Experts believe that the Government should spend at least $2,000,000 a year in the purchase of new National Forests.  About one-fifth of all our forests are now publicly owned.  One of the best ways of preventing the concentration of timber in private ownership is to increase the area of publicly owned forests.  Such actions would prevent the waste of valuable timber and would aid planting work.  For best results, it is thought that the Federal Government should own about one-half of all the forests in the country.  To protect the watersheds of navigable streams the Government should buy 1,000,000 acres of woodlands in New England and 5,000,000 acres in the southern Appalachian Mountains.  The National Forests should also be extended and consolidated.

Federal funds should be increased so that the Forest Service can undertake on a large scale the replanting of burned-over lands in the National Forests.  As soon as this work is well under way, Congress should supply about $1,000,000 annually for such work.  Many watersheds in the National Forests are bare of cover due to forest fires.  As a result, the water of these streams is not sufficient for the needs of irrigation, water power and city water supply of the surrounding regions.

Right now, even our leading foresters do not know exactly what the forest resources of the country amount to.  It will take several years to make such a survey even after the necessary funds are provided.  We need to know just how much wood of each class and type is available.  We want to know, in each case, the present and possible output.  We want to find out the timber requirements of each state and of every important wood-using industry.  Exact figures are needed on the timber stands and their growth.  The experimental work of the Forest Service should be extended.  Practically every forest is different from every other forest.  It is necessary to work out locally the problems of each timber reservation.  Most urgent of all is the demand for a law to allow Federal officers to render greater assistance to the state forestry departments in fighting forest fires.

Many state laws designed to perpetuate our forests must be passed if our remaining timber resources are to be saved.  During times when fires threaten, all the forest lands in each state should be guarded by organized agencies.  This protection should include cut-over and unimproved land as well as timber tracts.  Such a plan would require that the State and Federal governments bear about one-half the expenses while the private forest owners should stand the balance.  There would be special rules regulating the disposal of slashings, methods of cutting timber, and of extracting forest products such as pulpwood or naval stores.