‘UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 162 
| 
| Issued July 1933 
‘ Revised July 1940 
| Washington, D. C. Revised July 1944 
OUR FORESTS: WHAT THEY ARE 
AND WHAT THEY MEAN TO US 
By CHARLES E. RANDALL and Marie Foote HEIstry, Division of Information and 
Education, Forest Service 
CONTENTS 
Page Page 
Iimtroductionse 4 oe eT Shek she PR Moll 1 How our forests serve us—Continued 
What the forest is: Forests and our water supply_____________-- 21 
The forest community______________________ 2 Other uses of the forest____________________- 21 
Howse treelivese: e. 9yh 2. ey) ele ee ee 2 Enemies of the forest: 
VO WisatEhC: SLOW Sees ns se ees eh DV 3 Fire—the arch destroyer____.__.--__--__---- 23 
Relationships of trees______________________- 7 TSC CHS a spas eee se ew ed ik dns ke aoe ge 25 
HORESISOL Seer Stun ae Rae eee ace CT Mas 8 Bungus\diseases 22. = sie er 26 
Animals of the forest community_________- 9 Other enemies: is sees ote eee a 26 
Forest regions of the United States: Forestry in the United States: 
Northern forest region.___.________________ 10 Weahat forestry si. wba i ui) NAD Se 27 
Hardwood forest region____________________- 11 Hederal:forestry 2 225s ee a ee 28 
Southern forest region_____________________- 12 National-forest administratic n________._____ 29 
Tropical forest region_________ _____________. 14 Statewforestry ies 2 San Se eee 33 
Rocky Mountain forest region______________ 14 Mania forestry 2 cee aes a aes ee ee 34 
Pacific coast forest region___.______________- 16 Commercial forestry ____ ae ME pote Le GeV eee A 36 
How our forests serve us: Timber, a vital national resourre___-__..------- 37 
iBorestsproducts! 2222-2 ees eek Ee 18 
INTRODUCTION 
The history of the United States is staged against a forest back- 
ground. From earliest colonial times the forest has played a most 
important part in the life of the country. Although the early settlers 
had to wrest from it the land upon which to grow their crops, it fur- 
nished the timber vitally needed in building their homes and in- 
dustries. Some of the first colonial exports were forest products, 
such as planks and staves, pitch, and tar. The tall pines of New 
England furnished masts and spars for many a ship, which by the time 
of the Revolution were carrying canvas on all the seven seas. 
As the country expanded the forest provided most of the sinews of 
commerce and trade. The prairie schooners and canal boats of the 
pioneers were made of wood, and the early railroads which followed 
them, like those of today, were laid on wooden ties. . Numberless com- 
munities sprang up, subsisting mainly upon the bounty of the forest. 
Each decade saw more and more forests cut away with the extrava- 
gance born of the idea that America’s forests were inexhaustible. 
More and more forest land was laid bare, to be developed into towns 
and farms or to be left lying idle and unproductive. The exploitation 
of our forests, however, probably reached its peak during the last 30 
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