66 Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 



The cost of living and consequently the standard of living to which 

 city people of ordinary incomes can aspire is seriously affected by the 

 state of the wood* supply. 



In view of such considerations no San Franciscan should read with 

 listless eyes such statements as those contained in a recent bulletin of the 

 National Forest Service. 



We learn by this document, for example, that an average American 

 citizen uses up in a year seven times as much wood as a citizen of Ger- 

 many. And we are told that Americans produce on an acre of woodland 

 only a quarter as much as the Germans do. 



We are assured by our Government experts that there is no natural 

 reason why we shouldn't grow as good crops of trees in this country as 

 are grown anywhere in Europe. And it is plain that the improvement 

 and perpetuation of the wood supply is a matter of public education 

 in which city people are bound to bear a leading part. 



NATIONAL FORESTS AND NATIONAL PARKS. 



The forest policy of the U. S. Government is of interest to every citizen. 

 Henry S. Graves, the present forester, has this to say in his report for 

 1913. 



The fundamental aim in administering the National Forests is to 

 develop their resources for the permanent upbuilding of the country. 

 The whole object of their administration would be defeated by closing 

 the forests to development and maintaining them as a wilderness. The 

 aim of administration is essentially different from that of a national 

 park, in which economic use of material resources comes second to the 

 preservation of natural conditions on esthetic grounds. When National 

 Forest land occurs which is chiefly valuable for agriculture, its free 

 homesteading not only aids local development and advances the general 

 public welfare, but also directly helps in the administration and develop- 

 ment of the forests themselves. The upbuilding of agriculture in the 

 forests where agricultural land occurs is on a par with the building up 

 of industries through the use of timber, forage, and other resources of 

 the forests. The National Forests can not be developed properly with- 

 out people. The usefulness of the forests is in direct ratio to the number 

 of people who use their resources. The presence of developed farms 

 within the forests aids in fire protection. Every cleared strip is a fire 

 line; every ranch is a vantage point for fire fighting; every rancher 

 may be made a forest protector. It is, therefore, the aim to further the 

 agricultural development of all land which may be better used for 

 growing field crops than for growing trees. Further, it is the aim and 

 duty of every forest officer to aid settlers in the forests in the develop- 



