Comnicni. 363 



The intensive management of the National Forests involves one 

 of the largest forest planting projects ever undertaken in this or 

 any other country, and at the same time it is one of the most 

 difficult ones, owing to the fire danger and to the unfavorable soil 

 and climatic conditions in many parts of the West. For several 

 years planting was looked upon as one of the least important 

 functions of the Forest Service, and, of course, during the for- 

 mative period of the National Forest organization, other things 

 were more urgent. Secretary Wilson, however, has always been 

 an ardent advocate of reforestation, particularly by means of 

 broadcast sowing, and the amount of work undertaken by the Ser- 

 vice in both direct seeding and the planting of seedlings is being 

 greatly increased each year. It is understood that definite plans 

 have been made for some years ahead, and that eventually the 

 annual reforestation program will involve a total area of 200,000 

 acres. While this work is commendable from nearly every stand- 

 point the question naturally arises whether the practical difficulties 

 incident to drought, fires, and poor soil will not lead to failure in 

 many cases unless the way is paved by extensive experimental 

 work. The failure of many of the earlier planting projects can be 

 clearly traced to lack of definite knowledge as to what could be 

 successfully accomplished under the varying conditions on the 

 National Forests, and the reduction in size and the abandonment 

 of several of the earlier nurseries shows the necessity for a well- 

 grounded plan before going ahead on a large scale. For some 

 time after the transfer of the reserves to the Department of Agri- 

 culture the people of the West were more or less antagonistic, and 

 since water is one of their most important assets, its conservation 

 by the reforestation of watersheds was undertaken at several 

 points. Particular attention was given to the reestablishment of 

 the forest cover on city watersheds, in the National Forests, and 

 as it has later developed, this work was started in some cases 

 where success was practically out of the question, owing to the 

 unfavorable local conditions prevailing. A notable example is 

 that of the work in the semi-arid mountains of southern Cali- 

 fornia, where a combination of drought, chaparral, and damage 

 by rodents made extensive reforestation a physical impossibility. 

 While much of this work was started experimentally, it soon went 

 far beyond this point, and the ultimate failure of several of the 

 projects was all the more apparent because of their size. These 



