Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-08-02
SAYS FARMERS DE-
PEND ON FORESTS
Forest Service Article Asserts
That Destruction of Woods
Means the Loss of Local
Markets.

Washington, July 29.-In regions
where timber is the most important
natural resource permanent forests
managed with a view to sustained
timber production are absolutely es-
sential to the continuance of agricul-
ture, according to an article in the
Year Book of the Department Of Ag-
riculture just published. The result of
exploiting the timber without thought
of the future is the final disappear
ance of numbering operations and
therefore the withdrawal of an i'm
portant local market for farm pro-
ducts. In addition, forest fires often
ravage the cut-over lands and thus
preclude the development of new To-
bering. for after fire there is no
chance for a new crop Of trees
From a region where productive
cumberland has been converted into
barren waste, the farmers usually
have to move out. There are parts
OF the United States in which cultiva-
ton Of the soil has ended with the
cessation Of local numbering. or at
least shortly afterward, because with
the withdrawal of the woods-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 protection This is
strikingly true in parts of the Appa-
lachian mountains of the East; it is
no less true in many of the national
forest regions of the West.
A few years ago, continues the arti-
Gle. more than a hundred farmers in
Montana petitioned against the then
proposed elimination Of their section
from the kootenai National Forest.
Its elimination they knew, from the
history of adjacent land outside the
forest, would mean that it would at
once be taken for years without de-
velopment They knew also that if
this came about, neighbors could not
be obtained or roads and schools be
developed in the county as rapidly as
if the land remained under govern
ment control, by which the portions
than for forest purposes would in time
be entered by permanent settlers un-
der the Forest Homestead Act.
In 1911, an association Of Colorado
farmers. who irrigated their farms
with water from the North Platte Riy-
er, sent an urgent request to the
government to restrict timber cutting
on the North Platte watershed. SO
that. as far as possible, high spring
freshets could be prevented and more
water made available for irrigation
during the summer months, when the
crops were most in need. They said
that they relied upon the national for
est, within which the watershed Law. to
ensure steady flow Of water for their
crops.
The national forests, says the arti-
Gle. besides being the American farm
er's most valuable source of wood.
which is the chief building material
Tor rural purposes, are also his most
valuable source Of water, both for ir-
rigation 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 areas
in Minnesota, Michigan, Florida and
Porto Rico. In addition, land is now
being purchased for national forests
in the White Mountains of New Eng
land and in the southern Appala-
chians In regions SO widely scattered
agricultural and forest conditions nee
essarily differ to a great degree. bring
ing about corresponding differences in
the effect Of the national forests On
the agricultural interests of the yari-
Gus localities. Wherever Agriculture
can be practiced, however, the farmer
is directly benefited by the existence
OF national forests and by their prop
or ~ Nc DaSneuf