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Senate Bill 5518

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  • 12 FOREST RESERVE IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. acres of forest land in the Appalachian Mountains within the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee for the establishment of the park, and gives him the control of it. Five million dollars is to be appropriated for the purchase. The reservation will be known as the Southern Appalachian Forest Reserve. There is no national park or forestry reservation east of the Mississippi River. The establishment of a forestry reserve is deemed preferable to that of simply a large national park, by which the area embractc,! would be taken from public use and development, and the forests, streams, and animals preserved. The forestry reserve idea is that the great forest wealth of the region within its boundaries shall be made use of; that they shall be protected by lumbering in systematic and scientific manner, so that our great forests shall not be killed, nor yet made useless. The reserve will also serve as a great park, where the attractions of nature will not only not be done away with, but will be made more accessible. The region selected for this proposed reserve is one of the most picturesque and attractive in the United States. The center of it is that portion of the mountain districts in western North Carolina, in the vicinity of isheville. It is a territory peculiarly adapted to forestry reserve purposes. The Appalachians there reach their greatest height and afford their wildest and most picturesque scenery. In that region are found the richest hard-wood forests of the United States. These forests are largely in their primitive condition. The northern and southern species of woods meet there, and the proposed area embraces a greater variety of hardwoods than are found elsewhere in this country. This reserve would be in that region about which are situated the head waters of the Ohio, Tennessee, Savannah, Yadkin, and Roanoke rivers. It is within a day's ride of nearly two-thirds of the people of the United States. There have been so far set aside west of the Mississippi 70,000 square miles for national parks and forestry reserves. East of that river there is nothing of this kind. If there is ever to be a national forestry reserve of the hardwood forests of the country, now is the time to establish it. These great southern forests are valuable. The lumberman is after them; they are rising in value steadily, and unless the Government moves soon it will be too late to secure the area needed, and with the primitive forests untouched. The people of the United States are all vitally interested in this proposition. It is much more than a question of mere dollars and cents at the present time. It is a question which looks to the whole future, so far as our timber supply goes, and even, in large manner, of our whole industrial character. One problem is whether, by the destruction of this magnificent forest area, the streams now furnishing water power to vast industries, and having hundreds of undeveloped powers, and which feed many of our great rivers, shall be shrunken to insignificance or dried up. Another is the vast benefit to be derived from the educational work carried on by such a forestry reserve. The preservation of the forests and cutting, of the timber in a scientific way will give a steady available supply of timber for all time, and will teach the people of all sections the proper care and utilization of our forests. The reserve will set aside a limited portion of our hardwood areas, and that portion which is the most suitable for the examination and study of future generations. The interest in forest preservation is increasing in this country. There is a growing demand for the establishment of this reserve. The demand comes from many different portions of the Union. In response to this demand, Secretary of Agriculture Wilson has had extensive investigations made of the areas proposed to be embraced in the reserve, and these investigations emphasize the great need for and advantages to be derived from it. It is important that the people of the country awake to the full importance of this laudable project and bring their influence to its support. A NATIONAL PARK IN THE SOUTH. [Baltimore Sun, January 17,1900. ] The Appalachian National Park Association has published a pamphlet setting forth "the reasons for the establishment of a national park in the mountains of Western North Carolina." The movement, it is explained, is in response to the spontaneous demand of those who are acquainted with the charms and resources of the Southern Appalachian region. Nowhere in the United States can greater natural beauty be found than in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee—in the Great Smoky Mountains, the Balsam Mountains, and the Black and Craggy mountains. In this section are the highest and most beautiful mountains east of the lofty Western ranges—43
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