East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-08-30
PERMANENT FORESTS
ESSENTIAL TO FARMER

PORTLAND, ore, Aug 3O.-ln re-
gions where timber is the most i'm.
portant natural resource permanent
forests managed with a view to sus-
tanned timber production are abso,
lutely essential to the continuance of
agriculture, according to an article
In the Year Book Of the Department
OF Agriculture Just published The
result of exploiting the timber with
out thought of the future Is the final
| disappearance Of numbering opera
tons and therefore the withdrawal
Of an important local market for
! farm products. In addition, forest
fires often ravage the cutover lands
and thus preclude the development OF
new local market by the resump-
tion Of numbering; for after fire there
is no chance for a new crop of trees
From a region where productive
| timberland has been converted into
/ a barren waste. the farmers usually
have to move out, There are parts
OF the United States in which culti-
vation OF the soil has ended with the
cessation Of local numbering, or at
| least shortly afterward, because with
the withdrawal Of the wood workers
went the farmers market for meats
vegetables, hay and grain. There are
other regions where the stability Of
local agriculture is absolutely bound
up with forest prosection, This is
J strikingly true in parts of the APP
plachian mountains of the east; it Is
lno less true in many 'of the national
forest regions Of the west.
A few years ago. continues the ar
mcle, more than a hundred farmers
in Montana petitioned against the
then proposed elimination OF their
SECTION from the Kootenai Nauona.
Forest. Its elimination they knew
! from the history Of adiaoGRt land
/ outside the forest, would mean that
| Il would at once be taken up by tim
/ be- spectators and lumber compa-
MES to be held for years without de-
vdlupment They knew also that II
/ this came about, neigh'oors could not
/ be obtained or roads and schools be
developed in tne county as rapidly as
/ II the land remained under govern
mental control by which the por-
tions really more suitable for agri-
culture than for forest purposes
would in time be entered by perma-
nent settlers under the forest home
stead act
In 1911 an association Of Colorz do
4 farmers, who irrigated their farms
with water from the North Platte
river, sent an urgent request to the
government TO restrict timber cutting
on the North Platte watershed sc
that, as far as possible, high spring
freshets could be prevented and more
Uater made available for irrigation
during the summer months, when the
/ crops were most in need. They said
that they relied upon the national
| forest within which the watershed
lay. to insure a steady flow Of water
for their crops.
The national forests, says the ar
ticle, besides being the American
/ farmers most valuable source Of
wood, which is the chief building ma
3 terial for rural purposes, are also his
most valuable source of water, both
for irrigation and domestic use In
( the west they afford him a protected
grazing range for his stock; they are
the best insurance against flood dam
age to his fields his buildings. his
bridges his roads, and the fertility
/ Of his soil, The national forests
cover the higher portions Of the
Rocky Mountain ranges, the Cascades,
the Pacific Coast ranges, and a large
part OF the forested coast and islands
of Alaska, some Of the hilly regions
In Montana and In the Dakotas, Okla
homa and Arkansas. and limited are
as In Minnesota, Michigan, Florida
and Porto Rico. In addition, land is
now being purchased for national
forests in the White Mountains of
New England and In the southern APP
palachians In regions so widely
scattered agricultural and forest
conditions necessarily differ to a great
degree bringing about corresponding
differences in the effect Of the ma.
tlonal forests on the agricultural in
terests OF the various localities
Where agriculture can be practlced
however, the farmer is directly BEN
Gifted by the existence of national
/ Fora.ta .s.A h. A.