REPORT OF THE FORESTER. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Forestry, 

 Washingt07i, D. C, September 38, 1904-. 

 Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the work of 

 the Bureau of Forestry for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904, 

 together with an outline of the plans for the work of the Bureau for 

 the current fiscal year. 



Respectfully, Gifforu Pinchot, 



J^^oresier. 

 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the past year the Bureau of Forestry has made notable prog- 

 ress in the efficiency, compactness, and simplicitj' of its organization, 

 in the quality and amount of its work, and in the actual number and 

 relative proportion of trained men in its personnel. It has been more 

 successful than ever before in spreading both a knowledge of practical 

 forestry and the desire to practice it among owners of timberland, 

 and in collecting and digesting information about American forests on 

 which to base the rules for conservative lumbering in different locali- 

 ties so as to make it pay. To the majority of forest owners forestr}^ 

 is necessarily a question of business, and the fact that the more pro- 

 gressive lumbermen have come to realize this truth and to act upon it 

 is full of promise for the perpetuation of the forests and hence of the 

 lumber supply. The number and efficiency of foresters trained in 

 American schools is greater than ever before, and forestry as a pro- 

 fession is taking its legitimate place. Among the general public there 

 is greater ' interest in forestry than at any former time, and it is 

 steadily -growing. 



All this is encouraging, but the situation has another side. The 

 available means to check forest destruction are increasing, but so are 

 the forces which make for the obliteration of our forest wealth. Rail- 

 roads are pushing steadily into new regions, bringing with them not 

 only destructive lumbering but also fire, which is far more dangerous. 

 The rise in the price of lumber and the dwindling supplj' of logs of 

 the better grades both combine with the greater accessibility given by 

 the new lines and lower rates of the railroads to make it profitable for 

 the lumberman to extend his operations into regions farther and far- 

 ther from his mill and his market. In addition, the rapid progress of 

 settlement is constantly bringing the local market and the forest nearer 



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