y MISC. PUBLICATION 290, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
During the 15 years, beginning with 1890, the trend toward public 
forestry moved swiftly, culminating in 1905 with the creation of the 
United States Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. The 
torest reserves, as national forests were then called—areas withdrawn 
from the remaining timbered regions of the western public domain— 
were placed under the management of the Forest Service. 
The Secretary of Agriculture at that time commissioned the Fores, 
Service so to manage these Federal properties that they would pro- 
vide the greatest good to the greatest number of people “in the long 
run.” This cardinal principle has been steadily adhered to in their 
administration through the years. 
Forestry, as applied by the Forest Service, is concerned with the 
perpetuation and development of forests that they may continue their 
many benefits to mankind—furnishing wood and other products for 
man’s use; preventing erosion of soil and regulating stream flow and 
water supply for irrigation, for power, for domestic use, and for 
control of floods; harboring wildlife; providing abundant oppor- 
tunity for outdoor recreation. All of these contribute to what is 
perhaps most important of all—steady, gainful employment for a size- 
able portion of the country’s population, resulting im stabilized 
communities. 
Instead of being handled under scientific methods as a crop, timber 
is often “mined.” When forestry is practiced in timberland manage- 
ment, the mature trees are used as “earned interest,” while younger, 
growing trees are left intact as the “capital stock.” The economic 
and soil-protective values represented by a forest in a healthy growing 
condition are thus permanently maintained. 
Since 1905 the area of the national-forest system has more than 
doubled and has been extended to the Lake States, and the Kast and 
South. Equally important to placing this increased area under in- 
tensive protection and administration, is the work of the Forest Serv- 
ice in cooperation with States and private timberland owners in the 
spread of forest protection and practice of sound forestry; research 
operations in forestry, range management, and wood utilization; and 
the provision of employment on a large scale in times of economic 
depression. 
There still remains a vast amount of forestry work to be done in 
addition to managing the national forests already established. Re- 
cent studies indicate that more than 200,000,000 acres of timberland are 
so depleted, or so located, or of such value for public services that 
private management reasonably cannot be expected to meet the re- 
quirements of public interest therein, at least not without undue 
subsidy. Public acquisition and management of these lands, there- 
fore, appears to be the most feasible course. A fair share of this job 
for the Federal Government, considering the financial ability of the 
States, appears to be a little more than half of the entire job. 
Moreover, it becomes increasingly clear that Federal aid to State 
and private forest owners, and perhaps some degree of regulation, are 
needed to meet, adequately, the interest of the Nation as a whole in 
the management of other forest lands as well. 
Throughout the forest areas there is a large task of making the 
forests contribute more fully to the solution of the problem of rural 
poverty and to the development and maintenance of a satisfying rural 
