70S 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 

 THE GRAVE PERIL OF THE NATIONAL PARKS 



/^NE of the most important questions before any 

 *-* Congress will come up for settlement at the next 

 session. It involves the continued existence of our 

 National Parks. 



It is an issue between a mere handful of farmers living 

 on the borders of Yellowstone National Park who want 

 it for irrigation, plus certain water power interests with 

 an eye to future possibilities, and a great many millions 

 of people scattered through all the states of the nation 

 who want these reservations to remain in the condition 

 of nature without which they cease to be National Parks. 



And yet it is in doubt. 



Why? Because the Congressmen who represent these 

 very many millions will not believe that they really care. 

 The irrigationists and water power interests are filling 

 the universe with demands ; therefore, this is the voice of 

 the Nation. The alleged many millions who want the 

 parks to stay as they are remain silent; therefore, they 

 do not exist. 



If this is not Congressional reasoning, the practical 

 result is the same. At the least session Congress pre- 

 sented the parks to the water power people and were 

 barely stopped by a few hastily gathered conservation 

 associations from including the irrigationists in the gift ! 



No wonder that associations of many kinds, scientific 

 societies, women's clubs, chambers of commerce, muse- 

 ums, universities, national organizations of all sorts, are 

 combining to tell Congress the plain truth when these 

 measures come up again at the next session. It is high time 

 that this Congress discovers what the real people want. 



The fact is that recent Congresses have not appeared 

 to know what our National Parks really are. They call 

 them "playgrounds." They are playgrounds. So are the 

 National Forests. So are Lincoln Park and Coney 

 Island. A distinguished Senator recently asked why 

 Yosemite National Park should get large appropriations 

 when Rock Creek Park, in the city of Washington, had 

 "more visitors last Sunday than Yosemite has in a whole 

 season !" 



Our National Parks are National Museums. They are 

 carefully chosen specimens of original America which 

 we are holding for our children's children as an exhibit 

 of the wilderness of the pioneer and the frontiersman. A 

 quarter century from now they will be the only examples 

 of original America in a country whose West will be as 

 fully developed as our East is today. They will be the 

 only examples of primitive wilderness within civilization, 

 and the world will come to see them. 



Also they are National Museums of the American for- 

 est as Nature takes care of her forest; of native lakes 

 and rivers and waterfalls untouched in pristine beauty ; 

 of wilds unblemished by the hand of commerce ; of 

 American wild animals in their native habitat, unhunted, 

 undisturbed, unafraid. 



We can hand nothing down to future generations more 

 wonderful and more valuable than these few, small, 

 widely separated National Museums of a phase of 

 America that is passing with amazing speed. 



Let us tell our Congressmen how we feel about our 

 National Parks. 



ITALY AND OUR LUMRER EXPORTS 



W/"ITH the close of the great war it was generally 

 anticipated in this country that there would be a 

 tremendous demand for American lumber to assist in 

 the reconstruction of Europe. These anticipations have 

 not been realized. In spite of its unquestioned need for 

 wood, Europe has so far failed to deluge this country 

 with orders, and the lumber export business has, con- 

 trary to expectations, remained comparatively dull. 



While this is a disappointment to the lumber indus- 

 try, there is no reason to anticipate serious conse- 

 quences from it. Lumber exports to Europe before 

 the war formed less than two-fifths of our total 

 exports, which in turn have absorbed less than 10 per 

 cent of the total lumber cut. We have, therefore, never 



depended very largely on our European timber trade, 

 and can doubtless do so still less with the steady decrease 

 in available supplies and increase in domestic require- 

 ments. Moreover, from the standpoint of forest con- 

 servation the failure of the anticipated demand from 

 Europe to materialize may prove to be a real benefit. 

 With the present annual depletion of our forests amount- 

 ing to more than four times the annual growth, there is 

 danger in increasing the drain upon them. This is par- 

 ticularly true so long as effective measures are not taken 

 to keep our entire forest area productive. If this were 

 done, however, we should be able not only to meet in- 

 definitely our needs, but probably to have a small sur- 

 plus available for export. 



FIRES, GRAZING AND SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE 



SO many conflicting opinions have been expressed as to 

 the effect of fires and grazing on southern yellow 

 pine, and particularly longleaf pine, that it is a welcome 

 relief to secure results based on careful investigation 

 and not on guesswork. Such results are now being ob- 

 tained from a series of sample plots established in 1915 

 at Urania, Louisiana, by the United States Forest Serv- 



ice in co-operation with the Louisiana Conservation 

 Commission. Four plots were located in a stand of very 

 young longleaf seedlings. One of these was completely 

 protected from both fire and grazing; another was 

 grazed regularly but protected from fire; the third was 

 protected from grazing but burned annually ; and the 

 fourth was both burned and grazed. 



