242 FORESTS AND MANKIND 



forests again and become a nation of timber growers. We have 

 simply to frankly acknowledge that we have passed out of the 

 era when lumber came as a free gift of nature and must enter 

 now into an era when timber is to be produced by the hus- 

 bandry of man. 



But how? 



That is the task that lies ahead. It is not difficult to state 

 in broad terms the general principles to be followed. First of 

 all we must seek for a continuous and sufficient supply of wood 

 for our needs. On only one-fifth of our forest land is this 

 practically assured. One-fifth of our timber is already in public 

 ownership and the timber there has every prospect of being 

 handled as a continuous, renewable crop. It is about the re- 

 maining four-fifths of our timber land, the portion in the 

 hands of private owners, that our problem centers. We must 

 see that this, too, is treated no longer as a mine to be ex- 

 ploited and abandoned but as a source of perpetual crops. For- 

 estry will not be economically feasible, as a business venture, 

 on all of this, at least not yet. There are localities where tree 

 growth is slow, where the species are of little value, or where 

 the products are inaccessible to markets. In such places the 

 only answer seems to be for the State or Government to buy 

 these lands and bring them into public ownership. This is 

 far from meaning that these forest lands will be financial 

 burdens to the public. For, although they may have no present 

 prospect of returning dollar for dollar from timber growth 

 alone, they will serve other public ends such as game refuges, 

 or as protection forests for our streams, or soil stabilizers and 

 recreation sites. Without doubt there are additional areas that 

 the States will want in public ownership. Some States have al- 



