TABLE 6.-Gross area of purchase units and per cent of land acquired in each unit The tables which follow show the financial situation at the close of the fiscal year 1928: Expenses National Forest Reservation Commission, 1928 Appropriation, "National Forest Reservation Commission, 1928"Expenses for fiscal year ended June 30, 1928, stationery and printing-- Unexpended balance June 30, 1928 Balance to revert to Treasury.... $25,000. 00 351. 71 24, 648. 29 24, 648. 29 Expenditures for purchase of lands Appropriation, "Acquisition of lands for protection of watersheds Total available during fiscal year 1928- Appropriation, "Acquisition of lands for protection of watersheds of navigable streams, 1927"; balance obligated but unexpended at close of fiscal year 1927 (see report of National Forest Reservation Commission for fiscal year 1927, S. Doc. No. 12, 70th Cong., 1st sess.) Expenditures during fiscal year 1928. Balance obligated but unexpended July 1, 1928.. Appropriation, "Acquisition of lands for protection of watersheds of navigable streams, 1928", Expenditures during fiscal year 1928.. Balance obligated but unexpended July 1, 1928_. Appropriation, "Acquisition of lands for protection of watersheds of navigable streams, 1928-29" Expenditures during fiscal year 1928... Balance obligated but unexpended July 1, 1928 Appropriation, "Acquisition of lands for protection of watersheds of navigable streams"; unexpended balance at close of fiscal year 1927, available July 1, 1927 (see report of National Forest Reservation Commission for fiscal year 1927, S. Doc. No. 12, 70th Cong., 1st sess.). Repayments to credit of this appropriation during fiscal year 1928 Total.... Disbursements for fiscal year 1928.. Unexpended balance available further disbursement July $343, 903. 55 22, 292. 73 366, 196. 28 366, 196. 28 633, 958. 33 85,639. 21 548, 319. 12 1, 000, 000. 00 983, 997. 95 16, 002. 05 1, 000, 000. 00 514, 761. 68 485, 238. 32 111, 104. 28 541. 50 111, 645. 78 32.57 111, 613. 21 Total unexpended balance of all appropriations July 1, 1928. 1, 161, 172. 70 This unexpended balance is encumbered in the form of exe cuted contracts. Amounts disbursed during the fiscal year 1928 from the five available appropriations for "Acquisition of lands for protection of watersheds of navigable streams," as shown above: Appropriation for 1926.. Appropriation for 1927. Appropriation for 1928. Appropriation for 1928-29. Appropriation without year. Total disbursements from all appropriations during the fiscal year 1928.. 366, 196. 28 85, 639. 21 983, 997.95 514, 761. 68 32.57 1, 950, 627. 69 EASTERN NATIONAL FORESTS, DISTRICT 7 REVIEW OF YEAR'S WORK AND RESULTS SECURED This national forest district has jurisdiction over Federal forest lands throughout the mountain regions in 12 Eastern States from Maine to Arkansas and in Florida and Porto Rico, as well as newly authorized land purchase work within the Gulf and South Atlantic States. In this district the National Forest Reservation Commission, in harmony with the program formulated to carry out the provisions of section 6 of the act of June 7, 1924, authorized the establishment of five new purchase units for timber production, demonstrational purposes, and watershed protection within the yellow-pine belt of the Southeastern States. Three of these, the Kisatchie group, are in Louisiana, one on the watershed of the Red River in a hilly region to the north of Alexandria; one on the divide between the Red and Sabine Rivers within the rough region known as the Kisatchie Hills, and the third on the hills which drain into the Sabine River. Two others, the Black River and the Wambaw, are in eastern South Carolina. No lands have thus far been purchased within these new units. The commission also authorized the reexamination of areas in the State of Vermont in order to have more complete data to guide it in deciding upon the desirability of locating a national forest within that State. In the White Mountains and Appalachians no new purchase units was authorized during the year, but the following changes in the purchase-unit boundaries were approved: The gross area of the Cherokee purchase unit was decreased 24,851 acres; the Georgia was decreased 116,566 acres; the Natural Bridge The decreased 37,972 acres. These decreases were due to the elimination of lands which contained a high proportion of farms. Ouachita purchase unit was increased 97,920 acres and the Ozark unit 122,489 acres. These lands which are added are rough mountain lands, the addition of which to the forests will round out working circles or improve administrative conditions. One of the important objectives in connection with the readjustment of the boundaries of one of these units, the Ouachita National Forest purchase unit, was the desirability to incorporate in the forest certain areas of near-by lands on which there is an excellent representation of certain age classes of timber which are not sufficiently represented within the present national forest. When the administration of the present national forest was assumed by the Department of Agriculture all of the timber consisted of trees in mature stands; that is, middle-aged and old classes, ready to be cut as soon as economic conditions justify their sale. At the present time this age class is supplemented by a very young class which has replaced this old timber on areas upon which timber sales have already been made and the old timber cut, and where as a result of protection of the cut-over land it has been possible for restocking to take place. There is a great deficiency, however, in intermediate age classes which would mature in the interval between the cutting of the present old timber and the maturity of these juvenile stands. It is largely with a view to complementing the distribution of age classes in this forest so as to round out the working circles, as the areas subject to progressive fellings are designated, that there is most urgency for additions from a purely administrative point of view. All of these lands, however, irrespective of the age or condition of timber thereon, are of a class which has been reported upon by the Geological Survey in compliance with section 6 of the act of March 1, 1911, upon which the maintenance of the forest cover is of benefit in promoting navigability through the regulation and equalization of streamflow. But in addition to this function of benefiting stream regimen the lands in this region, as a whole, which are being considered for inclusion within these two national forests, have high timber-producing capacity, and if in Federal ownership will contribute materially to the future timber supply of the eastern United States. The Geological Survey also reported upon two units within the Kisatchie in Louisiana. The third unit in this group is being considered under the provisions of section 6 of the act of June 7, 1924. Following the policy of consolidation which has guided the work in the White Mountains, the Appalachians, and the Ozarks, a total of 199,467 acres were approved for purchase during the past fiscal year. These lands are located in 11 States, in 12 national forests, and are being acquired at an average price of $9.52 per acre. During the past year title passed to the Government to 185,905 acres at an average price of $9.18. These lands consist very largely of tracts the purchase of which was authorized during the fiscal years 1926 and 1927. The lands approved for purchase consist of 275 tracts and embrace 32,585 acres which can be described as virgin or lightly culled timberland, 129,867 acres of cut-over and heavily culled, 4,063 acres of abandoned farm land which is not yet restocking, 16,400 acres of cutover and abandoned farm land which is restocking to young trees, and 16,552 acres which are of such low producing capacity that they can be classed as barren or unproductive or which has been so badly burned that planting of trees will be required to reestablish at an early date a valuable stand of forest trees. These lands carry approximately 80,000,000 board feet of merchantable saw timber, 250,000 cords of pulpwood, largely spruce, and a large number of railroad ties, transmission line poles, tannic acid stock and other merchantable material; in addition to the merchantable timber there is some timber in excess of 30,000,000 board feet so situated that it is not at present considered merchantable. The largest tract the purchase of which was authorized during the year was 33,327 acres on the Ouachita purchase unit in Arkansas at a price of $2.75 an acre. The lowest priced lands consisted of 703 acres in two tracts on the Nantahala purchase unit at $1.07 an acre; 1,041 acres on the Allegheny unit in Pennsylvania, at $1.50 an acre. The highest priced tract of forest land was 22,123 acres in White Mountains at a price of $47.57 an acre. The highest priced tract, however, was $97.22 an acre for 28.8 acres on the Monongahela purchase unit in West Virginia for a nursery site. The outstanding purchase during the year was of valuable and heavily timbered tract of 22,123 acres within the White Mountains purchase unit, in Grafton County, N. H., in the townships of Waterville and Livermore, and embracing the headwaters of Mad River. The Greeley Ponds, a chain of miniature lakes, and the Mad River Notch between the headwaters of Mad River and Hancock Branch of the Pemigewasset, two highly scenic areas in the southern portion of the White Mountains, lie within this boundary. The mountains which flank it embrace on the cast such famous peaks as the Tripyramid Mountains, rising 4,189 feet, a portion of their slopes already being in Government ownership. Near the head of the river is Mount Kankamagus, 3,700 feet in height. On the northwestern part of the basin Mount Osceola, a corner of which is already within the National Forest, rises 4,352 feet. On its western boundary is Mount Tecumseh, 4,008 feet, a portion of which is likewise already in Federal ownership, while a score of other peaks of less magnitude and not so well known are also included. With this tract there were acquired 33,324,000 board feet of hardwood timber and 231,292 cords of pulpwood, largely spruce, only a portion of it having been cut over. The virgin timber contributes in large part to the setting of such scenic gems as the "Notch" and the "Greeley Ponds." On certain high slope areas the timber will be maintained uncut for protective purposes, while for esthetic reasons the timber on certain other areas of about 800 acres in extent will not be cut. Stands of young timber, too immature to give the highest financial returns, are to be reserved for later utilization when more mature, in connection with the general plans for developing the resources of this forest. A contract has already been made for the cutting of the remaining timber but in such a manner as to secure a restocking of the spruce and to minimize the danger from fire after the timber has been cut. Another outstanding purchase authorized in the White Mountains was 18,599 acres in Grafton County, located in the western side of the national forest on the waters of the Wild Ammonoosuc River and embracing the northern and western slopes of Mount Moosilauke, but not its summit which is held by a mountain club. |