The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1923-08-03
FOREST CONSERVATION.

New York.--We,as a nation, have
been urged to halt certain classes of
building and let the erection of homes
go forward The problem seems to be
to keep business going and to keep
prices down, says an article In 1.-THE
Field illustrated" This question could
be more easily answered If we had
forest products close to the point of
onsumption-lumber I. o. b. the fac
tory door.
In Sweden and Norway they do
things much differently. Let us take
them as an example. Those countries
have been exporters of lumber since
before Columbus discovered America.
They also have enough for their own
use and still nave their forests.
But they do not have eighty million
acres of idle land as this country has,
THE Field" points out and then asks,
Why not new crops of trees? In the
United States there is that amount of
land fit for nothing but growing trees,
and great part of it is east of the
Mississippi river, which means that 1t
Is comparatively close to the manu-
featuring centers of the country.
In Sweden the school teacher takes
the children to the nearby forest once
week for little lesson on trees.
She shows them how the trees are
thinned to let the larger ones have
the light so they will grow big. She
shows them low the numbering al
ways allows for new crop of trees.
| COrdwoOd and timber for the owner
are the primary uses Of a woodlot. but
they are sources of revenue. too the
article in THE Field" continues. Ash
will bring good price when sold for
| tool handles, while black cherry is in
| demand for furniture; tulip poplar for
veneers and oak for furniture. If near
a city or town, cordwood brings good
prices.
AS the transportation problem be-
comes more acute and the population
| increases the importance Of having
| woodlots and town forests at work
cannot be overestimated.
One of the most important phases
of the American Tree Associations
educational campaign is the town for
est idea being taken up in some
places, particularly New England. If
a man wants to do big constructive
job for his town let him establish
town forest. Let him give the land
and call on the people to help in the
tree planting incidentally that man
will be erecting a memorial to his
name that will long outlive anything
else he might do for the community.
In Europe. municipalities control
their own wood supply and the local
! business organization uses it as an at
traction for all sorts Of industries.
How many municipalities can guaran-
tee wood supply to an industry
looking about for a suitable site?
The article then quotes Charles L.
Pack the president of the American
Tree Association of Washington, who
says:
This awakening to the value OF tree
planting has resulted in plans for this
work being made far ahead. The call
for tree planting suggestions has re-
suited in libraries reporting that
books on this subject are out all the
time. AS never before the people are
coming to see that the question Of
continued supply of forest products
close to the point Of consumption af-
fects them most directly.
"A fifty-six million acre area has
been swept by forest fires in period
of five years This is coming to mean
something to people who never gave
the matter a thought before. That
area is about the same size as the
state Of Utah. When millions of Amer
lean citizens get interested in one tree
they they are going to be interested
as never before in forestry questions.
The best way to get interested in a
tree is to plant one.
"The man who inspires his COM
munity to tree planting is benefac-