CALIFORNIA 



OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



CHAPTER I 



THE CREATION AND ORGANIZATION 

 OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS 



ECONOMIC CONDITIONS WHICH LED TO FOREST 

 CONSERVATION 



In order that the reader may fully appreciate the 

 gigantic task that has been accomplished in bring- 

 ing the National Forest administration and organ- 

 ization to its present state of development, it is 

 necessary to briefly sketch the conditions that led 

 up to the inauguration of the Federal Forest Pol- 

 icy before we stop to consider that policy and the 

 establishment and organization of National For- 

 ests. 



Prodigality Leads Finally to Conservation. 

 Every great movement, which has for its object the 

 betterment of the lot of mankind, lags far behind 

 the times. There must be an actual economic need 

 before a new movement can be expected to take 



