The Winslow mail., 1925-05-01
National Forests of
Arizona
Prepared by the Southwestern
District, U. S. Forest Service.

District, .. S. Forest Service.
Little does one realize as one
! speeds through portions of Ari-
Zona on a fast transcontinental
train, or motors along a desert
highway, that the far-away blue
mountains are clothed with timber
/ Yet it is true that the mountains
OF Arizona contain the largest I'M
broken expanse of virgin western
yellow pine timber in the United
States. One vast forest extends
from north Of Williams, in a south
easterly direction, for about 300
miles air line, almost to the Rio
Grande in New Mexico. A large
part of this timber is situated so
far from railroads that it has not
been possible to log it. Most of
the national forests in Arizona
have been located in this timber
belt. The other forests cover tim
bered mountains that are detached
from the main body of timber.
There are nine national forests
in Arizona, covering an area of
more than 100000 acres and
bearing a total stand of more than
14,500,000 900 feet of saw timber
and 11,500,000 cords of wood. They
contain 73 per cent of the timber
hof the state, and under their pres
ent conservative management are
supplying much of the present de-
mand of the state for lumber, and
will go long way toward meeting
the requirements of the future.
Already flourishing and we'll
established lumber industry uses
these forests as source of supply
The amount now annually cut can,
however, be considerably increased
before the productive capacity of
the forests is reached.
The national forests are under
the jurisdiction of the forestry
service, a bureau of the United
States department of agriculture
All the resources. of the national
forests are for use. 1t is the policy
of the government in their admins
tration to make them in perpetuity
most useful to the greatest number
OF people. In accordance with this
policy, the timber resources of the
forests are handled as a crop un-
der approved forestry practice, and
it is proposed ultimately to cut
about the same amount each year.
Under such a system it is believed
that the productive capacity of
these forests can be largely in
creased, and that an annual timber
supply which will make possible
the establishment of a permanent
lumber industry is assured the
state.
The cut of timber from the Ari-
zona national forests in 1923 was
100000 feet. Although there
are some large operators, much of
this timber was cut by men having
small mills. AS these forests are
further developed the timber cut
no doubt will increase until their
productive capacity is reached.
which is we'll over 100,000000 feet
of timber annually. 1t may there
fore be expected that in the future
local material will take the place of
much of the lumber that now enters
Arizona from the Pacific coast.
The worst enemy of the forest
is fire Where fires burn, no for
ests can be produced, and although
fires in the yellow pine forests of
Arizona rarely kill mature trees,
they damage them and burn up
young trees which would otherwise
form the new crop. Forestry is
therefore impossible where forest
fires are allowed to burn uncon-
trolled. and the first duty of the
national forest administration is to
protect the forest resources against
fires.
About one-half of the fires on
Arizona national forests in 1928
were the result of the carelessness
of man. The rest were caused by
lightning. OF those caused by man
nearly two-thirds were due to
campers and smokers. Much dam
age to the forests could, therefore,
be prevented if persons who go
into them would be more careful.
The forest administration requests
the cooperation of the public, both
in preventing fires and in report
ing them if they do occur.
A large grazing industry is de-
pendent for range upon the nation
al forests of Arizona. In fact,
! much of the summer range of the
state is located upon these forests,
to which the cattle naturally drift
and the sheep are driven in the
spring. About 100000 head of cat
tie and 100000 sheep find range
on these mountainous areas. AL
though there are some very large
stockmen using national forest
range, the great majority of the
grazing permittees are owners OF
small herds, and many of them
have farms in connection with their
production record sales reports
from the field show no signs OF