Government Forest Work 31 



^he Secretary of Agriculture. Forest officers are agents 

 of the people and their duty is to assist the public in 

 making use of the resources of the forests. They aim 

 to prevent misunderstanding and violation of forest 

 regulations by timely and tactful advice rather than 

 to follow up violations by the exercise of their authority. 



^IForest users can aid greatly in the efficient performance 

 of the public business by according to forest officers 

 the same frankness, consideration, and courtesy which 

 the forest officers are expected to show them. 



THE EXTENSION OF FORESTRY PRACTICE 



The greatness of the national forest enterprise and 

 the prominence accorded its accomplishments have 

 given the impression to some that the problem of 



* forestry is solved. In point of fact, this is by no 

 means the case, for the national forests contain only 

 about one-sixth of the forest area of the country and 

 not quite one-fourth of the standing saw timber. 



» Private owners hold almost four-fifths of the timber- 

 land of the United States. A small amount (about one- 

 thirtieth) is in national parks, military and Indian 

 reserves, State and municipal parks and forests, and 

 the public domain. The amount of lumber which is 

 actually placed on the market from the national 

 forests amounts to only about 3 per cent of the entire 

 consumption of the country. The rest comes from 

 private lands. While the proportion will be altered 

 in the future, the country must still look to private 

 lands for a large part of its forest supplies. 



Public forestry has made vast strides; but the 

 forests of the country that are in private hands are 

 being depleted with very great rapidity, and almost 



L everywhere without effort to renew them. A grave 

 situation is becoming manifest in various ways, and 

 the problem presented is one that can be solved only 

 by public action. The general practice of forestry on 

 privately owned lands in the United States will not 



t take place through unstimulated private initiative. 



