President Roosevelt Speaks in Behalf of 

 Forests. 



HE FOLLOWING extract from President Roose- 

 velt's first message to congress is good reading for 

 the people of Michigan, and we reproduce it as a 

 valuable adjunct to the forestry discussion in our 

 own State : 



"The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not 

 less helpful to the interests which depend on water than to 

 those which depend on wood and grass. The water supply 

 itself depends upon the forest. In the arid region it is water, 

 not land, which measures production. The western half of the 

 United States would sustain a population greater than that of 



our whole country today if the waters that now run to waste 

 were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water 

 problems are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the 

 United States. Certain of the forest reserves should also be 

 made preserves for the wild forest creatures. All of the 

 reserves should be better protected from fires. Many of them 

 need special protection because of the great injury done by 

 live stock, above all by sheep. The increase of deer, elk and 

 other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be 

 expected when other mountain forests are properly protected 

 by law and properly guarded. Some of these areas have been 

 so denuded of surface vegetation by over-grazing that the 

 ground-breeding birds, including grouse and quail, and many 

 mammals, including deer, have been exterminated or driven 

 away." 



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