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AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



75 



Why Miners Should Join the American Forestry 



Association. 



By the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 



The interests of miners in the protec- 

 tion of timber is a vital one. In the 

 Popular Science Monthly of February, 

 1898, I said : 



"Mining Interests. The mining in- 

 terests of the Western States should be 

 the most urgent in the demand for care 

 and protection of the forests under 

 Government direction. Upon the abund- 

 ance or scarcity of timber will depend 

 the development of many mining enter- 

 prises, and through them the advance or 

 retardation of the growth of the State 

 in which they are situated. That scarcity 

 of timber will limit mining is without 

 question, unless the mines are sufficiently 

 rich to pay the added cost that transpor- 

 tation from a distant source of supply 

 will entail. This will apply particularly 

 to the small mine owner, and to the 

 miner with little capital who wishes to 

 develop promising prospects. 



"There is no doubt that the abundant 

 timber supply of the Black Hills of 

 South Dakota has given great impetus 

 to the development of the mineral wealth 

 of the region. It is equally true that if 

 that timber supply is removed by being 

 wasted, or is destroyed by forest fires, 

 the future mining of the region will be 

 limited to the working of a few rich 

 mines which can afford to pay high 

 prices. Scarcity of timber all over the 

 West is not a remote contingency if the 

 present waste and destruction are per- 

 mitted to continue ; it is already in sight. 

 Indeed, it will not be long before the 

 magnificent forests of the Pacific coast 

 will be so greatly injured by fire and 

 wasteful cutting that the mining com- 

 munities will have to draw their best 

 timber from Canada and Alaska. 



" The opponents of the forest reserves 

 have frequently stated that the reserva- 

 tion policy would cripple the mining 

 industry. It is believed, however, that 

 there would be much more truth in the 



statement that the destruction of the 

 forests would seriously injure and in 

 many instances ruin the mining industry. 

 This industry demands a permanent 

 source of supply of timber, and it hardly 

 needs to be said that, without some such 

 policy as that of forest reservation, no 

 such source of supply can be maintained. 

 If mining men can be brought to under- 

 stand that their industry will be pro- 

 tected by the proper administration of 

 the reserves, the future of both the 

 mining and the lumber interests of the 

 West will be provided for." 



There are great areas of Western 

 forest lands no longer held by the 

 Government, the protection of which 

 from waste and destruction is as impor- 

 tant to many mining regions as that of 

 the forest reserves themselves. Such 

 protection should not mean the with- 

 drawal of any part of these lands from 

 use, but the harvesting of their timber 

 product without destroying their capacity 

 to produce valuable trees. Many timber 

 owners do not realize how quickly young 

 trees too small to cut grow to merchant- 

 able size if protected, and how simple 

 are the methods by which the forests can 

 be kept from losing their productive 

 power. 



Among the objects of the American 

 Forestry Association the prevention of 

 forest fires and the introduction of simple 

 and effective improvements in lumbering 

 stand pre-eminent. It is particularly 

 fitted for such work on account of its 

 membership, which includes many promi- 

 nent lumbermen and nearly all the prac- 

 tical foresters in the United States. Its 

 membership includes men interested in 

 forests and forestry from every point of 

 view, and it unites for the common 

 object all these different influences, 

 which otherwise would be scattered and 

 comparatively ineffective. Its efficiency 

 in attaining its chief end, the preserva- 



