CIIAI'IKK VI 



TREE STUDY AND CIVIC EOliESTUY 



Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thou.u'ht.s 

 descend upon me ? — Walt Wuitmax 



IIow foolish does man appear to be in destroying the mountain forests, 

 for thereby he deprives himself of wood and water at the same time. — 

 Alexander vox Humboldt 



It is undoubtedly true that more pine timber has been destroyed by lire 

 than the lumbermen have ever cut. — Gueex 



The problem. The aniiiuil grnwtli of all the forests of tlic 

 United States is 7,000,000,000 cubic feet of wood, while our 

 yearly consumption amounts to more than 20, 000. ()()().< 100 

 cubic feet. In addition to this, since 1870 forest tires, for the 

 most part preventable, have caused a yearly loss of lifiy lives, 

 $50,000,000 worth of lumber, and a dcsuudioii. cxfu oicaicr, 

 of all younor m-owth and of soil fertility bv the burnintr of tlie 

 veofetable mold of the forest floor. Floods in the lower Missis- 

 sippi alone during 1912, due to unwise and uiuivic deforesta- 

 tion, in the main, caused great loss of life, extreme privation, 

 and damage estimated at $82,187J')70. W'liilc ibis torrential 

 run-off is floodhiij: the lower ri\ cr vallevs, millions cd' woodland 

 sprhigs and even wells back in the foothills and mountains 

 are going dry. From one to two thousand niilli<»n tons of the 

 finest and richest soil — enough to bury Kiiotle Island from 

 one to two feet deep — is being washed yi'arly from tlu' farms, 

 where it may be worth a dollar a ton. into our harbors, where 

 it costs millions to dredge it out of the way. 



Increasing population and consiimpiion (d" woixl. decreasing 

 forests, inadequate control of forest fires, increased washing 



o.> 



