Our National Forests. Richard H. D. Boerker
tion>
Richard H. D. Boerker
Our National Forests
A Short Popular Account of the Work of the United States Forest Service on the National Forests
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664593214
Table of Contents
FORESTRY AS A NATIONAL PROBLEM
THE EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS
WHY THE NATIONAL FORESTS WERE CREATED
HOW THE NATIONAL FOREST POLICY HAS BENEFITED THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER I THE CREATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS WHICH LED TO FOREST CONSERVATION
THE FIRST STEPS IN FEDERAL FOREST CONSERVATION.
THE FIRST FOREST RESERVES ESTABLISHED MARCH 30, 1891
AN ANOMALOUS CONDITION—FOREST RESERVES WITHOUT FOREST ADMINISTRATION
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE RESERVES UNDER THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE
THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE FORESTRY WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN 1905
THE PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF THE FOREST SERVICE
CHAPTER II THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS
HOW THE FOREST SERVICE APPROPRIATION IS ALLOTTED TO THE NATIONAL FORESTS
THE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES FOR THE NATIONAL FORESTS
THE CLASSIFICATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF NATIONAL FOREST LANDS
HOW YOUNG FORESTS ARE PLANTED TO REPLACE THOSE DESTROYED BY FIRE
THE ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF FOREST EXPERIMENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER III THE PROTECTION OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS
PROTECTION AGAINST TRESPASS, FOREST INSECTS, EROSION AND OTHER AGENCIES
CHAPTER IV THE SALE AND RENTAL OF NATIONAL FOREST RESOURCES
THE SALE AND DISPOSAL OF NATIONAL FOREST TIMBER
THE DISPOSAL OF TIMBER TO HOMESTEAD SETTLERS AND UNDER FREE USE
TIMBER SETTLEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE USE
THE RENTAL OF NATIONAL FOREST RANGE LANDS
ADMINISTRATIVE USE OF NATIONAL FOREST LANDS
WATER POWER, TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH, AND POWER TRANSMISSION LINES
PREFACE
Forestry is a vast subject. It has to do with farm and forest, soil and climate, man and beast. It affects hill and valley, mountain and plain. It influences the life of cities, states, and nations. It deals not only with the manifold problems of growing timber and forest by-products, such as forage, naval stores, tanbark, and maple sugar, but it is intimately related to the navigability of rivers and harbors, the flow of streams, the erosion of hillsides, the destruction of fertile farm lands, the devastation wrought by floods, the game and birds of the forest, the public health, and national prosperity.
The practice of forestry has, therefore, become an important part in the household economy of civilized nations. Every nation has learned, through the misuse of its forest resources, that forest destruction is followed by timber famines, floods, and erosion. Mills and factories depending upon a regular stream flow must close down, or use other means for securing their power, which usually are more expensive. Floods, besides doing enormous damage, cover fertile bottom-lands with gravel, bowlders, and débris, which ruins these lands beyond redemption. The birds, fish, and game, which dwell in the forests, disappear with them. Springs dry up and a luxurious, well-watered country becomes a veritable desert. In short, the disappearance of the forests means the disappearance of everything in civilization that is worth while.
These