.FOEESTRY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. 21 



camp, with its prevailingly rough, masculine population, its cheap 

 buildings, and its frequent lack of sanitation, is by no means the best 



place in which to rear a family. 



Nor are conditions, greatly superior in the rude sawmill towns 

 which flourish for a few years while the timber is being cut, only to 

 fade away with its disappearance. Here there may be more of the 

 elementary conveniences and decencies of life, but there is the same 

 atmosphere of unrest, of instability, and even of immorality. The 

 life of such towns is likely to be abnormal and their prosperity only 

 temporary. Permanent homes, strong characters, and good citizens 

 can not be built on so unstable a foundation. 



As to the after effects of destructive lumbering, the scanty popu- 

 lation left in the cut-over nonagricultural regions has little chance 

 for development. Deserted villages and the barren lands by which 

 they are surrounded not only offer little opportunity for employment 

 but also exercise a depressing influence on the settler and his family. 

 The men with most ambition, enterprise, and energy, the people who 

 really accomplish things, move on to new fields, where they are not 

 faced by the prospect of certain stagnation. It is usually the weaker 

 ones who are left behind. Particularly serious is the effect of such 

 deterioration on the coming generation. 



Destructive lumbering also has its effect on the well-being of the 

 city dweller by destroying his vacation ground. For the sportsman, 

 the nature lover, and the recreationist, the conversion of a magnifi- 

 cent virgin forest into an ugly, stump-covered, and fire-blackened 

 waste represents a very real loss. Not only have the trees them- 

 selves gone, but with them the flowers and ferns, the mosses and 

 lichens, the birds and the deer, all that gave the woods their peculiar 

 charm. Even springs may have gone dry and brooks become turbid 

 and unlovely. From the mountains and the valleys, the streams and 

 the lakes, man draws his inspiration and his strength; and to all of 

 these the forest acids the final touch. Who cares to go fishing on a 

 river or boating on a lake that has no trees? Without them some- 

 thing vital is lacking. A country once rich in forests can not allow 

 them to be converted into unsightly wastes without paying a penalty, 

 however intangible, in weakening the character of its population. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR A RATIONAL TIMBERLAND POLICY. 



NEED FOR A DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF HANDLING FOREST LANDS. 



That, from a social standpoint, the system under which our forest 

 resources have been handled in the past has not worked well is fairly 

 clear. Sufficient lumber has been supplied to meet the needs of the 

 country as a whole, but this has been done in such a way as to cause 

 much waste and in certain localities to bring about local shortages of 



