THE FOREST AND THE NATION 



609 



production of new timber supplies. Many 

 say that if fires are kept out the question 

 of forest production will take care of itself, 

 no matter how the forest is handled, and 

 that all there is to forestry is protection 

 from fire. Let me say, and with all the 

 emphasis I am capable of using, that forest 

 production will not take care of itself. 

 There are cases, and remarkable ones, of 

 natural reproduction of forests even under 

 the worst of abuse. But where there is no 

 systematic provision for reproduction ordi- 

 nary lumbering results in the long run in a 

 steady reduction of growth of valuable ma- 

 terial ; and there are only too many cases of 

 destructive lumbering which leave the land 

 in an unproductive state even when fires do 

 not occur. 



Forestry is necessary to guarantee to the 

 people the continuous benefits of the forest. 

 The responsibility of working out the prob- 

 lem of national forestry can not be left with 

 private owners. It is primarily a public 

 question and the burden of its solution must 

 be largely borne by the public. In the first 

 place, those forests owned by the public 

 must be protected and administered under 

 the methods of practical forestry. These 

 public forests comprise about one-third the 

 forest area of the country. The remaining 

 two-thirds of our forests are in private 

 ownership and this includes about four- 

 fifths of the standing merchantable timber. 

 Without doubt the area of the public forests 

 will be increased through the acquirement 

 of areas needed for the protection of public 

 interests, especially in the mountain regions 

 of the East. But the federal and state for- 

 ests alone will not be sufficient to produce 

 the supplies of forest products needed by 

 the nation. The practice of forestry on 

 private lands, or at least on those area? 

 better suited for forest growth than other 

 purposes, is a public necessity. The private 

 owner can not escape the responsibility of 

 ownership of an important natural resource ; 

 at the same time he can not be expected to 

 make financial investments in order to pro- 

 vide for a general public benefit. The con- 

 ditions which prevent him from practicing 

 forestry must be changed. He must be 

 given public aid in protection from fire. 

 There must be a reasonable system of tax- 

 ing growing timber, and there must be co- 

 operation in meeting the peculiar difficulties 

 of his business which tend to stand in the 

 way of conservation. 



The practice of forestry by private owners 

 must be brought about through assistance 

 and co-operation by the federal government 

 and the states. The government can do a 

 great deal to promote private forestry. It 

 is the policy of the Forest Service to aid in 

 the introduction and practice of forestry on 

 private lands, just as far as its authority 

 permits. This assistance must, however, 

 be largely confined to education, advice and 

 general co-operation. Through research 



and experiment the government is laying the 

 foundation for the practice of forestry in all 

 parts of the country. The results of the 

 work in forest products will greatly help in 

 the problem of saving waste. The experi- 

 ments in silviculture are demonstrating the 

 methods of handling woodlands. Direct aid 

 to private owners in the practice of forestry 

 must come chiefly from the states. The 

 proper adjustment of taxes is a state matter. 

 Assistance in fire patrol and fire fighting 

 must come from the states. If, on the other 

 hand, this aid is given by the states and the 

 government and the obstacles now standing 

 in the way of private forestry are removed, 

 private owners must assume tneir obliga- 

 tions in actually setting to work to practice 

 forestry. 



The first necessity is prompt and effective 

 action by the states. As yet the states have 

 not assumed their responsibility in forestry. 

 In a number of them good forest laws 

 have been enacted, several states are buying 

 land as public reservations, and in about 

 fifteen states a forest commission or state 

 forester has been appointed. But the prob 

 lem of state forestry requires a great deal 

 more than laws on the statute books, or the 

 appointment of a state forester. There 

 must be the machinery to carry out the 

 laws, a thoroughly equipped organization to 

 patrol the state and fight fires, and adequate 

 appropriation of money to make this work 

 really productive of results. The real test 

 of state forestry will be the development of 

 a forest policy which will be stable and the 

 providing of the money necessary to carry 

 on the work. 



The first duty of the federal government 

 is the proper administration of the forest 

 lands owned by the nation. A national 

 forest policy already has been initiated. The 

 greater portion of the federal forest lands 

 have been set aside as national forests and 

 they have been managed on the principles 

 of practical conservation. The purpose of 

 establishing these forests has been to guar- 

 antee the best possible use of their resources 

 to the people. There is still an impression 

 among some persons that the national for- 

 ests are closed reservations and withdrawn 

 from use and development. The keynote 

 of the federal policy in handling these for- 

 ests is the use of their resources ; but it is 

 the continued use in contrast to that use 

 which exhausts the resources. There are 

 many who assert that the national forests 

 are retarding development. It is the policy 

 of the Forest Service to encourage the 

 opening up and development of the re- 

 sources of the forests, but we take the 

 stand that this must be a development which 

 will permanently build up ttie country. Our 

 policy stands for permanent development 

 and maintenance of stable industries, as op- 

 nosed to mere exploitation which exhausts 

 the resources and which shortly results in 

 the impoverishment of (he region. 



