Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-04-10
SHEPARD GIVES
An ADDRESS ON
FORESTRY At u
Tells Enthusiastic Student
ASSembIage of Need Of
Tree Conservation In An
Arb0r Day Talk.

Great enthusiasm and college
Spirit was shown at the student
body assembly at the state univcr-
sity yesterday. President Hill in
an opening address urged the stu
dents to finish the quarter at the
university, condemning the praC-
tice of leaving early with the eN-
pectation of returning for the fat!
term. He reminded the students
that y Of per cent of the popu-
lation of the United States is com
posed of college men and "a per
cent of these are leaders in profess
sions, craftsmanship and industry.
Ward Shepard of the local dis
triCt forest office. was the speaker
of the morning and delivered an
Arbor day address on the Forests
of the Southwest
ITO the average person" Mr..
Shepard declared, "a forest is like
cut there is nothing left but waste
land. To the forester, however,
timber is a crop-1ust as wheat is
a crop-with this difference, that
whereas wheat can be grown in a
year, crop of trees requires from
so to 250 years to come to matur-
ity. The growing of a whole forest
then is the work not of one for
ester, or several foresters, but of
successive generations of forcSJcrS
all working to the same end.
However long it takes, the chief
aim of foresters is 20 replace u ma
ture forest, harvested for its lum-
Der. by a new crop of trees thdt
win ultimately grow to maturity
and be harvested. And so they
keep up the process for centuries
"For three centuries the pioneers
of America-the men who have
pushed forward the frontiers of our
civilization-have found opposed to
them the hoWiing wilderness, They
came to regard the interminable
forests of North America as a nui-
sanCe. a hindranCe to farming and
opening up the country, Then,
with the development of the coun-
try, sprang up the lumber industry.
Until the last half century Amerl-
cans regarded their forest resources
as absolutely ineXhausuble, Mile
by mile. year by year. the lum-
berman's axe has hewed It's way
from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
leaving behind a desert in place or
our great primeval forests. This
sDirit of wastefulness came NOT
only from the idea that our forest
resources are limitless. but also
from the traditional land policy of
our government.
Mr.. Shepard went into some de-
tail as TO national forest manage
ment. telling how timber sales are
conducted, the methods of grazing
livestock on the forests, and the
opportunities for camping tlshlng'
and hunting in the forests ne
predicted a great increase in the
recrcatiCaal use o. national Tor
ests. He described fire as the
great enemy OF forests, and point
ed out the enormous annual waste
due to forest fires,
In closing, the speaker empha
sized the great conservation move
ment now springing up with new
Vitality, The greatest forestry
problem now before the country,
he said. lis the extension of the
practise of scientific forestry to
trivate lands. First of all must
cctne a stoppage Of devastation Of
timber LANDS in private ownership.
Moreover the states and tie federal
royernm mt must greatly increase
The area of the public forests py
the purchase of cut-over timber
lands. Unless this forestry pro-
gram is put into effect America
will ultimately be faced with n
timber famine that will strike AT
the roots of our whole Industrial
life"