FORESTRY NOTES 



By Walter Mulford 

 War 



War ! Only these three letters are needed to spell what has chiefly oc- 

 cupied the minds and hearts of most of the forestry folk of California 

 during the past field season. The stars and stripes have called thou- 

 sands of men to cut timber from the French forests for the trenches, 

 the railroads and the camps of the American expeditionary forces. The 

 same stars and stripes have demanded the services of tens of thousands 

 of men in the American forests to supply lumber for vehicles, aero- 

 planes, boats, cantonments, and boxes and crates in which to ship food, 

 ammunition and army supplies. Our flag has required the services of 

 scientific experts in determining the best woods to meet the demands 

 raised by the war, and the best methods of treating these timbers. It 

 has asked each remaining member of the greatly depleted forestry or- 

 ganizations to put his regular work on one shoulder and to balance the 

 load on the other shoulder by assuming the duties of a brother who has 

 been called away. 



The result in California: the logging camps and sawmill crews are 

 straining every nerve to make the forests contribute their just share of 

 the nation's need for raw materials, but they are utterly unable to meet 

 the demands made upon them ; the Forest Service has been handicapped 

 in handling a severe fire season because of the loss of men, and at the 

 same time it has had to meet the demands made by increased stock 

 grazing, more timber sales and much war work of other kinds ; almost 

 all the forestry students and part of the forestry faculty at the Univer- 

 sity of California have joined the colors. 



War! It is unpleasant to intrude the all-pervading word into the 

 journal of the Sierra Club, the club which helps people to get away 

 from strife. But the fact is that the peaceful forests of California, al- 

 most on the opposite side of the world from where the struggling lines 

 are drawn taut, are themselves feeling the shock to some extent. More 

 timber is being cut, less help is at hand for controlling fires, more cattle 

 and sheep are being grazed, less money and labor are available for 

 building trails, bridges and telephones. War! May the vigorous Se- 

 quoia, with a thousand years of useful life yet to come, never again 

 hear the word as a thing of reality! 



War Work of the Forest Service 

 The California members of the United States Forest Service have taken 

 their full share of war work. Coert Du Bois, district forester, and 



