38 



THE FORESTER. 



February, 



INTEREST IN UTAH. 



In his message to the legislature, Gov- 

 ernor Wells touched upon an important 

 question when he referred to the pro- 

 tection of timber areas from the devas- 

 tation which has been jeopardizing not 

 only the timber supply, but the water 

 supply of the State. 



Traveling over the mountainous sec- 

 tions where once the Pine forests were 

 almost impenetrable, one is confronted 

 with evidences of Government neglect 

 and the spoliation of the portable saw- 

 mill, great barren tracts of stump-covered 

 ground, with piles of sawdust in the 

 center, showing where indiscriminate 

 milling was carried on before the outfit 

 had been moved to another grove of vir- 

 gin timber. 



Something ought to be done, as the 

 governor suggests, to obtain favorable 

 consideration from the Federal Govern- 

 ment, to whom alone the State must look 

 for aid in this matter. For although the 

 State land board is "authorized to set 

 apart and reserve from sale such tracts 

 of timber lands and the timber thereon 

 as may, in the opinion of the board, be 

 required to preserve the forests of the 

 State, prevent a diminution of the flow 

 of rivers and aid in the irrigation of arid 

 lands," the governor calls attention to 

 the fact that such provision applies only 

 to the State lands which are needed for 

 other purposes, and which the General 

 Government obviously never intended to 



have remain in their natural state as 

 forest reservations. 



Members of the legislature would do 

 well to heed the governor's suggestion 

 in reference to memorializing Congress 

 on this matter. 



If the Government does not come to 

 the rescue of the States in the effort to 

 stop the devastation which has already, 

 in many sections, gone too far, the peo- 

 ple will ultimately be compelled to re- 

 sort to the expedient of planting forests 

 like orchards, and bringing them up by 

 hand. It were well to profit by the ex- 

 ample of some of the older nations. 



Nor is the destruction of forests com- 

 passed altogether by design or for profit. 

 Carelessness contributes to the waste. 

 Every year there are forest fires which 

 destroy infinitely more of wealth and 

 prospects than the timber represents 



Last year the fires in Wyoming and 

 Western Colorado caused an enormous 

 loss. There should be measures and 

 precautions adopted by the General Gov- 

 ernment and powers vested in the several 

 States to prevent this double destruction 

 which results from axe and fire. 



There are interests to be consulted and 

 rights to be regarded in the selection of 

 tracts for reserves, but the necessity of 

 some definite, decisive action while there 

 is yet time to accomplish good, is im- 

 perative, it seems, in the interest of 

 agriculture and for the benefit of future 

 generations. Salt Lake City Herald. 



The sparrow has found an unexpected 

 champion in the Prime Minister of 

 France. The farmers have recently been 

 agitating in favor of the extermination of 

 the little bird, and succeeded so far that 

 a decree was submitted to Premier Me- 

 line for signature, giving orders for the 

 destruction of the bird throughout the 

 country by all available means. Before 

 giving his sanction to the measure the 

 Prime Minister determined to make an 

 investigation, in the course of which he 

 has received so much information in 

 favor of the birds, especially from the 

 Forest Department, that he has not only 



refused to sign the decree, but has an- 

 nounced that he is about to take steps to 

 promote the increase of the species in 

 consequence of its usefulness. It seems 

 that the harm they do to the crops is 

 more than counterbalanced by the bene- 

 fits which they confer in destroying the 

 caterpillars, worms and other insects 

 that are so detrimental to trees. A West- 

 ern exchange, which is evidently skep- 

 tical as to the alleged usefulness of the 

 sparrow, suggests that now is a good 

 time to get rid of the sparrows in this 

 country, and pertinently inquires what 

 M. Meline will give for them But, 



