The Daily Missoulian., 1909-01-16
STUDENTS HEAR LECTURE
ON FORESTRY SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
Second Lecture of Series to Be Delivered Before Under
graduates Is Given by F. A. Slcox, a Prominent
Officer of District No. 1-Text of Address,


the University of Montana by F. a
Silcox, assistant district forester OF
district NO i. The lecture, Whlch
was illustrated by stereopticon shdes'
came as the second in series of for-
estry talks that will be given by To-
cal officers of the service, MT Sill
cox spoke as follows:
In the light of modern naval con-
struction, with it's efforts to eliminate
timber and substitute steel, IL no"
perhaps seems strange ana Almost
amusing to us to learn that the nrsl
move on the part of our national gov
ernment towards reserving some OF lts
lands in order to perpetuate the supply |
of timber. was in 1899, when congress, |
fearing the exhaustion Of the live oak |
| forests and believing we were going |
| to need it to supply wooden navy
provided for the setting apart OF GER
| tain timber lands for this SPECIFIC pur-
| nose. This was just short time alter
we had severed our connections Win
rne mother colony. We were still IL
| the l3-colony stage and small lanu
owner. But, with the acquisition OF
| the empire west of the Mississippi IN
the beginning of the nineteenth Gentry,
the United States became one of the
largest land owners in the world. The
initiation OF some plan of adminlstra-
tion for these lands, aggresating over
900 900 900 acres, became absolutely
necessary. In 1884, the first commit
tee of congress was appointed to IN
vestigate this subject and to outline
scheme of management for the public
lands. In the plan submitted, paruc-
ular emphasis was laid on the neces-
sity of developing the agrlcui'urai
lands. This was without doubt inc es-
sential work to consider first, for pri-
marily, settlement was necessary TO
secure the use of these great areas
; Under the liberal terms offered by the
government for making homes in this
new country, agricultural development
, was yery rapid. With this develop
ment, however, the land was found TO
have valuable uses other than for ag-
riculture. Some lands for example
were found to be more valuable lot
mineral So in order to encourage de-
- yelopment of these resources, the MIN
eral laws were passed. very htlle
now seemed to be necessary TO insure
continued development. But the fund
amental factor that timber was 1mper-
atively necessary in this development
seemed UP to this time to have peer
left out of consideration. 1t was neces
p sary to provide some means by "hlci
| timber could lawfully be taken IRON
| the public domain to supply tnes'
needs To meet this situation th'
act of June 8, 1878, was passed, whlcl
. allowed the cutting of timber on min
-. -, eral lands, for mining, agricultural
=, and other domestic uses. This act, ia
miiarly known as the timber an
- stone act, provided also for the sal
of land with the timber at minimum
price per acre. Two things determin
any line of action-eXigency and prin
- ciple In this case it was the eXls
-, ency of meeting, during the pioneerin
-, stage. the Immediate demands TO
- timber AS q result, considerable
~ of the principles of a definite polio
- - for the management of these timbe
W W lands was clearly out of the question
Again. the feeling at that time wa
that the forests were ineXhaustlbl
With this attitude, the fact that
was essential to put into effect som
plan of conservative forest nanagt
ment 10 insure d COIlIlIiuouo ruPPiJ
"a, timber could hardly have been full
lv appreciated However, prior to tf
granting of practically unlimited Vi
of timber on the public lands, 1t wa
realized by some far-sighted men
l.. congress that a comprehensive syste
os managing the nations timber Wou
~ have to be adontcd, and a bill Wi
,n+ that object in view was introduced
at early as 1871, but failed Of passas
- The time was not ripe, timber WI
A.. aboundant everywhere. The develo
49, mert of the entiia country, howevt
IVA continued to increase in an almost ]
-. credible rate, and concondtantly wi
~ It. Increased the demand for II, al
~ the use of tim Der. Tho necessity +
10 securing some information concern
the timber conditions in the Unit
States became more and more pres
ing, and, in 1876 the first appropri
tion-$2 000-was made to employ
tho competent man for this purpose.
,an result of this investigation, an 6
or. was passed on June 30, 1886. creati
,rm division of forestry in the depa
oc- ment of agriculture The work of t
as. division was necessarily, for the fl
90 few years, purely investigative, sir
aan no work of this character had e'
riff been done IN this country ana 'h'
or were no precedents to follow. The
,ich termination of the distribution a
range of tree species, the classificat
of the general forest areas of
country, the identification of woo
vo,, etc, were the principle lines of inv
- a tigative work.
VIII Unsatisfactory.
r If
-, In the meantime, the vast areas
ent. .he Puoiio 'iiiloei i.,'iO' .. -
r,ar be cut over under the exigency la
already mentioned. Since these Ia
did not provide for any supervision
the cut-over areas, but left the EN-
matter in the hands of the opera
mn the results could hardly have been
ma pected to prove entirely satisfactt
in Large bodies of the finest timber Ia
din of the country were cut over un
,day the usual methods OF RAPID eAPio
N. tion whereby the cream of the tim
is taken and the area left in c
dition to invite destruction of the
naming timber and young growth
fire. These inroads on the timber
n of sources which We're once thought
dron exhaustible soon began to be apl
,g. ciated. realization of the situa