594 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



on the white pine lands. The foresters were especially 

 interested in these cut-over lands for two reasons, first, 

 here were made some of the earliest cuttings on an exten- 

 sive scale where the lumbermen were required to leave 

 seed trees as natural replanters of the forest, and sec- 

 ondly, it has recently been charged by certain opponents 

 of the forest, who are seeking to have it abolished 

 through political pressure and otherwise, that the gov- 

 ernment's efforts and methods to bring about natural re- 

 generation has failed. It has also been charged that the 

 artificial planting done by the Government has been a 

 failure. Such representations have been made to mem- 

 bers of Congress. After seeing conditions on the ground, 

 there appeared to be no 

 doubt in the minds of 

 the visiting foresters as to 

 the falseness of these 

 charges. The accompany- 

 ing photographs are typ- 

 ical of what the Forest 

 Service is accomplishing 

 in the way of keeping these 

 sandy lands growing for- 

 ests. 



It was not until the com- 

 pletion of their trip, how- 

 ever, and after they had 

 gained some idea of the 

 extent of cut-over and de- 

 vastated forest land in 

 northern Minnesota, that 

 the foresters grasped in its 

 full significance the value 

 of the Minnesota National 

 Forest to the state and the 

 entire Mississippi valley. 

 With millions of acres of 

 as good and usually much 

 better agricultural land ad- 

 jacent to the forest going 

 begging, the claim that the 

 land is needed for agricul- 

 ture appeals to the fair 

 mind as both specious 

 and preposterous in the 

 face of the overwhelming 

 and ever increasing accu- 

 mulation of cut-over and 

 unimproved land and the 

 rapid and serious shrink- 

 age of forest and recreational areas in Minnesota. The 

 opinion of the state foresters was expressed in a special 

 resolution, which is printed in full in the editorial section 

 of this issue of American Forestry. 



The night of the second day was spent at Lake Winni 

 begoshish and on the third day the party moved north- 

 ward by autos and a "special" logging train provided by 

 the International Lumber Company, arriving at Interna- 

 tional Falls in the evening. An opportunity was thus 



THE WONDERLAND TRAIL, MINNESOTA NATIONAL FOREST, 

 WINDS IN AND OUT AMONG THE GIANT NORWAY PINES IN 

 WflAT IS FINE FOREST LAND. 



afforded to pass through the muskeg country of spruce 

 and tamarack, much of which likewise bore the pock- 

 marks of a cut-over and burned-over waste. The strik- 

 ing observation of the day, however, was the fact that 

 where these great stretches of inhospitable land, after 

 being cut over, have escaped fire, a green carpet of 

 spruce, balsam and tamarack is well established. 



After a trip through the paper mills of the Ontario 

 and Minnesota Paper Company at International Falls, the 

 foresters left the following day, traveling by boat 

 through the beautiful Rainy Lakes. Arriving at Hard- 

 ing about five o'clock, automobiles transported them the 

 remaining eighty miles to Hibbing, where a midnight 



banquet, given under the 

 auspices of the Hibbing 

 Commercial Club, awaited 

 them. The next morning 

 a visit was made to the 

 greatest open pit mining 

 district in the world, which 

 only a few years ago was 

 a solid belt of pine timber, 

 much of which was bar- 

 tered away for fifty cents 

 and a dollar an acre. By 

 noon of the same day the 

 party was in Cloquet, eat- 

 ing dinner under the pines 

 of the state forest experi- 

 ment station. The after- 

 noon was devoted to ob- 

 serving the work of this 

 station and to visiting the 

 wood-conversion plants of 

 the town. That evenins^ 

 the meeting adjourned at 

 Duluth. 



Of the many definite im- 

 pressions left upon the 

 minds of the visiting for- 

 esters, probably the most 

 common was the small 

 amount of merchantable 

 timber and the large ex- 

 tent of cut-over and fire- 

 wrecked land in this north- 

 ern region of ten thousand 

 lakes. Given back its for- 

 ests, it will be a land of ten 

 thousand charms a pro- 

 ductive empire yielding lumber, pulp and paper, the labor 

 for many hands, recreation and an abundance of small 

 and large game. But without fire protection, the task of 

 regeneration must continue to grow more and more dis- 

 couraging. Speaking of the situation in Minnesota, Com- 

 missioner William A. L. Bazeley, of the Massachusetts 

 Department of Conservation, and retiring president of 

 the Association of State Foresters, said at the conclu- 

 sion of the trip: 



