Forest Conservation

[Music] when the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock America possessed the mightiest and most buried Forest stand on the surface of the Earth it was so vast in extent that no one ever stopped to think it could be exhausted but forests are vulnerable unless well managed in the early days our forests were blindly attacked so the frontier steadily retreated Westward before the axe and the saw and the Virgin Forest shrank forests are also vulnerable to fire each year fires burn an area larger than the combined states of Delaware and Rhode Island and the forest is able to insect pests which contribute a vast share to its demolition until recently no one ever thought of Timber as a crop to be harvested at regular intervals and cared for at all times we cut our forests Expos them to fire and allow them to be ravaged by pests without thought for the future and we have wasted our wood in other ways for every 100 trees that that are cut the equivalent of only 43 is made into useful products from 22 the wood is used as fuel from 35 it is wasted and broken and burned like this or the poorer logs left to rot because they cost too much to salvage in 199 our forest resources of Saw Timber were approximately 3,000 billion B feet by 1945 in the face of sharply increasing demand they had shrunk to an estimated 1,600 billion board feet and of poorer quality for much of the best Timber had been cut today we are still cutting Three Trees of Saw Timber size for every two that grow yes our forests are disappearing leaving in their place such land as this let us look at the price we pay for mismanagement of the forest we know that the most important product of the forest is water what has this mismanagement done to the nation's water supply here is the difference between the forest and land that was once Forest until it was cut bear those murderous red gullies May mean a serious water shortage for some city a thousand miles away for this land has lost the roots and leaves that protected the soil and absorbed the rain now the rain unchecked runs off carrying the soil away first the rich top soil with its absorbent humus built from the dead leaves and roots of the Ancient Forest and when the humus is gone the coarse subsoil follows and now the river runs gray with silt torn from the slopes above when rivers such as this enter a natural lake or a reservoir here is what happens as the current slackens the soil particles slowly fill the reservoir this Reservoir once supplied a City in our country today there are many such dead reservoirs monuments to man's mismanagement of the forest brutally damaged as the nation's Timber and Water Supplies have been it is not yet too late fortunately wise men both in government and in Industry are taking steps in the right direction the intelligent Forester always makes provision for the future for example he may cut his forest in sections leaving around each open space a good stand of trees to scatter seed and keep the ground moist when the seedlings are well started another section may be cut thus each area will renew itself and so the forest will produce a steady flow of Timber as the young trees grow they should be spaced close together forcing each tree to put its strength into its topmost shoot reaching upward for the sunlight so the trunk will grow tall and straight As the young trees grow taller the forest may be thinned trees like this that are bent and effective removed giving the young and perfect trees the moisture and light and space to grow many times faster the difference between a forest that has been properly managed and one that has been ignorantly cut is the difference between life and death in harvesting and Milling the timber crop much waste may be avoided by building pump Mills or Factories near the forest Sawmills and by finding better ways to use the wood for example here is a city completely dependent on the forest here the wise management of one Logging Company seeks the best use of every Forest product in this city a single Factory gets enough wood scraps from the Sawmills to produce thousands of feet of building board each day from wood that would ordinarily be wasted but these good practices of cutting replanting and reclaiming waste are all too rare today why government studies show that the forests are divided like this us National Forest 65 million Acres managed well 80% Fair 19% badle 1% pulp companies 14.5 million Acres managed well 33% Fair 49% badle 18% lumber companies 34.5 million Acres managed well 25% Fair 27% badly 48% other owners 130 million Acres managed well 5% Fair 30% badley 65% 123 million Acres of Farmland managed well 4% Fair 23% badly 73% clearly the chief problem lies with the small owner and we must learn the very simple cardinal rule before it is too late that every man who owns Woodland whether it be 50 acres or 50,000 is a trustee responsible to the nation and to the Next Generation for the proper management of his Forest but the small owner faces many difficulties he knows that a Timber crop takes many years to grow and that while it is growing he runs the risk of fire and Pest and that often he must pay a stiff tax for his standing Timber but worse than this he often lacks the knowledge or the money or the time to manage his Forest scientifically what can be done about it this can be done about it state and federal agencies can provide more technical advice and assistance to the owner in tending in harvesting and in marketing his crop young stock may be made available for replanting at lower costs a federally sponsored Forest credit system for long-term loans should be adopted along with federal or state insurance against lost by fire and pest fire protection can be increased and All Phases of Forest research strengthened and expanded but Above All Else education and demonstrational services must be provided such a program will cost money but it is worth it not only for the small owner or the lumber and Pulp companies but for everybody in the land you have the right to life and water so has the man who makes his living from the forest fashioning its products for your service but against a ruined Forest your right and his your life and his can weigh exactly nothing for the nation's Timber the nation's water and the nation's strength depend upon your living Forest guard that Forest as you would guard your life and the lives of your [Music] children