Oregon Conservation Commission

“ In view of the existing conditions in respect to public resources, the methods which are gradually being adopted in conserving and disposing of them, the trend of legislation and public opinion generally upon the subject, it is apparent that cooperation between State and Nation is absolutely essential if we are ever to reach the full measure of our development or secure the best results in the disposition, care and use of our public resources. ”

“ What other countries have found necessary we also will find to our benefit. To disregard the experience of other states and countries is foolish in the extreme. To fail of action until our resources are largely dissipated would be short-sightedness, for which, in the light of experience right at home, there would appear to be no justification.
As in the case of many other great movements the Federal Government, through the work of the Forest Service, the Reclamation Service, the Geological Survey, and other branches, has shown the way to a practical working out of our problems. ”

“ History elsewhere has shown that it is good policy for the State to own a large proportion of its land which, while capable of growing forest, does not promise a truly prosperous condition of settlement If all such land is in private ownership, too * small a proportion is made to produce wealth to its fullest capacity, or, through enhancing in taxable value, to contribute its due share to the cost of government. ”

“ Oregon's forests still constitute, next to land itself, her greatest natural resource. Though ravaged for centuries by destructive fires and insect pests, and though some four million acres, nearly one-sixth of the present forested area of the State, has been denuded through lack of protection, there still remains a wealth of timber far surpassing that of any other State in the Union. ”

“ It is axiomatic, proved by the course of every country where forestry is successfully practiced, that, in order to perpetuate forest production to be used and taxed, such production must not be penalized by confiscatory taxation. The course followed in all such countries, and recommended in this by every student of forest economics, is the most moderate taxation of forest land itself that is consistent with justice, with compensating taxation of the crop only when it produces revenue with which to pay. ”

“ The water supply is of far greater importance to the people than any other of their natural resources, for upon it depends every function of life; its development is primarily the foundation of all industrial and commercial wealth, and therefore our progress as a nation will be measured directly by the economic use we make of our water resources. ”

“ In Oregon, as elsewhere, the realization that injury to forest resources and forest industry is a community injury, and that failure to insure against it means loss to every citizen, has been of gradual growth. Oregon's possession of more forest wealth than any other State tended for a time to produce indifference, instead of a logically greater concern because it had more at stake, and in establishing the existing protective system less than two years ago it was the last of the Pacific forest states to give the subject serious attention. ”

“ It is not the desire of this Commission to recommend that any land which can be successfully tilled be kept in forest. A considerable area at present covered with timber will some day furnish farms for a growing population. But probably at least 80 per cent of the timbered part of the State can never be successfully used for agriculture. To find a use to which this vast area can be put and return revenue to the owners and taxes to the State is in itself an enormous problem. So far as can be seen its greatest use must be to again bear a forest crop. ”

“ We declare our firm conviction that this conservation of our natural resources is a subject of transcendent importance, which should engage unremittingly the attention of the Nation, the States, and the people in earnest co-operation. ”

“ But agricultural communities cannot grow unless the development of land and water resources are encouraged. The highest type of agricultural development is found in irrigated sections. Here intensified farming make agricultural pursuits so profitable that three to ten acres of land can be made to support a single family in comfort, and it is this almost unlimited subdivision of land into small units that forms the basis of our national prosperity. ”

“ The employees of timber owners cannot effectively enforce the law; nor will the private owner, unless necessity demands, patrol the foothill and brush covered lands where so many tires start which during bad seasons destroy thousands of dollars worth of property belonging to settlers. Over and above all this is the duty of the State to encourage and promote the protection of a resource in which every citizen has a stake. ”

“ There is perhaps no state in the west more deficient in reliable information as to the physical features of its natural resources than Oregon. The development of irrigation Institutions, of water powers, the construction of good roads, studies of municipal water supplies, the development of inland waterways and of interstate and interurban railways depends more upon a proper classification and inventory of the several resources of the State than upon any other single factor. ”

“ Conservation means a bringing into every-day service in the interests of the common people the best light of science and the most effective methods of engineering skill, The land, the rivers, the soil, the forests, and the mines arc viewed as the people's resources to he conserved so as to yield the largest utility, This means that the people must rise to the occasion of doing the highest things for themselves and their posterity through the use of the latest results of science and of engineering skill. ”

“ We want our water powers developed; we want them used—not monopolized; we wish to see industries of all kinds spring up in our midst; we want to see our agricultural lands developed, our arid lands watered and our State populated with industrious people, and we want them satisfied with their surroundings. ”

“ In Eastern Oregon the work can often be done as low as $10 to $25 per acre.
When land so cleared has a sale value as fruit land at high price the cost is not prohibitive, but for the raising of ordinary crops the cost price plus clearing price often makes the investment seem a doubtful one. Again the purchaser of a piece of logged off land, even though he can tigure out a profit from farming the property after going to the expense of clearing the land, is not in a position to clear for want of funds. ”

“ The fact that transportation is a necessity would be conceded. That this great public agency must be controlled in the interest of the public is fundamental.
The development of the railway and the attendant expansion and growth of commerce attracted the public attention and centered effort on that agency to the neglect of the waterways. But the reaction has set in and the people now realize that the railway can never adequately meet the needs of commerce and that water transportation, where practicable, is a natural regulator of rates. ”

“ Oregon has received her fair share of the congressional appropriations for this work but the State is so large and the resources go manifold that the work accomplished to date makes a very small showing indeed.
The resources in which we are chiefly concerned are those of lands, water, forests, and minerals. Of these perhaps the resources of land and water are the most vital. The development of water powers, of forests, and of minerals and the attendant growth of manufacturing and other industries of the State depend for their success upon a continually increasing agricultural population. ”

“ The Legislature administrative agencies, teachers, in the common schools, and instructors and investigators in the higher institutions will have a larger and more inspiring field of labor. They will feel themselves co-workers in state-building, This intelligent and active co-operation within the State will not be confined to public institutions and public servants alone, Chambers of commerce, boards of trade, commercial clubs and development leagues would be brought into more clearly recognized co-operation. ”

“ Oregon is still far below the place she should occupy among timber states in forest protection and management. Other states with not one-fiftieth part of our resources are each year expending from two to ten times more money than we are in safeguarding their forests. Viewed from a strict business standpoint, Oregon could well afford to expend in protection five times the present appropriation for this purpose. During the one year of 1910 forest fires took from the State property which had it been saved would at some time have brought in over $23,000,000 of outside money. ”

“ Viewed from any standpoint Oregon's forests are worthy of every protection with which they can be surrounded, and in affording this protection the Government, State and private owners must work harmoniously together. ”

“ State action will hasten results, secure them on lands otherwise likely to remain waste, and is peculiarly profitable as a public enterprise both because the State has the competitive advantage of freedom from taxation and because it has not the freedom of private enterprise in profiting by highly remunerative business projects which involve corresponding risk. Old countries have proved that forest growing affords the State a large, safe and permanent revenue which, of course, reduces taxation upon all citizens. ”

“ It is assumed that the applicant for State aid will in each case own the property in question outright, that he will not possess over 160 acres of land or have in his name property other that the land which would put him in a position to secure aid from sources other than the State. The aim should be to help the truly deserving home seeker in substantially the same way he would be helped by the Reclamation Service. It is felt that the end fully justifies the means. ”

“ When the wood, coal, oil and other exhaustible sources of energy are depleted, and we have to turn to that only perpetual source of energy—water power—what will be our chagrin and surprise to find all the favored sites owned, controlled with an incontestable right by the same parties! ”

“ It has been the aim of the Commission to make its recommendations in the light of experience elsewhere, and with a view to practical common sense development which will build up the State and cause every dollar appropriated with this end in view to return tenfold in prosperity.
The development of natural resources and the securing of adequate laws to safeguard their use is not, however, a matter which can be speedily accomplished. Each step as a rule has to be heralded by a campaign of education. ”

“ The movement to regulate the use of natural resources in order that all classes may receive their just share of benefit through the exploitation of these resources, has now reached a practical working stage. This is shown by the creation of numerous state conservation commissions, nearly all of whom are working out the problems confronting them by securing adequate state legislation, with funds for administering the laws enacted as well as co-operating closely with the Federal Government in matter which can best and most economically be so handled. ”

“ Eminent Domain.—The United States, the State, or any person, foreign or domestic corporation or association, may exercise the right of eminent domain to acquire for a public use any property or rights now or hereafter existing when found necessary for the application of water to beneficial uses, including the right to enlarge existing structures and use the same in common with the former owner. Any right of way so acquired shall be so located as to do the least damage to private or public property, consistent with proper and economical engineering construction. ”

“ It is becoming generally known throughout the east that the most oroductive and highest-priced lands are in those portions of the west where irrigation is practiced. Irrigation bonds are in great demand, and irrigation projects are being eagerly sought after. To hold in the face of existing facts that rrigation is not necessary in the Willamette Valley, is to drive away capital and retard settlement, rather than to encourage it. ”

“ The permanence of a great industry depends upon steps being speedily taken to insure a future crop of timber. The state is in a better position to take up this work than any individual. The state is free from burdensome taxation, and not requiring immediate returns on its investment, could at comparatively small cost secure property which at no far distant time would yield substantial returns. ”

“ While the present appropriation of?30,000 a year may serve in unusually favorable seasons, such as that of 1912, when eked out with funds contributed by the federal government under the Weeks Law, it is manifestly a pitifully small insurance of the tremendous community values in life and resources that are hazarded by every bad year. It has been adequately shown that the State Board will exercise care in the expenditure of funds intrusted to it. Fire protection, the most important matter for immediate consideration, is a matter for which the expenditure cannot be accurately foretold each year. ”

“ With the opening to railroad transportation of an empire in Central Oregon larger than the State of Ohio, great activity is expected in the settlement of public lands flow vacant. With prospective railroad transportation and the enactment of what is known as the enlarged homestead act, a flew interest will doubtless be awakened in dry-farming, and rapid development of the State result. ”

“ The conservation movement thus means a getting together into the best working co-operation for cumulative results of the States best thought, the institutions and agencies of development of the State. ”

“ In the State of Washington, the Southwest Washington Development Association has established a settler's agency, through which owners of logged off land can dispose of their property, under terms favorable to the settler. The movement was started primarily to secure for the State a larger agricultural population and put to useful purpose land which under ordinary circumstances would lie for a long period in a state of non-productiveness. ”

“ Good reservoir sites are rapidly becoming an important factor in the development of our water resources, now that the summer flow on most streams is over-appropriated, and the laws make possible the protection of stored water in transit along natural stream channels to the place of use. ”

“ The truth is that there are three agencies of transportation, each of which has a fundamentally different function to perform in the commerce of the world, all of which are as essential as are the three sides of a triangle, and none of which can reach its highest possible efficiency unless accompanied by a symmetrical development of the other two. ”