THE PlyANT WORI.D 265 



WHAT FORESTRY CAN DO FOR THE REDWOODS. 



What is to be done for the Redwoods of the Pacific Coast is a ques- 

 tion that has not only agitated California but is of sentimental concern to 

 the whole nation. The Bureau of Forestry, attacking'the problem in a 

 thoroughly practical spirit, has worked out conclusions that should appeal 

 as reasonable at once to the lumbermen who cut Redwood on account of 

 its commercial value, and to those who wish this ancient and marvelous 

 type of tree growth preserved. 



The results of this study are given in " The Redwood," Bulletin 38 

 of this Bureau, by R. T. Fisher, recently issued by the Department. 



The Redwood forests are, in point of merchantable yield, probably 

 the densest on earth, many stands yielding 150,000 board feet to the 

 acre ; and Redwood logging represents the highest development of the 

 lumbering business that has ever been attained on the Pacific Coast. The 

 total supply of Redwood is estimated to be 75 billion feet. The amount 

 cut in 1900 was 360 million feet, with a value of $3,645,608. Although 

 only one-tenth of the forests of the United States is owned by lumber- 

 men, according to the last census, one-fifth of the Redwood is in their 

 hands, and the stands they own are the handsomest and most valuable in 

 the Redwood belt. 



The popular idea that the Redwood has no chance of survival is not 

 well founded. The studies of the Bureau of Forestry have proved that 

 possibilities of a new growth of Redwood after the old trees have been 

 removed are excellent. Given half a chance, the Redwood reproduces 

 itself by sprouts with astonishing vigor. Measurements taken by the 

 Bureau on cut-over land show that in thirty years, in a fair soil and a 

 dense stand, trees will be grown 16 inches in diameter, 80 feet high, 

 jaelding 2,000 feet board measure to the acre. 



With the knowledge that the Redwood as a type need not become 

 extinct, it is possible to consider the impending fate of the giant Red- 

 woods in the old forests with a more cheerful mind. Occasional parks 

 and recreation grounds, such as the Big Basin Redwood Park of the 

 Santa Cruz Mountains, may preserve small areas of virgin Redwood 

 lands ; but the richest, the densest, the most beautiful of the forests are 

 owned by lumbermen, and will inevitably be cut. The trees represent 

 invested capital ; they are merchantable and will yield a profit now, small 

 as it is. Besides, in the virgin stands most of them are past maturity, 

 and the growth put on is inconsiderable. Every consideration, then, 

 induces the Redwood lumberman, reasoning from his standpoint, to cut 

 his trees. 



Realizing that the fate of the old trees can not be stayed, the Bureau 

 of Forestry, instead of wasting itself in attempts to check the cutting, 

 confined itself to proving that it is worth while to the lumbermen to do 



