Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-09
The Work of the Foresters

Pueblo has been very glad to have its guests the
past week of the engaged in the work in the
national forests of this state As result of this visit
many persons in this city have gained better idea
than they had of the work these doing and
understanding of how, and to what degree their work is
la benefit to the general interests of this city.
In the beginning of the development of the great
system of forest there naturally much op
position to this departure in dealing with the pub
lie lands Many western people felt that the federal
government was treating them unfairly in not con-
tnung the policy by which the vast of public
lands in the eastern states had passed into private
ownership The cattemen in particular, who had be-
come accustomed the using the open range without
restrictions from the government strongly op-
posed to plan that limited their privileges and that
imposed upon them for using what they had been
taking freely.
A remnant of this general opposition still ngers
but in the minds of the people generally there has
to be very high appreciation of the present policy of
the national government as it relates to the national
forests and higher regard for the work that
being done by the foresers in urherance of the plan of
Irecreationa development.
1t is possible that the plan of rapid segregation of
the public domain to private ownership thus making all
the property values of these lands available for local
taxation and with unrestricted grazing privileges free
to all during the transition period might have given
greater benefit to the people of Colorado for the years
that past But for the longer period, and with
due regard for the permanent interests of all the peo
pie of the state, the recreaonal development policy
applied to the national forests will surely give much
greater benefit.
The essential principle of that policy is to the
public domain for the particular purpose for which each
portion of that domain valuable The agricul-
tural lands to pass into private ownership for
as farms; the mineral lands to be developed into
mines; the sites suitable for reservoirs and for the
development of water power be utilized for those
purposes. Certain limited regions of great scenic
beauty grandeur to be preserved national
parks; others containing ruins of prehistoric buildings
nents Certain forest areas will be kept as national
forests, with due regard both to the production of lum
Der and the conservation of the water supply And be-
sides all these other certain regions wd be de-
veloped for rccrcaonal purposes, the Fairgrounds of
the nation.
Colorado is fortunate in sharing to so large an ex-
the benefits that are certain to come from this kind
of forestry development. Already the people are be-
ginning to understand what will be the certain result
of this building of good roads, this establishment and i'm
provement of camping grounds, this enforcement of
hygenic rules and other regulations in the national for
ests. 1t means that the people of Colorado will have in
these forests much valuable them than
would have been possible under the old system.
So long as the present policy is continued, and so
long as the foresers continue to carry forward that
policy for the public benefit, they should continue to
receive the largest possible of popular approval
and support