FORESTRY AND THE PAPER INDUSTRY 



211 



able to purchase at low val- 

 uations. New York has ex- 

 tensive state holdings ; Wis- 

 consin and Michigan both 

 have small areas ; Minnesota 

 recently has passed a con- 

 stitutional amendment 

 which will permit the crea- 

 tion of permanent state re- 

 serves. All these efforts, in 

 the aggregate, fall far short 

 of the need. Particularly in 

 the Lake States, in whose 

 early economic development 

 forest resources probably 

 had the largest part, there is 

 a general lack of an intel- 

 ligent public conception of 

 this problem and of ade- 

 quate measures toward its 

 solution. 



The right kind of land 

 ownership is fundamental 

 in working out the problem 

 of a sustained supply of 

 lumber, paper and other 

 essential forest products. 

 There must be a stable 

 interest which insures per- 

 manent forest production. 

 This may be supplied by 

 general economic develop- 

 ment. Otherwise, it must 

 be supplied by the far- 

 sighted point of view of 

 the community, either 

 through direct public own- 

 ership or a suffi- 

 cient measure of 

 public control to 

 secure the results 

 necessary. 



An immediate 

 necessity in the ac- 

 complishmentof 

 this object is to 

 build up the forest 

 departments of the 

 various states to 

 get behind fire pro- 

 tection, to push re- 

 forestation of state 

 lands, to demand 

 acquisition of per- 

 manent forest re- 

 serves, and to sup- 

 port expert investi- 

 gative work in for- 

 estry. Expert clas- 

 sification of receded 



ALASKAN SPRUCE FOREST 



At Fish Bay on the Tongass National Forest, Alaska, is the pure spruce stand 

 shown in this photograph. It could well be used for pulpwood. 



TYPE OF ALASKAN FOREST 



A log boom at Whitewater Bay, Admiralty, Alaska. It is this kind of forest which can furnish quantities 



of pulpwood in the future. 



tax lands should have an 

 important place in this de- 

 velopment. Cut-over lands 

 not suited to agriculture or 

 which have a low or ques- 

 tionable value for tillage 

 should be kept by the states 

 and added to their forest 

 reserves so that an aggres- 

 sive public policy of refor- 

 estation may be pursued. 

 This is one line of attack 

 upon the vital and general 

 problem of how to put all 

 classes of land to their most 

 productive use. 



Another thing that must 

 be brought about is full 

 recognition of the public 

 interest in all forest lands. 

 It is not enough that the 

 state should look after its 

 own holdings; it must ex- 

 tend its authority to the 

 management of private 

 holdings as far as may be 

 necessary to meet public 

 needs. We must recognize, 

 in other words, that forest 

 lands have, in a measure, 

 the nature of public utilities. 

 A first step in such regu- 

 lation is compulsory fire 

 protection, the starting 

 point of forestry. Not only, 

 however, should each land- 

 owner be required to do his 

 share in preventing 

 or suppressing for- 

 est fires, but the 

 public itself should 

 cooperate by fur- 

 nishing the neces- 

 sary machinery for 

 correlating and di- 

 recting this work as 

 a whole. The State 

 of Oregon has taken 

 an advanced step 

 in this direction, 

 through a law mak- 

 ing the protection 

 of timbered lands 

 obligatory upon 

 their owners and 

 authorizing the 

 State Forester to 

 protect lands whose 

 owners fail to dis- 

 charge this duty. 



