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Activities of the Appalachian National Park Association and the Appalachian National Forest Reserve Association: 1899-1906

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  • Page IX the movement has been forv/arded as muoh as possible by correspondence with Senators, Congressmen and others interested in its establishment. A great deal of information has been collected relating to the damage by floods in the western part of the State, and statistics relating to excessive high water and low water of the various streams and their influenoe in sections somewhat distant from the mountains. This contemplated Appalachian Forest Reserve is of vital importance to North Carolina for the preservation and perpetuation of its forests and to prevent the rapid flow and evaporation of rain water which has been the cause of much of the damage by floods in the western and central part of the State during the past 15 years." In the semi-annual report for the six months ending November 30, 1906, it Is stated: "The only direct work that has been done in forestry during the past six months has been In connection with the Appalachian Forest Reserve, the desire being to bring sufficient pressure to bear on the Speaker of the House of Representatives so that he will permit the bill now pending before Congress for the establishment of the Appalachian and V<hite Mountain Forest Reserves to be brought up for discussion on the floor of the House."
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  • This 72-page journal recording “The Activities of the Appalachian National Park Association and the Appalachian National Forest Reserve Association: 1899-1906” was compiled by the association’s secretary and founding member Chase P. Ambler (1865-1932). The manuscript was created in 1929, the year Ambler donated the association’s records to the State Archives. The Appalachian National Park Association was formed in 1899 for the purpose of promoting the idea of a national park in the eastern U.S. Although housed in Asheville, North Carolina, the organization was a multi-state effort, attracting representatives from six southern states. The association lobbied Congress for the creation of a park, but with limited success. The association disbanded in 1905.