Forestry and. the National Forests. 13 



CONCLUSION. 



The forest lands of the United States at work would mean settled 

 communities and permanent industries. It would mean not only 

 continuous supplies of lumber and other timber products for those 

 who live close by, but a surplus for the farms and cities in the 

 parts where timber is not grown. It would mean a decrease in 

 flood menace through control of streamflow, and increased agricul- 

 tural prosperity where land is irrigated. Wild plant and animal 

 life could be established to the delight of a nature-loving public, 

 while health giving recreation such as can be found only in forest and 

 stream would be within reach of millions who need the out of doors. 



In the Southwest the annual per capita consumption of timber 

 and timber products is 500 board feet. Properly cut-over timber- 

 lands in this region can be made to produce a yearly growth of 

 50 to 100 board feet per acre (more favored regions runs three to 

 five times as much). Ten acres of growing timber for each person 

 would be required to supply the timber needs of the population, it 

 is true, but with the 11,000,000 acres of forest land in Arizona and 

 New Mexico managed so as to do their best there can be cut every 

 year timber products sufficient to supply the common timber needs 

 of a million people and the yield sustained in perpetuity. 



Certainly agriculture in no part of the country can be benefited 

 more by regulated streamflow and a consequent permanent supply 

 of water for irrigation than in the southwest, where the greater 

 part of the farming is dependent upon other moisture than direct 

 rainfall. Future supplies of fish and game can be assured only 

 through forest perpetuation. Recreation, essential to the health 

 and happiness of southwestern people, reaches its ideal in forest 

 cover on every forest acre. 



Management of the country's forests is more than a local affair. 

 Lands that are not fit for general farming but which will support 

 trees become a public liability if not kept busy growing trees. It 

 is a problem for the Nation. On its solution depends the stability 

 of government and the progress of a great people. It is useless to 

 grow timber and then burn it up in forest fires. Protection of the 

 timber resources is a proposition too big for private enterprises to 

 meet individually- Comprehensive plans in which the owner, and 

 State, and Federal Governments work hand in hand offer the only 

 hope of success. Management of forest lands so that they will be 

 constantly productive should be made economically feasible by tax 

 adjustment and whatever additional steps are locally necessary. 



TREES. 



I think that I shall never see 

 A poem lovely as a tree. 

 A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 

 Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; 

 A tree that looks at God all day, 

 And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

 A tree that may in summer wear 

 A nest of robins in her hair; 

 Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 

 Who intimately lives with rain. 

 Poems are made by men like me, 

 But only God can make a tree. 



— Joyce Kilmer. 



