NATIONAL FOREST POLICIES: A CRITICAL REVIEW 

 OF THE SEVERAL PLANS 



Bv Frederick E. Olmsted 



Soon after the war came to an end the need for a national forest 

 poHcy became self-evident. The difficulty of obtaining ample supplies 

 of wood materials during the war and the shortage and high cost of 

 wood and other forest products immediately afterwards, were factors 

 • which brought to view most strikingly the importance of keeping the 

 timberlands of the Nation well stocked. It was generally admitted 

 that our wood supplies were approaching a low ebb and that we were 

 not taking suitable measures to remedy the situation. Early in 1919 

 both the Society of American Foresters and the United States Forest 

 Service began to agitate the subject and now, in spite of many other 

 distracting problems, the public is beginning to realize that something 

 must be done to stop forest devastation wherever privately owned 

 timberlau'ls are lumbered, and to perpetuate forest growth wherever 

 lands are best suited to that purpose. 



In the days following the armistice there was hope that the Nation 

 would be led to undertake a systematic and comprehensive program 

 of reconstruction. This hope proved futile. The political, economic 

 and social affairs of the country were allowed to drift, except for such 

 unpublic guidance as the great nation-wide private interests aft'orded. 

 If the country had set about systematically to put its house in order, 

 in harmony with the changed conditions and on the broad basis of 

 public welfare, the solution of the forest problem would now be much 

 easier, for it would have profited from the impetus given by a con- 

 certed national movement in the direction of progress. As it is, forest- 

 ers find themselves fighting not only against the particular private forest 

 interests concerned, but also against a general wave of reaction 

 and indifference such as this country has seldom witnessed. That the 

 public, in spite of its lethargy toward economic problems, is awake to 

 the necessity for national action to perpetuate its forest resources, 

 serves only to emphasize the present critical situation. 



Several national forest programs have been put forward for consid- 

 eration and action. The most prominent are those of the United States 

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