The Parker post., 1914-06-06
ARIZONA
FORESTS
MANY DELIGHTFUL PLACES IN
FOREST RESERVES OF THIS
STATE TO SPEND YOUR SUM-
MER VACATION.

| by Clifford W. McKibben forest eX-
aminer, Apache National Forest, will
be of interest to readers of this pa
! per. Arizonians are invited to spend
their summer vacations in the forest
reserves of the state, where goodhunt-
one request-that you take proper
care of your fires In part, Mr. Nc
Kibben says:
ITO the casual observer of Ari-
zOna, let us say the coast to coast
traveller on either of the Translate
railways discussion of Arizona
forest wealth would not hold forth
an appeal, the word forest might
even seem a misnOmer. Where are
they?' he might ask, particularly had
he passed through Flagstaff during
the night.
And might not many OF our own
Arizonians ask this same question? 1t
is unfortunate perhaps that such
small portion of the great timber re-
sources of the state can be seen from
the car window. Yet the magnifi
cence OF Arizona's forests has been
withheld from the eye of the casual
observer only to be spenldidly open
ed to the motorist, for some of the
best roads in the state are now be-
ing built through the forests. The
routes most enjoyably travelled, most
eagerly sought by tourists are thro-
ugh the cool pine woods and with
the ever increasing automobile travel
our timber wealth must soon become
known.
Between the two main line rail
roads, extending from the New Mexico
boundary west and northward for a
| distance of some 300 miles, lies
heavily timbered belt SO to 70 miles
wide, covering an area of approx
mately 10000 square miles, nearly 20
per cent of the area of the state. In
addition to this compact and almost
neighborhood of $500 square miles
of timberland scattered in the south
ern mountain ranges. For the most
part these great areas bear stands OF
yellow pine and Douglas fir ripe for
cutting, ready to fill the needs of
growing state Scattered at lower ele
rofi ~ 1iTl0r mir
pine, oak and cypress principally i'm
portant as a protective covering to
watersheds and as a fuel wood. A
large part of the pine and fir saw
timber is at present practically mac
cessible being distant 40 to 100 miles
from the nearest transportation lines,
nevertheless each year the saw mills
of Arizona are producing millions OF
feet of first class lumber much Of
which finds it's way outside the home
market.
Thirteen million acres OF this tim
Der area are publicly owned, the
peoples property, and under the
supervision of the forest service OF
the department of agriculture, are
administered in twelve units or for
ests While the entire responsibility
and total cost of administering this
land devolves upon the government, 30
per cent of the earnings of the for
ests through the sale of timber and
grazing privileges are turned over
to the state each year. Here then
is a steady and sure yearly income
to the state without any expenditure
or risk, not even encountered with
collection costs as are other revenues.
In 1912 this forest revenue added
STA 900 to the Golfers of Arizona.
This money is returned each year to
be used for public schools and roads
in the counties in which the forest
lies
''On the public forests every effort
is made to practice forestry-scien-
tific and business forestry-not a pro-
hibition of cutting, but a carefully
regulated cutting which will provide
for a young generation of timber and
insure a continuous supply of wood
to Arizona and Arizona's posterity
Forestry here means the growing of
timber crop, just as any agricultur
al crop, it's protection through the
long period to maturity and finally
its marketing.
"Of all the work entailed in the
raising of the woods crop that most
essential is it's protection from de-
stroying or even disturbing elements.
From the sprouting stage when as