MINNESOTA'S GREATEST OPPORTUNITY IN FORESTRY. 265 



MINNESOTA'S GREATEST OPPORTUNITY IN FOR- 

 ESTRY. 



H. H. CHAPMAN, GRAND RAPIDS. 



Great opportunities come but seldom in the life- of individuals 

 or of communities. Much as has been said of forestry of late, few 

 realize that Minnesota is just now trifling with an opportunity which 

 eastern states have lost, and which if wasted will not recur. This 

 opportunity, for our own state, lies in the handling of the Chippewa 

 Indian reservations about Leech and Cass lakes. The proposition 

 to embrace these regions in a so-called national park, and the vio- 

 lent opposition to the plan as originally understood, has resulted so 

 far only in indirect good. Through the interest which has thus been 

 aroused, many people have come to a better understanding of the 

 meaning of the word "forestry." Some have even realized that, 

 should the principles of forestry, about which most of us have still 

 such shadowy conceptions, be applied to the management of those 

 forests, most of the timber would in course of time come under the 

 axe of the despised lumberman. 



But if forestry is not the preservation of forests, we ask, what 

 is it? True forestry is true forest preservation by use and renewal. 

 The forestry that seeks only to protect the trees and thereby con- 

 demn them to decay and prevents proper reproduction, is not fores- 

 try but senseless waste. Lumbering, at some stage, is the first req- 

 uisite of forestry, without which it cannot exist. But forestry is 

 more than lumbering. To the lumberman a forest is a mass of mate- 

 rial, to be moved as cheaply as possible. To the forester it is a com- 

 munity of living trees, capable of reproducing themselves and per- 

 petuating the forest forever, — and to this end he shapes his plans. 

 That the lumberman's standpoint is one of dollars and cents is not 

 remarkable. What other business is there which is not conducted 

 from this standpoint ? And the frequency and ease with which the 

 balance comes out on the wrong side of the ledger in logging should 

 be better understood by critics of the reckless methods so often con- 

 demned. These same critics forget that the industries dependent on 

 the forest employ more men than any other industry except agri- 

 culture. And they are usually unaware of the fact that forestry 

 means the application of the same principles of business economy 

 in the handling of the lumber, and differs chiefly in planning for the 

 future forest and not for the present profit alone. And it is safe 

 to say that no park movement which would sacrifice to pleasure 

 material of vast economic importance to the community could suc- 

 ceed, as it would be a direct violation of the law of greatest good 

 to the greatest number. 



