OUR FOREST RESERVATIONS. 



125 



The value of this vast inheritance, which is placed in our 

 keeping for future generations, will depend upon how well we manage 

 it. By this is not meant how well we protect the mature trees from 

 the woodman's axe, but how well we protect the tender seedlings, that 

 are to form the future forest, from being destroyed from outside 

 influences. 



Timber is grown but to be utilized, hence it is the duty of those 

 having the reservations in charge to see that it is utilized at the proper 

 time wherever accessible and of sufficient value to pay for the cutting. 



■^v. 



^V^ 



Forests of same Region as shown tn previous Illustration where ttninjueed by 

 Fire. Olympic Reservation, Washington. 



It is far more important, however, at the present time, to preserve and 

 improve every factor that leads toward the perpetuation of the forest 

 and in keeping it at its best in reproduction and growth. 



It is worth while to consider briefly the indirect value of the forest 

 reservations from the standpoint of water conservation. Although 

 this is a factor to be taken into account in considering the value to the 

 nation of each of the reservations, nowhere is it more apparent than in 

 Arizona and Southern California, where the scarcity of water and its 

 utilization for purposes of irrigation give it enormous value. It is to 



