MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



tury has passed since the forestry agitation 

 commenced in Michigan. A new public senti- 

 ment had to be created. Politicians and legis- 

 lators never do anything to save a land from 

 wasting away, or to change bad habits and 

 practices, until driven thereto by an awakened 

 public sentiment. Something has been done 

 and is doing in Michigan. A beginning ha^ 

 been made. These things will be presented 

 by Prof. Roth and others wh . are familiar 

 with the details. ' It is net my purpose in 

 these introductory remark? to discuss 

 remedies. 



All along the pathway of slow progress for 

 twenty-five year.-. 1 have realized that pul-iic 

 sentiment must first be armscd t; a recogni- 

 tion of the fact that trees en our Michigan 

 ;>s and hillsides, and at the 'sources of 

 our streams, are absolute',; al to the 



rvaticn of the springs that insure a stea'h 

 flow cf water to the fertile valley;, throughout 

 the year. Spr which I used to drink 



when a boy in Katun cc.ur.ty, the cold, clear 

 water bubbling up from one of nature's ioir- 

 the white sand constantly in motion, 

 are new as dry as a pesthole on a sand ciun<; 

 in midsummer. 



If the woods at the - : the streams 



are cut away the spring* will cease to flow. 

 The brooks will run full from melting snows 

 and falling rains for a :!.< rt time, and then 

 dry up. In early summer, often the sources 

 cf the water supply are exhausted, the brooks 

 cease to flow, the creeks and rivers are greatly 

 reduced in volume, and the sluggish waters 

 become stagnant and stinking sources of ma- 

 laria. Drouths, poverty, squalor ensue; fine 

 agricultural possibilities are ruined; all be- 

 cause the soil and the streams are deprived of 

 forest protection. 



The other evil, already alluded to, is scarcely 

 less serious. The results of floods that devas- 

 tate the valleys, where the hills and mountains 

 and sources of the streams have been denuded 

 of their forests, are familiar to all. Alas! that 

 they are mostly unheeded lessons. 



What have we been doing in this country? 

 Little or nothing for the protection, but a 

 great deal for the destruction, of our forests 

 voting bounties en every foot of lumber in 

 them to the fortunate owners of them as 

 if more anxious to make millionaires of a few 

 than to make better homes for the millions 

 of citizens wrenching from the word "pro- 

 tection" its true meaning the promotion of 

 the general welfare. 



Why. our policy has been like paying a 

 bounty to encourage people to eat up their 

 seed corn, leaving none to plant in the spring 

 contributing a bonus to hasten the disap- 

 pearance of what ought to have been pre- 

 served. 



Generally the destroyed forests are not re- 

 newed. The land becomes a waste or covered 

 with poor scrubs, is often fire-swept a pro- 

 test against the destruction that has been 

 unwisely pursued. We never should have 

 encouraged the extermination of our fcri 

 Words of Warning. 



Intelligent men have foreseen and foretold 

 the consequences. President Arthur, in one of 

 his messages to congress, referred to the rapid 

 disappearance of our forests and stated an 

 obvious truth when he said that "their total 

 extinction cannot long be delayed unless bet- 

 ter methods shall be adopted for tht-ir pr<:tec- 

 tion and cultivation." 



Prof. Geike, the eminent Scotch geologist, 

 said that "man, in most of his struggles with 

 the world around him. has fought blindly 

 against his own interests. * * * Stripping 

 forests from hill and mountain, he has gained 

 his immediate object in the possession of their 

 abundant stores of timber, but he has laid 

 open the slopes to be burned by drouth, or to 

 be swept bare by rain." 



That prominent American of half a century 



ago. George P. Marsh, in his work on "Man 



and Nature," tells us that if the countries 



which men have ruined, by cutting off and 



not restoring their forests, could be restored, 





Result of Fire Protection Commenced in 1890 and 



Tees are Left 



Seed Felling Made in 1894. Five to Ten Pine Seed 

 on Each Acre. 



Courtesy of Conservation. 



"the thronging millions of Europe might still 

 find room on the eastern continent, and the 

 main current of emigration be turned towards 

 the rising instead of the setting sun." 



The late Dr. Felix Oswald, an extensive 

 traveler and keen observer, left this warning 

 record: "Afghanistan, Persia, Mesopotamia, 

 Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, and 

 the whole of northern Africa from Cairo to 

 the western extremity of Morocco countries 

 which were once blessed with abundance and 

 a glorious climate are now either absolute 

 sand wastes or abodes of perennial drouths, 

 hunger and wretchedness; and wherever sta- 

 tistical records have been preserved, it is 

 proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, 

 that their misfortune commenced with the 

 disappearance of arboreal vegetation." 



Have we been flattering ourselves or have 

 we simply ignored the teachings of history, 

 in expecting that from like causes we can 

 escape like results? Even in a climate like 

 hours, the loss of fuel and lumber is not the 

 greatest evil attendant upon clearing off too 

 large a proportion of the forests. The reason 

 is obvii. us. Forests obstruct the winds, and 

 protect man, animal and plant. Wise farmers 

 have preserved or planted windbreaks. For- 

 ests retard evaporation, absorb the rains, feed 

 the springs, and maintain greater constancy 

 in the streams. The forests gone, the floods 

 which follow damage the labors of man and 

 render the land less able to supply civilized 

 needs. Without adequate supplies for a high 

 standard of living civilization wanes. Un- 

 obstructed winds blast vegetation, especially 

 in winter, making wheat and fruit growing 

 more difficult when too much of the forests 

 have been removed. 



This is the experience in Michigan. In the 

 southern counties there are not half woods 

 enough, even if they were properly distributed, 

 to afford adequate protection to the cultivated 

 acres, and to get the best agricultural results 

 the forest area ranging from eleven to fif- 

 teen per cent of the total area in different 

 counties. 



Even the prairie state of Minnesota has a 

 larger percentage of its forests than has the 

 once completely forested state of Michigan. 

 \Ve have gone far beyond the safety line in 



the matter of tree destruction, and still the 

 vandal work is going on. We are treasuring 

 up wrath the wrath of the elements against 

 ourselves. 



If there was twice or three times the present 

 forest area in the southern counties of the 

 state, and the improved land was better fertil- 

 ized, watered and tilled, the aggregate of 

 products would be greatly increased, to the 

 much larger profit of labor, and the farm 

 lands would be worth one hundred dollars an 

 acre as surely as one minted dollar is worth 

 another that bears the mint mark of the gov- 

 ernment. Really the only protection the people 

 need is from themselves. 



The Welfare of the People. 



Xo owner of land should depend upon his 

 neighbor for woods to shelter his own wheat 

 fields. For every tree felled at least two 

 should be planted. We have no moral right 

 to make the land, which we did not create, 

 and which is the gift of God to man, for use 

 and not abuse, uninhabitable, or even partially 

 so, because we can pocket a few fleeting 

 dollars by cutting off the small remnant of 

 our once wonderful forests. Remove too 

 many of the trees and the capacity of the soil 

 to support a large population is seriously 

 impaired. 



Forestry is not an untried experiment. 

 Rightly conducted, it is a profitable business. 

 To Germany is due the credit of first estab- 

 lishing a system of forestry on a scientific 

 basis. France, also, has done a great deal to 

 advance knowledge of the best methods of 

 afforestation. Both countries have strict laws 

 relating to the conservation of existing forest 

 areas and the planting of trees on waste lands. 

 Today they are the most prosperous nations 

 of Europe. In Great Britain practically noth- 

 ing has been done in this regard, although 

 there are thousands of acres lying idle, or 

 are used only as game preserves to provide 

 outdoor sport and amusement for its heredi- 

 tary aristocracy. 



Michigan is the nominal owner of millions 

 of acres of lands forfeited to the state for 

 the non-payment of taxes. These abandoned 



