our 



SOME PLAIN FACTS ABOUT 

 THE FORESTS 



If we heard that the 

 United States had been in- 

 vaded and that the pro- 

 ductive capacity of mil- 

 lions of acres of our land 

 was jeopardized by the 

 enemy, we would be 

 greatly alarme d. Yet 

 something very much like 

 that is actually happening. 

 The enemy in this case is 

 our own carelessness and 

 neglect, and it is jeopard- 

 izing the productive ca- 

 pacity of the Nation's forests. Because of 

 neglect and our failure to adopt adequate conserva- 

 tion measures, our forests are not being grown as fast as 

 we are depleting them. If we fail to gain some under- 

 standing of the importance of forests to national welfare 

 and the necessity for keeping them permanently and ade- 

 quately productive, an important element in knowledge 

 essential to citizenship will be lacking. 



Much information on forest resources and their utili- 

 zation has been made available. Unfortunately some of 

 this contains statements which result in confusion or 

 misunderstanding in the mind of the public on the actual 

 forest situation. Some even tends to promote the idea 

 that there is nothing to worry about ; to spread the idea 

 that forest destruction and deterioration are negligible 

 problems, and that good forestry is now so generally 

 and widely practiced that the Nation is sure to have 

 ample future timber supplies. Such information is 

 definitely misleading. 



The advances made in forest conservation both by 

 public agencies and by progressive industrial and private 



