AMERICAN FORESTRY GUIDES DEPARTMENT 



By SOLAN L. PARKES. CHIEF EXECUTIVE. AMERICAN FORESTRY GUIDES 



From all aver th* country come endorsements of the organization of the American Forestry Guides, and pledges of 

 support are being received from practically every person who has been asked to become an officer or to lend their aid to 

 the movement. This month we publish an article by Prof. Filibert Roth, of the University of Michigan, one of the leading 

 foresters of the country, and also comments by other prominent men on the organization. 



WHY THE FORESTRY GUIDES 



By Filibert Roth 



D AD nianagement has brought down the timberline here 

 *^ in the Alps by many miles," said the rugged old 

 forester of Switzerland. 



Modem civilization has followed this process in the< 

 htunan family, but instead of doing harm, is doing good. 

 The "Service line" has been lowered on the mountain 

 of age; the boys and girls are sharing in the work of 

 our people; the child's toys are laid aside for the imple- 

 ments of men and women ; the young folks get fun out 

 of doing men's work and women's work ; they take pride 

 in the doing ; they show a superior sense of responsibility ; 

 and they actually do gain, and not lose in loveliness by 

 this change. 



The intelligent, responsible boy, and girl, rendered more 

 courageous . and enterprising by belonging to a good 

 Voltintary Service Organization such as the American 

 Forestry Guides, is more interesting and enjoyable to his 

 mates and to his parents, than is the dwadling youth with- 

 out ideas, plans or ambitions. 



The modern world moves on large lines, calls for he!]) 

 from many forces not formerly used, or even understood 

 or appreciated. 



The forest is off by itself ; it was far more remote in 

 the past; the average man did not visit it and certainly 

 did not understand it, let alone love it and the man of 

 fifty years ago does not understand it now . 



Modern education tells of Nature and the fruits of this 

 education are beginning to appear; the young people 

 stream to the woods, they learn of the tree and shrub, of 

 the habitants of the forest from squirrel and hawk 

 to fish and insect, they learn to love the woods, they learn 

 to appreciate them as camping place and play ground, 

 they enjoy their endless beauty, the endless source of fun. 

 Ab a consequence they resent the devastation of our 

 forests by the greedy and ignorant, the denudation of 

 lands which are left as unused wastes, and especially re- 

 sent vandalisiri and the useless destruction of forests by 

 fire. 



The older generation, the men of half a century ago, 

 did not and do not now appreciate the forest, to them 

 it is an ency.mbrance, they wish to see the country "de- 

 veloped", the land cleared. 



That this should have a proper limit did not seem to 

 occur to them. 



The warnings of Sargent in 1880 fell upon deaf ears, 

 the greedy and interested ones were not slow to turn the 

 old beliefs to their account in 1908 when Roosevelt and 



Pinchot called the Nation's attention to our forest needs, 

 the most powerful man in Congress was "glad that they 

 had no forests in his good state." But this old belief 

 and conviction has done great harm to our country and 

 now promises to do still more. 



No wonder that Solan L. Parkes, the good citizen of 

 Reading, Pennsylvania turned away from the old, and 

 calls upon the youth, the boys and girls of this great Na- 

 tion, knowing them to be open minded and lovers of the 

 forest; he calls to them to rescue what is left of their 

 proper and most wonderful heritage, and to set them- 

 selves to the enormous task of rebuilding our forests 

 throughout the length and breadth of the land. 



He has tried them out in his own community. He has 

 found them ready, able and willing, hundreds of acres 

 have been planted to trees. 



The grownups who would not come to forestry meet- 

 ings, were glad to help their young people. 



In 1916, 770 high school girls were transported to one 

 of the watersheds of Reading, Pennsylvania in fifteen 

 special trolley cars, a temporary hospital was provided; 

 every other precaution was taken for their care and com- 

 fort. Attention was attracted to forestry needs by this 

 effort, farmers and owners of waste lands followed the 

 example set by the youth of Reading, until millions of 

 trees have been planted, for the Spring of 1922 ; a cam- 

 paign has been launched to plant an additional million. 

 The forest planted in the Spring of 1916 was a marvelous 

 success ; it is growing with most of the trees taller than 

 the planters, some now measuring nine feet in height. 



The same held true with the forest fire loss, the older 

 ones, the grownups seemed unable to stop forest fires. 

 Mr. Parkes began to organize Volunteer Forest Fire Pa- 

 trols as early as 1913. In 1914 the acreage burned over 

 in Berks County amounted to 15,000 and in placing the 

 loss at only $3.00 the acre the County lost $45,000 in this 

 one year. Organization was so perfected that instead of 

 only organizing to fight forest fires, Mr. Parkes laid 

 greater stress on Forest Fire Prevention and this was so 

 successful that in the Fall of 1921 less than three acres 

 were burned over and practically no loss was occasioned. 



Mr. Parkes is convinced, the girls and boys of Reading 

 and Berks County Pennsylvania did without prating 

 and printing, what dozens of associations of grown peo- 

 ple did not do, what better proof could any one wish? 

 And literally millions of young people today are waiting 



