The Problem of Forest Conservation 



By W. B. Greeley, Director of thk American Forestry Association 



THE important question about forest con- 

 servation now is : Will it break down in 

 the face of concrete business necessities? 

 Much has been done to put the public forests 

 upon sound footing. Marked progress has been 

 made in the development of State forest activities 

 and in bringing about effective cooperation of 

 many different agencies for preventing forest 

 fires. But the critical problem of the 80 per cent 

 of private timber in the United States has 

 scarcely been touched. We can neither "preach, 

 print, pray, nor ballot" the owner of timberland 

 into the practice of forestry when it does not pay. 



Forest conservation must come to grips with 

 this problem sooner or later. Its first task is to 

 assemble the facts and look them squarely in the 

 face how far the status of wood has changed 

 from a necessity to a competitor for a place in 

 the market, what it costs not only to grow wood 

 but to hold and protect merchantable timber 

 which cannot be marketed for many years, and 

 what readjustments of our economic conceptions 

 may be necessary to permit the thrifty use an.l 

 perpetuation of the timber resources of the coun- 

 try. The business difficulties and needs of the 

 forest-using industries must be understood. 

 Means must be found whereby the handling of 

 their resources can be adapted to the larger, 

 permanent interests of the country; but they 

 must be sought through mutual recognition, by 

 the public and the forest-using industries, of the 

 economic well-being of each other and, if need 

 be, by mutual sacrifices. The first thing to be 

 done is to get the situation clearly understood 

 by everyone. 



To this task forest conservation should address it- 

 self and prove its right to be written down, not as a 



W. B. GREELEV, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

 Director of the American Forestry Association. 



sporadic outburst of enthusiasm, but a sustained effort 

 to make the most of national resources. 



Tree Planting Along the Lincoln Highway 



By Grace Roper Xevitt 



0.\'E of the most extensive enterprises in roadside 

 planting ever undertaken is that of the Lincoln 

 Highway which extends from ocean to ocean, a 

 distance of 3,400 miles. The work is being done under 

 the direction of the General Federation of Women's 

 Clubs. The planting is to be individual and each state 

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section of the highway is under the direction of the 

 conservation chairman of its own women's clubs. The 

 organization from New York to California is complete 

 and in many of the states, the trees, shrubs and flowers to 

 be planted have been selected. In New York State, the 

 ])lan for the "Sunrise Entrance" of the Highway in- 



