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 has 

 been made. These things will be presented 

 by Prof. Roth and others who are familiar 

 with the details. ' It is not my purpose in 

 these introductory remarks to discuss 

 remedies. 



All along the pathway of slow progress for 

 twenty-live years 1 have realized that puhiic 

 sentiment must first be an used t_; a recogni- 

 tion of the fact that trees en our Michigan 

 hilltops and hillsides, and at the sources of 

 our streams, are absolutely essential to the 

 preservation <>i the springs that insure a steadv 

 flow i f water to the fertile valleys throughout 

 the year. Springs from which I Used to drink 

 when a boy in Eaton county, the cold, clear 

 water bubbling up from one of nature's tcser- 

 s, the white sand constantly in motion, 

 are m,w as dry as a posthole on a sand cium: 

 in midsummer. 



If the woods at the sources of the streams 



are cut away the >pring> will erase to flow. 



The brooks will run full from melting snows 



and falling rains for a short time, and then 



dry up. In early summer, often the sources 



cf the water supply are exhausted, the brooks 



. to flow, the creeks and rivers are greatly 



reduced in volume, and the sluggish waters 



me stagnant and stinking sources of ma- 



' Result of Fire Protection Commenced in 1890 and 



agricultural possibilities are ruined, all be- 



1 ' Tees are Left 



,. o ... _. r ___ . 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 "the thronging millions of Europe might still 

 and sources of the streams have been denuded fi nc j roO m on the eastern continent, and the 

 of their forests, are familiar to all. Alas! that main current of emigration be turned towards 

 they arc mostly unheeded lessons. the rising instead of the setting sun." 



What have we been doing in this country? fhe late Dr. Felix Oswald, an extensive 



Little or nothing for the protection, but a traveler and keen observer, left this warning 



great deal for the destruction, of our forest - recO rd: "Afghanistan, Persia, Mesopotamia, 



voting bounties on every foot of lumber in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, and 



them to the fortunate owners of them as t he whole of northern Africa from Cairo to 



if more anxious to make millionaires of a few t he western extremity of Morocco countries 



than to make better homes for the millions wn ich were once blessed with abundance and 



of citizens wrenching from the word "pro- a gl cr i O us climate are now either absolute 



tection" its true meaning the promotion of sanc j was t es or abodes of perennial drouths, 



the general welfare. hunger and wretchedness; and wherever sta- 



\Yhy, our policy has been like paying a t istical records have been preserved, it is 



bi.unty to encourage people to eat up their p ruve d, beyond the possibility of a doubt, 



seed corn, leaving none to plant in the spring tnat their misfortune commenced with the 



contributing a bonus to hasten the disap- disappearance of arboreal vegetation." 



pearance of what ought to have been pre- Have w been nattering ourselves or have 

 -.erved. 



rally the destroyed forests are not re- 



Seed Felling Made in 1894. Five to Ten Pine Seed 

 on Each Acre. 



Courtesy of Conservation. 



we simply ignored the teachings of history, 

 . 8 



. ejecting that from like causes we can 



,ewed. the land becomes a waste or covered , jke % esults? Even in a dirnate like 



with poor scrubs, is often fire-swept a pro- hour ' the logs Q{ fud and , umher ig not the 

 against the destruction that has been ;, att endant upon clearing off too 



should have roportioll of the forests. The reason 



js ^ )bvio 1 us / Fore sts obstruct the winds, and 



wisely pursued. We never 

 couraged the extermination oi our forests. 

 Words of Warning. 



protect man, animal and plant. Wise farmers 



Intelligent men have foreseen and foretold have preserved or planted windbreaks. For- 



he consequences. President Arthur, in one of ests retard evaporation, absorb the rains, feed 



lis messages to congress, referred to the rapid . ^P strea'ms Th! fo'rests gone the floods 



lisappearance of our forests and stated an w hi c h follow damage the labors of man and 



ibvious truth when he said that "their total render the land less able to supply civilized 



xtinction cannot long be delayed unless bet- needs. Without adequate supplies for a high 



icthods shall be adopted for their prctec- ******* , of Hying civilization wanes. Un- 



obstructed winds blast vegetation, especially, 



in winter, making wheat and fruit growing 



Prof. Geike, the eminent Scotch geologist, mo re difficult when too much of the forests 



laid that "man, in most of his struggles with have been removed. 



|he world around him, has fought blindly This is the experience in Michigan. In the 



i gainst his own interest.-. Stripping southern counties there are not half woods 



rests from hill and mountain, he has gained enough, even if they were properly distributed, 



is immediate object in the possession of their to afford adequate protection to the cultivated 



bundant stores of timber, but he has laid acres, and to get the best agricultural results 



pen the slopes to be burned by drouth, or to the forest area ranging from eleven to lif- 



e swept bare by rain." teen per cent of the total area in different 



That prominent American of half a century counties. 



.go. George P. Marsh, in his work on "Man Even the prairie state of Minnesota has a 



ml Nature," tells us that if the countries larger percentage of its forests than has the 



,-hich men have ruined, by cutting off and once completely forested state of Michigan, 

 not restoring their forests, could be restored, We 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. 



No 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 



