4 



LETTER OK TRANSMITTAL. 



bc^t .suited to the purposes and plans of a national forest reserve in the 

 hard-wood region. 



The conclusions of the Secretary of Agriculture are summarized as 

 follows in his rej)ort: 



1. 'rii(> Southern Appalachian region eiuhraces the highest peaks 

 and largest mountain masses east of the Rockies. It is the great 

 physiographic feature of the eastern half of the continent, and no 

 such lofty mountains are covered with hard-wood forests in all North 

 America. 



"2. Upon these mountains descends the heaviest rainfall of the 

 United States, except that of the North Pacific coast. It is often of 

 extreme violence, as much as 8 inches ha\'ing fallen in eleven hours, 31 

 inches in one month, and 105 inches in a year. 



"3. The soil, once denuded of its forests and swept b}^ torrential 

 rains, rapidly loses first its humus, then its rich upper strata, and finally 

 is washed in enormous volume into the streams, to bur}' such of the 

 fertile lowlands as are not eroded by the floods, to obstruct the rivers, 

 and to fill up the harbors on the coast. More good soil is now washed 

 from these cleared mountain -side fields during a single heavy rain than 

 during centuries under forest cover. 



"1. The rivers which originate in the Southern Appalachians flow 

 into or along the edges of every State from Ohio to the Gulf and from 

 the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Along their courses are agricultural, 

 water-power, and navigation interests whose preservation is absolutely 

 essential to the well-being of the nation. 



"5. The regulation of the flow of these rivers can be accomplished 

 only by the conservation of the forests. 



"6. These are the heaviest and most beautiful hard-wood forests of 

 the continent. In them species from east and west, from north and 

 south, mingle in a growth of unparalleled richness and variety. They 

 contain many species of the first commercial value, and furnish impor- 

 tant supplies which can not be obtained from an}' other region. 



"7. For economic reasons the preservation of these forests is impera- 

 tive. Their existence in good condition is essential to the prosperity 

 of the lowlands through which their waters run. Maintained in pro- 

 ductive condition they will supply indispensable materials, which must 

 fail without them. Their management under practical and conserva- 

 tive forestrj' will sustain and increase the resources of this region and 

 of the nation at large, will serve as an inv^aluable object lesson in the 

 advantages and practicability of forest preservation by use, and will 

 soon be self-supporting from the sale of timber. 



"8. The agricultural resources of the Southern Appalachian region 

 must be protected and preserved. To that end the preservation of 

 the forests is an indispensable condition, which will lead not to the 

 reduction but to the increase of the yield of agricultural products. 



