land were identical with those of each county in which such 

 lands were located. 



