THE FOREST AND THE NATION 



By HENRY S. GRAVES 



An Address Delivered Before the Second National Conservation Congress 



St. Paul, Minn,, September 8 



THE movement for the conservation of 

 our natural resources has reached the sec- 

 ond and most critical stage in its progress. 

 The country has expressed in unmistakable 

 terms its approval of the principles of con- 

 servation ; there is now before the country 

 the problem of the practical application of 

 those principles. In forestry there is a very 

 general agreement that our forests must be 

 protected from fire, that waste must be re- 

 duced, and that a future timber supply must 

 in some way be provided. In applying 

 these principles differences of opinion arise, 

 and it soon develops that with many per- 

 sons the interest in forestry is confined to 

 the abstract idea and does not extend to its 

 practice. 



When the requirements of forestry are 

 considered, forest owners usually find that 

 they must make some modification in their 

 methods of cutting; that tney must use 

 more care in protection from fire and in 

 saving young growth, and that if they are 

 to secure a new growth of trees after cut- 

 ting, some investment is necessary. The 

 general public .learns that in order to secure 

 for the nation the permanent benefits of the 

 forest, national and state expenditures are 

 required. 



It is at this point that indifference and 

 even opposition to conservation arise. In- 

 difference is shown by the public when it 

 fails to make adequate appropriations. 

 Direct opposition appears from those who 

 fear that their interests in one way or 

 another may be adversely affected by it 

 There is a great deal of misunderstanding 

 in regard to the methods of conservation 

 and many have charged that ttiose methods 

 heretofore advocated are impractical. In 

 order to be successfully applied conserva- 

 tion must be practical, but at the same time 

 the methods must be such as will actually 

 accomplish its real purposes. To my mind 

 the significance and value of this congress 

 is that an opportunity is afforded to make 

 clear the methods of conservation, and the 

 country will then decide whether it shall 

 really be put into practice or become a 

 mere name. 



It is not my intention in this address to 

 dwell at length on the fundamental import- 



ance to the country of forest conservation. 

 To those who know the needs of the people 

 for forest products, the available resources 

 and the manner in which they are now being 

 used up and destroyed, it must be clear that 

 we are facing a problem which must be met 

 with prompt and vigorous action. 



A survey of the forest resources of the 

 world shows clearly that in the long run 

 this nation must be dependent chiefly upon 

 its own supplies. Those who believe that 

 we may destroy our own forests and then 

 draw upon foreign resources of timber are 

 ignorant of the facts, for those supplies will 

 not long be available. Foreign countries 

 will need for their own use what they can 

 produce, and many of the exporting coun- 

 tries are exhausting their forests just as 

 rapidly as America. The timber supply in 

 this country is being rapidly depleted. We 

 are extravagant in our use of forest pro- 

 ducts; there is waste in logging and manu- 

 facture, and the loss by fire is a shame to 

 the country. To offset this reduction of 

 merchantable resources the annual produc- 

 tion of timber by growth amounts to much 

 less than one-third the average quantity 

 used and destroyed. In other words, we 

 are actually using up our forest snpplies. 



There is a sufficient amount of land in the 

 country better suited for forest growth than 

 for other purposes to produce all the wood 

 and timber needed by the nation, provided 

 the forest is properly handled. This land 

 includes mountain areas where the protec- 

 tion of the vegetation is necessary to con- 

 serve water and protect the slopes. The 

 protective benefits of the forest can thus in 

 most cases be secured at the same time as 

 the production of wood and timber. There 

 are, however, certain mountain regions of 

 the West where large trees will not grow 

 and where the cover of brush and grass 

 must be conserved to protect the slopes and 

 to regulate the run-off of water. In these 

 mountains special reservations must be 

 maintained, primarily for protective pur- 

 poses. 



There is but little disagreement in regard 

 to these simple propositions. The difficulty 

 lies in the fact that the people do not ap- 

 preciate the need of immediate action to 



607 



