128 



THE FORESTER. 



June, 



to know that Butte City alone consumes 

 300 carloads of cordwood a day. The 

 loss by fires varies from year to year, but 

 it is enormous, especially in the West. 

 It is estimated there is an annual loss of 

 $25,000,000 and this is exceeded in 

 some years. From careful statistics and 

 records we know that the annual growth 

 of wood per acre and year does not 

 average more than fifty-five cubic feet, 

 though, under favorable conditions, it 

 may rise to double that amount with 

 some species. If we consider the pro- 

 duction of such sizes as are used in this 

 country our timber, at the age of 125 

 years, would be found to have grown not 

 more than thirty five cubic feet per acre 

 per year. 



Our present forest acreage, therefore, 

 even if well stocked and well managed, 

 could not produce our annual consump- 

 tion. We are consuming much more 

 than the area produces, probable dou- 

 ble this amount, and every year the 

 disproportion increases. It takes 100 

 years to produce a good sized saw log. 

 Most of the timber we are now cutting 

 is over 200 years old. It is said that at 

 the present rate of denudation going on 

 in Minnesota that in forty years there 

 will not be a stick of timber left, and at 

 the present rate of cutting in Maine in 

 eight years its once grand forests of Pine 

 will be no more. In the light of these 

 facts and figures, taken largely from 

 governmental statistics and believed to 

 be accurate and reliable, should we not, 

 as a people, pause and consider the 

 situation that stares us in the face? 



Having considered, so far, only the 

 commercial or money interests as at- 

 tached to our forest production, let us 

 now consider other features of this sub- 

 ject. Science has demonstrated that 

 "forests temper the extremes of climate, 

 equalize the rainfall, equalize the flow of 

 streams, and so preserve fertility and 

 increase comfort." The humus in the 

 forest cover is nature's reservoir, the 

 forest cover affords a natural watershed. 

 The melted snows of winter and the 

 spring rains find lodgment there, gradu- 

 ally and naturally the many springs in 



our mountains are fed, and in turn are 

 the creeks and larger streams. A cer- 

 tain amount of humidity is disseminated, 

 essential to vegetable, animal and even 

 human life, and all nature, animate and 

 inanimate, feels the life-giving qualities, 

 the refreshing influences given or ex- 

 erted by the forests under the mighty 

 hand of Omnipotence. 



Denude our forests and what are the 

 results? The humus becomes hard and 

 packed, being exposed to the hot rays 

 of the sun in summer and to winter's 

 cold blasts, the forest cover disappears, 

 the melting snow and the heavy rain- 

 fall, not being able to percolate gradu- 

 ally and naturally through the hard 

 packed soil, rushes off down the moun- 

 tain side, swelling all the creeks and 

 larger streams and creating floods that 

 cause immense damage. Later, their 

 source of supply having become ex- 

 hausted, the springs cease to flow, the 

 creeks dry up, the streams are but empty 

 channels through the parched land, and 

 drought appears, vegetable and animal 

 life droop and wither, and a baneful 

 condition of affairs prevails. The pres- 

 ervation of our forests is essential, there- 

 fore, to other interests than those of the 

 woodsman. 



The National Government proposes to 

 save what yet remains of our grand 

 forests. To this end the executive pro- 

 clamation of February 22, 1897, thirteen 

 forest reservations, with an aggregate 

 area of 21,379,840 acres, were estab- 

 lished, and the President is empowered 

 to increase the number whenever, in his 

 judgment, it appears wise and necessary. 

 The management of these reservations 

 is placed in the hands of the Commis- 

 sioner of the General Land Office, De- 

 partment of the Interior, Washington, 

 D. C. In Montana there are four forest 

 reservations at present with an aggregate 

 area of 5,043,680 acres, over one-fourth 

 of all yet established in the United 

 States. Each reserve has one superin- 

 tendent and a number of rangers. These 

 latter daily patrol a certain prescribed 

 territory in the reserve to which they are 

 assigned, and are ever vigilant against 



