Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-02-09
THE NATIONS FORESTS.
The Steps Necessary for their Preserva.
LONESOME Practical Suggestions.

| for the conservation of the forests on the
national domain should be the withdrawal
from sale of all forest lands belonging to
| the nation. 1t will not be necessary to
preserve and maintain all these forests
permanently, but the extent of forest-ter-
ritory which will be required by a prac-
tical plan OF Misrepresentation and man
| agement for our Western mountain regions
cannot be at once precisely determined. A
| thorough examination of these regions,
and of the agricultural country depending
upon them for its water supply, will be
necessary, in order to show what forests
must be retained, and what tracts of tim
Der can be put upon the market without
injury to the important interest involved.
Until such an examination has been made,
none of the forest lands now belonging to
the United States should be sold.
The second step should be to commit 10 the
United States army the care and guardian
ship of the forests belonging to the nation.
There Is IN time of peace no other work of
national defense or protection so important
as this which the army can perform, and it
is plain that under existing conditions the
forests on the national domain will not be
Indeed cannot be-adequately guarded
and protected by any other means. The
measures which have been tried, including
those now In operation, or nominally in
operation, have proved almost entirely in
effective. The forests on the public lands
are pillaged by settlers, and by the en-
ployes of railroads and mining companie.
without scruple or limit. Other instru-
ments will have to be employed II the
70 ha
| piete and final destruction, with that of the
soil which sustains them, is, under the
present system, or want of system. only a
question of time, and of yeryshort time.
The officers of the United States army
are educated by the nation for its service.
and they constitute body of men not
equaled by any other in our country In
their equipment for guarding and protect
ing the great forest res ions belonging to
the nation. They possess every kind of
| fitness for this work in greater degree than
dny other class of men, and if authorized
by law to undertake this service they
would have the power and the means
| necessary for its performance while every
body else is at present inevitably power
less and incapable. As there is likely to
be very little work for the army hereafter
in the care of the indians, it will be avail
| able for this service of guarding the
national forests The work can be done
well by the army, and it would cost
| nothing, or very little, while any other
plan would necessarily be both ineffective
and costly. This guardianship and de-
Tense of the nations forests by the army of
the nation should be continued and main
tanned until sufficient number of ade-
quately trained and equipped foresters has
been provided by the National Government
for the administration of complete and
permanent system and policy for the man
agement of the forests on the public do
main,
This brings MS to consider the third step.
This should be the appointment, by the
President, of commission to make
thorough examination of the condition of
the forests belonging to the Nation, and of
their relation to the agricultural interests
Of the regions through which the streams
flow which have their sources in these
forests, and to report, with the facts OBJ
served, comprehensive plan for the
preservation and management of the pub
lie forests, including system for the train
ing by the Government. of a sufficient
number of foresters for the National forest
service.
The commission should determine what
portions Of the existing forests on the public
domain should be permanently preserved,
and in what manner the remainder should
be permanently disposed of The national
forests can be so managed that they will
be perpetually reproduced, and will yield
forever an abundant supply of timber for
the inhabitants of the adjacent country,
and revenue which will more than sus-
tain the cost of the forest service. A
National School Of Forestry should be es-
tablished at suitable place in one of the
great mountain forests on the public lands,
and its equipment should be as thorough
and adequate for its purpose as is that Of
the National Military Academy al West
Point-Gonben and Forest.