Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-28
the WooDlOT OF UNCLE SAM
NATIONAL FORESTS COVER
AREA GREATER THAN FRANCE.
All Woodland Reserves Do Not Grow
Trees-Value Of Brushland to
California Farmers.
Clifford Pinchot, in the Independent.

Clifford PiRchOt, In the independent
The United States now holds in national
| forests formerly called forest reserves.
about 165 600. 900 acres of land. This is a
| vast area-greater than all of France and
more than double that of the British
Isles. 1t is. however, but Z per cent of
| the total area OF the United States. AS
q permanent source of wood supply it is
| altogether Inadequate, by itself, even for
our present needs. Though most of the for
est upon it is still virgin. the timber now
standing would hold out against a rate of
consumption equal to that of 1906 (the
last year for which the figures have as
! yet been compiled) for not more than four
| or five years. Yet at the average price
which the forest service is now getting for
timber from the national forests this
| timber would bring. just as it stands in
| the woods. nearly enough to pay the ma
tional debt.
European publicists have held that from
one-f1fth to one-third of a country should
| be in woodland. No such sweeping rule
| can, Of course. be applied exactly: all the
| economic conditions must be taken into
| account. A country of high fertility and
dense population. like Belgium or Hol-
land. will do best to draw most OF its
wood supplies from abroad. The United
States however. must expect always to
grow most of its timber supply at home.
| Indeed. as the world-shOrtage of timber.
| which is certainly approaching. becomes
acute we must expect the competition of
| foreign markets for the products OF our
that we shall be able to fall back on
Canada. but Canada can give us nothing
| more than temporary relief. The Canadian
forests hold far less understandable timber
than has been supposed: growing In the
| north they grow slowly: and their output
| will. as the country develops, be in in
creasing demand for home use. to say
| nothing of the needs Of England and OF
| the Pacific trade. Rightly used. the land
| in the United States better suited to grow
| ing forests than to any other purpose
| should fully supply our needs; but 1t is
| important to remember that more than
! three-quarters Of this land is In private
hands and not In the national forests.
Even within the national forests not
| all Of the land belongs to the govern
ment and of that which does not all Is
timbered. These forests are set aside
| from those parts of the public lands
wholly or partly covered with timber or
underground, whether Of commercial val,
lie or not, provided that they were not
| more valuable for mining or agriculture
than for forest purposes They cover
therefore, generally speaking. the more
mountainous parts Of the west. where
to grow. but where the land Is too rough
or too high for farming Before they
were set aside as forests they were open
| to entry under the public land laws OF
| sprinxled with land claims and patented
| lands. Many OF them also were traversed
! by railroads which held land grants from
| the government. Even after they be-
came national forests they remained sub
| iect to mineral entry, just like any other
| part of the public domain. Hence the
national forests are broken by interior
holdings which. in few places. amount
! to as much as one-third the total area
| Just how much deduction should be made
| for these claims and perfected titles in
all the national forests is not yet known
| exactly, but it is probably as much as
| Is per cent.
| Treeless Lands.
| Again. the forests include a good deal
of land which does not now grow trees.
Some of it never will. This is the land
which lies above timber line and might
lust as well be left out of the forests II
it were not invariably surrounded by ma
| tional forest lands. and If 1t had any
value for any other purpose. There Is
| also the land from which the forest mas
been burned away. but to ~hlch IL WIN pe
restored again in time-a much larger
amount than the naturally barren lahu'
Further. in certain parts OF the west;
notab bly, in New Mexico. Arizona anu
southern California. much land has been
put into national forests which IS mercy
brushland. but on which the protectloh
of even this inferior growth is absolutely
essential to the water supply. There Is
hardly any other forest in the country
which is so we'll worth taking care Oh
from the point of view of the value Oh
| its return to the community as .he u Sni;
| chaparral of some of the southern cali
| fornia mountains. 1t may not grow one
respectable beanpole to the square mile
| but it pours millions of dollars into the
| pocketbooks Of the fruit growers on the
plain.
So. after all. Uncle Sans WOodlot mar
rows down considerably from the 49,
| 100000 acres nominally embraced in II.
when we begin to ask what we can count
on from it in the way Of providing Tor
our future need of timber. 1t is fortunate
| for us that We have other sources of sup
ply. The entire country contains perhaps
| 700 600 600 acres of land claSsed as WOOD
| land In it's present condition, however,
much OF this land is wretchedly poor. In
| truth a good deal of it is hardly better
| than waste. Its average yearly growth
| of wood is from one-fifth to one-tenth OF
| what 1t might be under the intelligent
pra ctice of forestry. Our main hope for
| the wood so essential to our industrial
! life must rest on improved methods by
| private owners. Uncle Sans woodlot Will
| not keep the country from timber
| famine.
Grazing on Forest Land.
| Grazing is another productive use OF
the national forests. Last year there
| were grazed on the national forests over
| 1 800, 600 head of cattle and horses. and
| nearly 100000 sheep and goats. This
| stock represented q total investment of
perhaps S44 coo. 900 and probable profit
! for the year to the owners. under the
| conditions of the recent past. of 5000
OOU. Through their use for grazing the
forests help sustain one of our greatest
| productive and one of our greatest manu-
| featuring industries-the live stock and
| the saughtering and packing industries.
The western farmer depends to a large
! extent on cattle from the range, feeders
| brought to him to be fattened on the corn
| which his plOWland has grown. Thus he
gets his crops to market. In summer
| the stock from the open range seeks the
| forage of the mountains within the ma
| tionai forests. Thus the use of the whole
| range country is largely dependent under
| present conditions, upon the power to
I craze within these forests. This if prop
| erly controlled, can be allowed without
! harm to the forest and with great bene-
| fit to the public. 1t would be altogether
| wrong to waste the great forage crops
| Der grows sparsely with much grass on
| the ground between the trees, and where
| the forests are broken by stretches of
mountain meadows and open parks.
For the right TO Craze within the for
| est Il small fee per head Is charged. To
prevent overgraZing-an evil which has
| seriously reduced the power of the range
| to support stock throughout the west. in
Guiding. before the adoption of the pres