8 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



upon the destruction of Wisconsin's forests. The 

 next year Michigan took a similar step and in 1869 

 the Maine legislature began to look into their wan- 

 ing supply by appointing a committee to estimate 

 the standing timber of the State. As early as this 

 observations and calculations upon the rate of con- 

 sumption of lumber pointed to a not far distant 

 wood famine. 



The First Federal Steps. The first step taken 

 by the federal authorities was at the urgent request 

 of the Statistician of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture in 1870. At that time lands were recognized 

 as being either "improved" or "unimproved" farm 

 lands. He recommended that the category of "un- 

 improved farm lands" be subdivided into "wood- 

 lands" and "other unimproved lands." By thus 

 dividing off woodlands from other unimproved 

 farm lands more attention was concentrated upon 

 the former. This attention was manifested in the 

 investigations that followed shortly in which it was 

 estimated that 39 per cent, of the area of the coun- 

 try was in woodland. This was the first and most 

 logical step toward taking an inventory of our for- 

 est resources. 



Another early attempt to assist in forest conser- 



