St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-10
PRESERVING TIMBER LANDS.

PRESERVING TIMBER LANDS.
A step in the right dire elton has been
made by the establishment in Oregon of
a forest reserve, consisting of more than
four million acres of timber land, which
has been withdrawn from entry by the
officials of the general land office, with
the concurrence of the secretary of the
interior. 1t is intended that this shall
be permanent timber reserve, and that
no trees shall be cut from it except un-
der regulations to be,adopted by the gen.
eral land Office. There is also an agita-
ton in Washington looking towards the
application of similar law to Mime
sofa, Wisconsin, and other timber-pro-
ducing states, to the end that the wan
ton destruction of timber may be in a
measure lessened, if not entirely pre-
vented.
AS was to be expected, considerable
opposition to this plan is developing.
The pine land barons of the Northwest
are unitediy arrayed in opposition to all
such measures, and will fight them TO
the bitter end. But the theory of the
land department is sustained by such
unanswerable facts that it will be hard
to convince congress of its ineXpedi-
ency. 1t is well known that the forests
at the sources of our rivers preserve
them>from exhaustion by retaining the
moisture of the earth. As the forests
disappear the rivers dry up, and navi-
CATION can be maintained only by the
employment of artificial means. This
fact has been made manifest in this
locality by the constant decrease in the
volume Of water flowing in the channel
OF the Mississippi river. But a few
years ago the river was naYigable dur
ing the entire summer to boats of large
capacity; of late only smaller craft can
reach St. Paul during portion of the
season. and these often with difficulty,
and the flow OF water is decreasing
year by year. Our ablaSt engineers at
tribute this decrease in large degree to
the destruction of forests about the
headwaters of the river and along the
banks of Its tributaries. and declare
that if the wantOn waste is not soon
stopped the streams Will become en-
tirely dry except in times of freShet.
The interests of the lumber consum-
erS, too, require that some means be
adopted for the preservation of the tim
Der, else it will not be many years ere
pine lumber will be luxury which only
the rich can afford. Trees are now cut
before they have half attained their
growth, and after the lands have been
denuded Of their marketable product
they are left prey to fire, which has
swept through them periodically, de-
stroying the younger growth and leav-
ing the land a blackened, barren waste.
If this system is allowed to prevail, the
next generation will have no pine forests
in Minnesota or elsewhere in the North
west, and will have to depend upon for
eign countries for supply.
The measure which 1t is proposed to
apply to Oregon might be made of gen
eral application to the advantage of the
country. A guardianship of our forests
would protect them from vandalism and
from the greed of the lumber barons,
who care only for their own present ad-
vantage and nothing for the future
They suck the pine land orange dry and
destroy the seeds instead of planting
them in order 10 produce another crop.
They do not expect to live to see that
possible crop ripe for the harvest, and
therefore care nothing for 1t. Their
greed should have limit placed upon
it ere they have completed their plans
of destruction, and the present is none
too soon TO move vigorously In the mat
ter.