FOREST ROADS AND TRAILS. 



Ernest Wohlenberg. 



In the past the construction of forest roads and trails was 

 in the hands of individuals and private concerns and for that 

 reason very little literature was published and only a small 

 amount of data was collected. During the past few years the 

 United States Forest Service has done a great deal of work 

 in the development of the forests of the west, part of which 

 consisted in building roads and trails. The development and 

 protection of any forest region under forestry principles de- 

 pends upon its accessibility, which means that roads or trails 

 are necessary. Under the old methods of lumbering the land 

 was devastated of its good timber or cut clean with no 

 thought of the future, but now economic conditions have 

 changed. The price of stumpage, the growing scarcity of 

 standing timber and the common-sense conservation policies 

 all demand better protection and closer utilization of the for- 

 est, and in order to obtain this the woods must be opened up 

 by roads and trails. The immense forest fires in the North- 

 west during the summer of 1910 indicate one great necessity 

 of having the forest accessible. 



The search for material for this article has extended over 

 the entire country, but very little literature could be found. 

 Valuable information has been taken from notes on Professor 

 Chapman's lectures at Yale University and from W. E. Her- 

 ring's lectures given at the State University of Washington. 

 An attempt was made to collect specific examples of roads 

 and trails which have been built in all the different forest 

 regions of the United States, but it was impossible to obtain 

 information from some of the regions. 



USES OF TRAILS. 



Trails are for the use of the general public and of forest 

 officers. The first trails on the present forests in different 

 parts of the country were built mostly by miners, homesteaders 



