The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-09-29
Forestry important in National Develop.
ment.

ment.
"A very few years ago forest
conservation was little more than a
phrase; today it is a vital issue in
our national Development, says
Treadwell Cleveland. Jr,, in circu-
lar on the status of forestry in this
country, which has just been issued
by the United States Forest service.
In connection with the general plan
to conserve all natural resources, it
is the most important and far-reach-
ing economic policy ever adopted
and pursued by any nation.
1.-THE forest is one Of the chief
supports of the whole material fab
ric of our civilization. The forest
means not only a permanent supply
of wood and the life of all the in
dustries which depend upon it, but
also the control of the waters for
human use. There is only barren
ness in the future Of the nation
which has lost the use of wood and
the control of water.
"The sort of use that was made
of natural resources during the pio-
neering stage, while right enough
at the time, is far too wasteful to
be carried on into the new indus
trial era. In order to know how to
use thing, however, it is necessary
first to find out how much of it
there is to use. and taking stock of
our sorest refources has led to start
ling results.
1T has shown that we are still
destroying the forest as we use it;
that we are taking from it every
year three and half times as much
wood as is added by the new growth.
1t has shown that less than one-third
OF the growing trees felled by the
lumberman is ever used at all, so
that two-thirds of all the timber cut
is simply destroyed. 1t has shown
that over ninety-nine per cent. of
the forests in private hands-which
comprise three-fourths of all the
forest land and four-ffths of all the
woods thus devastated by destruc-
tive use and the scourge of un-
checked fires, while less than one
per cent. is properly handled for
successive crops or effectively pro-
tected from fire. The forest as a
resource is rapidly being obliterated.
But the inventory Of the forests
has had yet other ugly facts to re-
veal. With the disappearance and
deterioration of the mountain for
ests the nation is losing control of
the streams, which are useful in our
civilization in ways and degrees un-
paralleled by any other resource.
Pure water for domestic purposes
is, of course. INDISPENSABLE; disable
water at the right seasons is the
sole reliance of the great projects
by which the arid lands are vivifed
by irrigation; cheap water trans
portation is matter of dollars and
cents to every citizen; trustworthy
power streams are the key to the
age of electricity, at the gates of
which modern industry is standing.
Yet the guardian of the waters is
steadily compelled to retreat before
the ak and fire.
1T is not use which destroys the
forests. but waste. Not use as such,
but destructive use, combined with
inexcusable neglect, is causing the
forests to dwindle under our pro-
gressive demands upon them. The
problem, therefore, is not to be
solved by disuse. but by wise use
and protection. These together will
so stimulate forest growth that the
needed wood may be harvested
without depicting the stock on hand,