FOREST SCHOOL NOTES 



675 



COLORADO SCHOOL OF FORESTRY 



ALTHOUGH forestry in this 

 country is comparatively a new 

 science, the progress that has 

 been made is wonderful. The foresters 

 were in the beginning chiefly young 

 men who had been trained according to 

 the principles in vogue in Europe, and 

 the conditions are so different in this 

 country that these principles had to be 

 considerably modified to meet our own 

 needs. Practically all the first work 

 was necessarily of an experimental na- 

 ture. Of course, mistakes were made, 

 yet under the conditions it is gratifying 

 that there were not more. 



In a country of nearly 4,000,000 

 square miles, with climatic conditions 

 varying from those of the tropics to 

 those of the arctics with regions of 

 abundant rainfall and others of prac- 

 tically no rainfall, with bare rocky 

 mountains, broad fertile valleys, and 

 extensive plains, and with forests richer 

 in species than those of any other coun- 



try of similar latitudes, it is indeed a 

 problem to work out the varying needs 

 of the forests and the relation of these 

 forests to the country. Hampered by 

 public opinion, restricted by insufficient 

 appropriations, and, above all, with a 

 decided lack of trained men to carry 

 on the work, the progress that has been 

 made in forestry in this country is cer- 

 tainly beyond all expectations. But 

 under the guidance of competent lead- 

 ers, who were untiring workers and 

 men of remarkably keen foresight, the 

 fundamental principles which should 

 guide the work have been derived with 

 exceptional rapidity. 



The people have been taught the 

 necessity of preserving the forest, and 

 public opinion no longer stands in the 

 way of progress. We have learned this 

 lesson well. We have also learned 

 much about the care of the forest yet 

 this lesson is far from done. In the 

 matters of adequate appropriations and 





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Students Making Growth Studies 



