FOREST SERVICE. 343 



COORDINATION OF GRAZING STUDIES WORK. 



The correlation of all grazing studies work in the western range 

 States has been strongly emphasized. Plans for cooperative in- 

 vestigations by the Forest Service and a number of State agricul- 

 tural experiment stations have been worked out. A cooperative 

 study of the spring, fall, and winter sheep ranges jointly by the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry and the Forest Service has been started 

 at the United States sheep experiment station of the former bureau at 

 Dubois, Idaho. The Forest Service has assisted in the range exten- 

 sion program which the Department of Agriculture is developing in 

 cooperation with the Western States Extension Service. This pro- 

 gram should develop closer coordination of the extension work with 

 that of the Forest Service in the study and application of improved 

 range management. 



INFORMATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 



The forest problem of the United States is in an important sense a 

 problem of public education. The private owners, especially the 

 great number of small owners, should know what prospect of profit 

 timber growing holds out, how to market salable material to the best 

 advantage, how to cut so as to secure regrowth of the right kind, and 

 how to restore run-down forest and idle land to good productive 

 condition. The introduction of new practices in land use must over- 

 come a tremendous inertia due to unfamiliarity and hesitation to 

 embark on a course not fully charted by custom and experience. 

 Wood-using industries and consumers alike need to be educated in the 

 most economical and advantageous use of wood. The general public 

 needs thorough education in the prevention of forest fires of a kind 

 that will change ingrained habits — no light or simple task. The 

 public should also have an intelligent grasp of the reasons why forest 

 conservation is necessary from the standpoint of local and national 

 welfare, how it is practiced, and what part the public should take 

 in promoting it. The educational task in forestry is of an im- 

 portance fully equal to any that is presented by the whole great 

 l^roblem. 



The Forest Service is endeavoring to carry the responsibilities rest- 

 ing upon it in this field to the extent that available resources permit. 

 As public interest in forestry grows the openings multiply. There 

 is particular need for more vigorous and better organized effort in 

 cooperation with local agencies of various kinds to aid State forestry 

 movements and for extension work to bring forestry into much 

 wider practice through demonstration methods that can be observed 

 and copied locally. 



Among the means employed may be specified publicity through the 

 departmental press service, readable popular publications, talks and 

 illustrated lectures, the circulation of sets of lantern slides and lec- 

 ture outlines and of a few small traveling exhibits, chiefly for use by 

 teachers, the making of exhibits and educational motion pictures 

 under general departmental plans, and the building up of collections 

 •of high-grade illustrative material — photographs, lantern slides, etc. 

 At the Forest Products Laboratory much attention is given to ex- 

 tension work in the industrial uses of wood through short educational 



78007— AGR 1923 23 



