Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-04-14

many other localities, unless protec-
tive steps are TAKEN is all too evident
If allowed to remain in private hands
much of the splendid forest area of
Vermont will be left wasted and de-
nuded exactly as it has been i'll Penn
sylvania, New Hampshire, and Con
necticut, and already to an unfortunate
degree in Vermont. The men and wo-
men of the state must come to realize
the vital importance of state protec
ton and state ownership of our forest
lands.
The schools must teach the children
the. fundamentals of forestry, because,
unless we bring up the future genera
tions with thorough knowledge of
these needs | have mentioned, and UNI
less, during the next few years, vigor-
Gus steps are taken providing for the
setting aside of mountain areas for
preservation as well as reforestatiCn,
the children of today, who are cit
zens of tomorrow, will be face to face
with a problem which we of today
have helped to make most difficult
This is matter for the serious con-
sideration of the Federated Women s
clubs of Vermont. 1t is a field in
which the women of the state can be
of the utmost service. Without their
cooperation the work must necessari-
! " proceed slowly. The interest which
women have taken throughout the
country has very appreciably lengthen-
ed the strides of the conservation
movement and Vermont needs the aid
of women in its move for more and
| larger state forests, for reforestatlon,
and chiefly for the education of the
children.
A forestry committee in every wo'
man s club to cooperate with the For
estry Association of Vermont would be
an effective and valuable asset to the
clubs and to the state.
To Protect Water Supply and Scenery.
And now we come to our fifth and
last purpose: to protect the water sup
! ply and improve the scenery. We must
have water. Everybody knows that
but how many people are thinking
ahead on that question? Not many.
i We are sitting idly by while the lum-
I herman comes to our villages in the
| heights. sets up his engine, brings in
his foreign choppers, cuts off the for
ests, leaving our hills and mountains
! barren and bleak, almost worthless.
! What permanent benefit is it to you of
Woodstock, or Burlington, of Newport,
of Bennington, of Rutland, of the 246
towns and cities of the state? Are you
receiving the lasting returns that are
rightfully yours?
ITO, continue. our illustration of 'tho
lumberman: he has harvested his crop
or rather, our crop-yours and mine
and he has left our village and gone
! elsewhere to continue the same opera
tons All that remains of his sojourn
are the dismal trecless wastes, with
possibly sawmill standing by the
banks of the brook-an eyesore. Oh
well, you say, that land will soon grow
up again with trees. 1t will, but what
good are they to us? Berry bushes an(
brambles, thickets of bird cherry an,
thornapples will stand in place of The
pines and the hcmlocks. While this
blightcd growth is going slowly Oh
ward we hear of a spring that ha'
gone dry for the first time since any
body can remember, in fact, the stor,
has been passed down from father t.
son that it was never known to b
dry, even in the dryest seasons.
!, The Failing Brooks and Rivers.
] The brook on whose banks stand
. the dilapdatcd mill, now falling int
| hopeless ruin, has become smaller an,
t smaller each summer, sometimes jus
p mere tricklc, where once the trou
0 were wont to Turk. The brook follow
c the narrow winding valley down to tn
larger towns. Other brooks join it o
s the way, but they too are smaller tina
i before.
: The river that turns the mill-wheel
f at Bridgewatcr, West Woodstock
e Taftsville, Quechce and Dcwey's Mill
y is growing lower and lower each sue
r ceeding season. In the summer il
e necessary to put an extra addition o
r the dams that more water may b
e stored NJ to grind the grains, TO weay
the woolens and to generate the cle'
It tricity.
e The cities still further down Deepen
o upon the brooks and springs whic
o have, their source in the mountai
W towns. 1t is to MS here in the hills {
n Vermont that they look for water.
d the spring, with the melting of IL
. SHOWS and ice, the torrents come thu
,r dering down the hills, flooding the VA
leys, carrying away the bridges, wrec
v ing the railroads, swapping the has
e ments of the stores and homes in son
,r of our towns and making havoc gene
T. ally. And why?
III Simply because we have allowed o.
~ back hills and mountains to be dcnu
\ ed of their spongelike growth viii,
re formerly stored up the melting SNOW
W. Forests Taxed Too High.
Who is to blame? The lumbermal
No indeed He is doing just VIII
YOU or | would do under the same co
IS ditions. The people of Vermont al
On the United States are responsib
d. They have forced him to cut and c
he clean. He cannot do otherwise. Il
be ovcrtaXiug of forests compels the III
re- herman to use his timber. We &C
H. slider timber as real estate and We
d. after year We tax it like nine inste
rk of treating it as a crop.
of There are Woodlots in every town
MT the state upon which the ann
or growth fails to pay the taxes. For'
of property is assessed by including t
m value of the merchantable timber; ii
ny is, not only the machinery for prod