The Cordova daily times., 1920-12-24
SAYS FORESTS EAST ROCKIES
 DEVASTATED


 Rocky mountains are being devastat- ed so rapidly by cutting and burning that the nation soon will be depend ent for the bulk of it's construction cific coast, William B. Greeley, Unit l: ed States forester, declares in his an nual report made public today The situation, MT. Greeley says, is one that affects the public welfare of the entire country and he urges a fed ] eral law to stop the devastation of the remaining forests and to put the idle I forest lands at work.
 l "Two-thirds of the original forests of the United States have been culled, cut-over, or burnt, and three fifths of their merchantable timber is gone," said MT. Greeley. The country Is taking about 26.OO0,OOO cubic feet of wood annually from it's forests and is growing about 6000, 100000 cubic feet We are cutting timber of every class, even trees too small for the sawmill, much faster than they are being re- placed in our forests. There are still large quantities of timber in the Unit ed States, but they are not in the right place. Sixty one per cent of what is l; left lies west of the Great Plains, far from the bulk of our population, agri- l: culture, and manufactures. The ex- haustion of one forester section after reflected in rising transportation. The distance between the average l: sawmill and the average home builder is steadily increasing; and we shall soon be dependent for the bulk of our construction lumber upon the forests of the Pacific coast These condi- the high cost of lumber, which, dur : ing the year, reached phohibitive figure for many uses and checked the building of homes which is so urgent ly needed.
 "We have used up our forests with out growing new ones. At the bottom of the whole problem is idle forest : land The United States containes 326000,000 acres of cut-over and de-
 nuded forests containing no saw tim
 ber: S1 000, ,000 acres of this have been
 completely devastated by forest fires and methods of cutting which de-
 stroy or prevent new timber growth.
 The area of idle or largely idle land
 is being increased by from 3,000,000 to 100000 acres annually as the cutting and burning of forests con
 tinue.
 "To stop the devastation and put
 idle lands to work the first step must
 be the enactment of federal law whose two chief provisions are CD a
 comprehensive plan of federal coop eration with the states in fire proven tion and the development of forestry practice. and (2) extension of the na- tional forests through purchases, through the inclusion of other timber
 lands now in federal ownership and
 through exchange"
 Speaking of a national forestry pol
 icy, MT. Greeley said the program } laid down by Col Graves has been
 further developed.
 '"This program" he said, "is based on the conviction that the problem of halting forest devastation is funda- mentally a national, not local, prob lem, and must be faced and handled as such At the same time it is felt
 that the speediest. surest, and most equitable action can be secured through dependence on the police
 powers of the states for the enforce ment of such reasonable requirements , as should be made of private owners and on the state governments for pro- viding organized protection of private : lands against fire.
 Because the problem itself is es- , sentially national--that is, one affect
 ing the public welfare of the entire country and requiring to be attacked as a whole, not piecemeal-both fed eral leadership and large measure of federal aid are obligatory. It should be obligatory upon private owners to apply the safeguards neces- sary to prevent devastation There is practical unanimity of agree ment that the first and most essen tial step is a nation wide protection from forest fires, applicable to all classes of forest land and borne joint