MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



ment of private timber lands. The first effect 

 of the transfer was a rapid improvement in the 

 efficiency and character of the reserve force. 

 Good men were retained and poor ones elim- 

 inated. Salaries were raised and standards of 

 work improved. The supervisors, the men 

 upon whom the business of administration fell 

 most heavily, were chosen from the ranks 

 strong western men with broad knowledge and 

 ability. Technical men were assigned as as- 

 sistants, and when those men showed the 

 necessary ability to handle men and business, 

 as well as technical matters, they were made 

 supervisors. Rangers were employed the year 

 around and stiff examination in practical 

 u. "dmanship required for service. 



Those who we mid succeed in obtaining and 

 holding a position with the forest service on 

 its western reserves must be men above the 

 average of ability and devotion. The forest 

 service is becoming the pride of the West. 



Many things have been learned from the 

 greatest of all teachers, experience, and much 

 remains to be learned. 



How does it come, for instance, that cattle 

 and, worse still, sheep are allowed to graze on 

 nearly every western reserve? Back in 1897, 

 we find in that same report which recommend- 

 ed the use of reserves, the statement that 

 sheep grazing was rapidly destroying the for- 

 ests in many sections, and referred to sheep as 

 hoofed locusts, pursuing their devastating way 

 through the forests of the West. It was the. 

 fight in Oregon over grazing that taught the 

 reserve administration its first valuable lesson 

 that generalities won't do when applied to 

 an empire the size of the West. Not only did 

 scientific investigation show that' sheep graz- 

 ing did but little har.ni in some sections, but it 

 was discovered that it might even be beneficial 

 to the forest. Overgrazing, and not grazing 

 itself, was the trouble. Limited grazing, by 

 keeping down grass and stirring the soil, 

 favors the reproduction of pine. So the sys- 

 tetn of grazing under permit spread till it is 

 one of the crowning features of the national 

 forests. It is absolutely under control and by 

 the results, whether good or bad, to the forest 

 and soil, the grazing is regulated. Where irri- 

 gation interests demand the first consideration, 

 grazing is restrained and the old fights be- 

 tween cattle and sheep men have disappeared 

 on the reserves. 



Agricultural Land Eliminated. 



Agricultural lands have never been pur- 

 posely included in national forests, and have 

 been eliminated as fast as possible. At first, 

 the taking up of small claims within the for- 

 ests was discouraged, but with the develop- 

 ment of the ranger force settlers were no 

 longer feared they became indispensible aids 

 in fighting fires and were encouraged by graz- 

 ing privileges. 



Recent legislation allows the segregation of 

 any land within such forests, if shown to be 

 agricultural and desired for settlement. For- 

 tunately for the reserves, the agricultural char- 

 acter of these lands can be determind, not by 

 fertility, but by topography and by water sup- 

 plies, and they are not called upon to deter- 

 mine the best use of sandy soils. In a region 

 of average rainfall there is no land so poor but 

 that some eager and deluded homcseekers will 

 wisli to settle on it. 



I tut the most vital question in the reserves 

 is the timber. This timber is for use it will 

 be cut but if the same methods are pursued 

 on the reserve.- as have characterized the oper- 

 ations of lumbermen through the pine regions 

 east and \\e-t. tire protection alone will not 

 bring back the timber, and our forests will be 

 forests only in name. 



Extensive limber cutting did not take place 

 mi the national forests until after their trans- 

 fer to the Department of Agricuture, which 

 placed them in control of men pledged to 



guard the future, as well as the present forest. 

 The Forest Service was not without practical 

 experience. Hack in 1903, Minnesota had al- 

 lowed the creation of the Cass Lake reserve, 

 and this was the first executive work which 

 the Forest Reserve performed. The success of 

 that work proved their ability to accomplish 

 things deemed impossible by lumbermen. 

 i Brush and tops were piled and burned at less 

 than 25 cents per 1,000 feet cut. Seed trees 

 were left and are still standing with slight loss 

 \ from wind, where, it was thought, the loss 

 i would be total. The prestige and experience 

 thus gained were carried west in , 1905. 

 Throughout the National forests there is no 

 logging which is not being conducted in com- 

 pliance with the terms of carefully drawn con- 

 tracts in which such provisions have, been 

 made for the replacement of the present by a 

 future crop, as seem fully efficient to accom- 

 plish it. 



More Experience Is Needed. 



But more experience is needed. The actual 

 results of cutting methods will show whether 

 reproduction is being secured. Planting on a 

 large scale is impossible, because of the ex- 

 pense, but is done to some extent on water 

 sheds. 



Again, it is important to know how much 

 timber should be cut. Is it enough to secure 

 a second crop, or should the National forests 

 be held against the coming timber famine? 

 Where local timber is needed now, there is no 

 choice but to cut it. but where the timber is 

 desired by lumbermen to enable them to hold 

 their own timber for better prices, the forest 

 service discourages the sale of stumpage. 



Very little is known yet about the rate at 

 which the timber is growing in these forests. 

 Wherever possible, no more timber should be 

 cut than the amount grown each year. 



What is the relation of the national govern- 

 ment to forestry in the east? States, such 

 as Michigan, where the Government owns no 

 land, are far better fitted to manage their own 

 problems than to depend upon Washington. 

 What is done must be done by state effort, 

 with state support and state funds. But there 

 is one region which demands national action. 

 The Southern Appalachians control many of 

 the headwaters of streams of importance to" 

 more than a single state, and they contain the 

 last home of the eastern hardwood forests. 

 The industries dependent upon these hard- 

 woods must be protected. These forests, if 

 managed properly, may be cut without being 

 destroyed, and the supply of hardwoods thus 

 continued. The Southern States in which this 

 region lies will never take the united action 

 necessary to secure this region for timber pro- 

 duction. 



These lands must be acquired by purchase, 

 hence each year's delay will mean great addi- 

 tional expense from the rising value of wood- 

 lands. Such lands cannot be farmed when 

 cleared they are washed away, filling up 

 streams. Floods take the place of even flow 

 of water, ruining water powers and -drowning 

 out crops. Delay and ever delay has marked 

 the progress of this movement to secure the 

 Appalachians for :, national forest. Are we to 

 wait till the opportunity is gone and then try 

 to mend the broken forest? Now is the time 

 for action. We need the help of Michigan, of 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, for nothing but a 

 universal demand will overcome the inertia 

 of Congress. 



The growing of timber on a large scale is 

 our greatest national need today, and with the 

 best efforts of nation, states and individuals, 

 we will lag so far behind our needs that our 

 pic-cnt policy, no matter how aggressive, will 

 seem in twenty years to have been incredibly 

 shnrt-sighied and inadequate. \Ve sincerely 

 hope that Michigan may take first rank among 

 the states which are facing this problem hon- 



estly and doing the work laid out for them on 

 a scale commensurate with the needs of the 

 future. 



FORESTRY IN MICHIGAN. 



Prof. Beal, With Aid of Stereopticon, Shows 

 What Can Be Accomplished. 



President Bissell then introduced Dr. W. J. 

 Heal, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 stating that he would read a paper on "What 

 Forestry Can Do for Michigan in the Immedi- 

 ate Future," in: 



(a) Saving the remnant of original stands. 



(b) Protecting and utilizing the second 

 growth. 



With the aid of the stereopticon, Dr. Beal 

 gave an interesting talk and illustrated to the 

 audience many phases of life in connection 

 with the prospecting for and lumbering of tim- 

 ber from Michigan lands which has resulted 

 in the almost complete extermination of the 

 forests of the State. He said: As a gentle 

 reminder let us refresh our memories by glan- 

 cing at a few views which show some of the 

 agents which have helped to reduce the for- 

 ests of our State. The men with designs on 

 timber were in their offices and are not here 

 shown, but we show a foreman .nicely robed, 

 in his cutter, going to the camps with orders. 

 Note the giant cork pine in the midst of a 

 dense growth of other trees; a pine grove of 

 Norway, with a dozen men ready with saws 

 and axes; men cutting timber; teams rolling 

 Ings; laborers taking dinner in the woods; logs 

 going to mill by team and by river; great 

 loads of posts and logs; one load of pine logs 

 60 feet long, scaling 30,066 feet, board meas- 

 ure, drawn a mile by one team of grade 

 Clydesdales, owned by Pack, Woods '& Co. 

 Here views of stumps, brush and charred logs, 

 and poor trees left as food for fire; and here 

 eager crews getting logs off the banks into the 

 river. Here are great banks of "large logs, 

 some of them 60 feet long; now men working 

 to start a jam of logs down the river. Here 

 men assorting logs by getting them into the 

 right ways to different mills; here loading 

 logs and telegraph poles onto cars, where the 

 engine hurries them to the mill yard. Here 

 a mill where 60 men convert logs into lumber 

 and sawdust, and here a thread-like road wind- 

 ing along the hillside with nothing in sight but 

 remnants of logs and charred stubs. See in 

 the next mass of logs, down and standing, 

 where the lumberman has taken all he wanted, 

 a fearful waste soon to be burned again and 

 again when the dry weather comes, leaving no 

 pines alive and no living tree above the ground, 

 where the few small shimps may send up 

 sprouts, the fire permitting. 



A Very Few Cases. 



"The above scenes and hundreds more are 

 familiar and are yet well understood by most 

 of you. There have been a few oases scat- 

 tered over the stump lands, but their number 

 is insignificant and decreasing because no one 

 considered them of any value and gave them 

 no attention. I refer to second growth of tim- 

 ber, the result of seeding where a few neigh- 

 boring mother-trees were left long enough to 

 perform the good work. A few and far remote 

 nice groves ten to fifteen years old arc shown, 

 some of these consisting of thirty or forty 

 acres. One of them, a half-mile out of Gray- 

 ling, received no attention and has been de- 

 -i roved by tire, as no one looked after it. In 

 my opinion, such isolated patches of pine will 

 never amount to much unless they are pa- 

 trolled and steadily cared for in times of dry 

 weather, when there is danger from fire. No 

 one will find this care profitable unless there is 

 a considerable area of this land that may 

 make it profitable; and even with care, there 

 is considerable danger. The nearest approach 

 to excellent care for such spots that I can 

 suggest is to see that the land is burned at 

 least once a year just as soon as it is 'dry 



