Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-10-08
NATIONAL FORESTRY WORK
Importance of This Branch Now
Being Recognized and Be-
coming Political Issue

says Treadwell Cleveland, Jr in a
circular on the status of forestry
in this country, which has lust
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-reaching
economic policy ever adopted and
pursued by any nation.
The forest is one of the chief
supports of the whole material
fabric Of our civilization. The for.
est means not only a permanent
supply of wood and the life of all
the industries which depend upon
it, but also the control of the
waters for human use. There is
only barrenness III 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
pioneering stage, while right
enough at that time, is far too
wastcful to be carried on into the
new industrial era. In order to
know how to use a thing, how
ever, it is necessary first to find
out how much of it there is to use,
and taking stock of our forest
resources has led to startling re-
suits.
1t has shown that we are still
destroying the forest as we use it,
that we are taking from it every
year three and one-half times as
much wood as is added by the
new growth. 1t has shown that
.ess than one-third of the growing
tree felled by the lumberman is
ever used at all, so that two thirds
of all the timebr cut is simply de
stroyed 1t has shown that one
eleventh Of all the forests are
swept by fires every year, and that
on the average since 1870 forest
fires have yearly cost $50,000,000
in timber and fifty lives, 1t has
shown that over ninety-nine per
cent Cf the forests in private hands
which comprise three-fourths of
all the forest land and four-fifths
of all the woods thus devastat-
ed by destructive use and the
scourge of unchecked fires, while
less than one per cent is properly
handled for successive crops or
effectively protected from fire.
The forest as a resource is rapidly
eing obliterated.
"But the inventory of the for
ests has had yet other facts to re
veal. With the disappearance Of
and deterioration of the mountain
forests the Nation is losing con
troll Of the streams. which are use
full in our civilization in ways and
degrees unparalleled by other re.
source. Pure water for domestic
purposes is, Of course. indispens-
able; uSeable water at the right
seasons is the sole reliance of the
great projects by which the arid
land are vivifed by irrigation;
cheap water transportation is a
matter Of dollars and cents to
every citizen; trustworthy power
streams are the key to the age of
electricity, at the gates OF w9icF
modern industry is STANDING. Yet
the guardian of the waters is
steadily compelled to retreat be-
for the ak and the fire.
I'm waste alone we reject more
than two-thirds of the lumber that
might be taken from the standing
trees. At least half of this waste
is unnecessary. In the first place
we waste the forest by refusing
to take advantage of its full capa-
Lefty, for growth. Protected and
properly managed, our forests Wit
Iproduce far more wood than they
do at present. But while it is
wasteful to cripple the forest by
a violent numbering which de-
Istroys young growth-the promise
of the future forest--it is doubly
wasteful to luck up the forest
and let the ripe forest die and de
cay, for in the former case the for
est at least contributes temper
airy supply of wood, whereas in the
latter case it contributes no wood
at all.
ut is not use which destroys
the forests, but waste. Not use as
such, but destructive use, com
Ibined with inexcusable neglect,
is causing the forests to dwindle
under our progressive demands
upon them. The problem, there
fore, is not to be solved by dis
use, but by use and protection.
These together will 50 stimulate
forest growth that the needed
wood may be harvested without
! l.Io4;ro. +bo e+ook ON hand and