THE LUMBERMAN'S PLAN FOR FOREST RESERVES. 73 
THE LUMBERMAN’S PLAN FOR FOREST RESERVES. 
M. 0. NELSON, MINNEAPOLIS. 
In the language of the political economist, the lumberman’s plan 
of forest preservation is the policy of laissez faire, or translated 
into English “as she is spoke,” it is the policy of “let her go.” The 
lumberman’s plan for forest reserves, in the language of the books, 
is nil; in the language of the street it is “nit”; in plain English,— 
there is no plan. 
The topic of this paper then is a myth, so far as I have been able 
to discovér. No such plan has been evolved among the lumbermen. 
No two lumbermen, so far as I can find out, wholly agree as to me- 
thods of forest preservation, and but few have stopped in their pro- 
fession of forest destruction long enough to think consecutively and 
to a conclusion on the subject of forest preservation. I do not 
mean that the lumbermen of Minnesota and the neighboring states 
are all thoughtless vandals, wasting the natural resources of the 
state without care as tohow the future must pay for the excess of 
today. There is practical serious thought among many lumber- _ 
men as to the best that can be done under existing circumstances 
The lumberman in working out a conclusion usually counts on ex- 
isting circumstances. This makes him an exceedingly practical 
man—sometimes too conservative in matters of reform. 
Though no plan for forest reserves has been generally thought 
out, thinking has been done about the matter, and this thought, so 
far as I have been able to get at it, forms the subject of this paper. 
One conclusion the lumbermen of the white pine region seem to 
have all independently reached, the white pine forests can not be 
saved for future generations; from ten to twenty years will end 
them. Their reasons for this conclusion seem practical. They say 
the most of this timber is in private hands. Against the timber 
owner are pitted three covetous elements that fight to get the pine: 
those elements are fire, the thief and the tax gatherer. All three 
covet pine above all other woods,as the burglar covets silver spoons 
above all other household goods. 
The arch enemy of pine is fire. The Minnesota Forestry Associ- 
ation knows this far better than I can.tell them, and their plans for 
defeating that enemy are better than I can give them. I will say 
that the lumbermen of this state are in hearty accord with those 
plans for preventing fires. As to the danger from fire and the me- 
thod of escaping its destruction, I will briefly sum up what the 
lumbermen have told me. 
(1) The danger from fire increases every year. There are now no 
large blocks of virgin pinein this state. Look at the maps of private 
timber holdings; they look like jumbled up checker boards. Be- 
tween every quarter section or forty, some settler or other stranger 
owns a quarter section ora forty. Every year the settlers increase 
and the danger from fire increases. The settler must burn off his land 
and must burn when the brushis dry. You know the rest. 
