Читать книгу Our National Forests - Richard H. D. Boerker - Страница 8

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This general policy, which was laid down by the Secretary of Agriculture, has been followed out, with the result that a great many benefits have been derived by the nation as a whole, by the individual States in which the National Forests are located, and, lastly, by the local communities and users of the Forests.

The Remaining Timber Resources Were Saved. First of all the timber, the forage, and the water-power on the public domain has been reserved for the whole people and not for a privileged few. Before the Forest Reserve policy went into effect, the most valuable timber was being withdrawn from government ownership by the misuse of the public land laws, whose purpose and intent were fraudulently evaded. Many claims were initiated apparently for the purpose of establishing a homestead but in reality for the purposes of securing the timber on the land and later to dispose of it to some large timber holder. Every citizen is allowed to exercise his homestead right. Big timber operators would secure the services of many dummy locators, pay the expenses of locating, improving, and perfecting the patent, and then buy the claim from these dummies for small sums. A large timber holder in California secured his hundreds of thousands of acres of timber land in this way. By instructing these men where to locate their claims he was able to secure more or less solid blocks of timber made up originally of 160 acre patches. These patches, which originally were bought by the lumber barons for from $500 to $800 a claim, now have a value of from $8,000 to as high as $20,000. The people of the United States have lost the difference.

It is difficult to say where or how this wholesale misuse of the public land laws would have ended if it had not been for the inauguration of the National Forest policy. Since the Government has taken full charge of its forest domain, this misuse has stopped. In fact many of the fraudulent claims located years ago are being investigated, and if they are found to have been initiated with intent to defraud the Government, the land and the timber is returned to the National Forest in which it is located. To-day the National Forests contain about one fifth of the standing timber in the United States, an amount which will undoubtedly have a great effect upon the supply of timber available for future generations, especially since under present lumbering methods the privately owned timber lands are being practically destroyed, while the National Forests are actually being improved by scientific management. Four fifths of the standing timber is privately owned, and this is usually of much higher quality than the publicly owned timber.

Figure 5. The Big Trees. "Mother of the Forest" in the background. North Calaveras Grove, California.

The Use of Forage and Water Resources Was Regulated. The forage and water resources of the public domain have been subject to similar abuse. Before the National Forest policy was put into effect the large ranges of the West were used indiscriminately by all. The range was subject to considerable abuse because it was used very early in the spring before the forage was mature, or too late in the fall, which prevented the forage from ripening its seed and reproducing for the next season. Not the small, local stockmen, however, but the large sheep and cattle companies, many controlled by foreign capital, benefited by this condition of affairs. These "big men," as they were called, illegally fenced and monopolized large areas, varying in size from townships to entire counties. What chance would a local rancher with fifty or sixty cattle have against a million-dollar outfit with perhaps 40,000 to 50,000 cattle? He was merely swallowed up, so to speak, and had no chance whatever to get his small share. "Might made right" in those days, and it is said that if a man held any title or equity on the range it was a "shotgun" title. Also, the sheep and cattle men had innumerable disputes about the use of the range which in many cases resulted in bloodshed. If a sheep man arrived first on the range in the spring with his large bands of sheep, he simply took the feed. The Government owned the land and the forage but it had no organization in the field to regulate the use of it. It was indeed a chaotic condition of affairs and ended only after the inauguration of the present policy of leasing the lands under the permit system. These permits are issued and charged for upon a per capita basis.

The conservative and regulated use of the grazing lands under Forest Service supervision has resulted in better growth and better weights on stock and more actual profit. There are ample data that show that the National Forests produce some of the best lambs that are put upon the market. Data secured from the Modoc National Forest, California, in 1910, show that lambs brought 50 cents per head more and weighed an average of 10 pounds more than lambs produced outside the Forest. Weights taken of 10,000 head showed an average of 72 pounds for National Forest lambs, while outside the Forest average weights on 3,000 lambs showed only 62 pounds. The regulation of the length of the grazing season, the introduction of better methods of handling sheep, and the prevention of over-grazing are some of the Forest Service methods that produce better lambs.

Then also under the old system the valuable water-power sites were being rapidly eliminated from government ownership by large corporations who secured valuable property for a song. The National Forests, however, still contain about one-third of the potential water-power resources of the United States and over 40 per cent. of the estimated power resources of the Western States. And this vast wealth will not pass from the ownership of the United States but will be leased under long-term leases from which the Government will receive yearly a fair rental.

The Forests Were Protected from Fire and Trespass. But not only have these large timber, forage, and power resources been put under administration for the use of the people. The protection of the National Forests, which goes hand in hand with their administration, means a great deal to the local communities, the States, and the nation as a whole. Until about twenty years ago the forests upon our public lands—the timber of the Rocky Mountains from Montana to New Mexico and of the Pacific Coast ranges from northern Washington to southern California—seemed destined to be destroyed by fire and reckless, illegal cutting. Nothing whatever was being done to protect them from fire or trespass. They were simply left to burn. When the people living near the public domain wanted any house logs, fence posts, or firewood, they went into the public domain and took them. The best trees were usually taken first. In California, especially, there was a common practice of cutting down the finest sugar pine trees and cutting and splitting them into shakes to make a roof covering. Then, too, much government timber was stolen by lumber companies operating in the vicinity of valuable government timber. After the land had been stripped of everything of value a fire was started in the slashing, which among other things burned the stumps and thus practically obliterated all evidence of trespass. Had this destruction continued there would to-day have been little timber left in the West, and the development of the country which demands timber all the time, and not only at certain intervals, would have been retarded, if not stopped altogether.

Figure 6. A scene on one of the famous National Parks. Upper Lake, Glacier National Park, Northern Rockies, Montana.

How terrible the forest fires were in this western country is well illustrated by what an old California settler once told me, and what I have heard repeatedly in many Western States. He said: "In the years before the Forest Service took over the care and protection of the forests around here, the mountains within view of my ranch were not visible for many months at a time, being almost continually enveloped in smoke from the big forest fires that were raging in the forests all summer without ever being under control. They started in the spring as soon as it became dry and were not suppressed until the late fall rains and snows put them out." But he added with great enthusiasm, "Since the Service has taken charge the sky around here is as clear as crystal all summer. I never see any forest fires, not even smoke, because the Rangers seem to get to them before they get to be of any size." Such testimony as this speaks volumes for the efficiency of the present system of protecting the Forests from fire.

The Watershed Cover Was Preserved. The destruction of the forest cover on the watersheds feeding thousands of streams which rise in the western mountains would have had its bad effect on stream flow—low water during the long dry periods, and destructive floods after heavy rains. This condition of affairs would have meant disaster to the systems of irrigation by which most of the western farmers raise their crops. It would also have seriously impeded and in many cases prevented electric power development, to say nothing of affecting the domestic water of many of our large western cities whose drinking water comes from the streams rising in the National Forests. The protection of these valuable watersheds by the Forest Service from fire and destructive lumbering is of such vital importance to the welfare of the nation that it has been made one of the main reasons for establishing National Forests.

Civilization Brought to the Mountains. What the National Forest movement has done for settling and building up the Western States can hardly be overestimated. It has brought civilization into the wilderness. Roads, trails, telephone lines, and other modern conveniences have been brought to remote corners of the mountains. It has encouraged the settlement of the country by calling attention to the agricultural lands within the National Forests. More important than that, it has assured the West permanent towns, permanent civilization, and not a temporary, careless, shiftless civilization which vanishes with the exploitation of resources, as it did under the old régime.

The improvements on the National Forests have benefited not only the Forest officers for the administration of the Forests. They have helped immensely the local population. The pleasure resorts as well as the business of the Forests have been made more accessible. New trails have opened up new and hitherto inaccessible country, where fishing, hunting, and trapping are ideal. All the old and new roads and trails have been well marked with sign boards giving the tourist detailed information about distances between the various points of interest. Roads have opened up new regions to automobiles and to the horse and wagon. In 1916 it was estimated that more than 2,000,000 people visited the National Forests for recreation and pleasure. They came in automobiles, in horse and wagon, on horseback, on mules, on burros, and in all sorts of made-to-order contrivances, and the writer has even seen those that could not afford anything better, pack their camp outfits in a wheelbarrow and push it before them in their effort to leave the hot, dusty valleys below, and go to the refreshing and invigorating Forests of Uncle Sam. In addition to the large numbers of tourists that visit the National Forests every year, over 100,000 persons or companies use the National Forests. Of these a little more than half are paid users, who are charged a fair fee for timber, grazing, or other privileges and a little less than half enjoy free use privileges.

Agricultural Lands Opened to Settlement. The settlement of the agricultural lands in the National Forests is a matter that has received special attention at the hands of the Forest Service in late years. Land more valuable for agriculture than for timber growing was excluded from the National Forests before the boundaries were drawn, so far as this was possible. Small tracts of agricultural land within the Forests which could not be excluded are opened to settlement under the Forest Homestead Act of June 11, 1906. The amount of land, however, that is more valuable for agriculture than for timber is trifling, because the greater part of the valuable land was already settled before the Forests were created. The few small patches that are left inside of the National Forest boundaries are rapidly being classified and opened to entry for homesteads. Much of the land apparently adapted for agricultural purposes has a severe climate because it lies at high altitudes and it is often remote from roads, schools, villages, and markets. Therefore the chance offered the prospective settler in the immediate vicinity of the Forests is far better than in the Forests themselves. The Forest Service is doing everything it can to encourage homesteaders on the National Forests; it wants them because they help to report fires, help to fight fires, and in many other ways assist the Forest officers.

Permanent and Not Temporary Civilization Resulted. Only those people who have been brought up near a large lumbering center can appreciate what it means when a town vanishes; when all that is left of a thriving town of 5,000 or more souls is empty streets, empty houses, and heaps of tin cans. In the days of the Golden Age of lumbering in Michigan many towns flourished in the midst of the forests. These towns had thrifty, busy people, with schools, churches, banks, and other conveniences. These people were engaged in exploiting the forests. The beautiful white pine forests were converted into boards at the rate of thousands of feet every day. When these magnificent forests were laid low, the lumbermen left to seek virgin timber elsewhere. They left behind them empty towns and barren lands; only a few charred stumps remained to show where the forests once stood. But this is not an incident peculiar to the Golden Age of lumbering in Michigan. Even to-day this very thing is happening. The town of Crossfork, Potter County, Pennsylvania, had a population of over 2,500 souls in 1909. When the nearby timber was exhausted, practically the whole town was abandoned. In 1913 it had a population of 50.

In direct contrast to this short-sighted policy of the State of Michigan (and many others also) is the National Forest policy, which provides for a future supply of forest products as well as a present supply; which provides for work and homes and schools and churches for future generations as well as for the present; which provides for a permanent industry and not one that vanishes with the exploitation of the resources of a region as snow vanishes under the warm rays of a spring day. Lumbering even to-day is merely the removal of every vestige of timber that has any sale value. But forestry, which is practiced on the National Forests, removes only the mature trees, leaving the young growth to be cut at some future time. Lumbering has been and is to-day forest destruction; forestry is forest conservation under a system of wise use. Lumbering is followed usually by fire, and often by an entire impoverishment of the region in which it is carried on because it destroys both the mature tree and the young growth; under a system of forestry, cutting is followed by young, green forests which are protected from fire for the benefit of future generations. Such a system leaves the region and the industry in a permanent, good condition. The county under the old system receives no more taxes after its wealth is gone; but each county will receive taxes or money in lieu of taxes every year as long as the National Forests shall endure.