COMMENTS ON THE FORESTRY PROGRAM ^ 

 By E. C. Shepard 



Private Forestry, A Policy of Forestry for the Nation, National 

 Lumber and Forest Policy, and other similar titles are being given 

 front page space in forestry publications today. This movement, 

 which has been fostered during the past year to such a large extent 

 by the Forester for the United States Forest Service, is not a new idea 

 in this country. During the past years many foresters have called 

 attention to the need for a comprehensive policy of general forestry for 

 the nation. There appear to be a number of reasons why a nationwide 

 campaign to put such a policy into operation should logically be in- 

 augurated at the present time : 



First. The shortage of timber supply is beginning to be noticed in 

 certain quarters, particularly in the matter of newsprint stock, which, 

 while affecting only a small part of the lumber industry, vitally affects 

 the whole nation, and is something that catches the attention of the 

 public. 



Second. The unqualified demonstration during the war of the vital 

 uses of wood and wood products. This was coupled with an equally 

 convincing demonstration of our inability, even with our present re- 

 sources and facilities for production, to supply the demands of the 

 war in a satisfactory manner. 



Third. More or less public attention has been directed to the part 

 which France played in supplying timber for war needs, not alone for 

 her own armies but for those of the allies as well. Many of the for- 

 esters from the United States who were in France during the war 

 have returned with the conviction that we should inaugurate imme- 

 diately a policy that would put us in a position to supply the future 

 needs in a manner comparable to that by which France has shown the 

 wisdom of her National Forest policy. 



Fourth. The war demonstrated as nothing else has done in the 

 previous history of our country the tremendous possibilities of organ- 

 ized effort along any line v/hen once the public is sufficiently aroused 

 to the need of action. The opportunity thus presented to take advan- 



1 Paper read at a meeting of the Intermountain Section of the Society of 

 American Foresters, at Ogden, Utah, January 23, 1920. 



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