FOREST RESERVES OF THE UNITED STATES 



In tlie United States today 70,761 square miles of territory — that is, an area 

 considerably greater than the combined area of tlie six New England states — 

 have been dedicated by Congress for forest preservation. Most of this land is 

 rngged and monntainons, and hence of little value for cultivation, but especially 

 fitted for tree growth. The splendid work being done by the U. S. Geological 

 Survey to determine the resources of tlie Forest Reserves is graphically described 

 in the recently published official re[)orts for 1807-'i:)8 and 189S-'99 of Mr Henry 

 Gannett, Chief of the Division of (leography and Forest Reserves of the Survey.* 

 Of this immense area, wild and in places almost inaccessible, more than.one-half 

 has been scientifically explored, 'fhe density of timber, the variety of wood, 

 the amount of merchantable timber, the burned areas, the land reforesting and 

 the land on which trees are not springing up again, the quality of the soil — all 

 these and many similar facts that must be ascertained before tlie reserves can 

 be properlv developed have been carefully examined and noted. The condi- 

 tion of woodlands in different states has also been investigated. As a result 

 manv impressive facts have been gathered. 



In the state of Washington the forests are among the densest, heaviest, and 

 most continuous in the United States. The trees have a thickness of 12 to 15 

 feet, and are, as a rule, 250 feet high, their trunks often shooting upward for a 

 hundred feet without a branch. Mr Gannett estimates that since lumbering 

 began in the state 36,000 million feet B. M. have been cut; but within the same 

 period, or less than a generation, -10,000 million feet B. M. have been destroyed 

 by fire. Thirty million dollars have thus been lost to the people of the state. 



The report for 1898-'99 forms a sumptuous volume of 498 large octavo pages, 

 handsomely illustrated with 200 pictures from photographs. Twenty-seven 

 maps of the different reserves and, in a separate pocket, eight lai'ger maps, show 

 by gradations of color the classification by land, etc. In addition to the general 

 report of Mr Gannett, there are included special papers by John G. Jack, 

 George B. Sudvvorth, H. B. Ayres, and John B. Leiberg. A more detailed re- 

 view by Mr Gifford Pinchot of the volume for 1897-98 follows. 



Perliaps the most notable forest publication of recent years is the Hfth part 

 of the Nineteenth Annual Report of the U. S. (ieological Survey. This vol- 

 ume is the first fruits of a study of the national forest reserves that has been 

 conducted by the U. S. Geological Survey since 1897. It contains, besides 

 special reports on ten reserves and a note on the timl)er of Pine Ridge, Nebraska, 

 an article on "The Forests of the United States," l)y Henry Gannett, Chief of 

 the Division of (Teography and Forestry, under whose direction the work has 

 been (tarried out. It is with Mr < iaiitictt's article alone that I wish to deal in 

 this note. 



• yincleuilh Annual Report of the V. S. (weolui/icnl Siirni/, Is:)7-''IS. Cliiiik-.s |». \V;ili',,ii, I liii'i'lor 

 I'rtPt V. Forest Ki-.scrvfs. By Hfiiry (Jjitinr'tt. 



TiienlieHi Anuiinl liiimrtof the U.S. Gf.oloniral Siinci/, ISUS-WJ. CliiirlfH I). Wiili'ott, Director. 

 Part V. F<)f.-s( |{fs..ivoH. Hy Iletiry fiuinintt. 



27 litj'j 



