YOUR FOREST LAND 7 



that civilization. No one could really put a price tag on this water that would 

 mean anything. 



And how could any price put upon American soil, that well-managed 

 woodland and grassland binds and withholds from washing and blowing, 

 from death by erosion, be adequate? For a stabilized topsoil, well-aerated 

 and rich in organic remains, is the thin film of life by which all men and 

 civilizations live or die. 



OTHER FOREST VALUES defy price analysis. But they are actual values. 

 They make changes for the better in the ultimate crop of any country. The 

 ultimate crop is the spirit of the people there. 



Here for example is a family any family with a home in one of the 

 desert towns or cities of Arizona or the interior valleys of California. Day- 

 time summer temperatures here go to 1 20, and 90 F. or hotter at bedtime is 

 not altogether unusual at the height of summer. "You can fry eggs on the 

 bedsprings," the people say. 



What is it worth to this family to have a quiet road up the mountain and a 

 place within easy driving distance where they can take it easy under giant 

 trees, amid summer temperatures that range from a crisp 60 to a mildly 

 warming 80 F. at noon, and swim in clean mountain water, and find relief 

 from the terrific heat? In many places, ranging from humid Puerto Rico to 

 the western peaks above the great American Dust Bowl, forest recreation 

 becomes a downright physical necessity for the great mass of the people who 

 ordinarily cannot afford to buy a change of air, or send the women and 

 children away for the hot season, as well-to-do people can. And even the 

 reasonably well-to-do, in such places, are glad to have camps or cottage 

 permits, let cheaply but with no title, on forest land up the mountain, and 

 send their families there, and drive up to be with them nights and week ends. 



Now CONSIDER WILDLIFE the country over. W T hat price good fishing, good 

 hunting, for food and for sport? What price, for the naturalist or nature 

 lover, the sight of renewed wild herds of elk and deer and bison and antelope 

 grazing and roaming, or beavers working? What price a continuing return 

 of songbirds and game birds to our North American earth and sky? 



