Conservation of Natural Resources 793 



tain conservation measures. In order better to understand the problems 

 of conservation and the necessary remedial measures, the following re- 

 sources are considered briefly. 



Destruction and Conservation of Forests. — Unless forests are con- 

 served, they will soon be unable to supply us with the necessities of life. 

 In years past when a smaller population required less forest and the per 

 capita supply was much greater, the problem was not so important. In 

 addition to the extensive cutting of forests, they have been destroyed by 

 the following: (1) Fires caused by lightning, careless campers, hunters 

 and vacationists. Ninety per cent of the 200,000 forest fires in the United 

 States each year are caused by man and the loss totals millions of dollars. 



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Fig. 375. — One careless act can burn a forest. Forest fires like this may travel 

 at tremendous speeds and burn millions of small and large trees^ destroy much wild 

 life, and start soil erosion. About 200,000 foYest fires occur annually in the United 

 States, and most of them are started by careless smokers, hunters, campers, fisher- 

 men, trash burners, etc. "Let Each Person Help to Keep America Green" is a 

 good slogan for everybody. (American Forest Products Industries, Inc.) 



Forests may require over fifty years to be replaced and in the meantime 

 erosion of the soil may have started. Fires may kill trees or merely irt- 

 jure them, destroy plants, leaves and soil, deprive birds of nesting sites, 

 and deprive other animals of desirable protection; fires may injure trees 

 or their young seedlings so that they are subject to destructive bacterial 

 and fungal diseases. (2) Improper cutting of trees, which includes the 

 cutting of small, immature trees; the destruction or injury of young trees 



