If we are going to do something about our 
forests in the postwar years, the time to start 
thinking about it is now. 
The importance of the forests in the national 
economy should be apparent to everyone. 
Wood is an essential material, in war and peace. 
Forests safeguard water supplies and help pre- 
vent floods. They furnish the raw materials for 
industries employing millions and must supply 
even more if we are to maintain the volume of 
output needed for full employment and a high 
national income. They are the basis of large- 
scale recreation, vacation, hunting, and fishing 
activities, and of the many business enterprises 
servicing these activities. 
How many of these national problems are 
represented by conditions in your own commu- 
nity? What local industries do forests support 
or might they support if kept productive? How 
much local employment is normally afforded by 
forest industries and activities? How much 
could be provided if the forests were kept in 
full production? What is the relation of forest 
watersheds to local irrigation or domestic water 
supplies? What is the importance of the nearby 
forest environment to your local tourist business? 
The postwar unemployment problems we are 
most likely to face in our own locality in the next 
few years are largely a matter of speculation, 
but some good guesses probably can be made as 
to possible future developments. 
For the Nation as a whole, some 100,000 
prime war contracts, and a million subcontracts 
are being terminated. Unless the industries con- 
cerned can shift rapidly to other production ona 
comparable scale, a grave unemployment prob- 
lem may result. 
What war industries and activities ia your com- 
munity have been or will be closed down now 
that hostilities have ceased? Which ones might 
be converted to peacetime industry? 
No one wants to see our ex-soldiers selling 
apples at street corners. Veterans and war work- 
ers should and no doubt will be given preference 
in filling many postwar jobs. Will this mean 
that our present youngsters, as they grow to 
working age, will be left out in the cold—that we 
shall have another unemployed youth problem, 
like that of the 1930’s which led to establishment 
of the CCC? 
It might be well to take a look around the home 
community and try to find out what forest restora- 
tion and improvement work is needed. 
What do we need to attain adequate fire pro- 
tection for local forests? 
Are blister rust, bark beetles, or other forest 
insects or diseases a threat to forests in your 
locality? 
Are there idle lands in your section that need 
reforesting? 
Are new forest roads and trails needed? 
What forest grazing and range improvements 
are needed? 
What erosion- and flood-control work is 
needed to protect your community? 
Could your community enjoy more recrea- 
tional developments? 
What is needed to improve hunting and fishing 
in your neighborhood? 
Are there other needed forest-improvement 
projects? 
Perhaps we can learn something from our ex- 
perience with public forest employment pro- 
grams in the past? 
How did the CCC or WPA forestry projects 
work out in your locality? 
What benefits did the community gain from 
these projects? 
What mistakes were made? Was there “boon- 
doggling”? Did the establishment of uniform, 
permanently located, large-size camps (as in the 
case of the CCC) prevent sufficient flexibility in 
the work programs? 
What good features in these programs might 
be applied in the postwar forest work projects? 
Many small projects adapted to localities and 
seasons, rather than a few large-scale, long-term 
projects? Nation-wide organization to get the 
men from congested centers of unemployment to 
where the jobs are? Vocational training on the 
job? Safety precautions? 
Permanent Jobs 
Work projects that serve to build up our forest 
lands to full productiveness will increase the 
opportunities for permanent employment. Cap- 
ital investments in forest and range restoration, 
watershed improvement, and recreational facili- 
ties not only will furnish more security for pres- 
ent forest industries and their dependent work- 
ers, but will create a resource basis for new jobs. 
It has been estimated that if the full potentiali- 
ties of our forest resources are achieved, it will 
develop possibilities for perhaps an additional 
2% million permanent jobs. These would in- 
clude jobs in the growing, harvesting, and 
primary manufacture of forest products; in the 
further processing of timber into finished prod- 
ucts; and in related transportation, distribution, 
and construction activities. They would include 
also new jobs in the forest-range livestock in- 
dustry, and in business serving forest wildlife, 
forest watershed, and forest-recreation activities. 
Additional new jobs—perhaps a million more 
—might be represented in the increased manu- 
facture of logging and wood-processing tools, 
