We should assist the foresters and wardens in every way possible. Most of these men love the woods, the birds, and the animals. They are doing their best to protect the forest and its wild life for the good and happiness of us all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
OUR FOREST PLAYGROUNDS
| What does he plant who plants a tree? He plants the friend of sun and sky; He plants the flag of breezes free; The shaft of beauty, towering high; He plants a home to heaven anigh For song and mother-croon of bird In hushed and happy twilight heard— The treble of heaven's harmony— These things he plants who plants a tree. What does he plant who plants a tree? He plants cool shade and tender rain, And seed and bud of days to be, And years that fade and flush again; He plants the glory of the plain; He plants the forest's heritage; The harvest of a coming age; The joy that unborn eyes shall see— These things he plants who plants a tree. What does he plant who plants a tree? He plants, in sap and leaf and wood, In love of home and loyalty And far-cast thought of civic good— His blessing on the neighborhood Who in the hollow of His hand Holds all the growth of all our land— A nation's growth from sea to sea Stirs in his heart who plants a tree. |
H. C. Bunner,
The Heart of the Tree; in Century Magazine, April, 1893
Our National Parks and Forests form the grandest summer playgrounds that any people have ever had. The National Forests, we have learned, were set aside for the direct purpose of preserving the timber supply and regulating the flow of the mountain streams. The National Parks were created for the purpose of preserving for all time the most beautiful and attractive scenic features of our country. Among the most important of these are the Yellowstone, Grand Cañon, Yosemite, Rainier, and Crater Lake parks. They include many thousands of square miles of forested mountains, cliffs, lakes, waterfalls, and rivers, which are open to all of us with no restrictions except that we do not injure them.
How delightful it is to have these wild and picturesque parts of our country left unspoiled and just as Nature made them, and to be able to wander through them at will! In the parks we can become acquainted with the flowers, trees, birds, and animals as they were before the country was discovered and settled by white men. Here the wild creatures are protected from the hunters. The deer no longer fear the sight of men, and the mother grouse can raise her brood in safety from them.
When summer comes we feel a strange and mysterious longing to get out of doors and live in the forests with the wild creatures. The parks offer just the opportunity to satisfy this longing, for in them we can get away from the worries and perplexities of our everyday life.