The Present Condition of the Forests on the 

 Public Lands. 



BY EDWARD A. BOWERS, 



Secretary of the American Forestry Association, 

 (Formerly Inspector of the Public Land Service.) 



I shall try to outline what the legal and physical 

 condition of this great and necessary element of our 

 national wealth is at the present time, touching only 

 incidentally upon remedies, as you will hear another 

 upon that subject. 



The American Forestry Association must recognize 

 at the outset that little improvement need be expected 

 either in the legal protection or the physical condition 

 of the public forests until there is a radical change 

 in the theory held with respect to public forest lands 

 and a complete revision of existing laws relating to 

 them. On the contrary, we must expect, year by 

 year, to see these forests steadily destroyed and in- 

 jured to such an extent that their renewal and pre- 

 servation will become less possible, even with our 

 best efforts, and it may be that over large sections 

 no forest covering can be made to take the place of 

 that which is now being destroyed. 



I shall take as my text, therefore, this: The laws \ 

 provide neither an adequate method for the protection \ 

 of the public timber, nor for its disposition in those 

 regions where its proper use is imperative. 



