New-York tribune., 1907-09-02
FOREST SPOLTATION.

Secretary Wilson has returned from trip
through the Far West with firmer conviction
than ever that the forest areas in that section
can be preserved only by the strictest adherence
10 the administrators enlightened forest re-
serve policy. He reports an approaching iuih-
Der famine. due largely to the wasteful metnods
of the lumber companies which iD their desire
for immediate returns neglect All safeguards
against denudation. He is quoted as drawing
this indictment against the get rich QUICK
lumber operators:
Vast quantities of timber are being Wantonly
destroyed every year This destruction taxes
place lands which privately owned, anu
big timber is cut the branches are left TO dry
and become fire trap. Then Wnen hTe Il
started it devastates great stretches OF ianu'
killing all the young timber ana IN mahH i -.
stances leaving an absolute desert behind 1t
Large lumber companies which forn1erIy olu the
same thing in Michigan have gone west ana
bought great tracts of land. and when the big
timber has been harvested they nave TAKEN III n9
further interest in the lands and have allo"eh
the fires TO destroy the forests OF the future.
Mr. Wilson contrasts this needless and un-
economic exploitation of our forest resources
with the scientific forestry methods employed
on the government reservations, and says that
while the losses from fires last year on all the
federal forest tracts amounted 10 only Si6,ooo,
the losses on private holdings IN the STATE
of Washington alone We're over $ooO,ooO. Inc
only hone of an adequate timber supply for the
future. he concludes. rests on the maintenance
and enlargement of the federal forest reserves.
The reckless and destructive treatment of the
earth's natural resources is a fault OF Wnich
as nation We are not yet sufficiently con-
scious For three centuries We have been strug-
Cling 10 subiugate continent, and we have ac-
oujred the wasteful habits which go with sucn
a struggle We have not Yet felt the pressing
need of frugaiity and replenishment. PROFESSOR
Shaler, in the preface TO his suggestive niue
volume Man and the Earth, - laid stress on this
falling when he said:
As a teacher of geology have seen that there
Is q conDlete lack of understanding IN our COM
nuni;ies as to the duty owe 10 our successors
in the use of these limited resources lthose ol
the earthI. In this regard our conduct Is Ike
that of children who take the good that comes 10
them with thought OF the hereafter iiis
attitude of men as regards the future OF tLe
material values of the earth notably contiasCS
with that they hold TO the moral ana pohncdi
future of their kind.
President Roosevelt mas urged a policy OF
conservation which will keep intact for future
use large sections of forest area in the Far
Western states. This policy, though enliSht-
ened foresighted and in line with true economy,
has excited opposition from those who prefer 10
make the most of the present and let the future
take care of itself Local self-interest and the
desire for rapid development lead impatient
small communities In the Far West TO welcome
an exploitation of natural resources, though at
an enormous ultimate sacrifice. The western
Iumbermen are as willing to exhaust the timber
lands as the Southern cotton planter under
slavery was 10 exhaust the soil of the South
But Secretary Wilson finds modification OF
the earlier spirit of hostility TO the Presidents
forest reserve policy and reports that Western
sentiment is beginning TO recognize the prudence
of nursing and replenishng the Vests rapidly
diminishing timber supplies. As time goes on
the benefits of conservation will be more hp-
parent, and the Far West, like the rest of the
country, will applaud the provision which saved
fage.