9 



THE FORESTER. 



April, 



Along the Smoky Range. 



The wildest and most naturally beauti- 

 ful part of this country east of the Rocky 

 Mountains is that region where North 

 Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, South Caro- 

 lina and Georgia approach each other. It 

 is a mountain country with an average ele- 

 vation of 4000 feet, and peaks running up 

 thousands of feet higher. The tallest moun- 

 tain east of the Rockies is in North Carolina. 



This wild region abounds in timber and 

 is still a natural and unbroken wilderness 

 except as the lumbermen invade its quiet. 

 They have come. Already traffic in forest 

 land is active and the railroads of the vi- 

 cinity are loaded with lumber for market. 

 Let the American people sit by with their 

 accustomed optimistic apathy, and before 

 long the forests will be gone, the water 

 courses left to dry up, the bears, deer and 

 other wild animals killed off, and nothing 

 but a fading memory remain of what is 

 now a great natural park. 



The general government ought to step 

 in before it is too late and take possession 

 of the whole region. Leading citizens of 

 North Carolina and other States adjoining 

 have recently held a meeting and formed 

 themselves into the Appalachian National 



Park Association, to push the park project. 

 It ought to go without much pushing. All 

 that is needed is to set people thinking 

 about it. 



Look at what the government might do, 

 and at what, on the contrary, will be done 

 if the national government does not come 

 in and protect nature there. Once done, 

 the mischief could never be undone. The 

 loss would not be local but national. 

 Evervbody who fails to see the North 

 Carolina mountains suffers a direct loss, 

 whether he knows it or not. Open the 

 region to the whole country and let these 

 sights be assured and available at all times, 

 and the park would be one of the most 

 popular resorts of the United States. 



Congress ought to jump at the chance 

 to get possession of the great tract at 

 least 500,000 acres said to be purchasable 

 now at hardly more than nominal figures. 

 The cost of a single battleship would give 

 us this park, available for future genera- 

 tions as well as for ourselves. It is to be 

 hoped the committee will set the work 

 going early and carry it to the success that 

 the American people will wish for it and 

 for themselves. Hartford Courant. 



Recent Legislation. 



The joint resolution of Congress for the 

 acquisition of the "Mammoth Tree 

 Grove" and " South Park Grove of Big 

 Trees" in Calaveras County, Cal., was 

 introduced in the Senate by Mr. Perkins 

 of that State. The bill recited the fact 

 that ' ' the trees Sequoia gigantea of these 

 groves constitute the largest collection and 

 probably the finest specimens of the same 

 in the world;" and "the destruction of 

 these trees would be an irredeemable loss 

 to science, and the loss of one of the 

 marked wonders of the world." The 

 progress of the negotiations begun under 

 direction of Congress is appended to the 

 article in this issue on " The Big Trees." 



The leasing of the arid public lands of 

 the United States is the subject matter of 

 bills introduced in the Senate by Mr. 

 Foster, of Washington, and in the House 

 by Mr. Stephens, of Texas, by request, 

 declaring that the grazing lands instead of 

 being open to public use, shall be leased. 

 In the Senate bill, one-half of the revenue 

 derived is to be given to the general gov- 

 ernment and the other half to the State in 

 which the lands are situated. In the 

 House bill, one-half is to be used for sur- 

 veys and irrigation works, and the other 

 half is to be equally divided between the 

 State, or Territory, and the county in 

 which the land is situated. 



