Letter to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House Transmitting a National Forests Development Program.

Dear Mr.___________:

I am pleased to transmit to the House of Representatives (the Senate) a report prepared by the Department of Agriculture setting forth "A Development Program for the National Forests."

This report is the response of the Department of Agriculture to the request I made in my messages to the Congress on natural resources and on American agriculture that forest development on public lands be accelerated. The developmental program recommended in the report modifies and supplements the 1959 National Forest Program submitted by the preceding Administration. The principal components of the new program are (1) substantially broadened and intensified recreation resource management, (2) acceleration of timber harvesting and management, (3) adjustment of the road and trail program to provide needed multiple-purpose roads and, (4) acquisition of needed tracts within national forests boundaries, especially those having recreational values.

As our nation's population increases and our industrialization grows, the obligation to preserve and to protect our nation's forests becomes greater. The forward-looking program outlined in this report holds great hope. Congressional interest in our national forests has always been high--an interest this Administration shares. I am confident that this program will be carefully reviewed by the appropriate Congressional committees and that significant progress can be made in this important field.

Sincerely,

JOHN F. KENNEDY

NOTE This is the text of identical letters addressed to the Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the Senate, and to the Honorable Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The 19-page report (Government Printing Office, 1961), prepared by the Forest Service, was released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.