238 JOURNAL OF Forestry 



follows that foresters should see to it that those lands of chief value 

 for the production of trees are so managed as to keep on i)roducing 

 trees after they are logged, that we may always have sufficient wood 

 and that the influences of forests — as. for example, that upon the flow 

 of water — may continue to be effective. In this the foresters of the 

 United States have failed to achieve substantial results. We have failed 

 because we have rested wnth undue satisfaction over past accomplish- 

 ments instead of keeping clearly in mind what we have not yet accom- 

 plished and leading the way toward those ends which must be achieved 

 if forestry in this country is to be a living thing; becatise we have been 

 timorotisly blind to the fact that lumbermen, who own most of our 

 forests, are complacently destroying the life of these forests as logging 

 proceeds ; and because as foresters we have not placed before the public 

 a definite plan aimed at the stoppage of this waste. 



For many years, now, the minds of both foresters and the public 

 have been at peace, under the illusion that, as some one hundred and 

 sixty million acres of forest and brush lands have come into ])u1jlic 

 ownership, our forestry problems are solved. This has indeed been a 

 fine achievement, but only a? a start toward the decent management 

 of forests. About 98 per cent of our public forest lands are included 

 in the National Forests of the West, New England, and the Si>uthern 

 States and are owned and administered by the United States. On these 

 lands forestry is practiced ; the ripe timber is sold when chances ofi:'er, 

 the cuttings are so managed that the lands are kei)t productive, and 

 systematic protection against fire is in efifect. The National Forests are 

 efficiently managed. The timber so owned, bow-ever, is largely inac- 

 cessible and of relatively poor quality, for it represents the thin milk 

 left after a skimming of the cream by the lumbermen. The National 

 Forests are of value for the grazing of cattle, sheep, and horses ; for 

 the conservation of water ; and. perhaps, their chief tangible value, even 

 now, is for purposes of recreation. The remaining 2 per cent of ]mb 

 licly owned forests are held by the various States and munici])alities. 

 These are almost entirely recreation groimds, and, viewed as a whole, 

 must be considered as parks rather than as forests, where forestry 

 is practiced. In spite of the fact that many of them are in the hands 

 of able foresters, most State Forests are lamentably mismanaged be- 

 cause of the fickleness of State administrations. 



Consider, then, one hundred and sixty million acres of publicl}' owned 

 forest lands, all of undoubted real value to the iniblic, where forestry 

 is practiced as occasion allow^s. What does this mean in regard to keep- 

 ing forest lands productive? It means little or nothing. It means that 

 the publicly owned forests, wdiich in general are decently managed and 



