Our national forests

by Richard H. D. Boerker

The Romance of the National Forest Region. This vast expanse west of the Mississippi River boasts of some of the wildest and most romantic scenery on the North American continent, and it is in the heart of this picturesque country that the National Forests are located. This is the country in which Owen Wister, Harold Bell Wright, Stewart Edward White, Jack London, Theodore Roosevelt, and other authors have gotten their inspirations and laid their plots. To one who knows "The Virginian," or "When a Man's a Man," or "The Winning of Barbara Worth," or "The Valley of the Moon," nothing more need be said. To others I might say that my pen picture of that country is a very poor and very inadequate method of description. It is the land of the cow-puncher, the sheep-herder, and the lumber-jack; a land of crude customs and manners, but, withal, generous hospitality. It is the country of the elk and the mule-tail deer, the mountain lion and the rattlesnake. Its grandeur makes you love it; its vastness makes you fear it; yet there is an irresistible charm, a magic lure, an indescribable something that stamps an indelible impression upon the mind and that makes you want to go back there after you have sworn an oath never to return.

This National Forest empire presents a great variety of scenery, of forest, and of topography. The beautiful white pine forests of Idaho and Montana, the steep pine- and spruce-clad granite slopes of the Colorado Rockies, and the sun-parched mesas of the Southwest, with their open park-like forests of yellow pine, all have their individual charm. And after crossing the well-watered Cascades and Sierra Nevadas we find forest scenery entirely different. The dense, luxuriant, giant-forests of the coast region of Oregon and Washington, bathed in an almost continual fog and rain, are without doubt the most wonderful forests in the world. And lastly, California, so far as variety of forest scenery is concerned, has absolutely no rival. The open oak groves of the great valleys, the arid pine- and oak-covered foothills, the valuable sugar pine and "big-tree" groves of the moist mountain slopes, and the dwarfed pine and hemlock forests near the serrated crest of the Sierras, all occur within a comparatively short distance of each other, and, in fact, may be seen in less than a day on any one of the many National Forests in these mountains.

Famous Scenic Wonders Near the Forests. Many of the beautiful National Parks that have been created by Congress are either entirely or partly surrounded by one or more of the National Forests. These parks are a Mecca to which hundreds of thousands of our people make their annual pilgrimage. Most of these parks are already famous for their scenery, and, in consequence, the National Forests surrounding them have received greater patronage and fame. The Glacier National Park in Montana, the Yellowstone in Wyoming, the Rocky Mountain in Colorado, the Mount Rainier in Washington, the Crater Lake in Oregon, the Wind Cave in South Dakota, and the Lassen Peak Volcanic Park, the Yosemite, General Grant, and Sequoia parks in California, are all situated in the heart of the National Forest region.

The highest and best-known mountain peaks in the United States are either located within or situated near the National Forests, as, for example, Rainier and Olympus in Washington; Hood, Baker, St. Helens, Jefferson, and Adams in Oregon; Shasta, Lassen, and Whitney in California; and Pikes Peak in Colorado.

Then there are the National Monuments, of which there are eleven, all situated within one or more of the National Forests. These were created under an act of Congress for the preservation of objects of historic or scientific interest. The largest monument, and no doubt the most famous, is the Grand Canyon National Monument located in the Tusayan and Kaibab National Forests in Arizona, comprising over 800,000 acres. The next largest is the Mount Olympus Monument on the Olympic National Forest in Washington, comprising almost 300,000 acres. Other well-known monuments are the Cinder Cone and the Lassen Peak Monuments on the Lassen National Forest in California, and the Cliff Dwellings on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

The Size and Extent of the National Forests. With this brief introduction of the nature of the country in which the National Forests are located, the reader will be interested to know something of the size of the Forests and their total area. The total area varies slightly from time to time, due to the addition of lands that have been found to have value for forestry purposes, or to the elimination of lands found to be chiefly valuable for agricultural use. On June 30, 1917, there were 147 National Forests with a total of 155,166,619 acres. Thus the average National Forest comprises about one million acres of government lands. The many private holdings scattered through the Forests make the average gross area of each Forest much greater. These Forests are located in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Porto Rico, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Besides these Forests there have been acquired or approved for purchase under the Weeks Law over 1,500,000 acres in the States of Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. These lands are now under protection and will gradually be consolidated into National Forests. More lands are constantly being acquired in the Eastern States in accordance with the Weeks Law.

Few people have any conception of what a gigantic empire the National Forest domain is. If consolidated into one large compact area, the 155 million acres of National Forests would cover an area larger than the combined areas of thirteen well-known Eastern States, viz.: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and West Virginia (see map). This area is also one fifth larger than the entire area of France. We marvel sometimes at the ability of a ruler to rule a country as large as France or Germany; why should we Americans not marvel at the ability of the man who practically rules over our National Forests, who keeps in perfect working order the great organization which protects and administrates the Forests?

The Topography and Climate of the National Forest Region. The difficulty of the work of this organization is at once apparent when we find that these Forests are located in wild, rugged, mountainous country, in most cases many miles from the railroad and human habitations, such as towns and cities. This country is usually far above sea level—the average being between 3,000 and 8,000 feet in altitude. But there are large areas in the National Forests of Colorado that lie above 10,000 feet elevation. Such country as this has a very severe climate. The climate is usually too cold and the growing seasons too short for the production of crops such as wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, etc. Therefore, practically all of this land is what the forester calls "absolute forest land," that is, it is better adapted for growing timber crops than any other. Another important fact about the National Forests is that they are located, for the most part, on steep mountain slopes and at the headwaters of mountain streams. This makes them of vital importance in regulating the stream flow of our western rivers. In fact it is no exaggeration to say that all our large western rivers have their origin on National Forest land.

WHY THE NATIONAL FORESTS WERE CREATED

Aside from the great economic reasons why a nation should possess National Forests, there are local reasons which pertain to the welfare of the home builder and home industries which are often of paramount importance. The timber, the water, the pasture, the minerals, and all other resources on the government lands in the West are for the use of all the people. And only by a well-regulated policy of sale or rental can these resources be disposed so as to give all individuals an equal opportunity to enjoy them. These vast resources have been estimated to have a value of over $2,000,000,000. But their value to the local communities can hardly be overestimated. The welfare of every community is dependent upon a cheap and plentiful supply of timber. If lumber, fence posts, mine props, telephone poles, firewood, etc., must be brought in from distant markets, the prices are usually very much higher. The regulation of the cut on each National Forest assures a never-failing supply of timber to the home builder and to home industries. Then also the permanence of the great live stock industry is dependent upon a conservative use of vast areas of government range. Local residents are protected from unfair competition. Lastly, the protection by the Forest Service of the forest cover in the western mountains assures a regular stream flow which is of vital importance for power, irrigation, and domestic purposes.