THE TASK AHEAD 243 



ready adopted definite policies of acquiring forest land. Penn- 

 sylvania has three million acres and plans on ultimately plac- 

 ing twenty per cent of her forest land in public ownership. 

 New York State possesses two million acres and has raised five 

 million dollars for future purchases. 



Increasing our public forests State and National is one 

 step in solving our forest problem. But ownership means assum- 

 ing responsibilities for proper management. It means the appro- 

 priation of funds that these public forests shall supply wood 

 perpetually and shall be perpetual demonstration areas of the 

 highest scientific practices. In the case of federal forests it 

 means that the Forest Service must be given more funds for 

 research and for the intelligent application of the fruits of re- 

 search than it has ever possessed in the past. 



Beyond this many foresters believe that the public has a right 

 to demand that all timber land, even when privately owned, 

 should be left after cutting, not as a brush-covered, fire-inviting 

 waste, but in such condition that one can reasonably expect it 

 will restock itself to trees. These foresters feel that the public 

 has a right to require this on private forests just as it has a 

 right to require sanitary and fire-preventive precautions in 

 private industrial plants of any other character. But the public 

 also has a very definite responsibility in first doing every rea- 

 sonable thing to make such demands practical, economic possi- 

 bilities. It has a responsibility in helping provide protection 

 against forest fires. 



Fire protection is an immediate necessity. This is especially 

 true of the timber land already cut over. Our present acreage 

 of second growth and young timber is more than twice that 

 of our remaining virgin timber and this area we must protect 



