4 BULLETIN" 149 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
future prosperity and economic development through a local short- 
age of timber ; it directly imperils the limited water resources which 
are the lifeblood of agriculture and are being more and more widely 
used for hydroelectric power and municipal supply. A responsi- 
bility rests upon the owner of forest land to employ every practicable 
means for protecting these public interests, recognizing the right 
of the public to require such measures of forest protection and con- 
servation as will safeguard the general welfare. 
At the same time, it is incumbent on the Rocky Mountain States 
to aid the landowner in reforestation. This is due to the general 
interests at stake in timber and water supply. Aside from care and 
foresight in the management of State-owned forest lands, public aid 
is particularly needed in the protection of all forest and mountain 
areas from fire and in the encouragement of tree planting. The 
cooperation of the Federal Government in these activities is offered 
under the Clarke-McXary Act. While much progress has been made 
toward state-wide forest protection in the lodgepole pine region, the 
present efforts need to be materially strengthened and extended. 
That is primarily a duty of the States themselves. 
Nor does the Forest Service overlook its own responsibilities. 
These are particularly great in the region covered by Mr. Thompson's 
report because of the large proportion of its forest and mountain 
areas which are within national forests. The general type of inten- 
sive timber culture which Mr. Thompson outlines is the goal which 
has been set up in the management of the national forests. The 
conservation of water supply is another factor which the Forest 
Service strives to keep constantly to the front, not only in timber 
cutting and tree planting but also in the administration and control 
of grazing. 
Aside from its direct responsibilities as custodian of public lands, 
the Forest Service recognizes its broader obligation to assist the 
States and private owners in the lodgepole pine region, in so far 
as it may, in their problems of forest protection and renewal. The 
joint j^rotection of intermingled ownerships, to which the report 
refers, is a case in point. Cooperation is the key of the Federal for- 
estry policy written into the Clarke-McNary Act. The Forest 
Service holds itself ready not only to discharge the specific duties 
joreseribed by this law, but also, as a good neighbor with the interests 
of the region at heart, to aid the States and landowners of the Rocky 
Mountains in promoting forestry in any way that may be open. 
W. B, Greeley. 
