I 'reservation of Our Forests 39 



from springing up. Lack of forests, then, means lack of lumber and 

 losses amounting to thousands of dollars. 



Here in our Middle Tennessee there are lands cleared of trees for 

 cultivation, so steep, that when their tree cover has been removed 

 they have formed merely hills from which water has poured off in a 

 flood, injuring agricultural lands below. If forests had been left 

 on these steep hills the land below would have been protected. 

 Furthermore, forests affect climate, furnishing cooling shade in sum- 

 mer and tempering the cold winds of winter. 



Now we can sum up some of the results of forest destruction: 

 First, floods; second, drought; third, loss of timber; fourth, injury 

 to our agricultural lands, and, fifth, injury to our climate. It will be 

 noted that I have not mentioned our need of the beauty of trees. 

 But this is a phase of the question that I believe needs no emphasis 

 here, for what would be our lives without our shade trees, our for- 

 ested mountain slopes and our wood-rimmed lakes? We scarcely 

 can estimate the importance and value of the tree's influence on our 

 higher natures in teaching us beauty of tree form, beauty of color, 

 beauty of God's universe. Let us turn now to the other side of the 

 picture. Forest destruction is with us today. Forest conservation 

 and reforestation is to be one of our State's tasks for the future. 



First, I am going to speak of forest conservation. What does it 

 mean? It means, in short, keeping those lands that should be re- 

 tained as forests in a state of permanent preservation and produc- 

 tion. This is accomplished in part by fire protection. Let me out- 

 line the system employed on the Plumas National Forest which may 

 vary in certain details from other localities, but which in general, 

 outlines the principles necessary for a good working system. There 

 are stationed men called lookouts on certain of the most prominent 

 mountain tops of the forest, whose duty it is to watch for fires and 

 to telephone to the central forest service office on the forest. These 

 men have their field glasses and maps. They have their maps ori- 

 ented north and south and marked off" in degrees from their lookout 

 station as a center. They sight along their maps in the direction of 

 the fire, read the angles, and telephone their bearings into the forest 

 service office. This being done by two or three stations enables the 

 head office to locate the fire very definitely by use of the office map, 

 and then the office telephones the ranger, in whose district the fire is 

 located. The ranger collects his men as fast as possible and goes 

 to the fire. By this method of fire protection, it is estimated that 



