The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1922-12-01
FOREST SOIL MUST BE
KEPT PRODUCING WEALTH

~ ii'aUe ownership. A grow
ing proportion of the lumbermen of
the country recognize that the re-
forestation Of this land is neither .
lanclful theory nor a job to be Nasal
on TO the next generation" This was
the opening statement of MESSAGE
from Col. W. B. Greeley. chief forest
er, read at the annual meeting If +bo
Western Forestry & Conservation
Association in Portland on Nov q At
what was said to be one of the mos
important meetings ever held bv This
Association.
The main topic discussed at this
meeting was forest land use and an
thorities in many lines took part in
these discussions. Among the prom
lnent lumbermen present were Coo
). Long, Tacoma; A. w. Laird. pot
latch, Ida; I. ]. Humbird, Spokane:
Huntington Taylor, Occur d'4lena
Ida; w. A. Irwin, Seattle; Kenneth
Ross, Mont; lumbermen association
officers, A. w. Cooper, Western Pine
Mfgs. Assn; c. Stowell Smith. Cali
fornia White & Sugar Pine Assn
State Land Commissioners of Idaho
Ben f. Bush Moscow. Ida: promi-
nent educators, James T. Jardine
Director of Oregon Experiment sta
tons, and Dean Hugo Winkenwerder
University of Washington Forest
School; business men such as w. D.
b. Dodson, Portland Chamber of
Commerce, and c. C. Colt. First Ma
tional Bank of Portland; Dr.. E. P.
Meinecke, federal forest pathologist;
f. T. Allen and C. s. Chapman, West
ern Forestry & Conservation Associ-
alton; State and federal officers in
Guiding State Foresters T. A. Elliott
of Oregon, F. F. Pape of Washington.
and NJ. B. Pratt of California, and
|. 5. District Foresters P. G. Reding-
ton of California, Fred MorreH If
Montana, and Geo. H. Cecil. Of Port
land
The questions Of forestry re.
quirements in logging. reforestiar
and protecting cut-over land and ag-
ricultural development in the North
west were gone into at this two
day meeting by accredited federal.
state and private agencies.
Col. Greedy, who was unable to
leave Washington to attend the meet
ing, sent 3500-word message to the
agencies represented. Col. Greeley
said in part:
at is striking sign of the times
that this meeting of the Western
Forestry and Conservation Associa-
ton is devoted chiefly to the discus
sion of forest land use. The earnest
consideration Of this subject is in line
with the forward stand taken by the
Association in supporting national
legislation to promote reforestation
1t is in line with the active and HELM
full interest in forestry matters shown
by the President Of the National As
sociation of Lumber Manufacturers
The fact that many lumberren and
timberland owners now recognize
that the future use Of forest land i
tc large degree their problem, and
not somebody olse's problem is in it
self long stride ahead.
"Of necessity our national policy
can not be dictated wholly from the
standpoint Of the public; nor can It
be dictated from he standpoint Of
land owner. There must be a reason
able -and-take and a mutual as
sumption of risk in recognition Of the
interests or practical limitations i'm
posed upon the other.
at is my conviction that the start
ing point has got to be the right of
the public to tell the logger that cut
over land when he is through with
it, must be left in a productive condi-
ton; that in the process of convert
ing the valuable natural resource of
these lands into cash, reasonable pro
vision for a future growth of timber
must be made and its cost absorbe
as part Of the logging operation. This
proposition is in harmony with te
verdict of the Supreme Court on the
constitutional authority Of the states
N dealing with their natural rosour-
ees; and it seems to be in harmony
:lso wit the common sense reeds of
the situation in the northwest
"The conditions under which tho
owner of forest land had no interest
or concern in the growing Of timber
lave already passed in many parts
of the United States and are by wav
of passing everywhere" wrote Col
Greeley. in many more cases than
are now realized. reforestatior offers
today business opportunity. Emo
NOUS amounts Of small rough timber
are now logged on a very precariou
margin between cost and returns
Much of this class of material, LEFT
on the ground, will earn a handsome
rate of interest in added growth and
better quality, to say nothing Of cer-
tain increases in future timber vIl-