Our National Forests Part 1

Our National Forests.

by Richard H. Douai Boerker.

PREFACE

Forestry is a vast subject. It has to do with farm and forest, soil and climate, man and beast. It affects hill and valley, mountain and plain.

It influences the life of cities, states, and nations. It deals not only with the manifold problems of growing timber and forest by-products, such as forage, naval stores, tanbark, and maple sugar, but it is intimately related to the navigability of rivers and harbors, the flow of streams, the erosion of hillsides, the destruction of fertile farm lands, the devastation wrought by floods, the game and birds of the forest, the public health, and national prosperity.

The practice of forestry has, therefore, become an important part in the household economy of civilized nations. Every nation has learned, through the misuse of its forest resources, that forest destruction is followed by timber famines, floods, and erosion. Mills and factories depending upon a regular stream flow must close down, or use other means for securing their power, which usually are more expensive.

Floods, besides doing enormous damage, cover fertile bottom-lands with gravel, bowlders, and debris, which ruins these lands beyond redemption.

The birds, fish, and game, which dwell in the forests, disappear with them. Springs dry up and a luxurious, well-watered country becomes a veritable desert. In short, the disappearance of the forests means the disappearance of everything in civilization that is worth while.

These are the lessons that some of the world's greatest nations have learned, in some cases through sad experience. The French people, after neglecting their forests, following the French Revolution, paid the penalty. France, through her reckless cutting in the mountain forests, has suffered and is still suffering from devastating floods on the Seine and other streams. Over one million acres were cut over in the mountains, and the slash and young growth that was left was destroyed by fire. As a result of this forest destruction the fertility of over 8,000,000 acres of tillable land was destroyed and the population of eighteen departments was impoverished or driven out. Now, although over $40,000,000 has been expended, only a very small part of the damage has been repaired.

Our own country has learned from its own experiences and from the experiences of nations like France. On a small scale we have endured the same devastating floods. Forest fires in the United States have caused an average annual loss of seventy human lives and from $25,000,000 to $50,000,000 worth of timber. The indirect losses run close to a half a billion a year. Like other nations, we have come to the conclusion that forest conservation can be a.s.sured only through the public owners.h.i.+p of forest resources. Other nations have bought or otherwise acquired national, state, and munic.i.p.al forests, to a.s.sure the people a never-failing supply of timber. For this reason, mainly, our own National Forests have been created and maintained.

The ever-increasing importance of the forestry movement in this country, which brings with it an ever-increasing desire for information along forestry lines, has led me to prepare this volume dealing with our National Forests. To a large extent I write from my own experience, having come in contact with the federal forestry movement for more than ten years. My connection with the United States Forest Service in various parts of the West has given me ample opportunity to study every phase of the problem. I am attempting to chronicle a wonderful accomplishment by a wonderful organization of altruistic Americans,--an accomplishment of which every American has reason to feel proud.

Few people realize that the bringing under administration and protection of these vast forests is one of the greatest achievements in the history of forest conservation. To place 155,000,000 acres of inaccessible, mountainous, forest land, scattered through our great western mountain ranges and in eighteen Western States, under administration, to manage these forests according to scientific forestry principles, to make them yield a revenue of almost $3,500,000 annually, and to protect them from the ravages of forest fires and reducing the huge annual loss to but a small fraction of what it was before--these are some of the things that have been accomplished by the United States Forest Service within the last twenty years.

Not only is this a great achievement in itself, but few people realize what the solution of the National Forest problem has meant to the millions of people who live near them; what it has meant to bring civilization to the great forested empire of Uncle Sam; what it has meant to change from a condition of unrestricted, unregulated misuse with respect to the public domain, to a policy of wise, regulated use, based upon the principle of the greatest good to the greatest number in the long run. In the early days before the Forest Service organization became established, the people were said to have "shot-gun t.i.tles" to timber or grazing lands on the public domain, and "might made right"

in the truest sense of the word. This crude condition of affairs gave way to wise, conservative use under government control. Just as the farmer each year sets aside a certain amount of his seed for next year's planting, just so the stockman saves his calves and cows and lambs for greater growth and each year sees a part of his herd maturing for market, and just so the forester, under the new system, cuts only the mature trees and allows the young timber to remain for greater growth and greater value in the future, or, in the absence of young trees, plants small trees to replace those removed.

The people of the West are convinced that a great work has been done well and wisely. The people of the Eastern States will soon realize that a similar forest policy, already inaugurated in the Appalachian and White Mountains, will mean every bit as much to them.

If I succeed only in a small degree to make my reader appreciate the great significance of the National Forest movement to our national economy, I will feel amply repaid for the time spent in preparing this brief statement. I am indebted to the Forest Service for many valuable ill.u.s.trations used with the text, and for data and other valuable a.s.sistance. To all those who have aided in the preparation of this volume, by reading the ma.n.u.script or otherwise, I extend my sincere thanks. I am especially grateful to Mr. Herbert A. Smith and others of the Was.h.i.+ngton office of the Forest Service for having critically read the ma.n.u.script and for having offered valuable suggestions.

RICHARD H. DOUAI BOERKER.

New York, N. Y., July 7, 1918.

INTRODUCTION

FORESTRY AS A NATIONAL PROBLEM

The forest problem is, both locally and nationally, of vital internal importance. Not only is wood--the chief product of the forest--indispensable to our daily life, but the forest plays an important role in regulating stream flow, thereby reducing the severity of floods and preventing erosion. For these reasons the preservation of forests ceases to be a problem of private or individual concern, but forthwith becomes a governmental problem, or, at best, an enterprise which should be jointly controlled by the National Government and the individual States.

_Our Consumption of Wood._ It is often said that wood enters into our daily life from the time we are born until we die--from the cradle to the coffin. It is difficult to imagine a civilization without wood.

In our country in a single year we use 90,000,000 cords of firewood, nearly 40,000,000,000 feet of lumber, 150,000,000 railroad ties, nearly 1,700,000,000 barrel staves, 445,000,000 board feet of veneer, over 135,000,000 sets of barrel headings, over 350,000,000 barrel hoops, over 3,300,000 cords of native pulp wood, 170,000,000 cubic feet of round mine timbers, nearly 1,500,000 cords of wood for distillation, over 140,000 cords for excelsior, and nearly 3,500,000 telephone and telegraph poles. In short, we take from our forests yearly, including waste in logging and manufacture, more than twenty-two billion cubic feet of wood valued at about $1,375,000,000. This is enough lumber to construct seven board walks twenty-five feet wide from the earth to the moon, a distance of about 240,000 miles, or a board walk one-third of a mile wide completely around the earth at the equator. These figures give a little idea of the enormous annual drainage upon the forests of the United States and immediately suggest an important reason that led to the establishment of our National Forests.

_The Lumber Industry._ Measured by the number of persons employed, lumbering is the country's largest manufacturing industry. In its 48,000 saw mills it employs more than 600,000 men. Its investment in these plants is over $1,000,000,000, and the investment in standing timber is $1,500,000,000 more. This industry furnishes the railroads a traffic income of over $200,000,000 annually. If we include in these statistics also the derived wood products, we find that over 1,000,000 wage earners are employed, and that the products and derived products are valued at over $2,000,000,000 annually. Most certainly we are dealing with a very large business enterprise.

_Our Future Lumber Supply._ You may ask, "What effect have the great annual consumption of wood and these large business interests upon the future supply of wood?" The most reliable statistics show that out of 5,200 billion feet of merchantable timber which we once possessed, only 2,900 billion feet are left. In other words, almost half of our original supply of timber has been used. Besides, the present rate of cutting for all purposes exceeds the annual growth of the forests. Even the annual growth is considered by many experts of unknown quant.i.ty and quality, to some extent offset by decay in virgin forests. The only logical conclusion to draw from this condition of affairs, if the present rate of consumption continues, is a timber shortage in so far as our most valuable woods are concerned. In view of this it is fortunate that the National Government began to control the lumber and forest situation by the creation of National Forests and the inst.i.tution of scientific forestry practice.

_Forests and Stream Flow._ But the forests not only supply us with wood.

For other reasons they deserve governmental consideration. The forests in the mountains control our streams, vitally affect the industries depending upon water power, reduce the severity of floods and erosion, and in this way are intimately wrapped up with our great agricultural interests. For this reason forestry is by nature less suited for private enterprise. In agriculture and horticulture the influence of the farm or the fruit crop rarely extends beyond the owner's fence. What I plant in my field does not affect my neighbors; they share neither in my success or failure. If by the use of poor methods I ruin the fertility of my farm, this fact does not influence the fertility of my neighbor's fields. But in forestry it is different. Unfortunately, just as the sins of the fathers are visited upon their children, so the sins of the mountains are visited upon the valleys.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map showing the National Forest areas in the West, the location of the proposed National Forests in the East, and the area which the present National Forests would occupy if they were all consolidated into one body in some of the well-known Eastern States.]

The mountainous slopes of the Appalachian ranges and the steep, broken, granite ridges of the Rockies, the Sierras, and the Cascades are the sites most suited in our country for forestry purposes. The Appalachian ranges have been affected most by the reckless cutting of forests. When these mountains were clothed with forests, the rivers ran bank full, s.h.i.+ps came to the harbors at low tide with ease, and factories and cotton-mills ran steadily all year long. Since the destruction of these forests the surrounding country has suffered from alternate floods and droughts; great manufacturing centers have lost their steady supply of water; harbors are filled with silt from the mountain sides; and fields, once fertile, are covered with sand, gravel, and debris, deposited by the ungovernable stream. These forests belonged to private individuals who disposed of the timber and pocketed all the profits, while the community below suffered all the loss. In other words, private owners.h.i.+p is inadequate since private interest and private responsibility are not sufficiently far-reaching and far-sighted.

_Forests and Erosion._ Erosion is one of the most serious dangers that threaten our farms both by transporting fertile soil and by covering the bottom-lands with sand, gravel, and debris. Since we are largely an agricultural people, the importance of this problem will be readily appreciated. Over 50 per cent. of our population is rural, and the annual production of farm crops has a value of over $5,500,000,000.

Farm uplands are washed away or eroded by high water, and high water is largely caused by the destruction of the forests on the mountain slopes.

With the forest cover removed, there is nothing to obstruct the flow of water down the mountain sides. Raindrops beating on the bare soil make it hard and compact so that most of the water runs off instead of being absorbed by the subsoil, with the result that a heavy rain storm rushes down through the valleys in a few days instead of a few weeks, tears out the river banks, floods the lowlands, and deposits upon them the rocks and gravel carried down from the mountains. The most effective means for preventing the erosion and destruction of our farmlands is by the wise use of the forests at the headwaters of the rivers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 2. A typical National Forest landscape in the high mountains. Potosi Peak, 13,763 feet, from Yankee Boy Basin, Uncampahgre National Forest, Ouray County, Colorado.]

_Forestry a Public Enterprise._ From what has been said it will be seen that forestry is a national business rather than an individual's.

Moreover, it is of such a protracted nature, reaching continuously into such long periods of time, demanding so many years of time and patience to see the expected and promised results, that an individual would not live to see the success of his labors. The individual becomes easily discouraged and is especially affected by financial conditions.

The Government, on the other hand, having unlimited resources at its command can more readily afford to wait for results. In fact every consideration of national welfare urges the Government to carry it on; it is a sure source of revenue, there is none less fluctuating, and it is closely connected with the manifold industries of life. Its chief product is wood, without which the human race, so far, has not succeeded in managing its affairs, and which will therefore always have a sale value.

THE EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS

_How the Government Obtained the National Forest Lands._ Probably the first question that will occur to my reader concerning the National Forests is, How did the Government acquire them? To answer this question we have but to turn back the pages of history to the close of the Revolutionary War. Following this war, our country started on its career of continental conquest. This conquest was largely a peaceful one because most of the western country was acquired by treaty or purchase, thus: Louisiana Territory was purchased from France in 1803; Texas applied for admission into the Union in 1845; Oregon Territory was acquired by treaty from Great Britain in 1846; the present states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona were ceded to us as a result of the Mexican War in 1848; and the Gadsden Purchase was obtained from Mexico in 1853 and added to the territory of New Mexico.

Then also Alaska was finally purchased from Russia in 1867. These large acquisitions, comprising together the western two thirds of the United States, were gradually divided into territories. Later they became States, and were opened up to settlement and development by means of various land and mining laws and large railroad grants. The National Forests are composed of the land most valuable for growing timber, that has not been acquired in some way by private individuals, in the western part of the United States.

_The Romance of the National Forest Region._ This vast expanse west of the Mississippi River boasts of some of the wildest and most romantic scenery on the North American continent, and it is in the heart of this picturesque country that the National Forests are located. This is the country in which Owen Wister, Harold Bell Wright, Stewart Edward White, Jack London, Theodore Roosevelt, and other authors have gotten their inspirations and laid their plots. To one who knows "The Virginian," or "When a Man's a Man," or "The Winning of Barbara Worth," or "The Valley of the Moon," nothing more need be said. To others I might say that my pen picture of that country is a very poor and very inadequate method of description. It is the land of the cow-puncher, the sheep-herder, and the lumber-jack; a land of crude customs and manners, but, withal, generous hospitality. It is the country of the elk and the mule-tail deer, the mountain lion and the rattlesnake. Its grandeur makes you love it; its vastness makes you fear it; yet there is an irresistible charm, a magic lure, an indescribable something that stamps an indelible impression upon the mind and that makes you want to go back there after you have sworn an oath never to return.

This National Forest empire presents a great variety of scenery, of forest, and of topography. The beautiful white pine forests of Idaho and Montana, the steep pine- and spruce-clad granite slopes of the Colorado Rockies, and the sun-parched mesas of the Southwest, with their open park-like forests of yellow pine, all have their individual charm. And after crossing the well-watered Cascades and Sierra Nevadas we find forest scenery entirely different. The dense, luxuriant, giant-forests of the coast region of Oregon and Was.h.i.+ngton, bathed in an almost continual fog and rain, are without doubt the most wonderful forests in the world. And lastly, California, so far as variety of forest scenery is concerned, has absolutely no rival. The open oak groves of the great valleys, the arid pine- and oak-covered foothills, the valuable sugar pine and "big-tree" groves of the moist mountain slopes, and the dwarfed pine and hemlock forests near the serrated crest of the Sierras, all occur within a comparatively short distance of each other, and, in fact, may be seen in less than a day on any one of the many National Forests in these mountains.

_Famous Scenic Wonders Near the Forests._ Many of the beautiful National Parks that have been created by Congress are either entirely or partly surrounded by one or more of the National Forests. These parks are a Mecca to which hundreds of thousands of our people make their annual pilgrimage. Most of these parks are already famous for their scenery, and, in consequence, the National Forests surrounding them have received greater patronage and fame. The Glacier National Park in Montana, the Yellowstone in Wyoming, the Rocky Mountain in Colorado, the Mount Rainier in Was.h.i.+ngton, the Crater Lake in Oregon, the Wind Cave in South Dakota, and the La.s.sen Peak Volcanic Park, the Yosemite, General Grant, and Sequoia parks in California, are all situated in the heart of the National Forest region.

The highest and best-known mountain peaks in the United States are either located within or situated near the National Forests, as, for example, Rainier and Olympus in Was.h.i.+ngton; Hood, Baker, St. Helens, Jefferson, and Adams in Oregon; Shasta, La.s.sen, and Whitney in California; and Pikes Peak in Colorado.

Then there are the National Monuments, of which there are eleven, all situated within one or more of the National Forests. These were created under an act of Congress for the preservation of objects of historic or scientific interest. The largest monument, and no doubt the most famous, is the Grand Canyon National Monument located in the Tusayan and Kaibab National Forests in Arizona, comprising over 800,000 acres. The next largest is the Mount Olympus Monument on the Olympic National Forest in Was.h.i.+ngton, comprising almost 300,000 acres. Other well-known monuments are the Cinder Cone and the La.s.sen Peak Monuments on the La.s.sen National Forest in California, and the Cliff Dwellings on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

_The Size and Extent of the National Forests._ With this brief introduction of the nature of the country in which the National Forests are located, the reader will be interested to know something of the size of the Forests and their total area. The total area varies slightly from time to time, due to the addition of lands that have been found to have value for forestry purposes, or to the elimination of lands found to be chiefly valuable for agricultural use. On June 30, 1917, there were 147 National Forests with a total of 155,166,619 acres.

Thus the average National Forest comprises about one million acres of government lands. The many private holdings scattered through the Forests make the average gross area of each Forest much greater. These Forests are located in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Porto Rico, South Dakota, Utah, Was.h.i.+ngton, and Wyoming. Besides these Forests there have been acquired or approved for purchase under the Weeks Law over 1,500,000 acres in the States of Georgia, Maine, New Hamps.h.i.+re, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. These lands are now under protection and will gradually be consolidated into National Forests. More lands are constantly being acquired in the Eastern States in accordance with the Weeks Law.

Few people have any conception of what a gigantic empire the National Forest domain is. If consolidated into one large compact area, the 155 million acres of National Forests would cover an area larger than the combined areas of thirteen well-known Eastern States, viz.: Maine, Vermont, New Hamps.h.i.+re, Ma.s.sachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and West Virginia (see map). This area is also one fifth larger than the entire area of France. We marvel sometimes at the ability of a ruler to rule a country as large as France or Germany; why should we Americans not marvel at the ability of the man who practically rules over our National Forests, who keeps in perfect working order the great organization which protects and administrates the Forests?

_The Topography and Climate of the National Forest Region._ The difficulty of the work of this organization is at once apparent when we find that these Forests are located in wild, rugged, mountainous country, in most cases many miles from the railroad and human habitations, such as towns and cities. This country is usually far above sea level--the average being between 3,000 and 8,000 feet in alt.i.tude.

But there are large areas in the National Forests of Colorado that lie above 10,000 feet elevation. Such country as this has a very severe climate. The climate is usually too cold and the growing seasons too short for the production of crops such as wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, etc. Therefore, practically all of this land is what the forester calls "absolute forest land," that is, it is better adapted for growing timber crops than any other. Another important fact about the National Forests is that they are located, for the most part, on steep mountain slopes and at the headwaters of mountain streams. This makes them of vital importance in regulating the stream flow of our western rivers. In fact it is no exaggeration to say that all our large western rivers have their origin on National Forest land.

WHY THE NATIONAL FORESTS WERE CREATED

Aside from the great economic reasons why a nation should possess National Forests, there are local reasons which pertain to the welfare of the home builder and home industries which are often of paramount importance. The timber, the water, the pasture, the minerals, and all other resources on the government lands in the West are for the use of all the people. And only by a well-regulated policy of sale or rental can these resources be disposed so as to give all individuals an equal opportunity to enjoy them. These vast resources have been estimated to have a value of over $2,000,000,000. But their value to the local communities can hardly be overestimated. The welfare of every community is dependent upon a cheap and plentiful supply of timber.

If lumber, fence posts, mine props, telephone poles, firewood, etc., must be brought in from distant markets, the prices are usually very much higher. The regulation of the cut on each National Forest a.s.sures a never-failing supply of timber to the home builder and to home industries. Then also the permanence of the great live stock industry is dependent upon a conservative use of vast areas of government range.

Local residents are protected from unfair compet.i.tion. Lastly, the protection by the Forest Service of the forest cover in the western mountains a.s.sures a regular stream flow which is of vital importance for power, irrigation, and domestic purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 3. The climate of most of the National Forests is severe. This view was taken in the early summer and shows the high mountains still covered with snow. Most of the National Forest lands are therefore of small value for agriculture. Photo by Abbey.]