53° 



The National Geographic Magazine 



artificial lake fill up with worthless mud. 

 The streams of the West are destined 

 to play an important part in the up- 

 building of industry and the supply of 

 human needs thi-ough utilization as 

 sources of power. This is particularly 

 true in the Pacific Coast states. The 

 Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains 

 rise sharply to high altitudes and receive 

 upon their western slopes a heavy rain- 

 fall. Thus almost ideal conditions are 

 produced for power development. The 

 streams of the Sierras light the city of 

 Los Angeles, with its 200,000 inhabitants, 

 and operate the electric railways which 

 traverse its streets and spread their net- 

 work out to the neighboring towns. The 

 water wheels which generate this power 

 and light are located within the national 

 forests. So far as known, California has no 

 good coal. A dense population is certain. 

 The conservation of water power, the 

 coal that does not waste away in the 

 burning, is therefore vitally important. 



Since the profits of the corporations 

 which have secured control of these 

 sources of power are large, and since 

 they are users of land in the national 

 forests and benefit by the system of for- 

 est protection which the governrhent 

 maintains, there is no apparent reason 

 why they should not be required to con- 

 tribute something toward the cost of ad- 

 ministration. Their case is not compar- 

 able with that of the users of water for 

 irrigation, which supports the farmer and 

 home-maker. In no wa)' can a national 

 forest better serve the purpose for which 

 it exists than by increasing the number 

 of farmers and home-makers. Therefore 

 the irrigator need fear no charge. 



THE FORESTS OP EASTERN UNITED STATES 

 ARE UNPROTECTED 



As the years pass, the use of the na- 

 tional forests will constantly increase, 

 and with this will increase also the recog- 

 nition among the people of the entire 

 country that saving the forests of the 

 West though government ownership has 

 been one of the greatest achievements 

 of the present generation. This impor- 



tant work of constructive statesmanship 

 has been participated in by presidents of 

 both political parties and has proceeded 

 along the lines laid down by Congress. 

 It has brought us, and will in the future 

 still more bring us, to realize that gov- 

 ernment action to secure the conserva- 

 tion of great natural resources which are 

 threatened with wasteful dissipation is 

 demanded in the public interest. 



It still remains for us to work out some 

 method for saving the forests of those 

 parts of the East where essentially the 

 same problem is presented as was 'met in 

 the West. Since in the East there are 

 no public lands belonging to the United 

 States, a different method will have to be 

 followed. To a large extent the problem 

 is one which calls for action by the in- 

 dividual states. 



Eventually it will be necessary in this 

 country, as it has been necessary in 

 Europe, for the states or the nation to 

 own and manage a large part of the 

 timber lands. Forestry received its first 

 stimulus in Europe when it was per- 

 ceived that in consequence of forest de- 

 struction the country was threatened with 

 a dearth of fuel. The development of rail- 

 way transportation, which made possible 

 the general use of coal, came in the nick 

 of time to avert this evil. 



Meanwhile landowners had taken up 

 the growing of timber extensively, and 

 there is now a sufficient acreage of forest, 

 public and private together, to produce 

 each year as much wood as France con- 

 sumes. But it has been found that the 

 private owner does not care, and indeed 

 cannot afford, to grow the larger sizes 

 of timber. As compound interest rolls up 

 against the original investment, the time 

 comes when the yearly increment of 

 wood ceases to add a value equal to the 

 loss by the failure to realize. Private 

 owners therefore manage their lands on 

 short rotation periods. The result is that 

 for some years in France, and other 

 European countries as well, a scant sup- 

 ply of construction material must be 

 faced. In no country does private for- 

 estry give any promise of being able to 



