PIONEERS AND PRINCIPLES 



^ Samuel T. Dana 



Dr. GriflBth has covered the subject so admirably that I can do little 

 except to add a few supplementary facts and thoughts. 



He is to be congratulated on his wisdom in avoiding any definition 

 of "conservation" — either his own, or someone else's. I shall follow 

 his example. I should like, however, to indicate what I conceive to 

 be the objective of conservation both as a philosophy and a program 

 of action: namely, to bring about the widespread adoption of poUcies 

 and practices that will promote the public interest in all matters relat- 

 ing to the management and utilization of natural resources. 



Unfortunately, no two people completely agree on what constitutes 

 the "public interest," no matter how meticulously it is defined. One 

 seldom has any difficulty in convincing himself that any policy or 



SAMUEL T. DANA, Dean Emeritus of the School of Natural Re- 

 sources, University of Michigan, has been associated with that University since 

 1927, as Professor of Forestry, first Dean of the School of Forestry and Con- 

 servation, and first Dean of the School of Natural Resources. From 1907 to 

 1921 he was with the United States Forest Service, as forest assistant and 

 assistant chief of silvics and forest research. He was Forest Commissioner of 

 Maine from 1921 to 1923, and from 1923 to 1927 he was director of the 

 Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. He has been president of the Society 

 of American Foresters, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forestry, and a direc- 

 tor of The American Forestry Association and has frequently been a consultant 

 to the federal government on national and international matters. Dean Dana 

 was born in Portland, Maine, in 1883. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College 

 and the Yale University School of Forestry. 



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