The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-31
J. $. ESTABLISHING ENORMOUS FOREST RISE RYE IN STATE
Government Acquires 8O,756 Acres of Land Protecting Headwaters of Tombig-
 bee and Warrior
WASHINGTON. b. C. Jan.

WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 30,-- Secretary of War Weeks, as presi- dent of the national forest resefva- tion commission, has transmitted to Congress a report covering the ac tivities of the commission the past year and resume of it's accom- plishments since it was established ten years ago. The report Illus trated and containes a map showing the location of the lands which are being acquired. 1t is now available for distribution by w. w. Ashe. se- cretary of the commission.
 The report shows that 2,14e,47 acres have been acquired for >estern national forests in eleven different states in the ten years during which the commission has functioned. In Alabama a total of S0,756 acres have been acquired, of which 11,936 were purchased during the past year. The Alabama lands are in Winston, Law renee and Franklin counties and are administered as the Alabama nation- al forest. The national forest lands which are being purchased are so located as to protect the headwaters of navigable streams. The Alabama forest is located on the waters of the Black Warrior and Tennessee rivers.
 Alabama Power Protected
 The headwaters of the Alabama river have their sources In Georgia and are protected by the Cherokee national forest. The eadwaters of the Tennessee river, the most im- portant power stream in the state, are protected in part or in entirely by the Georgia, Savannah. Unaka and Pisgah national forests.
 II, ,.Ir +t for the ultimate purchase of nearly twice the area which has so far been acquired. The commission in its report stressed the fact that it is proba ble that the most important contribution which the purchase of these lands will make to future timber supply will be not so much the timber which is produced on them, since it woll not be possible for the government to acquire more than a very small proportion of the total area of cut-over lands, but the results which will be secured by stimulating private owners and the states in the management of their lands and in applying the methods which the government employs in protecting lands from fire and in conservative cutting so as to assure permanency of yield and a profitable investment.
 Lumber Cut Declining
 The lumber cut of Alabama has alread preached its maximum and is now beginning to decline. In case the wood-using industries of the state are to continue to expand, they must have the assurance of a con- tinuous supply of the raw material. which in the past has been produced in abundance, near at hand.
 There Is in Alabama, the commis- sion states, an abundance of land available for growing timber which would permit the continued expan- sion of such industries, but a large portion of this land is unproductive or idle, while much of 1t has ben so badly burned that it's capacity to grow timber has been seriously impaired. It is largely up to the state to decide whether this enor- nous amount of capital asset rep resenting one of the primary re- sources of the state Is to remain idle or is to be handled along lines similar to those employed in the management of the national forests and thus maintained as a wealth producing asset.
 The report of the commission, in addition to covering in detail the conduct of the purchase work, calls particular attention to the great de- crease in the cut of lumber in the eastern United States, due to the approaching exhaustion of the SUD- ply of eastern timber, which has been brought about by the enormous area of devastated and idle land.