Forestry Notes. 



77 



FORESTRY NOTES 



Edited by Professor William R. Dudley. 



To Florida goes the distinction of get- 

 First National Forest ting the first National Forest created east 

 East of Mississippi Aiississippi River. In November 



reated. President Roosevelt signed a proclama- 



tion setting aside and naming the Ocala National Forest, in 

 Marion County in eastern Florida, and another proclamation 

 creating the Dakota National Forest, in Billings County in the 

 Bad Lands Region, North Dakota. Inasmuch as the last-named 

 National Forest is the first in North Dakota, the two proclama- 

 tions add two more States to the list of those wherein land will 

 be put under scientific forest administration. There are now 

 nineteen States and Alaska having National Forests. 



Before the creation of the Ocala, in Florida, the two forests 

 in Arkansas, the Ozark and the Arkansas, were the easternmost 

 National Forests. Practically all the other National Forests are 

 in the Rocky Mountain and the Pacific Coast States. The 

 Florida forest has an area of 201,480 acres, of which about one 

 fourth has been taken up under various land laws. 



Because of continued drouths in the 

 Forest Feres. Eastern States, forest fires have been far 



greater in extent than for many years. It is admitted that the 

 total amount of losses will never be known. Dr. W. T. McGee, 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, places the aggregate loss 

 in all parts of the country during the summer months at $1,000,000 

 a day. Statistics for the entire season for the National Forests 

 show that fires occurring on 168,000,000 acres of the latter have 

 cost the Government, exclusive of salaries, $30,000. The amount 

 of the value of the timber destroyed is not known as yet, but 

 it will be insignificant when compared with the great losses 

 occasioned by fires elsewhere. The Forest Service estimates on 

 the basis of its own experience that the whole forest area of the 

 United States could be patrolled and protected at the expense 

 of $3,000,000 a year and save the estimated annual loss of 

 $20,000,000. 



_ This most important body, the chief 



National Conserva- ^- 1 ^ r ^1 > 



practical outcome of the Governors 



tion Commission. Conference last May with the President 



and others, is about ready to report on the much talked-of 

 inventory of the Nation's resources. It met for putting in shape 



