American Forest Week

April 27 -May 3, 1925

"Of all man's works of art a cathedral &r the greatest. A aast anil maiestic tree is greater than that."-Henry

?[/ard Beecher.

"A people without chililren uould face a hopeless future. A countr! withoat trees is almost as help.less;tf oresls which are so useil that theg cannot renew themselztes zaill soon ztanish, and with thern all lheir benefits, When you help to preserve our forests or plant new ones you are acting the part of gooil citizens."

-Theodore Rooseztelt.

For the last four years the President of the United States has annually designated by proclamation a Forest Protection Week. The direction and cuttivation of public interest in the purposes of the week were under the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; the purposes were chiefly to arouse people to the importance of protecting the forests from fire in its manifold and mostly inexcusable origins.

The Forest Service has felt that the purposes of the week ought to be broadened, and judged that it could be more effectually administered by a non-governmental body. So, with the Forest Service actually more deeply concerned than ever in the idea of using a special week to concentrate public attention on our nation's forest problems, and cooperating most energetically, the President has this year made Forest Protection Week into American Forest Wcek. And the Forest Service instead of solely supplying the energy and direction has been reinforced by a large committee of persons representative of every phase of public interest and dependence upon the forests, from the most intensely economic to the rnost delicately aesthetic.

While it remains true that the greatest advance in forest economy pan be made by conquering the 50,000 fires that annually devastate |he forest wealth of Ameqica as no other agency destroys any other hatural or artificial resource of any country, there are many other facets of the forests and their problems ihat have an appeal to public interest and concern, some of them reaching large bodies of people who by reason of their geographical position do not feel the urgency of the forest fire menace. , Everybody everywhere in this lavish wood-using country has p ilirect material interest in maintaining a goodly supply of forest iroducts, without which life would be decidedly awkward and unbomfortable, if even endruable. Wood in its original form, or bhemically or physically altered, enters into more than 2,000 articles of daily use, in the preparation of most of which there is no suitable bubstitute. The high standard of comfort, convenience and luxury in American social life is largely due to the sumptuous abundance of wood products. It is probably true that wood is more nearly indispensable than any other material. In the Teutonic mythology the universe is not inappropriately represented as being supported by the tree Yggdrasilt.

There is an added forest appeal to millions of our people-many of whom live beyond sight of forests-in the recreational opportunities these great productive wildernesses afford. Last year millions of people visited the National Forests and National Parks and many more sought recreation or rest and inspiration in the state and private forests. Then there is the urge of patriotism and humanity that we conserve and wisely use the material resources of our com{non country, especially this timber resource, which may with care be always drawn on and always full. It is the natural resource which beautifies the land, regulates the water flow, influences climate, aids agriculture, and fosters wild life. A land of fields framed in productive forests is a beautiful land-a land guarded against the devastations of fire, flood, and drouth, a land good to look upon and good to tive in.

American Forest Week is a week for the ponsideration and contemplation of the tangible and intangible benefits of our forests, for the planning of their creation, care and improvement, for tree-planting, for the devising of economies in the preparation and use of forest products, and the encouragement of the one great national economic measure in which all the people can and must cooperate, viz., the perpetual forestation of our forest lands, if it is to succeed. If the American people can abolish forest fires they will save $500,000,000 a year and add greatly in many ways to the national income, both material and psychologic.

Trees are simply the big brothers of the floral world; a tree is a large plant. Throughout the world, wherever the rainfall is sufficient the earth is covered with trees-or was. The forests are associated with the earliest traces of human existence. They were at once the support and the menace of primeval man. They gave him shelter and clothing, weapons and defense, but at the same time they concealed the beasts of prey that he feared and frequently

Wise Forest Protection

Wise forest protcction does not mean thc withdrawal of forcst rcsources, whcthcr of wood, rpatcr or grass, from contributing thcir full share to thc wclfare of the people, but, on thc contrary, gives the assurancc of largcr and raore certain supplies. The fundamental idca of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is not an cnd of itself; it is a means to increasc and sustain thc rcsourccs of our country and the industrics which depend upon them.

-Theodore Rooscvclt.

blazed into vast fires that endangered his life; they restricted pas' turage and impeded transportation and travel. The progress of civilization has been marked by the depletion of forests and then by their restoration. At first, in their abundance, they are an obstacle to be destroyed; then in their scarcity they have to be restored to a certain point and there maintained. Some nations, however, were never able to replace the original forests; and they are today 2mong the bleak, arid, naked desert lands of the world.

Forests Of The United States

There are 1,900,000,000 acres in the land area of continental United States, not including Alaska, and of these about 822,000,000 acres were forested when the Indians were supreme. From the Atlantic tc the headwaters of the Mississippi on the north and into eastern Texas on the south, almost the whole country was forest. From Puget Sound to northern California a dense forest reached inland across the Cascades and Sierras, with extensions southward along the coast and Sierra ranges. The Rocky Mountains, together witli the high plateaus of the Southwest, constituted the third forest re: gion. The rest of the country was prairie, plain, swamp, marbh, and desert, not always entirely without trees, but not to be catled forest.

Five Hundred Species

In these forests were about 500 species of trees; and of these about 100 have proved to be of varying economic importance on account of their wood. A few have value for their fruits and nuts. In the Northeast the maple tree contributed sugar to the diet of the *Joyce Kilmer

Indians and in the Southwest the Pinon nuts were a staple food. Most of our lumber and most of the wood from which vafious forest products are made come, however, from a few species and varieties. Ogtside of a few species in the extrerne southern part of the country the trees of the United States are all exogenous, and for commercial purposes they are divided into the two groups of hardwoods and softwoods, which generally correspond to a botanical grouping as broad-leaved and needle-leaved (or coniferous), or deciduous and evergreen. Ilowever, the wood of some of the hardwood group is quite soft and that of some of the so-called softwoods quite hard. Softwood is predominantly used for structural purposes and hardwood for manufacturing purposes, but there are important variations both ways.

Forest Depletion

The annual depletion of our forests from all causes is now about 25,000,000,000 cubic feet of wood. Economic useJuel, lumber, poles, posts, cross-ties, pulp and paper, fences, etc.-account for most of this, but fires, wind-falls, insects, fungi, natural dissolution and decay are responsible foi a considerable part. In view of the fact that in

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some years fires cover more ground than logging the forest fire depletion might be expected to be heavier. But most mature timber can be salvaged after a fire has killed it, and nine-tenths of the burned-over area is land that has already been logged. So the actual loss of merchantable timber by forest fires is relatively small. It is when 'we come to calculate the potential losses resulting from the destruction of the young trees that we get into the nine figures. Taking the future value of the timber and all the industrial operations and near and remote economic injuries that hinge upon it into account, E. T. Allen, Forester of the 'National Lumber Manufacturers' Association and Forest Economist of the Western Forestry and Conservation Association, puts our annual loss from forest fires at the stupendous total of $500'000,000. This is about one-third of the value of the annual yield of crude forest products. We are , so accustomed to this terrific loss than we accept it docilely as an , act of God, and it occasions no panic, not even alarm.

: fHE LUMBER INDUSTRY

Although the lumber industry consumes only about a third of the wood content annually removed from the forest by industrial or natural processes, it is the foremost forest industry. The bulk of the best virgin forests are owned by men and corporations identified with the lumber industry. It directly employs most of the persons classified as engaged in the forest-based industries-about 800'000 out of 1,100,000. The annual output of the lumber group of industries-now about 35,000,000,000 board feet, or enough for 3,000'000 allJumber cottages-is valued at about $1,600,000,000 and the reI manufacturing group adds about as much more. The total investment in timber and in lumber manufacturing plants is probably about $8,000,000,000, which is not very far from 40 per cent of the valuation of the entire American railway systems. Crude forests products alone pay morb thanr $400,000,000 in annual freight revenue to the railways. It has been calculated that the wealth thev yield supports about one-tenth of the American people. If this be true they are the fundamental industry next to agriculture' From the standpoint of housing the lumber industry is supreme. Probably 80 per cent of the American peop.le live in lumber houses or houses of which lumber is an essential structural part. Practically every dwelling house and most business edifices contain some lumber. Railways require large quantities, of lurnber for cars, railway bridges and other structures, docks,.wharves, trestles, platforms, etc', as well as enormous quantities of cross-ties, poles, and piling. Round timbers are indispensable to mining oferations. 'Wood was about the only fuel known to men until 200 years ago, and about a third of all the wood removed from American.forests makes fuel.' It is an important part of the domestic fuel of a large part of our population. Perpetuation of the forests depends upon economic and political factors. If it does not pay men to raise forests they q[ for forest management (forestry) and forests gt{late lands will be left to natural chance, Even if it. payg-considered by itself, there are the risks of forest fires and injrr'dicious taxation methods. The protection of the forests from fir6s is primarily a public function. If it be not performed the fisk'of fire loss will tend to deter private land owners from growing trees. Trees are plants that yield a crop of wood only once in forty or fifty, or even a hundred years or more. The government can properly grow forests as a

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ln general benefit even if they do not directly pay their'way' The flood-control, water-conserving, navigation-affecting, recreational and climatic effects of forests justify public'forests. A part of forest growing, especially for the beiter qualities of wood and the slowergrowing varieties of treis, is i governrrient duty. But there will unquestionably be large oppbrtunities in the United States for timber growing as a private busiqess.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF'AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE_CALIFORNIA DISTRICT

Aoportionment of National Forest Receipts to Countics in California for Fiscal Year Ending June 30' 1924.

(Note:-Twentv-five per cent of all National Forest receipts are returned to tfie State for disbursement to counties in which National Forests are locatcd, for schools and roads.)

Forest Facts For California

California with one-fourth of her original supply of timber gone, has 15 per cent of the remaining saw timber in the United States and is exceeded only by Oregon in the total volume of standing timber.

Timber Resources of California

Total producing and potential forest area is 19,196,000 acres.

Present virgin timbered area is 15,032,000 acres.

EAST BAY HOO.HOO CLUB MEET was the. Speaker of the Day and gave an interesting and instructive talk on "Hydro-Electric Power in California."

G. C. Troth, Boulevard Mill & Lumber Co., was the Chairman-of _th_e Day. The next regular meeting of the Club will be held at the Oakland Hotel on Mav 15,

RoY A' rBAcH LEAVES wrrH FLEET FoR HONOLULU

Area deforested timber land and potential forest area ^ Roy A. Ibach of the Sales Department, Union Lumber (cut and burned) is 4,405,000 acres (approximate) of which Co.,.Qan Francisc_o, left with the-Naval Fleet on April 15 1,354,000 acres, or over 1 per cent of the total land area of for Honolulu. He has beel assigned to the Eatileship the State must be hand planted. Tennessee rvith the commission of Lieutenant. Lieutenant rn rs23 carifornia cut 2,161,863,000 board feet of lumber of which approximately 800 million feet were ex- trip. _ During his absence, Fred Burgers, who was the comported and 1200 million feet were used in the state. PSlI's representative in the Sacramento and San Joaquin

Lumbering ranks fourth among the industries of Cali- Valley territ-ory, will be assigne-d-to-the San Fiancisco fornia in trre number of wage-eainers employed and nfth ift:' "x,?,,31?ll,?l;#;fii",a.,i*"t:ffi"s3rY#tl; in the value of its product. 25,000 people are vearly en- Sacramento and San 16aqui" Vif1"/i.rrito;i.--'---' gaged in the lumbering and wood-using industries of the t state, and the value of timber and lumber products / NEW YARD FOR SANTA CLARA amounts to $100,000,000.

I The Santa Clara Lumber Co., with office and yard at rhe Nationar Forests of carifornia are 17 in numb.,,v lf,11Ttrt3ltf,?Litift;irl'3[Y":tff:T.-*f,:*:?tJ"'; contain over one-fifth the total area of the state, and stretch C. N. Matkovich are the owners of the Santa Clara Lum- from the Oregon line to the Mexican border.

A man who plants a tree and cares for it, has added at least, his mite to God's creation.

-Lucy Larcom.

J. A. WHITTTNGTON DrES

J. A. Whittington, associated with the San Francisco Office of Chas. R. McCormick & Co., died at Oakland on Saturday April 4. He had been confined to his home for several weeks with influenza which developed ihto pneumonia. Funeral services were held at Oakland on April 7 with the Masonic Order in charge of the funeral ce.remonies. He is survived by his wife and two children. Mr. Whittington was auditor in the lumber department of Chas. R. McCormick & Co. and was well known and popular with the lumber fraternity in the Bav District.

28 T E)PO. BLVD. LOS ANGFLFS

A WHOLE. SALE SERVICE CAN'T BE BEAT

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