FRENCH FORESTS IN THE WAR 



1115 



the whole interior of the region with the same tree. 

 During the war this region was the largest source of 

 lumber, not only for the French army, but for the British 

 and American armies as well. 



The French forests were, therefore, not simply nature's 

 gift, but the fruit of conscious effort, applied with pains- 

 taking care and industry through long years. 



Forestry to a Frenchman is the accepted way of hand- 

 ling forests. He cannot conceive of handling woodlands 



timber that was ready to be cut, and even to sacrifice 

 that which they would not normally have cut for ten 

 or fifteen years. But they were firm against annihilating 

 any forest, or cutting it in such a way that it could not 

 recover with reasonable care. They, therefore, main- 

 tained absolute control over the methods of cutting. On 

 the government owned forests, they were particularly 

 strict, marking every tree to be cut and prescribing in 

 detail the methods of brush disposal, etc. On private 



THE OFFICERS' ROW AT BELLEVUE CAMP, LANDES, FRANCE, THE FIRST CAMP OF THE AMERICAN FORESTERS AND 



LUMBERJACKS 



in any other way. In France everybody, even those 

 who are not foresters or lumbermen, understands what 

 forestry means. When you say you are a forester you 

 don't have to stop and explain as you do in America. 

 It is just as clear as if you said you were a lawyer or a 

 doctor. This universal understanding of the aims of 

 forestry is the most potent factor in the upbuilding of 

 the forest resources of any country. It is to the interest 

 of the lumberman to have a perpetual supply of timber 

 to cut ; it is to the interest of the wood using industries to 

 have a permanent source of raw material ; and it is to 

 the interest of the country as a whole to be independent 

 of outside sources of supply. 



No wonder, then, that the French valued their forests, 

 and were unwilling to have them needlessly destroyed. 

 They did not forget the years of toil they had spent in 

 creating them. They were willing to give up all the 



lands the owner marked or designated in the contract 

 those trees which he would sell. He also laid down the 

 manner of brush disposal and other operations. Ultimate 

 control was vested in a committee composed of represen- 

 tatives selected by the Minister of Agriculture, the Min- 

 ister of Munitions as well as all other interested members 

 of the cabinet, and representatives of the lumber in- 

 dustry. Under these conditions we had little choice as 

 to methods of cuttings. 



The operations were uniformly well carried out. The 

 stumps were cut so low you could hardly see them ; the 

 tops were chopped into cordwood, and the slash thor- 

 oughly cleaned up. The cutting areas of the Canadians 

 and Americans were generally better than those of the 

 French wood merchants themselves. This goes to show 

 that the lumberman can cut under forestry methods when 

 he has to. He can do it even when subjected to the 



