Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07

With the season of forest fires at
hand and the news columns carrying
stories of thousands Of acres OF timber
consumed in single CONGREGATIONS, the
result OF survey carried on IN Mich
igan by the Forest Service OF the De-
partment of Agriculture comes as a
timely warning Of what the depletion
Of the forest lands Of the country
threatens to the future prosperity OF the
United States.
Fifty years ago. with her huge virgin
stands of timber seemingly mex
Michigan stood at the head
of the lumber producing States and
maintained this proud position for 30
years. Around this great industry other
related industries sprang up. Com
munities grew where once a few rude
shacks had been the only human habi-
tation. Business doomed and, as so
often happens when business booms
carelessness and waste crept In.
Michigan Now Seventeenth.
Michigan now stands seventeenth as
lumber producing state and her wood
land, which covered nearly 100000
acres a hundred years ago, has now
dwindled almost to the disappearing
point. Michigan once could boast of
approximately $50 billion board feet Of
saw timber. Now she has less than 8
per cent of It left.
This depletion of one of her great
natural resources has been serious
blow to the prosperity Of the State and.
serious as it is, what makes 1t even
more regrettable is the fact that fully
IS per cent of the original stand has
been wasted either through fire, care
less numbering or clearing and burning
over Of forest areas.
An indication of how the State has
dropped back in its lumber output Is
to be found in a comparison Of the fig
ures for 1889 and those representing
an average over the period from 1919
to 1925. In 1889, 5,400. 100000 board feet
of lumber were produced. In the 1919
1925 period, the annual output was
7S0, 900, 900 board feet.
With the decline Of numbering has
come companion decline in rural pros
perity. Entire communities have been
practically abandoned and the loss Of
market for farm owners has resulted
in a loss in farm population. The
great increase In land producing no
revenues has added to the burden OF
taxes borne by other parts of the State.
In Northern Michigan 1t is estimated
that fully so per cent of the land Is
Idle or bearing inferior stands OF tim
Der Of little potential value. In the
upper peninsula 30 per cent OF the land
is in similar situation. This land is
of little value for agricultural purposes
and as 1t now is. 1t represents heavy
waste of large sections which could be
employed in growing new forests.
The situation in Michigan is not
condition confined to the State, but
stands as an example of what may hap
pen all over the country If careless In
dividuals continue to start fires that
sweep to vast destruction before they
can be controlled If lumber companies
slash their way wastefully through the
timberlands they are working; and II
land once bearing trees is left to stand
idle or overgrown with scrub after the
numbering operations are completed.
Serious as are the conditions in
Michigan, they are not hopeless, for
the State officials have awakened to
the needs of the situation and the
planting of State forests is already I'M
derway. Some $4,000 acres, about l