The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-11-30
NEW ENGLAND'S INTEREST
IN FOREST CONSERVATION
Said Clifford Pinehot, Chief Of the United
State Forest Service, in Recent
Address in Springfield,
Mass

Ma94
Laundering has always been, and still
Il, one Of the leading industries Of New
England" said Clifford Pinchot, Chief
o. United State Forest Service, in a
letter read at the recent dedication Of
the Myrick Farm and Home Building
In Springfield, Mass. when our fore
fathers after rough voyages in wooden
ships, first landed on the coast Of New
England, nothing impressed them more
In their new home than the great stores
u wood In the New England forests.
They raw their value at once; they
wrote home about them; they would
not allow them 10 be wasted or burned
For they had come from a country In
which the forests bad dWindled and wood
was dear enough to be protected and
fully used.
But as they explored the forests far
tber and farther and found no end. they
felt that here they have more wood
than they could ever hope TO use. So
their care for the forest relaxed In.
stead Of protecting il, they began TO
attack 1t and 10 cut 1t down.
so the forests recedcd and the fields
spread and this was well, for the farm
ers needed to bring as much land as
they could under the pillow, But while
the growth Of the farms is a good thing,
indifference to the forest can never be
anything but harmful. II Is possible TO
have too much forest; it is only too
possible, also, to have too little. As
long as the pioneers took the timber
from true farm land, all was well, but
when they began to carry the axe up
the mountain side and clear the slopes
where only thin soil covered the rock,
it soon became plain that nothing was
gained and that a great deal was lost
hy taking away the forests and leaving
nothing in their place.
Thus, without meaning ii and really
without doing anything wrong. the dan
ger point was reached in forest use in
New England, and that is where We are
now. There are few parts Of the country
which more greatly need 10 take a new
point Of view in handling the forests
the point Of view Of conservation.
If the lumber industry is to go on,
1t must, OF course gets the logs, and for
this reason it sounds plausible TO argue
that II You save the forests you win
stop the lumber industry. Yet this
would be one Of the greatest mistakes
anyone could possibly make 1t is true
that there is an old saving that You
can't eat your cake and have it too;
bur tho important thing about this say
ing is that It applies to cakes and other
things which do not grow, and which
once gone are gone forever. Forests
grow all the time, and the longer they
are kept the more wood can be got out
Of them III the long run, Sparing the |
ripe. understandable forest trees does mo- /
body any good not even the trees. /
They are made TO use. and the most that /
scientific forest management can do is /
20 use them best for the longest time /
Therefore, the best thing that can hap I
pen for the humber industry Is to use for. I
2Strv to keep the forests going. In a /
word. forest conservation is the life in /
surauce OF thel lumber industry.
"But to say that the New England 4
forests should he conserved because the /
wnod il needed, is To give only one rea. I
son The forests should he kept to main
lain the water powers OF the streams
and the channels Of the nayigahle rivers.
The principal wealth Of New England il 4
her manufactures, and her centers of /
manufacture are on the rivers which rise
n the mountain forests. These noun
ain forests, which are natural reservoirs,
IRE more valuable for the protection
hey give To the streams than Tor any.
hing else To humber them In the usual
Say, which leaves no hope Of future
.orest growth, IS not only 10 exhaust
he wood il Is TO make the water in the
greau,s ard rivers irregular in flow and
unreliable for use, and for part Of the
'eaf, either entirely useless or exceed.
ngly destructive. Tn hillv country
Without forests you have FIRST too much
water, then too little, There Is no rea-
on why the forests OF the White noun
airs and Of the Green mountains should
lot be made 70 yield up their lumber
n Tie proper way.
~r0e trouble is that you cannot depend
pen ordinary numbering TO 90 the prom.
2 way about it. These forests grow in
itustiops where only the utmost care.
oiued with the skin Of a trained forest.
r. ear take the wood which is ripe AZ
resent without leaving the steep slopes
arreH for many years. perhaps forever.
vou cannot have skilled iumberiup.
nth provision for the future. il would
e far better to leave the forests IN. (
oached, rather than risk forfeitinr /