r 



14 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



NATURE AND EXTENT OF THIS INVESTIGATION. 



Acting under this autiiority 1 conducted .such an investi- 

 o-ation durint;' the Held .sea.son of 1900. and contiiuiod it 

 again during the present year. The conclusions to wliich 

 the results of this investigation have led lue will be found 

 at the end of this report (p. 38). 

 Departments of ^hc liberal cooperation of the Department of the 



Agriculture iiiui r' 1 



of the Interior through the United States Geological Survev, 1 



cooperate in the ' & to . .' i 



investigation, ^y.^^ enabled to make these investigations nmch broader and 

 more thorough than would otherwise have been possible. 

 The Geological Survey, in timely recognition of the impor- 

 tance of this movement, has, dui'ing the past two years, 

 studied the topographic features and the water supplies of 

 the region in relation to its forest development, and has also 

 cooperated in the examination of the forests themselves. 

 The investigations along the several lines have been par- 

 ticipated in b}^ the best men available in the Government 

 service. 1 have my.self twice visited this region, and have 

 seen at first hand the destruction of the forests and the 

 consequent enormous damage by floods; have examined 

 some of its largest mountain masses, and have climbed its 

 highest peak. The conclusions reached from this personal 

 experience, as well as from the extensive expert investi- 

 gations just mentioned, will be found briefly summarized 

 at another place in this report (p. 38). 



mves\'igation^'^'^ "^^6 experts in c'harge of this work examined not onh* 

 the forests and the general forest conditions as they exist 

 to-day, but also the causes which have led up to these con- 

 ditions and the possibility of improving them either with 

 or without Government ownership and supervision. They 

 studied the influences of the forests on the preservation of 

 the streams and soils of these mountains and on the 

 preservation of the water powers and the farm lands along 

 these streams, both within the mountain areas and across 

 the bordering lowlands. In particvdar the region was 

 studied as to its relative adaptabilit}' to future develop- 

 ment along the lines of practical forestr}' and practical 

 agriculture. 



Forest and The forests Were carefullv mapped as to their distri- 



agncultural eon- _ .11 



ditions. bution and density and the relative proportion of the 



forest-covered and cleared lands. The investigation also 

 included a .study of the general character and distribution 

 of all the available species of trees and shrubs of the 



