A FORESTRY PROGRAM 11 



I will set in the desert the fir tree and the pine. 

 (Isaiah xli:19.) 



Hurt not the earth nor the trees. (Revelation 

 vii:3.) 



9. MUNICIPAL AND PRIVATE FORESTRY 



One of the most encouraging signs of public inter- 

 est in forestry in the United States has been the groat 

 increase during the past 10 years in the number of 

 town forests. The town-forest idea was introduced 

 from continental Europe, where in many countries no 

 community considers itself properly equipped with- 

 out a public forest. In this country at least 250 

 towns, cities, and counties have established commu- 

 nity forests, with an aggregate area of more than 

 500,000 acres. 



Community forests may be so situated as to protect 

 town water supplies and at the same time serve as 

 recreation grounds. In addition, they may be a 

 source of considerable income from the sale of 

 timber, as well as providing employment and generally 

 promoting the welfare of the community. The cities 

 of New Bedford, Mass., and Keene, N. H., report re- 

 turns of $15,000 each in one year from their munic- 

 ipal forests. Other cities in the eastern United 

 States, as well as a great many in Europe, have found 

 that a municipal forest, scientifically managed, is a 

 profitable investment, and frequently means making 

 good use of land that would otherwise lie idle. 



Some States are encouraging the establishment of 

 community forests by furnishing young trees for 

 planting at the cost of production. Boy Scouts and 

 similar organizations combine to do the planting and 

 to care for the little trees. 



Although the national forests cover many millions 

 of acres and are being managed with a view of pro- 

 viding a permanent supply of timber, the forestry 

 problem will not be solved until privately owned for- 

 ests are rightly handled. The importance of the 

 private forests of our country is evident when one 

 considers that they contain 97 per cent of the present 

 timber supply. Private owners hold four-fifths of the 

 standing timber, and these four-fifths include the best 

 and most accessible timber in the country. 



Although wasteful lumbering and unchecked fires 

 are taking the timber from private lands four times 

 as fast as new growth is coming in, there are signs of 

 a change for the better. In New England some lum- 

 ber companies and pulp mills have employed profes- 

 sional foresters and adopted a policy of conservative 

 logging and timber growing. In the South, with the 

 exhaustion of the virgin timber supplies almost in 

 sight, forward-looking lumber operators are beginning 

 to practice forestry, both by trying to provide for a 

 new timber crop and by making use of small and 

 inferior material that was formerly left on the ground 

 as waste. Some lumber companies are realizing that 

 one way to conserve is to reduce waste at the mill. 

 Millions of feet of low-grade lumber that formerly 

 went into the great refuse burners are now utilized. 



The production of naval stores (turpentine and 

 rosin) from longleaf, shortleaf, and slash pine has 

 for many years been an important industry in the 



