[899 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



I3 1 



II. THE NEED OF FOREST LEGISLATION IN COLORADO. 



The experience of the past year has 

 emphasized the need of strict legislation 

 for the protection of what forest lands 

 are still in existence in Colorado. Dur- 

 ing the latter part of last October and 

 during the whole of November forest fires 

 raged in our mountains. I traveled over 

 a great part of the State and can hardly 

 express my indignation at the wanton 

 waste of timber. Good work is being 

 done in other States to preserve forest 

 lands, but the problem confronting us 

 here cannot be solved in such a way. 

 For us it is necessary both to save and 

 to replant. 



I am sure a practical solution of the 

 difficulty would be made if forest con- 

 servators were aware of the opportunities 

 still open here. There are some ways in 

 which much could be achieved. For ex- 

 ample, our State Land Board is in the 

 habit of selling stumpage ten cents a 

 tree or so and then the saw-mill man 

 and tie-cutter practically take what they 

 want and then pay the State as much or 



as little as they please, burning Govern- 

 ment and State forests to cover their 

 tracks. 



We might do something if some such 

 plan could be put into operation here as 

 has been done in Asheville, N. C. It 

 seems impossible to convict despoilers or 

 those committing arson on Government 

 lands. Private ownership appears to be 

 the only solution. 



I rode through the forest of white 

 pines between Durango and Pogosa 

 Springs. It is forty miles wide and prac- 

 tically untouched. I rode through an- 

 other piece of woodland, some eight or 

 ten miles square, north of Creede. In 

 Routt County there is much fine timber 

 that could be saved. But the eastern 

 slope of the mountains has been cut and 

 burnt into a desolation, and during the 

 last autumn more timber has been burnt 

 in Colorado than has been legitimately 

 used during the last forty years. 



Henry Michelsen, 



Denver, Col. 



III. THE ADVISABILITY OF FOREST CULTURE. 



There is no subject of so much public 

 importance, locally considered, as forest 

 tree culture. We say locally considered, 

 meaning to apply the remark to Southern 

 California. Here, it is safe to say, the 

 planting of forest trees is more needed 

 than in almost any other portion of the 

 United States. Fertile as this country 

 is, strip it entirely of trees and it would 

 become a desert. If the rain-makers 

 would give their attention to planting 

 trees they would accomplish something 

 worth while. 



There is no better way to conserve 

 that dampness which insures fertility 

 than by planting and protecting forest 

 trees, and there is no such sure way of 

 converting a country into a desert as by 



destroying the forests. When Western 

 New York was clad with primeval forests 

 it was penetrated everywhere by "mill 

 stream." Since the original woods have 

 been mostly cleared away these mill 

 streams have been nearly all dried up and 

 the mills that once ran by water-power, 

 and with plenty of it, are now either shut 

 down or are running with steam. 



Other countries recognize the necessity 

 of preserving their forests. In Germany 

 the laws are very strict on that subject. 

 Every man is obliged to recognize the ad- 

 vantage to the public at large in preserv- 

 ing the forest trees on his own land. 

 But our own legislators have not had time 

 to consider subjects of such great and 

 lasting importance as forest tree culture. 

 Editorial, Santa Monica, Cal., Outlook. 



