THE CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS.

As shown in the accompanying paper by Professor Henry, of the Weather Bureau (p. 143), the climate of the Southern Appalachian region possesses distinctive features of its own, although it partakes somewhat of the main features of the climatic zones both to the west and to the east. Its distinctive features, due to higher altitudes, are a lower temperature, both summer and winter, a drier atmosphere, and at the same time a greater rainfall and snowfall, and higher wind velocity. There are of course local variations in the climatic conditions of the region, owing to its extremely varied topography, but the limited number of stations where observations have been made in this region makes it impossible to discuss these local variations at the present time.

Temperatures in the region not extreme.

It is in temperature that we might expect the greatest variations, but, unfortunately, with the exception of a few months' observation on Mount Mitchell (elevation 6,711 feet), no observations are available at elevations greater than 4,000 feet. The highest temperature observed on Mount Mitchell during May, June, July, and August in 1873 was 72° in July; the lowest, 41° in June. At Highlands, N. C. (elevation 3,817 feet), the mean temperature of the summer is given by the Weather Bureau records as 65.7°, and the mean winter temperature as 35.4°. The extremes during a period of eight years (1893 to 1900) were 19° below zero in February and 86° above zero in June.

Rainfall heaviest in the Eastern States.

The rainfall along the southern slopes of the Blue Ridge is the heaviest in the United States, with the exception of that on the northern Pacific coast, ranging from 60 inches in northern Georgia to 71 inches in western North Carolina. The precipitation for the year 1898 in western North Carolina at Highlands was 105.24 inches; at Horse Cove, 99.97 inches; Flat Rock, 78.39 inches, and Linville, 71.05 inches. The rainfall in the warm seasons is often torrential, while in the spring and autumn the rains often continue over several days in succession. During May 21, 1901, the rainfall in twenty-four hours was, at Highlands, N. C., 4.03 inches; at Hendersonville, N. C., 4.91 inches; at Flat Rock, N. C., 6.12 inches; at Marion, N. C., 7.25 inches; and at Patterson. N. C., 8.3 inches. Near Roan Mountain, North Carolina, a rainfall of 8 inches in eleven hours has been recorded. In August of 1901 the total rainfall for the month at Highlands, N. C., was 30.74 inches.

Special climatic features.

The tables which accompany Professor Henry's paper show the temperatures, rainfall, and other weather conditions at practically all of the stations established within this region. They emphasize two facts of special importance in connection with the present discussion, namely, that the climate is such as to permit travel and lumbering operations in all portions of this region throughout the entire year, while the rainfall, being heavy in the aggregate and often excessive within short periods, renders it necessary to protect the forests in order to limit floods and prevent the washing away of the land.

Government control the only practical solution.

HOW CAN THESE FORESTS BE PRESERVED?

Having given what I believe to be a fair statement of the conditions existing in the Southern Appalachian region, and considered the danger growing out of the policy and practice now in force, I pass on to inquire through what agency these forests can be preserved. After careful consideration I am able to suggest but one way to solve the problem, and that is for the Federal Government to purchase these forest-covered mountain slopes and make them into a national forest reserve.

Protection of these forests beyond the agency of private individuals.

Certainly the lumbermen and the native farmers, who are now pushing the destruction of these forests, can not be expected of themselves to bring about their preservation. Nor can the perpetuation of forest conditions, upon which depend so many national interests, be left to the caprice of private capital, which has no interest beyond the profits in the lumber industry. The restoration of forests already injured, and the reforesting of the steep mountain slopes already cleared, are here properly national functions, for their results will be national in importance and extent. Furthermore, it is perfectly safe to assert that any satisfactory protection and development of these forests for the objects here contemplated is wholly beyond the agency of private individuals; and such persons would have no direct interest whatever in the protection and perpetuation of water-power, agriculture, and navigation along the lower courses of the streams whose headwaters they control.

Ownership and control by the State not practicable.

Nor can the States within whose territory these lands now lie be expected to convert them into a forest reserve. The land is not owned by the States, but by private individuals. It is true that some of the wealthier States, like New York and Pennsylvania, are showing an intelligent and commendable interest in purchasing forest lands and establishing forest reserves for the protection of the sources of streams lying within their own boundaries and for the conservation of the forests. But the case is wholly different in the Southern Appalachian region. North Carolina can not, for example, fairly be expected to establish a forest reserve at great expense for the protection of streams which though rising within her borders lie mainly in other States. Nor could Alabama be expected to purchase lands in the State of Georgia for the protection of her great river which reaches the Gulf in Mobile Bay. Nor could West Virginia be expected to purchase lands in North Carolina for the protection of the sources of the Kanawha River, the largest lateral tributary of the Ohio.

Purchase of these forests too costly for the States, but the States willing for Federal control.

Furthermore, even were these States willing to enter upon such a plan, their financial condition is not such as to make the undertaking possible. The combined income for a year of all the States within whose borders these lands lie would hardly be sufficient for their purchase. As shown, however, in the Appendix (p. 172), each of the States within whose borders these mountain lands are located has by legislative act expressed its hearty approval of this measure and its willingness to cede the control of these lands to the Federal Government.

Protection of these forests a national problem.

This is a national problem. The people of a number of States are directly interested. The dangers growing out of the policy now in force are national in their character, as are also the benefits to be obtained by the policy now advised. This proposal for a national forest reserve has already been discussed and commended by our ablest men of science, by practical lumbermen, by the forestry associations, by many of the business organizations of the country, and by both the technical and the general press. I earnestly hope that it will meet with favorable action at the hands of Congress during its present session.

National forest reserves in the West.

Congress has wisely provided for the setting aside out of the public domain, and thus withdrawing from sale, many thousands of square miles of valuable forest lands, with a view to protecting the streams and perpetuating the timber supply about the mountains in our western States and Territories. (See Pl. II.) And while the measure now proposed involves a purchase instead of a withdrawal from sale of forest lands formerly purchased, the principle and purpose are the same. In both cases, even if judged simply as a question of finance, the Government's investment will ultimately prove a good one.

Policy recommended not a new one for the Government.

As further illustrating the fact that the proposed purchase will not be a new policy or precedent on the part of the Government, attention may be called to the numerous purchases of lands for military parks, and to the purchase from the Blackfoot Indians in 1896 of more than half a million acres of forest lands at a cost of 1,500,000, which area was subsequently added to the Flathead Forest Reserve in Montana.

Forest reserve more important than a park, but the two not antagonistic.

As I stated in my preliminary report of January last, the early movement for the purchase and control of a large area of forest land in the East by the Government chiefly contemplated a national park, but the idea of a national park is conservation, not use; that of a forest reserve is conservation by use, and I therefore recommend the establishment of a forest reserve instead of a park. If, however, the present proposal for the establishment of a national forest reserve is favorably acted upon by Congress, and at some future time it should prove desirable that some considerable portion of this region be set aside and opened up more especially for use as a national park, I can see in advance no objection whatever to the carrying out of such a plan.

Cost of the mountain forest lands.

CONDITIONS OF PURCHASE AND MANAGEMENT.

I stated in the preliminary report just referred to that lands in this region suitable for a forest reserve are now generally held in large bodies of from 50,000 to 100,000 acres, and that they can be purchased at prices ranging from $2 to $5 per acre. Further investigations during the present year confirm the correctness of this statement. There are also many additional tracts of forest lands ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 acres each that are for sale at reasonable prices. Within the present year a few tracts of from 10,000 to 30,000 acres sold at less than $2 per acre. Within the past decade the larger portion of this area could have been purchased in large tracts at prices ranging from $1 to $2 an acre; but in view of the growing demand for forest lands, prices have already advanced, and they may be expected to advance still more within the next few years.

Titles to the lands satisfactory.

Within the past two decades the titles to many of the large tracts of land in this region have been much in dispute, and the efforts to adjust them involved tedious processes in court; but I am informed by competent judges that in practically all of these cases adjustments have finally been reached. Any appropriation for the purchase of these lands should provide ample time for the searching of titles, although no serious difficulty is anticipated from this source.

Forest reserve self-sustaining, and will ultimately yield a profit.

Referring again to my preliminary report, I may quote a statement which has been further confirmed by the results of the present year that "it is fully shown by the investigation that such a reserve would be self-supporting from the sale of timber under a wisely directed, conservative policy." In the case of many of the European forests under government supervision a net annual income is derived from the sale of timber and other forest products of from $1 to more than $5 per acre. I do not, of course, suppose that under the different conditions existing in this country a national forest reserve such as proposed would yield such a result, yet I confidently expect that the reserve now proposed in the Southern Appalachians will in the course of a few years be self-supporting, and that subsequently, as the hard-wood timber supplies in other portions of the country become more scarce, the lumbering operations will yield a considerable net return to the Government.

Its indirect benefits great.


Benefits of this forest reserve as an object lesson will be great.

Meanwhile, the establishment of such a reserve will remedy many of the evils now threatened in this region, and under the efficient management of the practical foresters now being trained in this Department its working will serve as a test and demonstration of the wisdom and success of practical forest operations on a large scale; and this will encourage both individuals and States to adopt such methods of forest management on their own lands as will not only protect the forests in existence, but also restore them on lands which should never have been cleared.

Mineral developments not interfered with.

I am informed by the geologists who are familiar with this Southern Appalachian region that the development of its mineral deposits would neither interfere with nor be interfered with by the creation and proper handling of such a forest reserve.

Existing settlements not interfered with.

The settlements now existing within the limits of the proposed reserve would not be interfered with, nor would their existence there, nor their legitimate enlargement, interfere with the purposes to be accomplished in the establishment of the reserve.

Only general boundary now given.

It would not be wise at the present time to make public the exact location of lands which may be thought best adapted for incorporation in such a forest reserve, but the general boundaries of the region within which it is proposed to purchase these lands are indicated on the accompanying maps (see Pis. II, IV, and XII). I am of the opinion that the reserve should ultimately include not less than 4,000,000 acres.

CONCLUSIONS.

The results of these investigations of the forests and forest conditions of the Southern Appalachian region lead unmistakably to the following conclusions:

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.

JAMES WILSON,     
Secretary of Agriculture.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
     Washington, D. C., December 16, 1901.