The Minneapolis journal., 1901-03-19
SAVING THE BIG TREES

The San Francisco Chronicle has for
some months been making a heroic fight
to secure adequate protection for the re-
naming giant redwood trees in Calitor-
mia. The citizens of California are to
great extent in sympathy with the move
ment, but the heart of the relentless lum-
herman is still steeled against what he
calls weak sentiment. If the lumber
man has his way there will not be left
single specimen of the sequoia gigantea
in California outside the comparatively
few embraced in the government reser-
vations The owner of the Calaveras
grove of big trees in California, which
the giants measuring over 400 feet high
and over 100 feet in circumference, has
threatened to cut every one of the trees
down if the government does not buy the
grove. No doubt he has already COM
menced the destructive work.
The nation has approved the setting
apart of the Yellowstone National park,
where specimens of the big game of the
country are kept in security and saved
from extinction, which would otherwise
have been their fate. These great trees,
or many of them, were in full adolescent
vigor when Abraham left Ur of the Chal-
dees for his western journey to lay the
foundation of the Jewish polity on the
shores Of the Mediterranean. They were big
trees when from the Asiatic continent
poured the civilized races who built the
imposing temples and palaces and other
structures in Central and South America.
1t is desirable to preserve these hoary
antiquities which remain to us. 1t is de-
sirable to utilize the economic services
of the Titans of the forest for the pro-
motion OF moisture for the benefit of agri
culture. There are strong economic as
well as aesthetic reasons for preserving
these gigantic trees.
The government should be authorized
by congress to purchase and include in
the national forest reservations all the
tracts forested with the sequoia gigantea.
There are fifty national forest reserves
in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and
California embracing about 46,O0O,0 900
acres.
Presidents Cleveland, Harrison and Nc
Kinley each contributed to this good work
in the face of opposition from timber
depredators and sheep owners. Public
sentiment has sustained the establish
ment of these reserves and the agricul-
tural department is now engaged on a
working plan for forest conservation,
which will doubtless yield good results.
New York has set apart 1850, 600 acres
for conservation, besides extending the
process to some 2,5OO,OO0 acres of private
reserves, and New York, Connecticut and
Massachusetts have led the way in the
establishment of schools of forestry. and
their example is followed by other states,
so that it is evident that the public con-
science is appreciably quickened on the
subject of forest preservation and conser-
walton.
The redwood forest devastation in Cali
fornia must be arrested. Vast areas COW
cred with the Titans have been denuded
and the big saws of the saw mills have
reduced the great trunks to boards, and
the shingle mills have absorbed what re-
mains. The proper source of protection
is the national government, which has
already set apart $4,000, 900 acres for for
est reservations to be treated scientifical-
ly. 1t is a matter of equal Importance
with the irrigation of our arid lands be-
tween the Missouri and the Rockies, for
without moisture irrigation is farce.
and if we would maintain the integrity
of our water courses we must guard we'll
our forests about the headwaters of the
streams.