ACTIVITIES OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 

 FORESTERS ^ 



By F. E. Olmsted 

 President Society of American Foresters 



Some twenty years ago, when the Society of American Foresters 

 had its beginning, its membership included not more than a dozen 

 names. By the end of the present year we shall have about five hun- 

 dred members engaged in professional work in all parts of the country, 

 and, if a liberal policy is adopted in admitting new members, the 

 organization should grow much more rapidly from now on. I de- 

 cidedly favor a liberal policy in this respect, believing that the more 

 democratic we become the greater will be our strength and influence. 



Here is a professional group of men capable of doing much for the 

 advancement of forestry. In the past, as I see the matter, the Society 

 of American Foresters has largely failed to take advantage of its op- 

 portunities for expressing its opinions on questions of vital impor- 

 tance in forestry and for leading public sentiment along favorable chan- 

 nels. We have accomplished much, of course, through open discussion 

 of technical problems ; but we have for the most part refrained from 

 taking part in the every-day problems which confront the profession of 

 forestry from one end of the country to the other. By this I do not 

 mean to infer that the Society should turn itself into a machine of a 

 political or propagandist nature. Far from it. I do mean, however, 

 that the Society should take a lively interest in all of the common 

 problems relating to the standing and progress of our profession, and I 

 feel strongly that in case we fail to do so we should not only miss many 

 an opportunity for real accomplishment, but also fail in our plain duty 

 to the public. I should like to see the Society concern itself very di- 

 rectly, although from a strictly professional standpoint, with all for- 

 estry problems of municipal. State, or nation-wide importance. We 

 should become an active as well as a deliberative organization. 



With this object in view an attempt is now^ being made to put life 

 into our work. The biggest task before us is that of applying forestry 

 to privately owned timber lands. The Society of American Foresters 



' Paper read at the meeting of the Northeastern Foresters' Association, Mt. 

 Kineo, July, IQIQ. 



66.3 



