Soil, water, and forests are only a few of the rich natural resources of our country, although they are among the most important.  Great as the mineral production of our country now is, we have only begun to open the mineral storehouse.  On the other hand, we have been extremely wasteful of some of our minerals, as in the case of natural gas, oil, and coal.  The war has done more, perhaps, than anything else to open our eyes to our mineral wealth and to convict us of our wastefulness in the past.  In the light of what it has shown us we should redouble our efforts to conserve our resources.  Our government has been gradually developing a program of conservation which we should help to make effective.  At the end of this chapter will be found references to interesting accounts of our national wealth, and of what the government is doing to conserve it in other directions than those described in this chapter.  Many of these references are to publications issued by the government itself, which can be obtained for the asking.

Investigate and report on.

Losses in your state from periodic floods.  Measures adopted or proposed to control them.

The by products of coal and of petroleum.

The Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture.

A description of your state forests (if any).

Forestry in your own state, public and private.

Losses from forest fires in your state.

The life of a forest ranger.

The use of the farm woodlot in your locality.

The extent and effects of soil erosion in your locality or state. 
Measures taken to prevent it.

The feasibility of “gully clubs” in your locality.

The mineral resources of your state.  Uses in war and peace.

Game laws of your state.

READINGS

In lessons in community and national life: 

Series A:  Lesson 13, The United States Food Administration. 
          Lesson 14, Substitute Foods.

Series B:  Lesson 5, Saving the soil. 
          Lesson 6, Making dyes from coal tar. 
          Lesson 9, How men made heat to work. 
          Lesson 13, The Department of the Interior.

Series C:  Lesson 4, Petroleum and its uses. 
          Lesson 5, Conservation as exemplified by irrigation projects. 
          Lesson 6, Checking waste in the production and use of coal. 
          Lesson 10, Iron and steel. 
          Lesson 14, The United States Fuel Administration. 
          Lesson 16, The Commercial Economy Board of the Council
                     of National Defense.

Reports of your State Agricultural College and Experiment Station, and of your State Geologist and other officers having to do with the natural resources of your state.

Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Interior.  That for 1915 (pp. 1-30) contains an interesting review of our natural resources and their use; also (pp. 151-209) a comprehensive and interesting discussion of our mineral resources and their development.  That for 1918 contains an account of the plan for land reclamation by and for soldiers.