 Section 27 of A Brief History of Forestry. A Brief History of Forestry by Bernhard Ferneau. Section 27 Japan. The modernization of this remarkable island empire of Nippon, the native name, which began in 1868, included the organization of a forest department after German models. Curiously enough, there are other noteworthy points of similarity to be found in the historic development of forestry in Germany and Japan. The empire comprises four larger islands, Kyushu, Shikoku, Hondo or Honshu, and Hokkaido or Yezo, and a host of smaller ones, stretching in a chain of nearly 3,000 miles north and south along the Asiatic shore, the width of land being nowhere over 200 miles. It comprises an area of nearly 150,000 square miles, with a population approximating 50 million, largely engaged in fisheries and other sea industries. The islands are of volcanic origin, part of the girdle of fire, which reaches from the Alaska Peninsula through the Philippines to the Antilles, with many active craters, subject to frequent disastrous earthquakes and tidal waves. Mountainous, with numerous ranges of high hills and with lofty central ridges, with numerous short rivers, apt to turn into treacherous torrents, while hurricanes and water spouts, typhoons and equinoctial gales sweep the surrounding seas frequently. The soil is nowhere particularly fertile, but the patient and painstaking labor of the Japanese has brought every available foot of it, little more than 10% is arable, into producing condition, wherever the climate compensates for the infertility, especially in the most densely populated part, the southern half of Hondo. Extending through 30 degrees of latitude, the climate naturally varies from the tropical one of Formosa, through all variations of the temperate to the alpine one of the high mountains and the nearly Arctic one of the curile islands. The Japan current skirting the eastern coast and the mountain ranges with elevations generally not exceeding 6,000 feet, occasionally up to over 13,000 feet, which cut off the dry continental west winds, also produce great climatic variations between east and west coast. In general, however, the climate of the whole empire is characterized by a high percentage of relative humidity and ample rainfall, especially during the hot season, producing luxuriant growth. Due to these great variations in climate, for climatic regions being differentiated, the forest flora of Japan almost rivals in variety that of the United States with over 200,000 deciduous and more than 30 coniferous species of size, besides a large number of half trees. Although not more than some 50 or 60 are of silvicultural importance and not more than 10 or 12 species form the basis of forest management and of the lumber trade, which requires some 2 billion cubic feet annually and supports an export of over 6 million dollars. The value of the total cut was, in 1907, placed at over 17 million dollars, of which 6 million was to the credit of the state treasury. In the tropical district, bamboos form the main staple. In the subtropical region, the most densely populated and hence also almost forestless, the broadleaf evergreens, especially several species of oak, furnished desirable fuel wood and two species of pine are most valued for timber. One, the red pine, p densi flora, extending its realm rapidly over waste areas, camphor tree and boxwood furnish ornamental wood. The region of temperate forest furnishes, out of over 60 species, some 14 coniferous and 19 broadleaf trees of value, the former mainly of the Sedard tribe, with Chamais, Tsiparis, Optusa and Kryptomaria Japonica the most widely used. One of the broadleaf species, which occupy more than 50% of the forest area, Tselkova Kyaki of the Elm tribe, a chestnut, a beech, several oaks, a walnut and an ash count among the most useful. Spruce, fir and white birch are the trees of the northern forest. Mixed forests form 45%, broadleaf 25%, conifer 21% and 9% is rated as blank or thinly stocked. The forest area, which over the whole covers, with the addition of the newly acquired island of Sakhalin, 67% of the land area, or around 75 million acres. One one-quarter acres per capita is quite unevenly distributed according to topography and population, being mostly confined to the mountain ranges and hills which form the backbone of the country and to the northern provinces which contain still large untouched areas. Hokkaido, which was opened up to colonization only 35 years ago, now with a population of only 20 to the square mile, has 63% of forest, 15 acres per capita. The northern part of Hondo has a somewhat greater area percent, mostly on the highest deep mountains, but only 1.2 acres per capita. On the southern portion, the low ranges of hills and valleys, the forest area has been reduced to 53%, but shows only three-quarter acre per capita, and Okinawa, with 26%, and less than one-third acre per capita, shows the lowest. Of this forest area, however, almost one-half is Hara, brush forest, chaparral, or dwarfed tree growth, the result of mismanagement, excessive cutting, and fires. And in the southern districts, impenetrable thickets of dwarf bamboo, which crowd out tree and even shrub growth wherever such mismanagement gives it entrance. These extensive harras are cut every two or five years for the brush, which is used to cover and furnish manure for rice fields. Fire, which, until lately, ran over five or six million acres annually and ruthless cutting, have in the past and are still deteriorating the forest area. Grassy prairie and barrens due to natural conditions are not absent and are due to excessive drainage through loose coarse-grained rock soil. They are found not extensively at the foot of volcanoes and on highest elevations. The differentiation of land areas is not quite certain. In 1894 there was still 30.5% of Grassy prairie reported, but some of this, no doubt, was forested, probably one-half. The bulk of the forest area is owned by the state and the imperial household. Communal forests are estimated to aggregate in 1904, somewhat over four million acres, 7.5%. In 1910 reported as 11% and private properties some 18 million, 26%. In 1910, 22%. Leaving 30 million for the state and for imperial or crown forest, 66%. The latter comprising some 5.5 million acres. These figures are liable to variation due to sales of the latter class and to adjustments of the somewhat obscure property rights. The ownership by the state and the conservative use of the mountain forest is necessitated by the protective value of the forest cover, the cultivation of the extensive rice fields being dependent upon irrigation. Two, development of forest policy. The history of Japan dates back to 660 B.C. when the empire was founded on the island of Kyushu by the warrior king Jimu Tenno. He established a kind of feudal government with the Daimyo's, knights or barons holding their thieves from the Mikado who was considered the sole owner of the soil or at least all exercise of ownership rights emanated from him. Private property seems then not to have existed at all, the people having merely rights of user. Colonization of the islands brought under the Mikado's dominion progressed rapidly and with it not only arable portions but even mountains were denuded. With the beginning of the Christian era the need of better protection against floods seems to have been recognized and in 270 AD we find the first forest official appointed, a son of the royal house, who with assistance was to regulate the use of the forest property which under the rights of user granted by the Mikado was being excessively exploited and devastated. In the fifth century the feudal method of giving thieves of land and forests to the deserving vassals had come generally into vogue and later with the rise of Buddhism forests were assigned to the temples and priests who, as in Germany the monks, were assiduous in cultivating and utilizing them. Soon the Daimyo's, similarly to the barons in Germany, began to assert exclusive property rights and not withstanding various edicts issued from time to time to secure free use to the people, more and more of the forest area was secured by Daimyo's and by priests as temple forests. In the ninth century deforestation and excessive exploitation had so far progressed that not only the need of protecting watersheds was recognized by edicts but fear of a timber famine led even to planting in the provinces of Noto. A period of internal strife and warfare during the following centuries which left forest interest in the background led, in 1192, to the establishment of the rule of the Shoguns, the hereditary military representatives of the Mikado who made him a mere figurehead and exercised all the imperial functions themselves until the revolution of 1868 restored the Mikado to his rights. The effort at conservative forest use was renewed with increased harshness when, after a period of warfare and devastation, the great Shogun family of Tokugawa, 1603, assumed the rule of the empire, enforcing the restrictive edicts with military severity. Even at that early age the protective influence of forest cover on soil and water flow was fully recognized and a distinction of open or supply forest and closed or protection forests seems to have been made, the latter being placed under the ban of the emperor or Shogun and withdrawn from utilization. The extensive forests of the province of Kiso, the best remaining, owe their preservation to these efforts. The Daimyo's 260 in number, each in his district, enforced the edicts in their own way, giving rise thereby to great differences in forest administration, yet in the absence of technical knowledge deterioration continued. The severity of punishments for depredations, etc., reminds us of those of the German Mark Genossen, a hand or finger being the penalty for theft, death by fire, that for incendiaries. The idea of protecting or reserving certain species of trees, which was practiced in India by the Rajas, we find here again in the beginning of the 18th century, the number of such protected species varying from one to seven and even fifteen in different districts. Another unique and peculiar way of encouraging forest culture was to permit peasants who made forest plantations in the state forests to bear a family name, a rite which was otherwise reserved to the knights or samurai, or to wear a double-edged sword, like the latter. Arba days were also instituted, memorial days and festivities, as at the birth of children, being marked by the planting of trees. While in Germany the love of hunting had led to the exclusion of the people from the forests, in Japan it was a question of conserving wood supplies that dictated these policies. It is claimed that to these early efforts is due to preservation of the remaining forests. But while this may be true in some instances, as in the province of Kizoh, more probably their distance from centres of consumption and their general inaccessibility preserved those of Hokkaido and of the northern mountains. Certainly the brush forests south of Tokyo do not testify to great care. The detested shogunate was abolished in 1867 by a revolution which brought the Mikado and its knights again and crushed the power of the Daimyo's whose thieves were surrendered and their acquisitions of forest property, as well as a few years later those of the priests, were declared state property, with the exception of some which were recognised as communal properties. Similar to the experiences of France, the disturbances in property conditions, which implied instantaneous loss by the people here in the state property, as well as removal of all restrictions from private and communal properties, led to wholesale depredations from the state domain and to widespread deforestation and devastation, an area of a million acres of burnt waste near Kofu, west of Tokyo, testifying to the recklessness of these times. Without any force to guard property rights, stealing on an extensive scale, similar to past experiences in the United States, with the accompanying wastefulness, became the order of the day and is even now not uncommon. A first provisional administration of state forests was inaugurated and the forest reconnaissance ordered in 1875 in order to secure insights into the mixed up property relations and restore to their rightful owners such portions as had been wrongly taken by the state. In 1878 the state forests were placed under a special bureau organised by Matsuno, who had studied forestry in Germany, Eberswalde, for five years. But it was not academic knowledge that was needed in the situation. It was necessary first to mould public opinion in order to secure means for administrative measures. This he set himself to do through public addresses and pamphlets and by organising a society of friends of forest culture and finally, in 1882, by establishing an experiment station at Nishigahara and, a year later, a dendrological school which four years later was combined with the agricultural school at Komaba, five years later both were joined to the University of Tokyo. With the transfer of the forestry bureau to the Department of Agriculture and Commerce in 1881 and the reorganisation in 1886, a new era seemed to be promised. Yet, a substantial progress in organised forest management of the state property does not seem to have been made for another decade at least, the slow progress being largely due to lack of personnel and the continuance of mixed property conditions which involved not only uncertainty of boundaries but also mixed ownership. Although this last trouble, namely of mixed ownership by state and private individuals, had been recognised as inimical to good management, it was deliberately increased by the law of 1878 in a curious way, reviving an old custom, namely by permitting private individuals to plant up clearings in the state forests. In this way, these individuals secured a certain percentage, usually 20% of the eventual profits arising from the results. Some 200,000 acres were planted under disarrangement. To remove the boundary difficulty, a survey of the boundaries of state property and adjustment of property rights, as well as segregation of the state lands to be disposed of, namely small lots and others not needed, was ordered in 1890. It was then also that the first provisional working plan for the fillings on state lands was elaborated and gradually was the progress of the survey, and more permanent plans were adopted for district after district. By 1899, the adjustment had progressed far enough to begin the restoration of properties, which the state had improperly claimed, to their proper owners. It was then also that the imperial forests intended for the support of the imperial household were increased to about 5 million acres. Meanwhile, the personnel had increased in numbers and improved in character. In 1904, the Organization of the Forestry Bureau under the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce arranged, somewhat after German models, consisted of one director and four forest commissioners with ten clerks, forming the head office. The sixteen districts into which the state forests were divided were presided over by 32 conservators and 80 inspectors, while 325 district officers with 880 assistants and 626 guards, altogether over 1,800 employees, formed the field force. In 1910, the number had increased to 2,500, mainly by additional rangers. This organization applies to the state forests under control of the Department of Agriculture. Strangely enough, those in Sakhalin, Hokkaido and Formosa are not under that department, but under the supervision of the Minister of Home Affairs and are merely exploited, while the imperial forests are under the household department. In 1907, only 7% of the state forests were under working plans. The need of supervision of the ill-managed private and communal forests, mostly located near the settled portions, early attracted the attention of the new regime, mainly on account of their protective value. Annual losses threw floods to the amount of 4 million dollars, and similar losses due to unchecked forest fires gave the incentive to the passage of a law in 1882, simply forbidding all forest use in protection forest, which simple prescription evidently did not work until a further revision was made in 1897. This latter does not confine itself to legislation for protection forests alone, but also authorizes the supervision of supply forests under the special control of the local governors. Under this law, which also extended the assistance of local authorities to would-be planters aided by reforms in the corporation system, remarkable activity in planting wastelands ensued, so that in the next two years, not less than one million acres of communal property was set out with trees, numbering over 800 million, while in the state forests some 400,000 acres of vacant land had been planted by 1970. Some sand dune planting and re-boisement work saw also the result of this legislation. Further legislation, more closely defining state control, was had in 1907. In connection with this planting, it may be of interest to record the attitude of Japanese foresters toward natural regeneration. This is no longer popular in these days when the knowledge of forest management possessed by foresters has become highly developed. For if that method is the easiest and least troublesome, nevertheless it is not advisable, in view of the necessity of affecting a thorough improvement in our silvy cultural conditions. Only on steep slopes and for protection forests it is applicable. In 1897 also some eight experiment stations were organized in addition to the earlier one that Nishigahara organized in 1882 by Matsuno. Education in forestry has lately run riot in Japan as it has in the United States. Since the first school, organized in 1882, not less than 62 institutions had seen the need of offering the opportunity to become acquainted with that subject. By 1910 these had been reduced to 47. Here, however, different grades are frankly acknowledged. There are three collegiate institutions whose diploma admits to the higher service. Four are of secondary grade, 19 give special courses and the rest treat the subject merely as a subsidiary of a practical education including agriculture, stock farming and fishery. A ranger school which was instituted under Matsuno's guidance controlled by the Forestry Bureau came to an end during the Russian war for lack of funds but has probably been revived again. A forestry association now with 4,000 members carries on propaganda and publishes a magazine and cooperative associations among small owners to facilitate better management are being formed under the law of 1907. In conclusion we may say that Japan has done wonders in reorganizing its forestry system in a short time but according to one competent observer while all the Japanese care for detail and love for orderliness is apparent in the office not all that is found on paper is to be found as yet in the woods and that for similar reasons as have been indicated for Russia many things happen in the woods that are not known in the office. End of section 27 Section 28 of A Brief History of Forestry This is a Dibrivox recording all Dibrivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit Dibrivox.org recording by Avae in January 2020 A Brief History of Forestry by Bernhard Fernau Section 28, Korea The latest move in forestry form in this part of the world as a result of Japanese influence is to be recorded from Korea. In 1910 Japan annexed Korea and will doubtless apply her own methods in the new province. The forest area of Korea comprises only about 2,500,000 acres out of an area of nearly 53,000,000 acres of very mountainous country. A concession for the exploitation of the northern forests to a Russian which included the replanting with exotic tree species was the immediate cause of the Russo-Japanese War. In 1907, by cooperative arrangements with Japan a conservative forest policy was to be inaugurated by laws similar to those of Japan. Drought, floods and erosion of soils have been common experiences. The preservation of forest cover especially at the headquarters of the Yalu and Tumen in the northern part of the country is aimed at. For this purpose the government has taken all forests under its care. All private owners or lease holders must report their holdings and have their property listed and in case of failure to do so the property is forfeited. The government may then expropriate or else regulate the cutting or where protective functions of the forest cover require it may forbid cutting altogether. A forestry school is also part of the program. End of section 28 Section 29 of A Brief History of Forestry This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A Brief History of Forestry by Bernard Ferdinand. United States of America 1. Forest Conditions The great and exuberant Republic of the United States vast in extent and rich in natural resources generally excelled and still excels in extent importance and value of her timber resources and having only lately begun to inaugurate rational forest policies promises to become of all absorbing interest to foresters the marvelous growth of the nation rich from 3 million in 1780 had attained to a population of 76 million in 1900 and by the last census numbered around 92 million people has been the wonder of the world by reason of its rapid expansion yet the limit is far from being reached annually some three-quarters of a million or more immigrants from all parts of the world arrive and there is still room and comfortable living for at least another 100 million if the resources are properly treated the large land area of nearly 2 billion acres over 3 million square miles is undoubtedly the richest contiguous domain of such size in the world located most favorably with reference to trade by virtue of a coastline of over 20,000 miles in diversified inclinement so as to permit the widest range of production while a simple mathematical relation would make the population at present about 31 to the square mile such a statement would give an erroneous conception of economic conditions for the distribution of the population is most uneven a condition which must eventually diversify the application of forestry methods in different parts of the country in Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined for instance the density of population is 428 to the square mile exceeding that of the similar size state of Wirtenburg in Germany while in the neighboring state of Maine it is not 25 the Atlantic Coast states south of South Carolina a territory slightly larger than Germany show about half in the central agricultural states about one-third the density of that densely populated country on the other hand some of the western states Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico have less than three to the square mile similar unevenness is found in the distribution of resources especially of timber wealth and to some extent at least the present population distribution is explained by the uneven distribution of farm soils and timber outside of the unorganized territory of Alaska and the disenfranchised of Columbia the country is divided into 46 states and two territories which will eventually acquire statehood in addition there are a number of insular possessions under the direct control of the federal government each state being under the Constitution sovereign in itself as far as its internal administration is concerned it is evident that no uniformity of policies can be expected except so far as initiative-ness in which the American citizen excels may lead state after state to repeat the experiment attempted by one the federal government has no direct jurisdiction in matters concerning the management of resources within the states except so far as it still owns land in the western so-called public land states and a few parcels in the eastern states over which it still retains jurisdiction the severest test of democratic institutions is experienced when the attempt is made to establish a policy which will guard the interests of the future at the expense of the demands and needs of the present democracy produces attitudes and characteristics of the people which are inimical to stable economic arrangements looking to the future such as are employed in a forest policy the vast country with an unevenly distributed and heterogeneous population presents the greatest variety of natural as well as of economic conditions the immediate interests of one section naturally do not coincide with those of other sections particularistic and individualistic tendencies of the true democrat are antagonistic to anything which smacks of paternalism the attitude under which alone a persistent, borsighted policy can thrive frequent change of administration or at least the threat of such change impedes consistent execution of plans fickle public opinion may subvert at any time well-laid plans which take time in maturing the true democratic doctrine of restricting state activity to police functions and the doctrine of non-interference with private rights and the idea of state rights in opposition to federal power and authority all these characteristics of a democratic government are impediments to a concerned action and stable policy that in spite of these antagonistic interests conditions and doctrines substantial progress toward establishing at least a federal forest policy has been made is due to the fact that the American in spite of his reputation as a democratic selfish opportunist is really an idealist that he responds readily to patriotic appeals that in spite of his rabid nationalism he is willing to learn from the experiences of other nations that indeed he is anxious to be educated finally much credit is due to the men who with single purpose devoted their lives to the education of their fellow citizens in this direction it must be sure be added remarkable changes in the political attitude the people have taken place in the last 30 years since the propaganda of forestry began changes partly perhaps induced by that propaganda which evaded this movement and which if they persist promise much for the future development of forest policies a decidedly paternalistic if not socialistic attitude has lately been taken by the federal government and by skillful construction of the constitution as regards the right to regulate interstate relations has led to an expansion of federal power in various directions a similar paternalistic attitude has developed in the legislatures of several states to a noticeable degree even the judiciary has taken up this new spirit and is ready to sanction interference with private property rights a decade ago would have been denounced as undemocratic and tyrannical two courts have lately ruled that owners of timberlands may be restricted without compensation as regards the size of trees they may fell on their property if the welfare of the state demands such interference the argument of the roman doctrine utere tuo ne alterum no seas which forestry propagandists so strenuously used seems finally to have found favor in the inclusion of the community at large present and future as the possibility damaged party does not appear any more strained the idea of the providential function of governments as the writer has called it seems to have taken hold of the people the democratic doctrine of state rights and restriction of government functions has even among democrats been weakened through the long continued reign of the republican party the party of centralizing tendencies to such an extent that the latest democratic platform of a presidential campaign 1908 outdid the republican platform in centralizing and paternalistic propositions it is proper to emphasize the growth of this socialistic attitude as it is bound to influence and influence favorably the further development of the forest policies nevertheless it is still necessary to keep in mind that the states are autonomous and that while the federal government in spite of the antagonism in the western states in which the public lands are situated has been able to change its land policy from that of liberal disposal to one of reservation it alone cannot save the situation while a few of the states are being out of policy to arrest the destruction of their forest resources which are mostly in private hands still much water must flow down the Mississippi before adequate measures will be taken to stave off the threatening timber famine and the energy of the various local and national conservation associations will need to be exercised to the utmost forest conditions three extensive mountain systems running north and south give rise to at least eight topographic subdivisions of the country going from east to west one the narrow belt of level coast in hill country along the Atlantic shore from 100 to 200 miles in width with elevations up to 1000 feet but especially low along the sea coast from Virginia south drained by short rivers navigable only for short distances from the mouth a farming country with the soils varying from the rich to the poorest some 300,000 square miles two the Appalachian mountain country nearly of the same width as the first section with elevations up to 5000 feet the watershed of all the rivers to the Atlantic of several rivers to the Gulf and of the eastern affluence of Mississippi a mountain country of about 360,000 square miles extent rich in cold iron and other minerals except in its northern extension formed of Arcay and Rock three the great river basin of the Mississippi a central plain of glacial and river deposit rising gradually from the Gulf to the headwaters for more than 1200 miles and nowhere over 1000 feet the largest agricultural section 700,000 square miles more or less in extent four the plateau rising toward the Rocky mountains from 1000 to 5000 feet above sea level some 870,000 square miles in extent a region of scanty rainfall hence of prairie and plain but mostly rich soil of undetermined depth capable of prolific production and efficient water supply is available five the Rocky mountain region rising from 5000 to near 10,000 feet except some higher peaks and arid to semi arid district of rugged ranges covered mostly with forest growth often open and of inferior kind with tillable soils in the narrow valleys requiring irrigation for farm use a mining country with a range of 150,000 square miles 6 the Sierra Navada mountain range including the coast range rarely over 7,000 feet elevation arid to semi arid on the eastern slopes humid and supporting magnificent forest growth on the western slopes some 190,000 square miles 7 the interior basin lying between the two preceding mountain ranges some 400,000 square miles for the most part a desert although in part supporting a stunted growth of Pinyon and Juniper and where irrigation is possible productive 8 the interior valleys of the Sierra comprising about 30,000 square miles which under irrigation have become the garden spots of the Pacific to these topographical subdivisions correspond in part the climatic and the forest conditions although variation of soil and of northern and southern climate produce further differentiation in types and in distribution of field and forest the first three sections are originally densely wooded the great Atlantic forest region but farms now occupy most of the arable portions the fourth and seventh are forestless if not treeless while the fifth and sixth were more or less forested the Pacific coast region floristically also these topographic conditions are reflected namely in the wide north and south distribution of species unimpeded by intervening mountain ranges and in the change in composition from east to west the two grand floristic divisions of the Atlantic and Pacific forest having but few species in common are separated by the plains and prairies the Atlantic forest is in the main composed of broad leaf leaves with conifers intermixed which latter only under the influence of soil conditions form pure stands as in the extensive pineries of the south and north in in the northern swamps and on southern mountain tops the Alleghenies exhibits little conifer growth in its composition and is most widely turned to farm use white pine, hemlock, and spruce are the important coniferous staples of the northern section and a number of yellow pine species with old cypress and red cedar are the valuable conifer species in the south as regards valuable hardwoods there is but little change the Pacific forest floor is almost entirely coniferous but here also climatic conditions permit a distinction of two very different forest regions the Rocky mountain forest being mostly of rather inferior development and the Sierra forest exhibiting the most magnificent tree growth in the world nearly half the country is forest list grassy prairie and plain some 400 million acres being of the latter description while open prairie and bush forest or wasteland occupies 600 million acres within the forest region of the east some 250 million acres have been turned into farms leaving still two thirds of the area either under woods or else wasted by fire although any reliable data regarding this acreage are wanting the area of really productive woodland in the section may probably be set down as not exceeding 300 million acres which would be nearly 40% of the total area varying from 13% in the central agricultural states to 50% in the southern states Maine, New Hampshire and Arkansas being most densely wooded with over 60% the Rocky mountain and Sierra forest each with 100 million acres would bring the total productive woodland area to a round 500 million acres or about 26% of the whole later estimates including brush lands of doubtful productive capacity increase this area to 550 million acres it is almost idle to attempt an estimate of the timber still standing ready for the axe not only are the data for such an estimate too scanty but standards of what is considered merchantable change continuously and the value of such estimates the writer's own estimate made some years ago of 2500 billion feet which by others has been treated as authoritative and forming a basis for predicting the time of the timber famine and which was lately sustained by an extensive official inquiry must nevertheless be considered only as a reasonable guess ventured for the purpose of accentuating the need of more conservative treatment of these exhaustible supplies in comparison with the consumption which represents around 45 billion feet BM and altogether 23 billion cubic feet of forest-grown material and the ultimate value of all forest products reaching the least appendice sum of around 250 million dollars and as in other countries this lavish consumption of forest growth from 5 to 15 times that of Europeans has shown in the past a per capita increase of 30% for every decade the bulk of the standing timber is to be found along the pacific coast in the Sierra and in the southern states with their extensive pineries the northern and eastern sections are within a pleasurable time of the end of their virgin supplies of saw timber the practice of culling the most valuable species has changed the composition in their regeneration making it inferior and large areas have been rendered worthless by fires the loss of fire the bane of American forests as far as loss and material is concerned probably does not exceed 2 or 3% of the consumption will be 25 million dollars per annum but the indirect damage to forest and soil changing the composition bearing the soil and exposing it to erosion and washing turning fertile lands into waste in Brooks and rivers into torrents is incalculable there is no doubt that at the present rate of consumption the bulk of the virgin supplies will be used up in a measurable time which will force a reduction in the use of wood materials a more or less severe timber famine is bound to appear indeed has already begun to make its parents and all recuperative measures will not suffice to stave it off although they may shorten the time of its duration end of section 29 section 30 of a brief history of forestry this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a brief history of forestry by Bernard Furno section 30 United States of America Early Forest History the early colonizers settling on the Atlantic coast soon after the discoveries of Columbus did not as is usually believed find an untouched virgin forest the aboriginal Indians had before then ewn out their corn fields and had supplied themselves with fuel wood and materials for their utensils and fires accidental intentional or caused by lightning had no doubt also made inroads here and there the white man to be sure is a more lavish wood consumer his farms increased more rapidly his buildings and his fireplaces consumed more forest growth and carelessness with fire was as it is still his best to be setting sin moreover a trade in timber with the old world developed in which only the best and largest sized material figured wastefulness was bred in him by the sight of plenty and the hard work of clearing his farm acres incited a natural enmity to the encumbering forest the first sawmill in the new world was erected in 1631 in the town of Burwick, Maine in the first gang saw of 18 saws in 1650 in the same place while before that time masts and spars handmade cupridge stock, clapboards and shingles formed commonly parts of the return cargoes of ships by 1680 nearly 50 vessels engaged in such trade cleared from the Piscataqua river the ordinances on record which were issued at the same early times by the town governments of Exeter 1640, Kittery 1658, Portsmouth 1660 and Dover 1665 restricting the use of timber remind us of the early European forest ordinances they were probably not dictated by any threatening deficiency of this class of material but merely intended to secure a proper and orderly use of the town property the appointment of a royal surveyor for the new England colonies in 1699 and the penalties imposed in New Hampshire 1708 for cutting masts trees on ungranted lands $500 for cutting 24 inch trees and in Massachusetts 1784 for cutting white pine upon the public lands $100 were probably also merely policy regulations to protect property rights of the crown or commonwealth that this last move was in no way conceived as a needed conservatism is proved by the fact that two years later the legislature of Maine devised a lottery scheme for the disposal of 50 townships and 3,500,000 acres were disposed of in this way during the 12 years following the war altogether the states sacrificed their wild lands at trifling prices but when William Penn the founder and first legislator of the state which represented his grant stipulated in 1682 that for every 5 acres cleared one acre was to be reserved for forest growth by those who took title from it that may properly be considered an attempt to inaugurate a conservative policy dictated by wise forethought an attempt which however for little or no fruit thoughtful men probably at all times dealt with pity and apprehension upon the wasteful use of the timber as they do now yet squander went on just as it still does but the apparently inexhaustible supplies in those early times called for no restriction in its use at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century a fuel wood famine must have appeared in some parts of the country just as in Germany at that time and for the same reasons the wood having been cut along the rivers which were the only means of transportation and hence the distance to which wood had to be hauled increasing the cost this was probably the reason why the Society of Agriculture Arts and Manufactures of New York after an inquiry by circular letter issued in 1791 published in 1795 a report on the best mode of preserving and increasing the growth of timber this condition probably also the wise governor of New York DeWitt Clinton of Erie Canal fame in a message in 1822 to forecast an evil day because no system of economy for the reproduction of forest supplies was being adopted and he added probably none will be until severe privations are experienced like Great Britain at the time the federal government became concerned as regards supplies for naval construction this act approved in 1799 appropriated $200,000 for the purchase of timber fit for the Navy and for its preservation for future use small purchases were made on the Georgia coast but nothing of importance was done until in 1817 another act renewed the proposition of the first and directed the reservation of public lands bearing live oak or cedar timber suitable for the Navy directed by the President under this act a reservation of 19,000 acres was made in 1828 on commissioners, Cyprus and six islands in Louisiana another appropriation of $10,000 was made in 1828 and some lands were purchased on Santa Rosa Sound where during a few years even an attempt at cultivation was made including sowing, transplanting pruning etc this was done under a more general act of 1827 by which the President was authorized to take proper measures to preserve the live oak timber growing on the federal lands under these acts altogether some 244,000 acres of forest land were reserved in Alabama, Florida Louisiana and Mississippi but although another act of 1831 provided for the punishment of persons cutting any live oak, red cedar or other trees growing on any lands of the United States no general conception of the need of a broad forest policy or even of a special value attaching to the public timber lands dictated these acts except so far as the securing of certain material then believed necessary for naval construction was concerned indeed the act of 1831 remained for 60 years the only expression to the public in those early times the extent of our forest domain was entirely unknown and the concern of occasional early voices and public prints regarding a threatened exhaustion of timber supplies can only be explained by the fact that in the absence of railroads the supplies near centers of civilization or near drivable and navigable rivers were alone of any account that the earlier the forest culture received scant attention was due to the fact that conditions soon changed and with these changes the evil day seemed indefinitely postponed and the necessity for forest culture apparently vanished these changes were mainly wrought by the opening up of the west by extending means of transportation through canals and railroads and by distributing population whereby the need for nearby home supplies was overcome a continental supply of apparently inexhaustible amount was brought into sight and within reach meanwhile the population began to grow immigrants began to pour in by the 100,000 and the westward stream opened up new country and new timber supplies and a lumber industry of marvelous size began to develop the small country mill run in the manner of and often in connection with doing a petty business by soaring as occasion demanded to order for home customers or export gave way to the large mill establishment as we know it now and with the development of railroad transportation and the settlement of the western country especially the forestless prairies the industry grew at an astonishing rate it is worthwhile to briefly trace the history of this industry for the sake of which the need of conservative forest policies is essential that the petty method of doing business lasted until the middle of the century is evidenced by the census of 1840 which reported 31,560 lumber mills with a total product valued at 12,943,507 or a little over $400 per mill by 1876 the product per mill had become $6,500 by 1890 with only 21,000 mills it was $19,000 in 1900 nearly the same number of mills as were recorded in 1840 33,035 furnished a product of $566 million and in 1907 the banner year of production the cut of 28,850 mills was reported at over 40 billion feet and the gross product per mill had grown to $23,000 or a value for all of $666,641,367 in 1909 48,112 mills cut $44,509,761,000 feet valued at $684,479,859 nearly half this product came from the southern states in the 50 years from 1850 to 1900 the value of all forced products harvested increased from $59,000,000 to $567,000,000 and in 1907 the value had risen to $1,280,000,000 representing a consumption of over 20 million cubic feet of forest grown material especially after the civil war the settlements of the west grew as if by magic the railroad mileage more than doubled in the decade from 1865 to 1875 and with it the lumber industry developed by rapid strides into its modern methods and volume the changes took place maybe judged from the fact that in 1865 the state of New York still furnished more lumber than any other state now it supplies only insignificant amounts a little over 2% of the total lumber cut in 1868 the golden age of lumbering had arrived in Michigan in 1871 rafts filled the Wisconsin in 1875 Marathon 30 and Fond du Lac 20 saw mills now all gone and mills at lacrosse which were cutting millions of feet annually are now closed by 1882 the Saginaw Valley had reached the climax of its production and the lumber industry of the great northwest with the cut of 8 billion feet of white pine alone was in full blast the white pine production reached its maximum in 1890 with 8.5 billion feet then to decrease gradually but steadily to less than half that cut in 1908 southern development began to assume large proportions much later at the present time the lumber product of the southern states has grown to amounts nearly double that of all the northern states combined but not only the unparalleled and ever increasing wood consumption which now has reached 160 cubic feet per capita 5 times that of Germany and 10 times that of France threatened the exhaustion of the natural supplies reckless conflagrations almost invariably followed the lumbermen and destroyed generally the remaining stand and surely the young growth so common to these conflagrations become that they were considered unavoidable and the laws intended to protect forest property against fires were found on the statute books of every state no attempt to enforce them was made no wonder that those observing this rapid dissemination of our forest supplies and the incredible wastefulness and additional destruction by fire with no attention to the after-growth began again to sound the note of alarm besides the writings and the daily press and other non-official publications we find the reports of the department of agriculture more and more frequently calling attention to the subject in a report issued by the patent office as early as 1849 we find the following significant language in a discussion on the rapid destruction of forests and their influence on water flow the waste of valuable timber in the United States to say nothing of firewood will hardly begin to be appreciated until our population reaches 50 million then the folly and short sightedness of this age will meet with a degree of censure and reproach not pleasant to contemplate in 1865 the reverend Frederick Starr discussed fully and forcibly the American forests their destruction and preservation in a lengthy article in which with a truly prophetic vision he says it is feared it will be long perhaps a full century before the results at which we ought to aim as a nation will be realized by our whole country to wit that we should raise an adequate supply of wood and timber for all our wants the evils which are anticipated will probably increase upon us for 30 years to come with a tenfold rapidity with which restoring or ameliorating measures shall be adopted and again like a cloud no bigger than a man's hand just rising from the sea an awakening interest begins to come in sight in a subject which as a question of political economy will place the interests of cotton wool, coal, iron meat and even grain beneath its feet some of these, according to the demand can be produced in a few days others in a few months or a few years but timber in not less than one generation the nation has slept because the gnawing of want has not awakened her she has had plenty and to spare but within 30 years she will be conscious that not only individual want is present but that it comes to each from permanent national famine of wood the article is full of interesting detail and may be said to be the starting basis of the campaign for better methods which followed another unquestionably most influential official report was that upon Forests and Forestry in Germany by Dr. John A. Water United States Commissioner to the World's Fair at Vienna in 1873 Dr. Water set forth clearly and correctly the methods employed abroad and the use of forests and became himself one of the most prominent propagandists for their adoption in his own country about the same time appeared the classical work of George B. Marsh our minister to Italy the earth as modified by human action the evil effects on cultural conditions of forest destruction were ably and forcibly pointed out among these earlier publications designed to arouse public attention to the subject should also be mentioned General C. C. Andrews report on Forestry in Sweden published by the State Department in 1872 the census of 1870 attempted for the first time a canvas of our forest resources under Professor F. W. Brewer as a result of which the relative smallness of our forest area became known all these publications had their influence in educating a large number to a conception and consideration of the importance of the subject so that when in 1873 the Committee on Forestry of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was formed and presented a memorial to Congress seeking out the importance of promoting the cultivation of timber and the preservation of forests and recommending the appointment of a commission of forestry to report to Congress there already existed an intelligent audience and although a considerable amount of lethargy and lack of interest was exhibited Congress could be persuaded in 1876 to establish an agency in the United States Department of Agriculture and later the Division of Forestry a Bureau of Information on Forestry Matters Dr. Franklin B. Ho one of the signers of the memorial was appointed to the agency it is to be noted as characteristic of much American legislation that this agency was secured only as a rider to an appropriation for the distribution of seed while these were the beginnings of an official recognition of the subject by the federal government the enterprise and the separate states also started about the same time to forward the movement in 1867 the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies of Wisconsin were invited by the legislature to appoint a committee to report on the disastrous effects of forest destruction in 1869 the main board of agriculture appointed a committee to report on a forest policy for the state leading to the act of 1872 for the encouragement of the growth of trees exempting from taxation for 20 years lands planted to trees which law, as far as we know remained without result about the same time a real wave of enthusiasm regarding the planting of timber seems to have pervaded the country and especially the western prairie states in addition to laws regarding the planting of trees on highways laws for the encouragement of timber planting either under bounty or exemption from taxation were passed in Iowa, Kansas and Wisconsin in 1868 in Nebraska and New York in 1869 in Missouri in 1870 in Minnesota in 1871 in Iowa in 1872 in Nevada in 1873 in Illinois in 1874 in Dakota and Connecticut in 1875 and finally the federal government joined in this kind of legislation by the so called Timber Cultural Acts of 1873 and 1874 amended in 1876 and 1877 for the most part these laws remained a dead letter accepting in the case of the federal government offer the encouragement by release from taxes was not much of an inducement nor does the bounty provision seem to have had greater success except in taking money out of the treasuries finally these laws were in many or most cases repealed the Timber Cultural Act was passed by Congress on March 3rd 1873 by which the planting of timber on 40 acres of land or a proportionate area in the treeless territory conferred the title to 160 acres or a proportionate amount of the public domain this law had not been in existence ten years when its repeal was demanded and this was finally secured in 1891 the reason being that partly owing to the crude provisions of the law and partly to the lack of proper supervision it had been abused and had given rise to much fraud in obtaining title to lands under false pretenses it is difficult to say how much impetus the law gave to bona fide forest planting and how much timber growth has resulted from it unfavorable climate lack of satisfactory plant material and a lack of knowledge as to the proper methods led to many failures a number of railroad companies opening up the prairie states planted at this time groves along the right of way for the sake of demonstrating the practicability of securing forest growth on the treeless prairies and plains there was also considerable planting in breaks and groves on homesteads which was attended with better results altogether however the amount of tree planting even in the prairies and plains was infinitesimal if compared with what is necessary for climatic amelioration and it may be admitted now as well as later that the reforestation of the plains must be a matter of cooperative if not of national enterprise at this time also an effort was made to stimulate enthusiasm for tree planting among the homesteaders and settlers on the plains by the establishment of arbor days from its inception by Governor J. Sterling Morton and its first inauguration by the State Board of Agriculture of Nebraska in 1872 Arbor Day gradually became a day of observance in nearly every state while with the exception of the so-called treeless states perhaps not much planting of economic value is done the observance of the day in schools as once had a part for the discussion of the importance of trees, forests and forestry has been productive of an increased interest in the subject arbor days have perhaps also had a retarding influence upon the practical forestry movement and leading people into the misconception that forestry consists in tree planting in diverting attention from the economic question of the proper use of existing forest areas and bringing into the discussion poetry and emotions which have clouded the hard-headed practical issues and delayed the earnest attention of practical businessmen private efforts in the East in the way of fostering and carrying on economic timber planting should not be forgotten such as the offering of prizes by the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture as early as 1804 again in 1876 and the planting done by private land holders at Cape Cod in Rhode Island, Virginia and elsewhere these efforts, to be sure were only sporadic and unsystematic and on no scale commensurate with the destruction of virgin forest resources a touching attempt of two noble Frenchmen to teach their American hosts a better use of their magnificent forest resource although of little result they were failed to mention André Michaud and his son André François who between 1785 and 1805 explored and studied the forest flora of the United States and published a magnificent North American Silva in three volumes left in recognition of the hospitalities received two legacies of $20,000 for the extension and progress of agriculture and more specially silver culture in the United States which bequests became available in 1870 the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia a trustee of one of the legacies has devoted its income to beautification of Fairmont Park providing a few lectures on forest botany and forestry and collecting a forestry library while the other has been used by the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture to aid the botanical gardens at Harvard and the Arnold Arboretum besides offering the prizes for tree planting referred to above End of Section 30 Section 31 of a Brief History of Forestry This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by April 6,090 California United States of America A Brief History of Forestry by Bernard Fornow Development of Forest Policy The first period of desultery efforts to create public opinion on behalf of a more conservative use of forest resources was followed by a mere systematic propaganda in which the division of forestry growing out of the agency in the Department of Agriculture took the lead This it did officially as well by assisting the American Forestry Association soon after organized with a view of educating public opinion For 15 years the chief of the division acted either as secretary or chairman of the Executive Committee of the Association The first forestry association had been formed on January 12, 1876 in St. Paul, Minnesota largely through the efforts of Leonard B. Hodges who was the first to make plantations in the prairies for the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad This association was aided by state appropriations which enabled it to offer premiums for the setting out of plantations to distribute plant material and also to publish and distribute widely a tree planters manual revised editions of which were issued from time to time In 1875 Dr. John A. Warder issued a call for a convention in Chicago to form a National Forestry Association This association was completed in 1876 at Philadelphia but never showed any life or growth In 1882 a number of patriotic citizens at Cincinnati called together a forestry congress incited there too by the visit and representations of Baron von Stuben a Prussian forest official when visiting this country on the occasion of the centennial celebration of the surrender of Yorktown A very enthusiastic and representative gathering on April 25th was the result lasting through the week which led to the formation of the American Forestry Congress In the same year in August a second meeting was held in Montreal under the patronage of the Canadian government and the name was changed to the American Forestry Association In 1898 it began the publication of a propagandist journal The Forester later changed the American Forestry and Irrigation then to Conservation and now again to American Forestry It has now a membership of over 5,000 Much of the early educational propaganda was done through this association Indeed this association holding yearly and intermediate meetings in different parts of the states became the center of all private efforts to advance the forestry movement 12 volumes of its proceedings contained not only the history of progress in establishing a forest policy but also much other information of value on forestry subjects Other local or state forestry associations were formed from time to time more or less under the lead of the national association and exist now in almost every state while several other societies like the Sierra Nevada Club and the Mazamas and the Pacific Coast and state horticulture societies in various states made the subject one to be discussed and to be fostered The most active of these associations since it was formed in 1886 publishing also a bi-monthly journal Forest Leaves at first less frequently is the Pennsylvania State Forestry Association which has succeeded in thoroughly committing its states to a proper forest policy as far as official recognition is concerned usually as a result of this associated private effort the states appointed forestry commissions or commissioners these commissions were at first for the most part instituted for inquiry and to make reports upon which a forest policy for the state might be framed others have become permanent parts of the state organization with executive or merely educational functions such commissioners of inquiry were appointed at various times in Connecticut 1877 New Hampshire 1881 and 1889 Vermont 1882 New York 1884 Maine 1891 New Jersey in Geological Survey 1894 Pennsylvania 1893 North Carolina in Geological Survey 1891 Ohio 1885 Michigan 1899 Wisconsin 1897 Minnesota 1899 North Dakota 1891 Colorado 1885 California 1885 it was but natural in a democratic country that these movements sometimes became the play-balls of self-seeking men political wire polars and grafters or more often of ignorant amateurs and shallow sentimentalists aided by half informed newspaper writers infinite patience was required to steer through these rocks the ship of true economic reform and to educate legislators and constituents to its true needs the very first forestry congress was really conceived with a view of advancing political preferment of one of its organizers and many another forestry meeting was utilized for a similar purpose the new catchy title attracting the global one of the first state forest commissions well endowed to do its work soon fell into the hands of grafters and created such scandals that they led to its abolishment and to set back in the movement everywhere arbor day sentimentalism discredited and clouded the issue before the business world the movement was in constant danger at the hands of its friends antagonism of the lumber world was aroused by the false idea of what the reform contemplated and in the absence of technically trained foresters to instruct the public and the amateur reformers and to convince legislators of the absolute need of discontinuing old established habits progress was naturally slow and experienced many setbacks it was a hard field to plow grown up with the weed growth of prejudice and custom and means and tools for the work were inadequate the federal government was naturally looked to to take the lead the first two agents employed in the department of agriculture to report on forestry unfortunately lacked all technical knowledge of the subject the first a most assiduous worker being a writer of local histories and gatherer of statistics the second day preacher himself had at least the advantage of this technical training but at the same time the disadvantage of being a foreigner who had first to learn the limitations of democratic government only the paltry sum of 8,000 was at his disposal for plowing the ground and even after the agency had been raised to the dignity of a division in 1886 for years no adequate appropriations could be secured and hence the scope and usefulness of the work of the division was hampered the forestry association inaugurated with such a flourish of trumpets and with such a large membership at the start had in the first two years dwindled to a small number of faithful ones and was without funds when the writer became its secretary in spite of these drawbacks the propaganda had progressed so far in 1891 that through the earnest insistence of the then secretary of the interior John W. Noble who had been won over to the views for which the division and the association stood a clause was enacted by Congress in enact to repeal timber culture laws and for other purposes giving authority to the president to set aside forest reservations from the public domain again this important legislation which changed the entire land policy and all previous notions of the government's functions concerning the public domain was not deliberately enacted but slipped in as a writer at the last hour in conference committee in this connection the name of Edward A. Bowers in 1887 special agent in the department of the interior and later assistant commissioner of the general land office deserves mention as most active in securing this reservation policy acting under this authority presidents Harrison and Cleveland proclaimed previous to 1894 17 forest reservations with a total estimated area of 17 million 500,000 acres the reservations were established usually upon the petition of citizens residing in the respective states and after due examination the forestry association acting both as instigator and as an intermediary meanwhile no provision for the administration of the reserves existed and the comprehensive legislation devised by the chief of the division of forestry which included withdrawal and administration of all public timber lands failed to be enacted although in the 53rd congress it was passed by both houses but failed to become a law merely for lack of time to secure a conference report but the purpose of the advocates of forestry was to create such a condition as would compel congress to act by continually withdrawing forested lands that would lie useless until authority was given for their proper use and administration in order to secure influential support from outside a committee of the forestry association induced the then secretary of the interior hope smith in 1896 to request the national academy of sciences the legally constituted advisor of the government in scientific matters to investigate and report upon the inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forested lands of the united states after an unnecessary so called junk it of a committee of the academy to investigate the public timber lands a preliminary report was submitted recommending the creation of 13 additional reservations with an area of over 20 million acres and later a complete report was made with practically the same recommendations which had been urged by the forestry association president cleveland heroically proclaimed the desired reserves all on one day washington's birthday 1897 without the usual preliminary ascertainment of local interests and immediately a storm broke loose in the united states senate which threatened the overthrow of the entire toilsomely achieved reservation policy and impeachment of the president was strongly argued in a two day sunday session congress however came to an end on march 4th before it had taken any action but as it had also failed to pass the annual sundry civil appropriation bill it was immediately recalled in extra session then again by a clever trick and in an indirect and surreptitious manner instead of by open direct and straightforward consideration and deliberation of a proper policy most important legislation was secured in the sundry civil appropriation bill which provided for the temporary suspension of the reservations lately set aside until they could be more definitely delimited private claims adjusted and agricultural lands excluded by a survey for which $150,000 was appropriated to the united states geological survey the agriculture lands were then to be returned to the public domain for disposal at the same time provisions for the administration of the remaining reservations much in the sense of the legislation was advocated by the division of forestry and by the forestry association and especially for the sale of timber were hung on to this appropriation clause under this act the reserves were administered until 1904 if the interior history of this bit of legislation were revealed it would probably appear that not conception of the importance of the subject but the need for the employment of a certain organized survey in the geological survey was at the bottom of it while this law had set aside one year and a limited sum to accomplish the survey this could not of course be done and hence appropriations were continued and the date for the segregation of the lands was deferred Cindy for years this forest survey continued giving rise to magnificent volumes issued from the geological survey describing the forest reservations a very useful educational piece of work not at all contemplated by the legislation for which not less than 1.5 million dollars have been expended by 1905 some 110,000 square miles had been examined when this work was handed over to the forestry bureau thus it happened almost by accident that finally the aims of the reformers were realized the appointment of forest attendants, rangers, etc to take charge of the forest reservations was secured and rules and regulations for their administration were formulated by the commissioner of the general land office marking the beginning of a settled policy on the part of the United States government to take care of its long neglected forest lands in this work of first organization the name of Philip Bert Roth a German born forester deserves attention meanwhile the division of forestry had continued to bring together and distribute in the shape of reports bulletins, circulars, addresses and letters such information useful for the education of the public of wood consumers and timberland owners as its limited appropriations permitted undertaking also some scientific investigations especially in the line of timber physics in july 1898 when the writer resigned his position as chief of the division of forestry to organize the first professional forest school the new york state college of forestry Mr. Gifford Pinchot took charge of the division young ambitious aggressive with some knowledge of forestry acquired in Europe and with influential connections and a large fortune he easily secured the first need for effective planning on the well-plowed field before him appropriations whatever had been feebly begun could be broadly sometimes lavishly extended and the new idea of making working plans for private timberland owners could be developed a great educational work which earlier when even cooperation with state institutions was considered a questionable proposition would have been turned down as too paternal in five years the appropriations had increased tenfold to over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and in the first decade of the new regime around three million dollars had been spent on forestry investigations not counting expenditures on forest reservation account a further strong support came into the field when Mr. Roosevelt became president of the United States in 1901 and unreservedly through his overpowering influence into the balance to advance forest policies owing to his interest the withdrawal of public timberlands from entry proceeded at a rapid rate by 1902 the reservations had grown to sixty five million acres in 1905 there were over 100 million acres included and by the end of his administration 175 million acres had been placed in reservation the anomalous condition which placed the survey of the forest reserves in the geological survey their administration in the land office and the scientific or technical development of forestry in the department of agriculture was finally ended in 1904 when on February the first the whole matter was placed in the hands of the department of agriculture with its forestry division which had been changed into a bureau of forestry and then changed its name again to forest service with this transfer it may be said the federal forest policy was fully established at least for its own lands and all that remains to be done in the perfection of details in their administration and the development of silvicultural methods with appropriations which now 1907 exceed $950,000 for investigating work alone limitless opportunity seems to be open to extend many directions of inquiry and solve the silvicultural problems and satisfy the educational function of this government agency but besides the administration of the federal timberlands and the educational and other assistance of private owners a further expansion of the forest service is developing under the paternalistic and socialistic tendencies referred to before which may ultimately lead to the purchase and federal control of forest reserves in the eastern states such expansion was indeed proposed in the establishment of reserves in the white mountains and the southern appellations propositions which have been resisted by congress for the last seven years but with ever-weakening resistance finally in 1910 success was attained and the federal government placed in position to acquire these forest areas to the amount of $10 million meanwhile the single states have begun to develop their own policies outside of legislation aiming at protection against forest fires which nearly every state possessed from early times ineffective for lack of machinery to carry it into effect and outside of the futile attempts to encourage timber planting referred to no interest in timberlands was events by state authorities for the first three-thirds of the century since practically all these lands had been disposed of to private owners and the authorities did not see any further duties regarding them the first state to institute a commission of inquiry was Wisconsin in 1867 but with the rendering of the report prepared by I. A. Lapham one of the active early propagandists the matter was allowed to mature for 30 years the next state to move in a feeble was Minnesota the legislator making an annual grant of money to its forestry association the appointment of commissions of inquiry then became fashionable New Hampshire appointed such a commission in 1881 which reported in 1885 without result and another commission in 1889 whose report in 1893 led to the establishment of a permanent commission of inquiry and advice with a partial supervision of forest fire laws Vermont followed suit with a commission of inquiry in 1882 whose report made in 1884 remained without consequences in Michigan the expedient was resorted to of constituting the state board of agriculture a commission of inquiry whose report published in 1888 had also no consequences except those of an educational character similarly the state of Massachusetts ordered the state board of agriculture in 1890 to inquire into the consideration of the forests of the state the need and methods of their protection with similar results or lack of result in New Jersey the matter was referred to the state geologist who since 1894 has made reports on forest conditions and needs similar reference of the subject was made in the state of North Carolina in 1891 and in West Virginia the first more permanent state institution deliberately established as an educational and advisory agent was the forest bureau of Ohio in 1885 which published a number of annual reports but eventually collapsed for lack of support in the same year three important states New York in the east Colorado in the middle states and California in the west were significantly to have awakened to their duty largely as a result of the propaganda of the American Forestry Association in California a state board of forestry was instituted with considerable power and ample appropriations which however eventually fell into the hands of unscrupulous politicians and grafters the resulting scandals leading to its abolishment in 1889 in Colorado which when admitted to statehood in 1876 had in its constitution directed the general assembly to legislate on behalf of the forestry interests of the state these interests were rather totally committed to a forest commissioner who was charged to organized county commissioners and rode over sears throughout the state as forest officers in their respective localities to act as a police force in preventing depredations on timbered school lands forcing the fire laws Colonel E.T. Ensign who had been most instrumental in bringing about this legislation was appointed commissioner and with singular devotion in spite of the enmity aroused by his activity which eventually led to a discontinuance of appropriations tried for a number of years to execute this law with his resignation from the office this legislation also fell into innocuous suitude in New York concerned in the water supply for the Erie Canal had led such a far-sighted statesman as Horatio Seymour twice governor of the state and once running for the presidency to conceive the need of preserving the Adirondack watershed in state hands accordingly a law was passed in 1872 naming seven citizens with Horatio Seymour chairman as state park commission instructed to make inquiries with a view of reserving or appropriating the wild lands lying northward of the Mohawk or so much thereof as might be deemed expedient for a state park the commission finding that the state then owned only 40,000 acres in that region and that there was a tendency on the part of the owners of the rest to combine the advancement of values should the state want to buy recommended a law forbidding further sales of state lands and their retention when forfeited for the non-payment of taxes it was not until 11 years later in 1883 that this recommendation was acted upon when the state through the non-payment of taxes by the owners of cut over lands had become possessed of 600,000 acres in 1884 the comptroller was authorized to employ such experts as he may deem necessary to investigate and report a system of forest preservation the report of a commission of four members was made in 1885 but the legislation proposed was antagonized by the lumberman's interests the legislature finally passed a compromise bill which the writer had drafted at the request of Senator Low establishing a forest commission and to define its powers and for the preservation of forests the most comprehensive legislation at that time the original forest commission appointed under the act of 1885 was superseded in 1895 the commission of fisheries game and forest which brought allied interests under the control of a single board of five members appointed by the governor for a term of five years in 1903 the commission was changed to a single commissioner and another backward step was taken in 1911 by handing over the work of this commissioner to the newly created state conservation commission consolidating with the several other commissions here then for the first time on the American continent had the idea of state forestry management of state lands on forestry principles taken shape the new doctrine of state functions had gained to the day not only was the commission charged to organize a service with a chief forester and under foresters to administer the existing reserve according to forestry principles but also from the incomes to lay aside a fund for the purchase of more lands to constitute the state forest reserve unfortunately in stability of purpose the characteristic of democracy spoiled the dream of the forester both commission and chief forester were of course political appointees and rightly or wrongly fell under the suspicion when proposing the sale of stumpage that they were working into the hands of lumbermen a set of well meaning but ill advised civic reformers succeeded in 1893 in securing the insertion into the constitution then being revised a clause preventing the cutting of trees on state lands declaring that they shall forever be kept as wild lands later this constitutional provision was deliberately set aside by the commission which began to plant up some of the fire wasted areas the legislature appropriating money for this breach of the constitution because it was popular and lately permission had also been granted by the legislature to remove trees from burnt areas in order to reduce the exposure the foolish objection of a constitution notwithstanding in 1897 new legislation was passed to authorize the state to purchase additional forest lands within a prescribed limit to round off the state's holdings a special agency the forest preserve board being constituted for that purpose under this law some 3,500,000 in 1907 over one and a half million acres had been added to the state forest preserve this large area is withdrawn from rational economic use reserved for a pleasure ground of wealthy New Yorkers who have located their camps in the wilderness under the avowed assumption that the state can be forced to maintain forever this anomalous condition in later years private planting has been encouraged by the commission selling plant material from the state nurseries at low rates the most important administrative function of the commission has been the reduction of forest fires in which also owing to political conditions only partial success has been attained the legislation of 1885 for the first time attacked this problem in a more thorough manner providing for the organization of a service and this served as an example of other states who copied and improved upon it notably the forest fire legislation of Maine 1891 of Wisconsin 1895 and of Minnesota 1895 was based on this model another of the large states to start upon and differently from New York to develop consistently a proper forest policy was the state of Pennsylvania as a result of a persistent propaganda by the Pennsylvania Forestry Association formed in 1886 and especially by its active secretary Dr. J. T. Rothrock a commission of inquiry was instituted in 1893 before its report was established the legislature of 1895 provided for an executive department of agriculture and included in its organization a provision for a division of forestry the botanist member of the previous commission Dr. Rothrock being appointed commissioner of forestry at the head of the division two years later the final legislation which firmly established a forest policy for the state was passed namely for the purchase of state forest reservations all later legislation was simply an expansion of these propositions by 1910 the state had acquired by purchase wild mostly cold lands of over 900,000 acres and the commission had progressed far forwards providing for their management and recuperation the usually disastrous conflagrations of 1894 the growing conviction that the pleaders of the exhaustibility of timber supplies were right accentuated by rapid decline in white pine production and a rapid and indeed almost sudden rise in stumpage prices example which the federal government had set in withdrawing public timberland from spoliation together with an increasing number not only of advocates of saner methods but of technically educated men who came from the schools lately organized all these influences had worked as a leaven in all parts of the country so as to bring in the new century with a realization of the seriousness of the situation in the first seven years of the century the change of attitude at least was almost completed in all parts of the country and among all classes the lumbermen and others depending directly on wood supplies becoming especially prominent in recognizing the need and value of forestry date after state came into line in recognizing that it had a duty to perform and in some way gave expression to this recognition so that by 1908 hardly a state was without at least a germ of a forest policy two principles had been recognized as correct and were brought into practice namely that the forest interests of the state called for direct state activity and that eventually the state must own and manage at least portions of the forest area the first principle took shape in appointing single state foresters as in main 1891 and 1903 in Massachusetts 1904 in Connecticut 1903 in Vermont 1906 in Rhode Island 1906 or commissions or boards as in New York 1885 changed to a single commissioner with superintendent and state foresters in 1903 in Pennsylvania 1901 in New Hampshire 1893 Maryland with a state forester 1905 Wisconsin with a state forester 1905 Indiana 1901-1903 Louisiana with a state forester 1904 Michigan 1899 Minnesota 1899 California revived with a state forester in 1905 Washington with a state forester 1905 Kentucky 1906 New Jersey with a state forester 1904 Alabama 1907 a very important feature in these appointments was the fact that more and more professional or technically educated men displaced the merely political appointees or were at least added to the commissions the idea of state forest found expression more or less definitely in setting aside forest reservations or else in enabling the state to accept and administer donations of forest lands among the states recognizing this principle were New Hampshire Connecticut New Jersey Michigan Wisconsin Minnesota Indiana California where neither of these two principles had as yet found application at least some agency was established to give advice and investigate or experiment in matters of forest interests and sometimes to offer assistance to private woodland owners or planters as in Delaware Ohio North Carolina etc meanwhile largely through the influence and with the cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Forestry private owners had begun if not to apply at least to study the possibility of the application of forestry to their holdings the Bureau prepared working plans which were now and then followed in part at least led to attempts at a more conservative method of logging notably various paper and pulp manufacturers realized the usefulness of more systematic attention and conservative methods in the use of their properties in this connection the object lesson furnished by Mr. G. K. Vanderbilt on his Biltmore State in North Carolina which was begun by Mr. Pinchot and conducted by Dr. C. A. Schneck a German Forester requires special mention as the first and for nearly 20 years continued experiment in applying forestry methods systematically in America at present time the continuance of this experiment is in doubt with the second decade of the century we shall enter upon the flood tide of development when no more need of argument for its necessity and only the question of practical methods will occupy us so far civil culturally the selection forest i.e. calling the best and the stoutest practice here to row by the lumbermen without reference to reproduction but carried on somewhat more conservatively and is still the method advocated in most cases by the forest service this so-called conservation lumbering is to be sure the transition to better methods according to reports of the federal forest service in 1907 some million acres of private timberland were under forest management or conservatively lumbered planting of waste or logged lands as distinguished from planting in the prairies which had sporadically and in a small way been done by individuals here and there for many years is practice in ever increasing amount both by state administrations and by private owners the new york state college of forestry starting such planting in its college forest on a larger scale and systematically in 1899 at present writing the forestry department of the pennsylvania railroad company is perhaps the largest single planter in the country having set out over four million trees by 1910 with the avowed purpose of growing railroad ties 1908 popular interest in forest conservation had become so keen and at the same time paternalistic tendencies so fully developed by the rosevelt administration the federal government having entered upon extensive plans of reclaiming lands by irrigation and preparing to develop water powers and inland waterways that the time seemed right to bring all these conservative forces into unity the president called together in conference the governors of all the states with their advisors together with the presidents of the various national societies interested and others to discuss the broad question of the conservation of natural resources as a consequence national and state conservation associates and commissions were formed in all parts of the union and a new era of active interest in economic development seems to have arrived end of section 31 development of forest policy