It is questionable whether the 

 Mc Sweeney-McNary Act provides any new 

 evidence of priorities among the forest re- 

 sources. The emphasis on timber and related 

 timber research, however, is consistent with 

 earlier legislation. Nevertheless, as stated earli- 

 er, the act did reflect the evolving concept of 

 multiple use management, and contains other 

 implicit goals. 



The Knutson-Vandenberg Act 



The Knutson-Vandenberg Act 38 sheds fur- 

 ther light on the evolution of Forest Service 

 goals. That act provided for the establishment 

 of forest tree nurseries to be used in replant- 

 ing and restocking cutover and denuded Na- 

 tional Forest lands. It further provided that 

 the Secretary could, in the public interest, re- 

 quire a deposit from any purchaser of Nation- 

 al Forest timber to provide for planting or 

 seeding, or for cutting, destruction, or other 

 removal of undesirable trees or other growth, 

 on the National Forest land cutover by the 

 purchaser, in order to improve the future 

 stand of timber. The Knutson-Vandenberg 

 Act funds are thus available to the Forest 

 Service outside of Congressional appropria- 

 tions, in "one of the few arrangements by 

 which funds derived from the federal lands 

 are spent back upon them for their improve- 

 ment without loss of time or money en 

 route" (Clawson and Held 1957, p. 237). The 

 intention of the act, though not completely 

 adhered to in management of the National 

 Forest lands, was to provide for the early re- 

 planting and regeneration of the National For- 

 ests following a timber removal action. 



There is considerable evidence that the 

 Knutson-Vandenberg Act was more than a 

 first attempt at formalizing what was later to 

 become the sustained yield provision in the 

 Multiple Use Act of 1960. In recognizing that 

 the cost of replanting a cutover area could 

 properly be included in the purchase price, 

 the legislators verged on defining the eco- 

 nomic criteria they had called for in the earli- 

 er McSweeney-McNary Act. If the act had 

 provided direction, rather than merely author- 

 ization, to the Secretary to require a deposit 



46 Stat. 527, 16 U.S.C. 576 (June 9, 1930). 



from timber purchasers, the economics of Na- 

 tional Forest management would have been 

 drastically altered. It is not unreasonable to 

 speculate that rather than giving rise to the 

 current economic debate over "rates of return 

 on invested capital," such direction would 

 have established a completely different orien- 

 tation. The National Forests would have been 

 viewed as a perpetual source of services. The 

 cost of utilizing, harvesting, or exploiting its 

 resources would have been built into manage- 

 ment decisions. The act did not view the For- 

 est as a stock, to be depleted in one area with 

 "investment" elsewhere to make up the dif- 

 ference. With the deposit a rule, each timber 

 sale would be self-liquidating, and provision 

 for a perpetual forest would be insured. 



This was not the ultimate effect of the law, 

 however. Its provisions for revenue sharing 

 have largely distorted its usefulness. The fail- 

 ure to obtain the results intended is due in 

 part to inadequate funding for the replanting 

 activity. In any event, the Knutson-Vanden- 

 berg Act was a further step in the direction of 

 attaining legislative direction for "sustained 

 yield management." 



Other Legislation 



Though limited in application, the Bank- 

 head-Jones Farm Tenant Act of July 22, 1937, 

 provides the first comprehensive legislative 

 statement of the multiple use approach to 

 public management of the Forests, 39 That 

 act, sometimes referred to as the Submarginal 

 Land Retirement Act, 



authorized and directed . . . the Secre- 

 tary ... to develop a program of land 

 conservation and land utilization ... in 

 order thereby to correct maladjustments 

 in land use, and thus assist in controlling 

 soil erosion, reforestation, preserving 

 natural resources, mitigating floods, pre- 

 venting impairment of dams and reser- 

 voirs, conserving surface and subsurface 

 moisture, protecting the watersheds of 

 navigable streams, and protecting the 

 public lands, health, safety, and welfare. 



39 50 Stat. 525, amended by 56 Stat. 725, 76 Stat. 

 607, 76 Stat. 1157; 7 U.S.C. 1010-1012. 



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