Part 12 (1/2)

The timbered lands which the government is holding and caring for are known as National Forests. About two thirds of the forests yet remaining in the West are included in them. These lands are mostly mountainous and not suited to agriculture.

In the East the government has no lands except those which it buys.

Because of the great damage which is being done to the streams and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains by careless lumbering, a great tract of land is being acquired by purchase. This is called the Appalachian Forest. The timber in this region will be carefully cut and those areas from which it has been stripped will be replanted.

In the White Mountains of New Hamps.h.i.+re, with Mt. Was.h.i.+ngton as the center, is a remnant of a once beautiful forest, which has been acquired by the government. This is known as the White Mountain Forest. It will be enlarged as the years pa.s.s and carefully guarded. It will serve for all time as a beautiful pleasure and camping ground.

It is not the government's plan that the National Forests shall remain unused, but they are to be used wisely, so as to be of the greatest permanent good to the greatest number of people. The men who have been placed in charge of these lands are called ”forest rangers,” and their duties are of many kinds.

The rangers supervise the sale and cutting of the mature or ripe trees as they are needed for lumber, mining timbers, or posts. They see that the waste parts of the cut trees are piled so as to lessen the danger from chance fires.

During the long summers the forests become as dry as tinder and the loss from fire amounts to millions of dollars every year. It is the chief duty of the rangers at this time to patrol the roads and trails leading through the forests and keep a sharp lookout for fires.

Stations have been established upon high points from which there is a view over a wide extent of country. In each of these stations there is a man constantly on watch for columns of smoke which indicate the beginning of a forest fire. When smoke is seen a message is telephoned to the ranger station nearest the fire, and from this station men are sent as quickly as possible with the object of putting out the fire before it spreads beyond the power of control. The forests are now watched so carefully that hundreds of fires are thus stopped before there has been any serious loss of timber.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

STOP

Forest Fires

They are a Curse to the People

of Pennsylvania

FOREST Existing Forests

FIRES Possibility of Future Forests

DESTROY Possibility of Labor

Beauty of a Region

Comfort

Homes

Lives

Prosperity

Protected Forests Increase in Value

They Furnish Labor, Promote Industry, Afford Recreation and

Sport, Make a Region Beautiful, Make Home Safe and Comfortable,

Make Life Worth Living, and a Prosperous State

Inhabited by a Contented and Industrious People.

Which Would You Rather Have

FOREST FIRES } { GREEN FORESTS

FLOODS } { PURE WATER

DISEASE } OR { HEALTH

DESTRUCTION } { THRIVING INDUSTRIES

DEVASTATION } { PROSPERITY

For Information Respecting Pennsylvania Forests and

Tree Planting, write to

COMMISSIONER OF FORESTRY,

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Ill.u.s.tration: This large poster, printed on sheets 14 by 22 inches, has been of excellent service in Pennsylvania.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _American Forestry_ The seed trees left by the lumberman are giving rise to a new forest.]

In convenient places the rangers store boxes of tools, which include axes, picks, shovels, and rakes to be used in fighting any near-by fire.