Show FORESTS OF TIlE THE r UNITED STATES Figures of the Inventory Pre Presented Presented Preto to the Joint Conservation Con Conservation Conservation Conference REPORT OF SENATOR SMOOT STARTLING ARRAY OF FACTS BROUGHT OUT IN DISCUSSION DISCUS ION ashington Dec Dee I te nest first fig ices jes of the inventory of the forests of the hr United states State which the national commission has made m presented to the conference by w r Reed need Smoot of Utah chairman chair of or the thep nan man of the section of forests p Senator Smoots report report Isa is isa a J summary of the great mass of s sta statistics stati Inventory represents represents ti tics which the first represents six The Th report months work on the part par of the forest section and represents the most striking striking striking ing figures of the forests Inventory in part the report is as follows f What Forests Do Next ett to our need d of food and water mes our need of or timber Our Out indus Indus Industries tries subsisting wholly or mainly upon the of more than one wood pay pa wages wag and million men and women Forests not only grow timber but they hold the tho soil soli and they conserve streams for all useful purposes How far forests Increase the rain is not yet et Known It Is well known that they the check wind and work against excessive eat heat or cold That they make for the fiber Aber ber health and happiness of oC e each fo citi citizen citizen citizen zen and of the nation has been known tree luce history b bt began san gan The fish which live in forest waters furnish each year worth of food find and nt mt is s than half as much j i b by Same gamp which could not exist without the forest I Our firc Ares Is s now cover owr it of the Unit i T r s F or r ab at ed States Stat s The original forests tor covered not less than acres or nearly Forests publicly owned cover corer oner one n fourth of the total forest area and ana an contain of or all timber stand standIng standIng standing Ing Forests privately tely owned dover t ver of oC the area and contain t of or the standing timber The timber privately owned Is not only ani four times that publicly owned but It Itis ItIs itis is generally more valuable Forestry is now practiced pra on 10 70 0 per percent percent percent cent of the forests publicly owned and andon andon andon on less than 1 per cent of the forests privately owned or on only o ly 18 per cent of the total forest area What Is It Produced The yearly growth of wood In our forests does not average more than twelve cubic feet per acre This gives elves elvesa gesa a total yearly growth of less than cubic feet We Ve take yearly yearl including waste haste In logging and In manufacture cubic feet of wood from our forests We use each year cords of ot firewood feet of lumber more than posts poles potes and fence rails hewn ties 1500 staves over oyer sets of ot heading nearly barrel hoops cords of native pulp wood cubic feet fe t of round mine tim Um timbers timbers Umbers bers and cords of wood for distillation What Is Wasted Since 1870 forests fOrets fires have each year destroyed an average of fifty lives 3 and worth of timber Not less than acres of oC forest is burned over yearly of the standing timber is left or otherwise lost In logging The boxing of long leaf pine for ing has destroyed of the for The loss in the mill is from to too of the timber sawed The loss In the mill pro product product product duct through seasoning g and fitting for use is from to Only feet of lumber r are used for each 1000 feet teet which stood sto d In hi the for forest forest forest est Where We Stand We Ye take front from our forests each ach year car carnot not counting the loss by b fire three and andone one half times their yearly growth Our lumber cut has Increased less than 15 per cent in the last seven years But the average price of all kinds of lumber at the mill has risen 49 per cent and the rise will continue We invite by atlon the mis misuse misuse misuse use of our forests We Yc destroy by fire enough standing timber In one year to last the tho nation for three months We Yo should plant to protect our farms from wind and to make stripped or treeless treel ss lands ands productive an area larger than that of oC Pennsylvania Ohio and West Virginia combined But so far lands successfully planted to trees make a total area smaller than Rhode Island And year by b year by careless cutting and by fire we lower the capacity of existing forests to produce their like again or totally destroy them The condition of the world supply of oC timber makes maRes us already alread dependent upon what we produce We Ye send out of our country one and times as much timber as we C bring in Except for lor finishing woods relatively insignificant insignificant In quantity we must grow our own supply or go 0 without Where We Might Stand StandBy StandBy By B reasonable thrift we wo can produce a constant timber supply beyond our present need and with it conserve the usefulness of our streams for irrigation irrigation irrigation tion water supply navigation and power Under right management our forests for forests forets ests ets will yield over four times as much muchas muchas as now Aye we e can reduce waste in the woods and in the milt mill at least one third with present as as well as future profit We Yc can perpetuate the naval stores industry Preservative treat treatment treatment treatment ment will reduce by b the of timber used in the water or In Inthe Inthe inthe the ground We Ve can practically stop forest fires at a total yearly cost of the value alue of the standing timber burned each year y ar not counting young growth We jie TO shall suffer for timber to meet our needs until our forests have hae had time to grow SlOW again But if we act vig vigorously vigorous vigorously orous and at once we shall escape permanent timber scarcity What Must Be Done For each million acres of forest In public ownership over ner three million are privately owned The conservation of public forests is the smaller task be before before fore the nation and the states The larger larer task is to induce private forest owners which means men to o otake take care of what they have 11 ave and an to teach wood users which means every very everyone everyone one how ho not to waste If It these things are done they will conserve our streams as well W tl as our forests If It they are not done lone the use usefulness t use usefulness se of our streams will wil decrease no noless noless noless less than the usefulness of our forests We Va must stop forest fires By care edre careful c r ful logging we must both reduce waste i and leave le e cut over lands productive We must make the timber logged go further by preservative treatment and by avoiding needless loss In the mill the factory and in use We Ve must plant up those lands now treeless which will willbe willbe be most useful under forest We Ve must so adjust taxation that lands land can be held for a second crop We must recognize that timber costs no noless noless noless less to grow than It does to log l g and an saw We must continue and perfect by b state and nation the preservation by byuse byuse byuse use of or forests already alre dy publicly owned and we wo must extend it to other moun mountain mountain mountain tain forests more valuable for the per permanent permanent manent benefit of the many many than for forthe forthe forthe the temporary profit ofa of r ia a few fewIn fewIn fewIn In a discussion of the report that followed the governors of several states tates f generally pledged themselves to co cooperation cooperation cooperation operation with the general government In a practicable scheme for the con conservation conservation conservation of the national forests Startling facts were presented rela relative reI relative a tive Uye to the thee rapidly diminishing timber supply and the forest for st fires tires which have hae swept away timber Umber that will require years to reproduce The noted persons who participated in the debate agreed that one ono of the obstacles thus far fac en encountered Encountered encountered countered to the preservation of or the forests was as the apparent conflict be between between between tween the federal government and sev several SC several eral era states and many urged that in inmost Inmost inmost most Instances the government should step in and do what the states have hae either neglected or refused to do For Far Former Former Farmer mer Governor Pardee of California and Governor Go Johnson of Minnesota were prominent in the discussion Andrew Carnegie urged cooperation between the states and federal govern goern government government ment This afternoon the report of or the sec section section ec tion of waters was presented I I |