NATION'S NEED OF FORESTRY WORK 



A Report Made by Mrs, J, E, MacKisson, Chairman of the Forestry Committee 

 of the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs 



IN THE United States the science of 

 forestry is a comparatively recent 

 study. The reason, possibly, for the 

 nation's late awakening- to the neces- 

 sity of forest preservation was the fact 

 that in the early days of its history the 

 wooded area was so vast that its tim- 

 ber resources seemed inexhaustible. 



When our forefathers established 

 their first settlements in America, it was 

 one vast wilderness. With the excep- 

 tion of the prairie region in the West, 

 the primeval forest extended from 

 ocean to ocean. The pioneer, to make a 

 little clearing for his farm, and to pro- 

 vide fuel and timber for his every-day 

 needs, wielded his ax with relentless 

 hand. Trees were felled by the whole- 

 sale and burned on the ground where 

 they lay. The woodman's ax became 

 the symbol of progress. Since, to pro- 

 vide for his necessities, trees must be 

 felled, forest destruction seemed in the 

 line of national development. 



Later, when timber began to have a 

 commercial value, a still greater de- 

 structive agency came in the person of 

 the lumberman, who, reckless and indif- 

 ferent, cut without thought of the fu- 

 ture's needs. Seeking personal gain, he 

 had no regard for the nation's welfare 

 or the rights of posterity. Extrava- 

 gance and waste marked his progress 

 through the forests of the East and 

 North, until finally, as a nation, we be- 

 gan to realize that our forest area was 

 being rapidly depleted, and that our an- 

 nual consumption of forest products far 

 exceeded the supply furnished by the 

 forest's annual growth. 



Out of this realization grew that im- 

 portant branch of the government work, 

 the Forest Service, with a definite for- 

 est policy, through which it seeks to 



perpetually maintain that most valuable 

 of the nation'i natural resources, the 

 forest. 



What has been true of the Nation in 

 regard to its forests is still the pervad- 

 ing order of things in Missouri, though 

 its awakening to the necessity for for- 

 est preservation is still a thing of the 

 future. With a forest growth extensive 

 and valuable in the extreme, the need 

 of forest protection has not been gener- 

 ally realized, as yet. With us, the ax 

 is still the symbol of progress. The 

 average farmer and homesteader feels 

 that every acre of land should be 

 cleared as speedily as possible, not real- 

 izing that certain sections of his farm 

 could be devoted more profitably to tim- 

 ber than to corn. The lumbermau, 

 thinking only of present personal gain, 

 is making such inroads upon the great 

 forest section south of the Missouri, 

 that, in ten years, our timber supply will 

 be practically exhausted unless meas- 

 ures are soon taken for its protection. 



Possibly we do not realize the value 

 of Missouri's forest yield. The value of 

 the state's forest products for the year 

 ending December 31, 1906, was $24,- 

 679,476. For the same period, the value 

 of the farm crops (wheat, oats, corn, 

 etc.), was but $23,378,194, and of the 

 fruit crop but $6,335,764 — both of less 

 value than the forest yield. Yet we 

 speak with pride of our agricultural 

 products and of the big red apple for 

 which our Ozark region is justly fa- 

 mous, and rarely, if ever, refer to the 

 forest, which yearly adds millions to the 

 wealth of our state, and, if wisely used, 

 would continue to add millions through 

 all time to come. 



To awaken an interest in tliis im- 

 portant subject, to educate public senti- 



