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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region

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Item 1 - Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-14281.jpg

Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region

NCWRA_019_12_04_19_01
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-14282.jpg

Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region

NCWRA_019_12_04_19_02
Item 3 - Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-14283.jpg

Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region

NCWRA_019_12_04_19_03
Item 4 - Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-14284.jpg

Report of Investigations upon the Forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region

NCWRA_019_12_09_01
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Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • Z FORESTS OF THE S0UTHEBN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN REGION. Appalachian Mountain region of western North Carolina and adjacent States." In accordance with this provision, I have made a thorough investigation of the forests in a portion of the southern Appalachian Mountains, as directed above, including an estimate of the amount and condition of the standing timber, an inquiry as to the suitability of this region for a national park, as proposed by the Appalachian National Park Association, and an examination of the validity of the reasons advanced by its advocates for the creation of such a park. In this task I have received generous and effective cooperation and assistance, through the United States Geological Survey, from the Department of the Interior, which recognized in this way the deep and widely diffused public interest in the plan. The forest investigation was made to include a study of the character and distribution of the species of timber trees, the density and value of forest growth, the extent to which the timber has been cut or damaged by fire, the size and nature of the present holdings, the prices at which these forest lands can now be purchased, and the general and special conditions that affect the prosecution of conservative forestry on a large scale. The hydrographic survey of the region, conducted b3T the United States Geological Survey, includes a general study of its topographic features; of the relation of the soils, forest cover, and rainfall; of the quantity of water flowing out of it through the various streams during different seasons, and of the influence exerted on the regularity of this flow by forest clearings. More than 750 stream measurements have already been made, and much additional data of special value has been secured. , In addition to these investigations, I have given thorough attention to the arguments advanced by the movers for the proposed park and to those of their opponents, and, as a result, I a*m strongly of opinion that this matter is worthy of careful consideration. I have the honor to transmit herewith a mounted original copy of a large map, which shows in detail the mapping of forests accomplished during the past summer over an area of nearly 8,000 square miles. A full report of the work and of its results is now in preparation and will be submitted for your consideration at an early date. The following preliminary statement is made to bring before you without delay a summary of the facts, sufficient to set forth clearly the principal features of the region and the plan. The movement for the purchase and control of a large area of forest land in the East by the Government has chiefly contemplated a national park. The idea of a national park is conservation, not use; that of a forest reserve, conservation by use. I have therefore to recommend a forest reserve instead of a park. It is fully shown by the investigation that such a reserve would be self-supporting from the sale of timber under Avisely directed conservative forestry. Extensive areas of hard-wood forests, within the region colored on the accompanying map, are still in their primitive condition, and these are among the very best and richest hard-wood forests of the United States. The region in general is better adapted for forestry than for agricutural purposes. It is located about the head waters of numerous streams, such as the Ohio, Tennessee, Savannah, Yadkin, and Roanoke, which are important both for water power and for navigation. The general conditions within the region are exceptional^ favorable for
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Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

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