Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-03

Connecticut has two problems in for lestry that are of vital importance in the economic development of the state The first is the furnishing of an adequate
 supply of wood products for her indus tries and for the everyday needs of her citizens. The other problem is to secure from the 46 per cent of the land of the state that is now ciassed as forest or waste land, service that will contrib , ute in a wholly different manner than at
 present in building up the state.
 It may not seem to many persons that Connecticut is particularly concerned I with the manner in which the forests of Georgia. Tennessee or Oregon are ham Edled In point of fact every citizen of | I the state has an interest in the forest | 1 problem Of other states, for Connecticut i needs a large quantity of lumber and | of articles manufactured from wood, and l already 1t has to import over 70 per cent | of all the sawed lumber it uses and a l large part of the implements, furniture, l vehicles, and other articles made wholly l or in part from wood. A prosperous
 Connecticut will continue to need a large
 fquantity of wood products. The build
 ling of individual homes, the maintenance
 of our wood-using industries, the inn
 5provement sof the rural schools, the de-
 Evelopment of agricultural and rural com
 raunities, and the comfort and conyen-
 Hence of every householder, depend upon
 the ability to secure wood products at
 reasonable prices.
 Il There is still a large amount of timber
 in certain sections of the country. The point that concerns Connecticut is wheth- CT that timber is going to be available for it's needs, It is of little value in |, connection with our economic problems if the products are so expensive wnen they reach us that the average person
 lean not afford to buy them. We must now face the fact that the nearby virgin , forests are gone, that the. southern sup plies are approaching exhaustion, and
 that we must Increasingly draw upon the Pacific coast for the classsof material : which heretofore has been furnished at reasonable prices
 ] It is a national problem to stop the devastation of forests that continues throughout the country This is a prob lem that concerns Connecticut and every Q other state in the Union. Vigorous and ? effective federal legislation is required. n The support of such legislation is eefi- : nite duty of this association.
 But the national situation is only one s aspect of Connecticut's forest problem. s We have an immediate responsibility s with respect to our own forests The y aggregate area of the. forests of the ! state has been increasing but their ser q vice has been steadily declining Like 4 l1dAy OlHF =SdSLSTu states, we nave been n relying upon the forests of the south y and elsewhere to meet our needs. We If have not appreciated what our own for I ests mean in building up the state both l. through their products and locally in d maintaining prosperous rural industries # It is disconcerting t6 learn that the an- l7i nual production of lumber is progress 'f lively declining, that the forests are de )f teriorating in quality and volume Of yie.o n and that 1acc Ina nY1a- r. -y,f II,
 whole area of forest is under any form h Of forest management We are told l. that we might be producing 375 million 1T, feet year from about S6 per cent ol ,e our present forest area. That is equiva. k lent to our present requirements AnC In we are told that we could restock ou lv forest lands by the expenditure of only ia fraction of the amount we pay annual ot ly for the freight on lumber brought ii if from other states
 ce There is still another aspect Of tn, 1e local forest problem. We have not SD erj p1 eciated the economic significance e 1g having 46 per cent of our land area in 1e good productive condition rather thai
 a yielding an indifferent crop of trees O 2. lying idle. Forestry does not have as it ,d objective merely the raising of larg e. quantities of timber products for genera d. use. One great service of forests prop is erly handled is to sustain local indus
 tries, to afford a steady return to owner
 of land, and to support local /communi ~ ties and public institutions through tn te maintenance of taxable values on exten m min sive areas of land.
 It was a doctrine of Theodore Roosevelt -, that the greatest bulwark of our natio st would be the existence of a strong rurs ne civilization. His leadership gave tn Is Is stimulus to the rural organization move i-. ment that today is contributing so muc iS to improved conditions of country If, ,iy to the increased service of the school so and the church, and to new social an ,p intellectual opportunities in rural con ile nunities. For many years the. move .ol ment away from the farm in Connecticl ns has been matter of public concern. IT. ey abandonment of farms, the closing sm small manufacturing industries, tf t15 dwindling of villages, are tragic test ,e5 rnony of the breakdown of the industri; pc structure in many rural sections Whi lss agriculture and country life have bee no built up in portions of the state, thel @ $ 1 has been a progressive decline in oth, olg parts. Thus we find that the amount !
 improved farm land has dropped fro tai 1,642188 acres in 1880 to 701,0S6. acr by today. Forty years ago about half ln- the state was classed as improved Ian ,ri- The ratio is now less than one-fourt de- A portion of the land formerly in cult
 is Yation or pasturage may have been hts corporated in cities and towns or us
 be for industrial or real estate purpose nse The bulk of 1t has either reverted to
 he rather poor forest growth or Is whol hat unproductive. In proportion to its lai rith area, Connecticut is the fourth mo ave densely populated state in the Unic ant Few states face more acutely the pro hts lem of crowliing in the industrial cente like and the problem of absorbing the inn nly grants who swarm in from the near net. Iseaports. Yet Connecticut is failing our utilize it's own agricultural land to off: lur- the social problems of this congestit ted. land which half century ago served
 fa- crop production and stock raising.
 The results of such a decline in To, +h industrial developments are not ol
 as Enanifested in the abandonment of farr tSz There is a serious effect upon the tow +ts tt and villages that are intimately depe1 city ent upon the agricultural industry
 of the region. Connecticut has always be .,1s characterized bysa large number of sm ,ra. towns supported in part by the agric
 ara ture and in part by small manufacturi y7i1i industries. Even today, a considera
 o@ part of the rural population is in .,,,+ small towns. It is interesting to comp; ar our situation with that in Massachuse ;s4a o Connecticut has about 22,000 farr ,tI;o it Massachusetts has about 32,OO0s ..tr .sas, the rural population in Connecticut = .dsy twice as great as in Massachuset be a1,TI.,a+ia a.-s1 ~ s1tsa ss; raid .is pi E ls uty ba,. oe a,, le ...e c pray ,so+;o+ es1 - S5t =, n nIIT. fofa n111- 7o Tn