American Forest Congress 301 



Government possession should neither be allowed to 

 pass into private ownership nor should they remain 

 part of the unregulated public domain, especially under 

 the conditions that prevail at the present time. In the 

 former case, where such lands are permitted to pass 

 into private ownership, human nature remaining as 

 it now is, the controlling impulse will be to get the 

 most money possible out of the land in the shortest 

 possible time. This will usually result in the clearing 

 off of the timber by the wasteful methods now prac- 

 ticed, without thought for the future. Reforestation 

 will not be carried on, and the certain result will be 

 the rapid denudation of all our forested areas. 



Again, it will not do for the methods and regulations 

 now in vogue with reference to the use of timber upon 

 the public domain to be continued, since it inevitably 

 results in the breaking out of forest fires and the wan- 

 ton destruction of great bodies of timber, in addition 

 to the great amounts of timber of which the Govern- 

 ment is annually robbed. In investigations which 

 have been made under my direction it has been clearly 

 shown that many fires that had broken out in thickly 

 forested districts of the public domain had been fol- 

 lowed within a year or two by requests for Government 

 permits for the use of the fire-killed timber left stand- 

 ing, which often makes the very best mine and tunnel 

 timbers. 



The forested areas must be watered and the cutting 

 down upon them must be regulated. The grazing 

 must be restricted so that the grass and other vegeta- 

 tion shall not be destroyed. Deforested tracts must 

 be reforested and only by the establishment of forest 

 reserves and through their proper control by trained 

 foresters, can we approach to the most ideal condition 

 possible for the conservation of our water supply — a 

 forest growth covering their headwaters. 



