Senate Document 84 Message from the President of the United States Transmitting A Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in Relation to the Forests, Rivers, and Mountains of the Southern Appalachian Region

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of Agriculture, prepared in collaboration with the Department of the Interior, upon the forests, rivers, and mountains of the Southern Appalachian region, and upon its agricultural situation as affected by them. The report of the Secretary presents the final results of an investigation authorized by the last Congress. Its conclusions point unmistakably, in the judgment of the Secretary and in my own, to the creation of a national forest reserve in certain parts of the Southern States. The facts ascertained and here presented deserve the careful consideration of the Congress; they have already received the full attention of the scientist and the lumberman. They set forth an economic need of prime importance to the welfare of the South, and hence to that of the nation as a whole, and they point to the necessity of protecting through wise use a mountain region whose influence flows far beyond its borders with the waters of the rivers to which it gives rise.

Among the elevations of the eastern half of the United States the Southern Appalachians are of paramount interest for geographic, hydrographic, and forest reasons, and, as a consequence, for economic reasons as well. These great mountains are old in the history of the continent which has grown up about them. The hard-wood forests were born on their slopes and have spread thence over the eastern half of the continent. More than once in the remote geologic past they have disappeared before the sea on the east, south, and west, and before the ice on the north; but here in this Southern Appalachian region they have lived on to the present day.

Under the varying conditions of soil, elevation, and climate many of the Appalachian tree species have developed. Hence it is that in this region occur that marvelous variety and richness of plant growth which have led our ablest business men and scientists to ask for its preservation by the Government for the advancement of science and for the instruction and pleasure of the people of our own and of future generations. And it is the concentration here of so many valuable species with such favorable conditions of growth which has led forest experts and lumbermen alike to assert that of all the continent this region is best suited to the purposes and plans of a national forest reserve in the hard-wood region.

The conclusions of the Secretary of Agriculture are summarized as follows in his report:

"1. The Southern Appalachian region embraces the highest peaks and largest mountain masses east of the Rockies. It is the great physiographic feature of the eastern half of the continent, and no such lofty mountains are covered with hard-wood forests in all North America.

"2. Upon these mountains descends the heaviest rainfall of the United States, except that of the North Pacific coast. It is often of extreme violence, as much as 8 inches having fallen in eleven hours, 31 inches in one month, and 105 inches in a year.

"3. The soil, once denuded of its forests and swept by torrential rains, rapidly loses first its humus, then its rich upper strata, and finally is washed in enormous volume into the streams, to bury such of the fertile lowlands as are not eroded by the floods, to obstruct the rivers, and to fill up the harbors on the coast. More good soil is now washed from these cleared mountain-side fields during a single heavy rain than during centuries under forest cover.

"4. The rivers which originate in the Southern Appalachians flow into or along the edges of every State from Ohio to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Along their courses are agricultural, water-power, and navigation interests whose preservation is absolutely essential to the well-being of the nation.

"5. The regulation of the flow of these rivers can be accomplished only by the conservation of the forests.

"6. These are the heaviest and most beautiful hard-wood forests of the continent. In them species from east and west, from north and south, mingle in a growth of unparalleled richness and variety. They contain many species of the first commercial value, and furnish important supplies which can not be obtained from any other region.

"7. For economic reasons the preservation of these forests is imperative. Their existence in good condition is essential to the prosperity of the lowlands through which their waters run. Maintained in productive condition they will supply indispensable materials, which must fail without them. Their management under practical and conservative forestry will sustain and increase the resources of this region and of the nation at large, will serve as an invaluable object lesson in the advantages and practicability of forest preservation by use, and will soon be self-supporting from the sale of timber.

"8. The agricultural resources of the Southern Appalachian region must be protected and preserved. To that end the preservation of the forests is an indispensable condition, which will lead not to the reduction but to the increase of the yield of agricultural products.

"9. The floods in these mountain-born streams, if this forest destruction continues, will increase in frequency and violence and in the extent of their damages, both within this region and across the bordering States. The extent of these damages, like those from the washing of the mountain fields and roads, can not be estimated with perfect accuracy, but during the present year alone the total has approximated $10,000,000, a sum sufficient to purchase the entire area recommended for the proposed reserve. But this loss can not be estimated in money value alone. Its continuance means the early destruction of conditions most valuable to the nation, and which neither skill nor wealth can restore.

"10. The preservation of the forests, of the streams, and of the agricultural interests here described can be successfully accomplished only by the purchase and creation of a national forest reserve. The States of the Southern Appalachian region own little or no land, and their revenues are inadequate to carry out this plan. Federal action is obviously necessary, is fully justified by reasons of public necessity, and may be expected to have most fortunate results."

With these conclusions I fully agree; and I heartily commend this measure to the favorable consideration of the Congress.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

WHITE HOUSE,
     December 19, 1901.