HOW THE natio:n-al foeests benefit the state 3 



To form a proper background for the consideration of these ques- 

 tions one must bear in mind that the national forests of Cahfornia 

 are located largely in the mountainous regions of the Cascades, Sierra 

 Nevada, and Coast Range. These regions were the most populous 

 and wealthy in the State in the early mining days before the develop- 

 ment of irrigation and fruit growing. Lumbering later superseded 

 mining as the main industry in the mountains, and for the past 25 

 years timber has been the chief source of taxable wealth. Thirty or 

 forty years of logging have, however, made serious inroads into the 

 forests. Timberlands have been cut with little thought of the future 

 and repeatedly burned until now there are several million acres of 

 brush and waste lands in the State — lands formerly supporting valu- 

 able forests, that are now taking their place with the abandoned 

 mines as meager sources of revenue. 



Plumas County well illustrates the present conditions. In April, 

 1929, the county assessor called public attention through the news- 

 papers to an increase of 77 per cent in the cut-over timberlands on the 

 tax rolls between 1921 and 1928 and stated that within 10 years the 

 tax rate must be increased commensurate with this loss in valuation, 

 or other revenue-producing resources must be found. Similar investi- 

 gations into the status of taxable timberlands in other counties would 

 no doubt reveal a like situation which is bound to become a serious 

 problem in the near future. 



Coincident with the reduction of taxable resources has come an 

 unprecedented demand for public improvements and municipal serv- 

 ice, which, according to the State comptroller, increased the cost of 

 county government 524 per cent from 1911 to 1926, with a conse- 

 quent increase in assessments and tax rates. A still further aggrava- 

 tion of this condition is the steady decrease in the population in many 

 of the mountain counties as intensive farming and industry increases 

 in the vaUey regions. The natural result of these conditions is the 

 search for new sources of revenue and the most conspicuous of these 

 are the lands included within the national forests. 



CONCERNING THE PROPOSITION THAT THE NATIONAL FORESTS 



PAY NO TAXES 



The national forests of California comprise an area of 18,971,409 

 acres, or about one-fifth of the land area of the State. They occupy 

 almost entirely the rough mountainous regions of the Cascades, Sierra, 

 and Coast Range where the major portions of the piae and fir forests 

 of the State are located. In southern California, where watershed 

 protection is the main object, the national forests include the Sierra 

 Madre and other coast ranges tributary to the rich irrigated fruit 

 regions of the southland. 



THE 25 PER CENT FUND 



According to Federal law, 25 per cent of all revenues derived from 

 the sale and use of national forest timber, forage, and other resources 

 is turned over to the State for distribution to the coimties for school 

 and road purposes. In this distribution by the State the money de- 

 rived from each national forest is prorated among the counties within 

 which the national forest lies in accordance with the percentage of 

 national forest land ia the several counties. By this method the 



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