404 FOREST DESTRUCTION. 



South Dakota to New Mexico and from Colorado to California, the 

 Western yellow pine. These trees replace themselves. The loss from 

 their destruction is to be measured in the fertility of the soil, in its 

 water-storing power, and in amount of production measured liy time. 



That a manufacturing plant should remain idle is instantly- recog- 

 nized as a loss to any conmmnit}'. The forest is a manufacturing 

 plant for the production of wood. That a forest soil should remain 

 idle from the production of trees, or should produce but a part of the 

 wood it is capable of making, is as clearl}'^ detrimental as for a factory 

 to be shut down or to be occupied but half the working days. 



About one-third of the total stand of forests in the State of Wash- 

 ington when white men came there, has, since their arrival, been 

 destroyed by fire. A very large part of this area is still producing 

 but a fraction of the wood which it is capable of growing. The situa- 

 tion of such a forest may be likened to that of a machine shop, fitted 

 to produce shafts, cog wheels, and other mechanical devices, the owner 

 of which, when he wanted a shaft or a wheel, should remove one from 

 the machiner}^ of the shop instead of using the shop to produce what 

 he wanted. Forestry assumes and asserts that forests may be used for 

 the production of wood without endangering or reducing their pro- 

 ductive capacity. That this is so, and that forest destruction is a use- 

 less waste, is being rapidly understood throughout the United States. 

 When it is not only understood, l)ut generally acted upon, as is now 

 being done by some of the most progressive among the lumbermen 

 and other forest owners, the situation in forestr}^ will be secure. 



-DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST MEANS DESTRUCTION OF THE 

 FAUNA AND FLORA. 



By C. Hart Merriam. 



The destruction of a forest is inevitably followed by a profound 

 modification — amounting often to annihilation — of the forest fauna 

 and flora. It goes without saying that when the trees are gone the 

 birds that live in the trees, as nuthatches, creepers, woodpeckers, war- 

 blers, vireos, jays, chickadees, and the like, and tree-loving mammals, 

 as the arboreal squirrels, opossums, raccoons, martens, and others, can 

 no longer exist. 



But a forest fauna is by no means restricted to the species that live 

 in trees. In most forests the ground is covered and protected by 

 bushes and small plants, which for successful growth and reproduction 

 require both shade and moisture, and which in turn furnish food and 

 shelter to many kinds of animals. AVhen the forest is destroyed, par- 

 ticularly in regions of scanty rainfall, the undershrubs and other forms 



