Published January 1961 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
.From the office of UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. Volume I--Number 1 BYRD'S EYE VIEW A Public Service Column By SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD LITTLE NOTED KENNEDY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION OF VITAL SIGNIFICANCE TO WEST VIRGINIA A little noted recommendation by President-elect John F. Kennedy's Depressed Areas Task Force can have substantial economic significance to West Virginians. In fact, insofar as our State is concerned, it could be like a pebble dropped in a pool of water--the expanding ripples spreading wholesomely over the entire nation. This proposal was for an immediate supplemental appropriation to the Forest Service of $50 million. The money would be spent in distressed areas on improving timber stands, reforestation, construction of forest trails and roads, small watershed improvements, soil erosion control, and the construction of recreation facilities in National Forests. Our State is blessed by a variety of natural resources, all of them in great abundance. But second only to our vast coal reserves are our forest reserves. Two-thirds of West Virginia, or roughly 10 million acres, is covered with stands of timber. However, much of this timber is in species not commercially desirable, or of a quality which defies manufacture, or of a volume per acre which cannot economically support its removal. This is evidenced by the fact that lumber production in our State in 1959 slipped to 351 million board feet--about 86 million board feet less than was produced in 1954. Also, our lumber products and furniture production in 1959 totaled only $67 million--up a mere $15 million from 1954. Under the Task Force recommendation, our timber stands, even those privately held, would be cleared of undesirable types of trees and reforested with the kinds needed commercially. Too, present stands of good timber would be aided through much needed conservation work. The full significance of what such reforestation and conservation would mean to West Virginia can best be understood by the following facts: By the year 2000 the Western forests will have been depleted, according to government experts. The dependence for usable lumber, therefore, will have to fall on Eastern forests, which currently comprise three-quarters of our nation's forest land and forest production capability. In time, we have only a few years to ready our timber stands for this tremendous opportunity to become a major supplier of lumber and wood products. It takes from 20 to 40 years for the needed trees to grow to commercially useable sizes. That is why we must press vigorously for the enactment of this little known proposal. An immediate benefit of this proposal would be the useful jobs afforded many unemployed workers--the kinds of jobs which, though temporary in nature, would create lasting, long-term job opportunities. Two-thirds of every dollar of the proposed $50 million appropriation would go for salaries for locally hired people. --30--