756 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 987 



the force to prevent fires, to detect promptly 

 those which start, and to reach them 

 quickly. The Forest Service is developing 

 a system of lookout stations, fire lines, trails, 

 and telephone lines that ultimately will 

 make the forests secure. Already the force 

 is able to save every year property valued 

 at many million dollars through the im- 

 provements so far built, although as yet 

 only a beginning has been made. This 

 work is carried on according to a definite 

 plan, already projected in detail. Each 

 year's work adds 2,500 miles of trails, 3,500 

 miles of telephones, and many lookouts and 

 other improvements, progressing toward 

 the final scheme. Until that is completed 

 the forests can not be made entirely secure. 

 With that development, the forest fires can 

 be handled even in that exceptionally dry 

 year that occasionally comes to every region. 



This protection not only saves the trees 

 from destruction or injury, but already 

 the effect is shown in the restocking of 

 many areas where the old fires had pre- 

 vented reproduction. Personally, I had 

 hardly expected that there would be so 

 quick a response. But the results are now 

 apparent to even a casual observer. More 

 specifically, while previously the forests 

 were going backward because of fires, there 

 is now an annual gain through growth. 

 This increase translated into dollars and 

 cents is much greater than the total cost 

 of protection and all other expenses of the 

 forests. 



The necessity to take immediate steps to 

 prevent .the public forests from being de- 

 stroyed by fire has placed a large empha- 

 sis on the protective feature of the adminis- 

 tration. The wise use of the forest re- 

 sources in the development of industries 

 and in building up the country is essentially 

 the real aim of maintaining the forests. 

 Protection from destruction is a first 



essential; otherwise there would be no re- 

 sources to use. But the purpose of the ad- 

 ministration is not merely protective, but 

 constructive. It is a favorite theme of the 

 opponents of the national forest system to 

 represent the forests as a separate federal 

 domain, held for the use of future genera- 

 tions or for persons other than those now 

 living in the region in which the forests are 

 situated. Such statements are not only con- 

 trary to the spirit of the administration of 

 the forests, but are disproved by the results 

 already being secured. The aim is to make 

 the forests count in the highest possible 

 measure in the industrial upbuilding of the 

 local communities, at the same time that 

 they serve their broader public functions. 

 In classifying the agricultural lands the 

 aim is to get people to make permanent 

 homes in the forests. Every consideration 

 in the development of the states and in the 

 upbuilding of the forests themselves makes 

 for the encouragement of a greater local 

 population. When there are people to 

 create a demand for the timber and other 

 resources, the real development of the for- 

 est becomes possible, and the forest begins 

 to render its greatest service. 



To encourage this development the For- 

 est Service is promoting the sale of its ripe 

 timber to build up local lumber industries 

 of a permanent character; it is opening to- 

 entry land chiefly adapted to agriculture; 

 it is further helping the settler by provid- 

 ing free such timber as he needs and protect- 

 ing him in the use of the range needed for 

 his stock; and in every way it undertakes- 

 to make the forests of public service and 

 the country in the long run a better place 

 for men and women to live in. 



That a long step has already been taken 

 toward this end is indicated by the very 

 extraordinary change in sentiment in the 

 west in the last few years. I have this year 



