VOLUNTARY PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS

The conservation of our forest resources requires cooperation on the part of citizens.  In many states there are “timberland owners’ fire protective associations,” in 1917 about fifty of them.  There is an American Forestry Association that publishes a magazine devoted to forestry, American forestry; a Society of American Foresters; The Camp Fire Club of America, with a committee on conservation of forests and wild life.  Besides, there is a considerable number of local associations with similar purposes.

EROSION

It is not always realized how important to our welfare the forests are, especially from the point of view of agricultural production.  A very large part of the timbered area of the United States is in small woodlands on privately owned farms.  Not only are the timber resources themselves of great value, but the relation of woodland to agriculture is very close, especially in its effect upon soil erosion.

Altogether it has been estimated that erosion is responsible for an annual loss in this country of approximately $100,000,000.  To the farmer it means money out of pocket from start to finish.  It impairs the fertility and decreases the productivity of his land, and may even ruin it altogether; it renders irrigation more difficult and more costly; by reducing the possibilities of cheap water power development it tends to keep up the price and check the more extended use of electricity; and by interfering with navigation it helps to prevent the development of a comprehensive system of cheap inland water transportation.  But the farmer is not the only sufferer.  The entire community is directly affected by the loss and is justified in taking heroic measures to remedy the evil.

If the problem is to be solved we must cease to accelerate surface run-off by burning the forests and brush fields, overgrazing the range, clearing steep slopes for agriculture, and practicing antiquated methods of cultivation.  On the contrary, the farmer, the forester, and the stockman must cooperate in seeing that the land is so used that surface run-off, particularly at the higher elevations, is reduced to a minimum.

Children in particular should have their interest actively aroused and their support enlisted.  In one state, “gully clubs” have been organized by the state forester.  These are composed largely of school children who take an active part in the work of gully reclamation and particularly in finding and checking incipient gullies before it is too late.  Why could not such organizations as boy scouts, girl scouts, and campfire girls be used in the same way? [Footnote:  “Farms, Forests, and Erosion,” Year book of the Department of Agriculture, 1916, pp. 107-134.]

MINERAL RESOURCES