Conservation strictly speaking means protecting against loss or injury. As applied 

 to natural resources in the propaganda of the past ten years it first meant forest preserva- 

 tion by "wise use." Its present day application includes not only all natural resources, 

 both commercial and scenic, but human life and energy. The result is a somewhat in- 

 definite promulgation of theories and policies, which lose force by variance from the original 

 conception of conservation, and by the distribution of the educational effort over too many 

 fields and subjects. 



Forest conservation never meant "preservation" in the sense of not using the forests, 

 although this interpretation is still given. Proper forest conservation means using the 

 mature forests and producing other forest crops on the land. ' This makes forest conserva- 

 tion a purely economic problem. The end desired cannot be attained unless it is profitable, 

 and up to the present, with a few minor exceptions, it has not been possible to make capital 

 yield a reasonable return from conservative forestry. Mature forests are still available 

 at much less than the cost of production, prices for forest products are too low, close utiliza- 

 tion is not possible, and carrying charges are too high and too uncertain. With the mere 

 ownership of mature reserve timber threatening the solvency of timberland owners, it is 

 useless to talk about investing capital in forest production from the seedling or volunteer 

 young growth stage. 



One unfortunate result of the forest conservation agitation of the past decade is that 

 it inspired speculative buying of timber, with the expectation of large returns because of 

 the dwindling supplies. The phantom of timber famine has never been very real, and its 

 use as a bugaboo or club has been a boomerang. Another result of the talk of timber 

 scarcity is that it has given an excuse for an unjustified use of substitutes, and created a 

 wide spread feeling that it is a public duty to use building material other than wood. The 

 reduced sales of lumber cause lower prices, and put the possibilities of conservation farther 

 away than ever. Conservation that does not pay will not conserve. The country needs 

 economic, not sentimental forest conservation. 



E. A. Sterling, 



Director American Forestry Association. 



