FACILITATE THE WORK OF THE FOREST SERVICE AUG. 4, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. COOLEY, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the following REPORT (To accompany H. R. 5839 The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5839) to facilitate and simplify the work of the Forest Service, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. STATEMENT The purpose of this bill is to make a number of relatively minor changes in the laws relating to the Forest Service which will permit that Service to carry out more efficiently and more effectively the functions and duties imposed on it by Congress. In all but one section (sec. 12) the bill is identical with a similar bill (H. R. 2028) which was reported favorably by this committee and passed the House in the Eightieth Congress. The bill was not acted upon in the Senate. Since thorough and complete hearings were held on the bill in the Eightieth Congress, only brief hearings were conducted on the bill in this session of Congress and the only change made in the wording of the measure as it had previously passed the House was a slight change in the language of section 12 and the elimination of section 13 because of the fact that the provisions of the latter section have already been embodied in legislation. The changes and improvements in the laws relating to the Forest Service which are proposed in this bill are the outgrowth of cumulative experience of the Service and are based upon careful study. The changes proposed represent improvements which those charged with the administration of these laws believe that they can and should make in such administration. Rather than authorizing the appropriation of additional funds, most of the legislative changes proposed herein are designed to save the Government money, either directly or through more efficient use and administration of existing appropriations. The only authorizations for new appropriations are in section 14 and these are of a character to render more effective and efficient the whole functioning of the Forest Service. In reporting the bill in the Eightieth Congress, the committee said: The committee has gone over the bill very carefully, line by line, and is satisfied that there is not proposed any authorization beyond that actually needed to accomplish the job to be done, and that the enactment of this proposed legislation will greatly improve and render more effective and economical the functioning of the Forest Service. Hearings were held in this session of Congress on H. R. 2968, following which the changes referred to above were made, and the bill reported herewith (H. R. 5839) was introduced by direction of the subcommittee as a clean bill. The change made by the committee in section 12 of the bill makes it clear that the funds to be deposited with the Forest Service for range improvements are to be a part of the regular fee charged for use of the range and not in addition to the established grazing fee. ANALYSIS OF THE BILL SECTION 1 Improvements under long-term leases.- States, counties, cities, towns, corporations and private individuals are often willing to allow the Forest Service to erect and maintain warehouses, repair shops, lookout towers, and other structures on land owned by them for such period as the land may be needed. They are, however, unable or unwilling, for legal or other reasons, to sell or donate the land to the Federal Government. Under existing legal restrictions, the Forest Service is unable to erect permanent facilities on land not owned by the United States. In many cases the Forest Service may need to erect a lookout tower, dwelling or other administration structure for long-term use at a strategic location on land privately owned but which the owners are not willing to sell, and the Forest Service often can obtain a lease, usually at a nominal rental. for a term of years compatible with the ife of the structures. A building or other structure constructed under authority of this section would be subject to any cost limitation fixed by Congress in the applicable appropriation or other act. The committee amendment. would require that leases provide for the right to remove the structure within reasonable time following termination of the lease. SECTION 2 Purchase of tree and forage plant seed and nursery stock.-Good forest tree seed crops occur only at intervals of from 2 to 5 years or more, varying with species and locality. Hence during a good year enough seed or cones must be collected to last, several years. Seeds grown in the vicinity of the area to be planted usually produce trees better adapted to the local environment than do seeds gathered in a different locality. It is also important that tree seed be collected only from thrifty trees of good form and quality. Tree seed and cones must be mature and ripe when collected, and the period between the ripened stage and natural dissemination is short. There are very few dealers in forest tree seed, and it has proven impossible to obtain from established dealers the desired quantity and quality of fresh seed grown in suitable localities. Usually the value of seed procured in one locality in the good seed years is considerably in excess of $500, which is the existing limitation on open-market purchases. At some of the large transplant nurseries, such as the Chittenden in Michigan and the Savenac in Montana, the value of seed required for a year's production may run as high as $3,000. For any one of these nurseries seed may be bought in three or more localities, but there might be bought in any one year enough seed for a 3-year period. Hence the amount that might be spent for seed in one locality in 1 year could amount to $3,000. At the two big southern nurseries, the Ashe in Mississippi and the Stuart in Louisiana, production is of 1-year-old stock only and each nursery has sufficient capacity to produce 30,000,000 seedlings. This would require up to 5,000 bushels of cones each which, at $2 per bushel, would cost $10,000. These cones might be purchased in at least three different localities and might be purchased in sufficient quantity to provide a 2- to 3-year supply. Consequently, it is to be anticipated that the amount spent in one locality in 1 year for the purchase of seed could amount to $10,000. The present limitation has resulted in failure to obtain sufficient seed of the species, quality and source desired, and sometimes has resulted in a price much higher than could have been had at the outset under open-market purchasing Open market offers at a reasonable price in a specified locality induce Indians and other local people to collect seed and cones for direct sale to the Government, offering such quantities as they are able to collect with no penalty for inability to furnish a predetermined quantity, whereas few if any would respond to a request for competitive bids. Similar conditions prevail in obtaining forage plant seed to use in reseeding ranges. Best results usually are obtained from seed grown in the vicinity. It is difficult to induce local farmers to grow such.seed without an assured market for at least part of the crop. The seed required in a particular locality may greatly exceed the present openmarket limit of $100. Authority to purchase without competition. will encourage local seed growing, permit selection of the best seed available, and insure seed from plants known to grow successfully in the locality. Present appropriations permit the reactivation and expansion of the national forest-planting program on both forest and range lands following the war emergency and the proposed authorization is needed. to enable the Forest Service to effectively carry on the program. Wherever practicable both tree and forage seed will be purchased under bid procedure when available from commercial supply sources. The existing $500 limitation for open-market purchase of nursery stock is adequate and therefore no increase is proposed in such limitation. SECTION 8 Experimental materials and equipment. In order to obtain the material suited to a particular experiment it is necessary to select with special care standing timber for certain qualities of growth conditions, lumber or timbers from mills operating on logs from a particular territory, and other forms of wood or forest products. Often this selection is made by the Forest Products Laboratory representative under conditions requiring the cooperation of the owner. tial to be able to contract for the required quantity when and where found. It is important that the Forest Service within its specialized field assume leadership in developing equipment for forest and forest products research, forest fire control, reforestation, and other forestry and related purposes. In carrying out these purposes it frequently is necessary to develop a piece of equipment which either is novel or will require an improvement or modification of commercially available equipment. It is impractical to obtain the desired new or improved equipment under specifications on a strictly competitive basis because offered equipment frequently appears but does not meet specifications. Furthermore, it is practical to accomplish such new developments only by means of a cooperative arrangement with a qualified concern that is willing to assist wholeheartedly in the undertaking. A great many machines used in fire control, for example, are evolved from equipment originally designed for farming, construction, or other uses. In the experimental work it is necessary to observe performance as well as weight and bulk of such parts as engines, transmission units, blades, plowshares, etc. When the best unit for the purpose is found, progress of the development is expedited if the specific item can be procured at once and set into the assembly of the test model. For comparative tests it is necessary to obtain units produced by different makers. Following development work specifications can be written for quantity purchases with assurance that equipment meeting developed specifications will serve the desired purpose. SECTION 4 Aerial facilities for forest management.-Under existing law the Forest Service may contract for the use of aerial facilities and services in protecting the national forests against fire, with authority to twice renew the contract annually without further advertising for bids. The purpose is to insure reasonable continuity of use of especially equipped planes, and pilots particularly experienced in hazardous mountain flying. The proposed change would extend this authority to other forest management activities. Because of relative inaccessibilty, rough terrain, lack of ground transportation facilities and distances on many national forests, particularly in the western United States and Alaska, the use of aircraft would substantially reduce the time and cost in managing remote national forest areas. In addition to large savings in the time of the managerial and supervisory force, this would permit aerial mapping, timber and forage surveys, road and trail locations, stock and game counts, spraying for insect infestation and tree disease, and other management activities that require large crews and long periods under existing methods. |