M. L. Fernald 



N. S. Shaler 

 I. C. Russell 

 J. P. Lesley 



Charles Eliot 



A. R. Wallace 



A. F. Schimper 



Dutch and 

 English Colo- 

 nial Reports 



These species, forever irreplaceable if lost, 

 are — like many of our native wild-flowers, birds 

 and animals whose home the forest was — seriously 

 endangered under existing conditions ; and eastern 

 America stands in the way today of losing swiftly, 

 in a single human lifetime, its long inheritance 

 of wealth and beauty in the natural world, in trees, 

 in flowering shrubs and plants, in birds and other 

 forms of animal life. 



Again, the Atlantic coast lands on the one hand 

 and the Mississippi Valley, with its branches, on 

 the other, are regions destined to be permanent 

 and crowded homes of industry and trade — homes 

 of men, that is, on a vast scale. Between them, 

 and everywhere within easy reach from them, lie 

 the Appalachian mountain ranges, of great 

 natural beauty and refreshing quality in extensive 

 tracts, the ancient home of these magnificent for- 

 ests, the source of streams, rich in delightful un- 

 dergrowth and faunal life. This region of woods 

 and mountains, terminating in a magnificently 

 watered region in the north, presents possibilities 

 of incalculable importance to the crowded city 

 populations of the East, the South, and the great 

 Central Plains. To save it to the utmost in beauty 

 and refreshing quality is imperative, in view of 

 the great coming need, and it is yet more impera- 

 tive to save to those who will come after us the 

 forest's wealth of tree and plant species, of bird 

 and other animal life. For these are things, 

 precious in every sense, that once lost are lost for- 

 ever, and not a few are lost already. 



What is now proposed is this — founded partly 

 on a scheme urged years ago by Dutch and Eng- 

 livsh naturalists for the preservation of the native 

 forest and its associated life in their eastern col- 



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