NORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY
FORESTRY DIVISION
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.

January 5, 1920

Governor T. W. Bickett,
Raleigh, N.C.

Dear Governor Bickett:

There are two or three measures now before Congress which, if enacted, would greatly help us in our work of securing the perpetuation of our forest resources, and I should be glad to have your influence exerted towards the passage of these measures.

(1) A bill introduced by Representative Weaver (H.B. 10372) and by Senator Keyes into the Senate urging the continuation of the appropriation of $200,000,000 a year for the purchase of forest lands for the protection of the headwaters of streams. It is becoming more and more plain that lands fit only for the growing of timber and the control of streams will eventually have to be owned by the public. Lands purchased by the Federal Government under the Weeks Law in North Carolina for this purpose, amounting to some 350,000 acres, are now being thoroughly protected and will soon become a source of profit as well as a striking object lesson to the people of the State.

(2) A bill introduced into the Senate by Senator Overman (S. 3558) "To authorize the establishment and maintenance of a forest experiment station at Asheville, North Carolina", calls for the sum of $45,000 for this purpose. If such a station could be maintained in North Carolina, it will do more towards putting forestry upon a permanent and practical basis in this State than any other possible measure. There are now five such experiment stations in the West, but none in the East, and foresters and timberland owners are sadly in need of such definite information as can be supplied only from such an experiment station. You, of course, realize the value of agricultural experiment stations and test farms, so that you can plainly see the need for a forestry experiment station.

(3) The proposed increase in the appropriation for the U.S. Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture which provides for general expenses. The present measure calls for a sum of $78,728 "For silvicultural, dendrological, and other experiments and investigations independently or in cooperation with other branches of the Federal Government, with States and with individuals, to determine the best methods for the conservative management of forests and forest lands." The Agricultural Committee of the House is being strongly urged to increase this amount to $250.000. It is felt that such investigations and experiments are the foundation of an intelligent forestry practice, and that a liberal policy should be adopted in order to forward this movement. The better care and more intelligent handling of our renewable natural resources seems to me to be one of the most important items in the reconstruction program, and I trust that you can use some of your wide influence to forward these measures which will mean so much for the future welfare of the State. If you could write to some of our Representatives in Congress urging their earnest efforts in behalf of these measures, it would, I am sure, do good. I should be very glad to come down and talk this matter over with you any time.

Very sincerely yours,

J. S. Holmes
State Forester
North Carolina Geological & Economic Survey

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