CCC Forestry
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Chapter II
FOREST VALUES
STANDARDS OF VALUE
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FORESTS offer various values and benefits to man.
These may be lost through destructive lumbering, fire, tree diseases,
insect attack, and improper management.
The relative importance of forest values changes. The
early Greeks worshiped among the trees. Many of their gods and goddesses
were reputed to live in the woods. The Druids deified the oak and
worshiped in the forests.
In medieval times, when civilization came to Western
Europe, nearly all the land was forested. History and literature reveal
the customs of the day. Robbers hid in the forests. Hermits and peasants
lived a simple life, gathering fagots, berries, and other products of
the forest. Herders led their sheep, goats, and swine into the forests
to feed. Kings and nobles hunted and knights traveled the trails seeking
adventure.
Forest values then were different from those of
today, yet forests have undergone no essential change. The values of the
forest, however, change with the needs of the day. Present day needs,
and those forecast for the future, demand more and better managed
forests.
Forest values may be divided into two main groups:
products and influences, one as important as the other, in
general. The head is no more important to the human body than the heart,
and it is absurd to say that one is more valuable than the other.
Likewise, the products we derive from forests and the desirable
influences exerted by them cannot be evaluated. Both these values are
vital to the needs of our modern civilization.
Individual demands for timber are not as great as
they once were. As a value, however, timber holds its own. The use of
steel and copper has likewise declined, and these cannot be renewed.
The use of wood is highly important to man. Wood to
keep people warm and to cook their food has value. Wood has value in
communication systems, which use millions of telephone and telegraph
poles. Wood has value in transportation, as shown by its use in wagon
and carriage construction, automobile manufacturing, and as railroad
ties. Of all wood products, sawed timber is used more than any other
form. It has value both in manufacturing and in building.
But forests offer many other values. Tree extracts
such as turpentine and rubber are used universally. Other products
derived from wood are paper, wallboard, and cellulose products, dyes,
medicinal compounds, and chemicals.
The varied forest products, their relative values,
consumption, and methods of utilization will be taken up in another
chapter.
Forest influences may be divided into two main
groups: Physical and social. The physical influences affect climate,
stream-flow, and soil. The social influences have to do with employment,
income, standards of living, and recreation. Both groups, the physical
and social, directly or indirectly affect the well-being of man.
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Forests of long ago.
Forest Values Change.
Refer to Ch. VI.
Timber Value Holds.
Refer to Ch. VII.
Physical Influences.
Social Influences.
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PHYSICAL VALUES
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EFFECTS OF FORESTS ON TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY
In summer when cities are sweltering, people throng
to forests for recreation and rest. They know that wooded glens and
breeze-swept mountains are more comfortable, cooler, and more
invigorating than torrid streets. Why are forests comparatively cool in
summer? One reason is that higher elevations are usually cooler than low
elevations. But there are factors other than elevation, factors inherent
in forests themselves, that tend to reduce summer heat.
First, the leafy canopy protects the forest from the
hot rays of summer sun; second, trees transpire water through their
leaves and since evaporation is a cooling process, the evaporation of
this water greatly reduces heat in the forestjust as evaporation
cools a person when he perspires; third, the movement of hot currents
of air is checked by standing timber.
Within a forest the temperature changes are not so
great as in nearby open areas. Maximum forest temperatures are lower,
and minimum temperatures higher, than those of adjacent fields. Raphael
Zon, reporting observations over long periods in European forests,
stated, "During the hottest days the air inside the forest was more than
5° F. cooler than that outside." It was found that for the coldest days
of the year the air in the forest was 1.8° F. warmer than that
outside.
Sir William Schlich has shown that, during the
summer, night temperatures are higher and day temperatures lower, in
forests than in nearby open areas; the minimum at night being 3.15°
F. higher, and the maximum in the day 7.42° F. lower.
Relative humidity under forest cover may be as much
as 10 percent higher than that of adacent open areas. (Relative
humidity is a comparison of the actual moisture content of the
air at a given temperature with the possible amount the air is
capable of holding at that temperature.) Zon reports that, in studies
made in Bavarian forests, relative humidity inside the forests was found
to be from 3 to 10 percent higher than that outside, the least
difference occurring in winter and the greatest in summer.
Like the moderation of temperature this condition is
a result of shade, retarded air currents, and transpiration. Trees,
especially thin-leaved species, give off much water through transpiration.
Transpiration is a natural process associated with the tree's
growth, by which water is released through the stomata or leaf pores. A
comparable process is perspiration in humans. It has been estimated that
a fully stocked beech stand, 115 years old, uses from 1,560 to 2,140
tons of water per acre per year, practically all of which is returned to
the air as transpired water vapor.
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It is cooler in the forest than in the city.
See Leaves, p. 6.
Forests Are Cool.
Night Temperatures Higher; Day Temperatures Lower in Forests.
Relative Humidity High in Woods.
Trees give off great quantities of moisture.
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FORESTS AND RAINFALL
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Rainfall is caused by the chilling of moisture-laden
atmosphere. At varying degrees of temperature, air is capable of
supporting varying amounts of vaporous water. The higher the temperature
the greater the water-holding capacity of the air. When warm air,
carrying a heavy load of moisture, is suddenly cooled its water-holding
capacity is lessened, and the excess water falls as rain.
As we have seen, forest areas are cooler than open
areas and are always more humid. These changes of conditions extend
farther than the forest itself. Just as a block of ice in a room tends
to reduce the temperature of the air surrounding it, so forests tend to
cool the atmosphere surrounding them and to make it more humid.
Observations made in balloons show that these effects are still
discernible at elevations of 5,000 feet.
Moisture-bearing clouds encountering such cool and
humid atmosphere, decrease in water-holding capacity and release their
surplus moisture as rain. That this phenomenon actually occurs in nature
is borne out by studies in Europe. In some cases more than 25 percent
increase in rainfall upon forests has been recorded over long periods as
compared with adjacent unforested areas. This effect on precipitation is
most noticeable at high elevations. Observations show that up to 300
feet in elevation forests increase rainfall only 1.25 percent, but
between 3,000 and 3,250 feet the increase may be as much as 84
percent.
It is the opinion of experts who have given much
thought to the matter that the local effects of forests on rainfall are
less important than those over large areas. Forests are known to
transpire large amounts of vaporous water into the air. Whereas
saturated air currents are cooled and lose moisture in passing over a
forest, dry air currents are enriched in moisture by contacting
atmosphere over a forest.
Inland precipitation depends largely on the character
of the land cover over which the prevailing winds pass after they have
discharged their moisture. Water is taken up by these winds in the form
of vapor. The more surface exposed to the air, the more evaporation will
take place. A forest exposing more surface (ground, plus stems, plus
leaves of trees) than do similar unforested areas, therefore,
contributes more to the moisture content of the inland air currents, and
to the amount of rainfall.
Zon contends that the moisture-laden winds from the
Gulf of Mexico lose much of their water content as rain in passing over
the lands near the coast. They then become dry, and precipitation
ceases. If these winds did not have sources other than the ocean from
which to regain moisture, rain would be confined to a narrow border
along the oceans, and the interior would be quite dry. These other
sources, he maintains, are the forested and vegetated areas.
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Air Carries Water Vapor.
Like a Block of Ice.
The forest atmosphere affects rainfall.
The effect of forest on rainfall increases with elevation.
An Example of Forest Influence on Rainfall.
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THE FOREST AND EROSION
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The wearing away of land surface by water depends
upon four factors: (1) The amount of rainfall; (2) the degree of slope;
(3) the composition of the soil; and (4) the cover of the soil. It is
evident that man cannot greatly control rainfall, neither can he change
the degree of slope or the character of the soil over extensive areas.
But man can control the vegetative cover on the earth's surface and can
help control erosion in this manner.
Life is dependent directly or indirectly upon soil.
Since this is the case, it is of great importance that the best types
of soils be protected. Forest vegetation is one of the best builders and
retainers of soil on extensive areas, especially where steep slopes
increase the force of erosion. Erosion may destroy valuable soil or
impair ground surface so that it is very difficult to reclaim it. For
this reason forests should cover the greater portion of steep slopes and
nonagricultural lands capable of supporting trees.
Erosion starts when rain falls upon poorly covered or
bare soil and is moved by gravity to lower levels. As it moves it
carries particles of earth. The greater the volume and force of the
water, the greater the force of erosion. On open areas where soil is
hard and compact, very little water is absorbed by the earth. This means
that there is a greater run-off. There being no surface litter to check
the velocity of the current, water accumulates into torrents resulting
in greater erosive forces.
In forests, rains fall upon the leaves and branches
of the trees. This reduces the impact with the ground. Rain from the
trees drips upon the litter-covered forest floor and its run-off is
obstructed by leaves, twigs, and plants. The water then gently enters
the fibrous, porous soil of the forest and slowly runs into underground
passages where it gradually finds its way into reservoirs and later into
springs and streams. Much of the water is held by the spongy earth to
percolate gradually into these streams, causing streams in forest areas
to be much more constant in flow than those in unforested areas.
Studies by the Wisconsin Experiment Station show that
on slopes of 36 percent wild pastures (grass cover) had run-off 2-1/2
times as great as that of hardwood forests; and on cultivated and fallow
ground, the run-off was 9 tunes as great. Many similar studies reveal like data.
Phillips and Goddard, of the Red Plains Experiment Station at Guthrie,
Okla., found that burned areas in a forest eroded 15 times as fast as
unburned areas (same slope and soil).
Generally wind erosion does not do as much damage as
water erosion. However, the wind does cause damage to soils by blowing
sand over valuable areas and by drying and reducing exposed humus. The
recent dust storms in the Prairie States show the extent of damage
possible by wind erosion. Forests reduce wind effects and retard drying.
The Shelterbelt of the Middle West is an experiment to test the value of
plantations for eliminating ill effects of winds and dust storms.
The extreme effects of forest destruction and the
subsequent action of wind and water on soil and economic conditions may
be seen in parts of China where floods and erosion have reduced the
productivity of farms and have choked the rivers with deep deposits of
mud.
If forests are not disturbed in the process, they
form their own valuable soils. This accumulates on the forest floor in
the form of leaves, twigs, rotting branches and logs, and decayed plants
and animals. Roots and partially decayed twigs make the soil porous and
the constant working of bacteria and minute animal life reduce the
debris to humus. Humus thus formed, works into the subsoil to combine
with the chemical elements of the subsoil which are transferred to
the upper layers so that a light, porous soil, rich
in food elements, is the result.
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When vegetation is removed, the soil washes away.
Life Depends Upon Soil.
See pp. 8, 21.
Erosion Can Destroy Valuable Soils.
Trees reduce rain impact and permit water to seep into spongy soil.
Percolation.
Rains wash deep gullies in unprotected soil.
Trees retard sand dune formation.
Sheltering trees.
The Soil Factory.
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STREAM FLOW
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In practically every section of the country the
question of stream flow is of major importance. In centers of
population, much water is required for domestic and commercial use. In
many sections seasonal droughts cause streams to become low and
sluggish or to dry up entirely. The problem of fluctuating flow seems to
grow more acute, and maintaining the normal flow of water from
watersheds is one of the important objects of forestry.
As vegetation, especially forest cover, is removed
from slopes, run-off is accelerated. Accumulated run-off causes floods
which sweep away millions of dollars worth of property, and do vast
damage. According to early estimates (the only figures available when
this publication was printed) the Ohio and Mississippi flood of 1937
took 400 lives, drove 1,000,000 people from their homes, and caused
property loss totaling $500,000,000.
Besides flood losses in homes, livestock, and farm
soil, stream beds are clogged with soil and debris, navigable channels
and reservoirs are filled, roads and bridges destroyed. Debris and
eroded soil are often deposited on valuable farms, and in roads,
streets, and buildings.
Permanent forest vegetation of watersheds cannot cure
all the ills of floods. Of course stream flow will fluctuate, but rivers
flowing from wooded watersheds have a constancy which streams in open
country cannot possess. Their high water marks are lower and their low
water marks are higher, and it is the critical extremes of water
flow which demand the greatest consideration.
In the description of the forest floor and the
discussion of soil and erosion, attention was called to the fact that
spongy, porous soil absorbs water from falling rain and melting snow
much more readily than more compact soils. Forest litter absorbs surface
water and prevents rapid run-off. The same litter prevents rapid
drying out and freezing of subsoil water. This leaves more
water in forest soil to find its way slowly into streams. Thus forests
help to regulate the flow of streams. Rivers which have dependable water
flow offer greater values than do streams whose flow rises and falls
extremely. The more forest area we have, the more and better protection
we shall have from floods.
VALUES OF EVEN STREAM-FLOW
Water supply: Where population is
concentrated, it is necessary to draw water for domestic and commercial use
from large streams. If these streams are likely to flood easily in wet
seasons and then become low and sluggish in dry seasons, they are not
dependable sources for water. Streams not fed by fresh tributaries
during hot, dry weather become contaminated and it is necessary to go to
much expense to purify the water. Water heavily treated with chemicals
is unpleasant to taste and in many cases not suitable for commercial
use. Forest-fed streams are generally clearer, fresher, and more
constant in flow than streams in open country.
Along 300 miles of the eastern seaboard, cities use 2
billion gallons of water daily. New York draws water through aqueducts
92 miles long, and Boston has tapped a stream 60 miles away. Three
cities in the East have spent 150 million dollars in recent years
building dams and filtration systems. More and better forests would help
reduce such outlays. San Francisco and Los Angeles, Calif., obtain water
from reservoirs 200 to 250 miles away. The importance of water for home
use, commercial use, and livestock consumption is apparent.
The great drought of 1930-31, when cities were
required to transport water by trainloads, and farmers were obliged to
truck water over long distances, demonstrated the necessity of better
provision for water supply. Foresting watersheds of supply streams would
improve the situation.
Irrigation: Early settlers in the western
United States braved the dangers of a rugged, untamed country, lured by
adventure and the gleam of gold. Backs were bent over pans of swirling gravel
while eyes squinted and reddened peering for "pay dirt." Today the pay
dirt of the West is the irrigated land of the semiarid regions. The gold
of the Golden West lies in the orange groves of California, the produce
of the Imperial Valley, the sugar beet fields of Utah, and the alfalfa
and potato crops of Idaho.
Irrigated lands in Colorado produce annual crops
worth more than the aggregate of all its mines. Agriculture is now the
most important industry of the Colorado River Basin. Water from the
Colorado supplies millions of acres of irrigated farm land. Thousands of
homes have been built and thousands of families depend upon irrigation
canals. The Imperial Valley of southern California, sending fruit and
produce to practically every market in the country, is a rich, fertile
area which owes its prosperity to irrigation.
According to the 1930 census, 19 States eastward
from the Pacific coast, into Arkansas and Louisiana, contain 19,547,544
acres of irrigated land, with $1,032,755,790 invested in reservoirs and
distributing systems, and $4,886,892,784 in lands, buildings, and
machinery. This total investment of nearly 6 billion dollars is
wholly dependent on water, and since the majority of streams
which supply the water for these vast irrigation projects originate in
the forest, protection and care of these forests is of primary
importance. Large storage basins and dams supply the water for the more
extensive projects. Huge reservoirs are often located back in the
mountains, at considerable distance from the water users, where they can
obtain silt-free water from the forest. Many of the smaller irrigated
farms are entirely dependent upon the forests for regulated water
supply.
Forests and water power: Falling or rapidly
flowing water has long been used as a source of power. The first water
developments made use of paddles or wheels to turn machinery situated
near streams. Many early sawmills and grist-mills in this country were
of this type. The necessity of locating such mills at the water's edge
limited their possibilities.
With the development of electric power, energy
produced by water could be transmitted many miles from the stream.
Although the direct or mechanical power of water is still used to
operate mechanism near its source, the greatest power plants are those
which transform mechanical power to electric energy. Water turns huge
dynamos which produce electricity to flow from the plant and supply
light, heat, and power in cities, homes, and factories.
The distance to which electricity can be transmitted
is limited, however, and additional water-power plants are located only
where their cheapness and dependability surpass those of other power
sources.
Where water-power plants are economically practical
in the United States, forests are important factors in assuring the
necessary water supply. It has been estimated that more than 72 percent
of the total water sources of the country is in the forested mountains
of the West. Because of its remote location, much of this power is
undeveloped.
The United States Geological Survey finds that more
than 30 percent of the Nation's actual water
power is produced in the Northeast where cities and
factories are close to forest-fed streams.
Seventy percent of all the industrial and public
utility power in Maine is water-developed. California produces more
horsepower from water than any other State, but much of her water power
resources are unused. Boulder Dam is expected to produce $6,500,000
worth of power annually for the Southwest, in addition to supplying
water for irrigation and domestic use.
In the Northwest water power is increasing in
importance and the forests of that region help to regulate stream flow.
The Northwest is far from available coal supplies, but it has a wealth
of forest-fed streams capable of producing cheap power. With the further
development of cities and industrial centers in that section, water may
surpass all other sources of power.
The South Atlantic drainages are typical of the water
power possibilities to which forests can contribute much in the way of
regulation. The maximum or flood flow of the more important streams in
the South is from 150 to 400 times the minimum or dry season flow.
During wet seasons water flows rapidly from deforested land, but in dry
seasons the flow is not enough to supply the power demands. It has been
necessary to construct dams and reservoirs to hold the water of rainy
seasons for periods of light rain or no rain, and thus to maintain
regular power production. Large amounts of silt carried into these
basins from deforested land have increased greatly the cost of an
otherwise cheap power source. Erosion control by forest cover will do
much to obviate this difficulty.
Forest cover assists in the underground storage of
rain water, and streams regulated by adequate forest growth supply a
more dependable flow of water than do streams from barren or sparsely
covered land. Power plants might be constructed, with no reservoirs or
but small reserves, on forest-fed streams in anticipation of consistent
flow throughout the year. Such plants may be operated fully in dry
seasons, entailing no loss of investment in idle machinery. Without
regulation, the water flow in flood seasons is often too
great to be fully utilized, and is entirely inadequate in periods of
drought.
Although in many regions coal can now produce power
more cheaply than water power can be transmitted from plant to consumer,
coal is a resource that cannot be replenished. Power companies have
improved their methods and machinery for greater efficiency, but the
supply of coal cannot be renewed; as this supply decreases and the
demand for power and utilities increases, forest-fed streams will become
more important.
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Even Stream Flow an Object of Forestry.
Uncontrolled waters.
Destruction by Floods.
Critical Extremes.
Like a Sponge.
Forest Floor, p. 20.
Domestic Water Requirements.
Impure water must be chemically treated.
Irrigation turns desert into orchards.
Water from forested hillsides is used to irrigate crops in the valley.
In Colorado.
In California.
A 6-Billion-Dollar Investment.
Irrigated lands total more than 19,500,000 acres.
Success of Irrigation Depends Upon Forests.
Water supplies power; forests supply water.
Refer to Forests and Rainfall, p. 18.
Water Power Developed on Forest-fed Streams.
Use of Hydroelectricity Instead of Coal.
The South Atlantic drainage areas are potential power-plant sites.
Silt from deforested hillsides filling reservoir.
Forests Act as Water Reservoirs.
The Greater the Forest Area, the Smaller the Reservoir Required.
Water Power for Use When All Coal Is Consumed.
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SOCIAL VALUES
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THE FOREST AND EMPLOYMENT
Forests directly and indirectly furnish means of
employment to millions of people. Men may work in the woods improving
conditions for tree growth; they may work in the harvesting of forest
products; they may work in the transporting of forest products and they
may work in the manufacture of forest products. One of the most
important values of forests is their ability to furnish jobs for
workers. From the time that tree seeds are planted until a wood product,
a rayon garment for example, is sold over the counter of a department
store people are paid for duties performed in preparing it for human
use.
In Europe there are some sustained-yield forests
employing one man to every 40 acres in producing and manufacturing
timber; but in most of the managed forests the ratio is about a man to
every 250 acres. In the United States where figures were available on
sustained-yield projects, the ratio was one full-time worker to every
240 to 360 acres.
In 1929, about 1,300,000 full-time workers were
employed in forests and wood manufacturing. Part-time employment would
bring this well up to a million and a half workers. Properly managed and
utilized forests in the United States could probably employ two million
workers steadily. This is one of the forest's greatest economic and
social values.
THE FOREST AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Forests, of themselves, do not stabilize communities
nor insure communal permanence; but forestry, that is, the wise use of
forest land, may assist in supporting permanent, thriving communities.
The country has many "ghost towns"the result of
rapid increase of forest and mill workers during boom times and the
subsequent decrease when the mill ceased operations. In these instances
a wood supply was discovered, a market developed, a town built up,
schools and churches established almost overnight. When the wood supply
became exhausted the livelihood of the community was taken away.
Forestry, through sustained yield of forest products,
tends toward regulated markets and permanent industries and communities.
A forest enterprise operated on a sustained-yield basis, which
determines an annual cut not exceeding the annual growth, will last
indefinitely. Communities built around such enterprises form lasting
markets for agricultural and manufactured goods.
Communal dependence upon forests is illustrated in
Grays Harbor County in western Washington. This area of 1,196,000 acres,
956,000 of which are logged off, supplies 71 wood-using industries and
31 logging companies supporting a total of 10,150 workers. Other
industries and services bring the total population of the county to
60,000 people, all more or less dependent upon the forest.
In Louisiana, Bogalusa supports a population of
14,000 with forest products industriespulp, paper, naval stores,
woodenware, and furniture. Cloquet, in Minnesota, was rebuilt following
the great fire of 1918. The future of its 7,000 population and its
numerous wood-using industries, which seems secure, depends upon the
practice of forestry.
Fortunately, these enterprises are planning systems
of sustained annual yield. When thriving communities such as these are
compared with the twin lumber towns of Au Sable-Oscoda in Michigan,
which in 1890 had a population of 8,346 and in 1930 only 903, the value
of forestry practices becomes strikingly evident.
An important phase of forest employment that has been
provided in State and national forests is the part-time work for
farmers, factory workers, and local woodsmen.
In Europe this form of employment is highly
developed. The Forestry Commission of Great Britain has a "small
holdings project" under which the agricultural land in the Government
forests is set aside for farm use. The land is leased in 10-acre lots,
equipped with small farm buildings. Each tenant leasing one of these
holdings is guaranteed 150 days work in the forest. This gives him a
cash income and allows sufficient time for growing farm produce for his
own consumption or for sale. In France, Germany, Austria, and Finland,
many farmers are employed part time in the forests.
A large number of small farms in this country,
although they supply the family food needs, are not capable of producing
incomes for their owners. In many forested regions it is possible to
employ these men for a period of 5 or 6 months in the woods. This plan
allows them ample time to raise small crops, and gives them from $300 to
$400 per year additional. In this way considerable necessary forest work
may be accomplished for which a full-time crew would be unwarranted, and
small farms and local industries may become more stabilized.
This plan is being carried out on many State,
national, and private forests. It is possible to extend these part-time
enterprises wherever small agricultural holdings abut on large areas of
forest land. In some sections of the countryConnecticut, for
instanceit has been estimated that 500 men could be employed for 6
months each year on the State forest of 63,000 acres. That would average
one man for 6 months on each 126 acres. Although this same figure may
not hold true in all sections of the United States, it gives some
indication of the part-time employment possibilities.
Many students of industrial and social economics
believe that manufacturing plants should be spread over the country
instead of being grouped together in large industrial centers. One of
the country's largest automobile companies has decentralized parts of
its industry and has been quite successful in the enterprise. Fourteen
of its small plants have been established in rural districts where
agricultural products used in the manufacture of automobile parts may be
grown, or where produce for home consumption or sale may profitably be
raised. When the factories are closed, the men work on their farms. The
plants, employing workers seasonally at a minimum wage of $6 per day,
add approximately $600 to each farmer-employee's yearly income.
The same idea may be, and is being adapted to forest
work. Industries with seasonal fluctuations of employment, particularly
wood-using industries or those that can use the water power of
forest-fed streams, may be situated in or near forest areas. A
factory-forest community similar to the factory-farm community, or the
farm-forest community, may be realized if other large companies see the
advantages of securing all year employment for part-time employees. If
seasonal periods of factory employment can be coordinated with seasonal
fluctuations of forest work, a permanently employed community can be set
up.
RECREATION
Recreation is anything done for the direct pleasure
or enrichment which it brings to life, in contrast to things done
primarily to obtain life's necessities.
The health-giving properties of forest recreation
have long been recognized by the medical profession. Health resorts and
sanitaria are located in forested mountains where the effects of pure
air, sunlight, and outdoor recreation combine in the battle against
disease.
It is regrettable that everyone cannot spend a few
days in the woods each year. Forests usually are not near big cities and
population centers. Many of those that were so located have been used
and destroyed. Existing recreational areas must be protected from fire,
since fire often completely destroys forests and always renders them
unfit for recreation. Forests should be protected from exploitation; the
trees should be cropped, rather than mined, to maintain beautiful wooded
areas best adapted for recreation.
Picnicking is perhaps universal as outdoor
entertainment, and in some regions is the most popular form of forest
recreation. It requires no extra equipment for the picnicker and takes
no time from work or business, using Sundays and holidays principally
for this purpose. An important feature of the day-in-the-woods form of
entertainment is the low-cost feature.
After picnicking, camping is next in popularity.
Getting outdoors and living in a primitive manner appeals to almost
everyone. There is definite value in the soothing restfulness of living
outdoors. Climbing mountains is better exercise than riding elevators.
The boy and girl who learn to take care of themselves in camp become
better fitted to live at home. Camping has far-reaching advantages to
the individual and to society. The future of this great recreational
activity depends largely upon the future of forests.
Hunting and fishing often are part of the camper's
program, but generally followers of the gun and rod take their sports
seriously and go to the forests for no other purpose. However, a good
huntsman or fisherman enjoys the whole outdoors, and does not limit his
pleasure to the conquest of game. The demand for more game and fish is
evidence of the value of forests in furnishing facilities for
satisfaction of the desires of millions of sportsmen.
Other forms of forest recreation cannot be distinctly
divided from camping and picnicking. Enumeration of these activities
will, however, help to picture the true role of the forests in a
recreational program for a people who are for getting how to play.
Hiking appeals to the nature lover and outdoors person. Swimming in cool
forest streams is refreshing. Opportunities for nature study abound in
the woods; plants and animals are available to the naturalist. Birds
flee the dangers of populated areas and find sanctuary in the woods
where bird lovers may study them.
The values mentioned above are real, and tangible or
physical. There is another value, often called spiritual, that may be
secured by everyone. Something deep within us urges us to get out of
doors where in the quiet of the woods big troubles become little ones;
we orient ourselves with the general scheme of things, and are refreshed
and rested.
WILDLIFE
Wild animals, birds, and fish are included in a
general term: wildlife. This wild population of wood and field has
definite value. Lack of figures for forests alone limits a discussion of
wildlife in the forest, but practically all wildlife depends wholly or
in part on forests for food, cover, or both.
The Biological Survey has set a value upon all
wildlife. This is of course approximate, but an estimate of the value of
meat, fur, destruction of insects, hunters' fees, and money spent by
hunters and tourists in game country, indicates that the total value is
well above a billion dollars. At one time, wild animals played a very
important part in the economic life of the Nation. They furnished both
food and clothing for the pioneer. Vast fortunes have been built upon
fur trade, and today trapping forest animals for fur is a paying
occupation.
The greatest value of wildlife is not economic. The
social benefits derived indirectly through stimulating outdoor
recreation are probably greatest. Esthetic and scientific values are
also worthy of consideration.
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Jobs for Woods Workers.
1,500,000 Workers.
Forests Help to Make Communities Permanent.
Sustained Yield Forestry Tends to Regulate Markets.
Grays Harbor.
Thriving mill communities develop in the shade of forested mountains.
Ghost towns are monuments to poor forest management.
Bogalusa.
Cloquet.
"A Tale of Two Cities."
The Exodus.
Part-time Employment.
The Farmer-Woodsman of Europe.
Possibilities of the Farm and Forest.
Stablization of Local Industries.
Decentralization of Industry.
An Example of the Possibilities.
The Factory-Forest Community.
In the great outdoors, big troubles become little ones.
Refer to Ch. XIII.
Forests and Health.
Population centers.
Forest areas by States.
What are the Forms of Forest Recreation?
Picnicking.
Camping.
Hunting and Fishing.
Reference, Ch. X, pp. 209, 220.
Hiking.
Swimming.
Nature Study.
Big game seek the seclusion of large forest areas.
Wildlife Depends Upon Forests.
See Wildlife, Ch. X.
Economic Value of Wildlife.
See p. 202.
Social Value of Wild Animals.
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SUMMARY
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Forest values have two main divisions, namely, forest
products and forest influences. The principal product of the forest is
wood, and many valuable commodities are obtained from wood. The product
having the most value is lumber. The annual use is about 35 billion
board feet. This is used in construction and manufacturing. Other than
sawed timber, fuel and pulpwood are important as values. Chemicals,
dyes, and medicinal products are also obtained from wood and forest
plants.
Forest influences are physical and social. Physical
influences are those affecting temperature, humidity, rainfall, stream
flow, and erosion. Social influences are those affecting employment and
healthful living. Forests and forest products manufacture provide
employment for many workers. Forest recreation makes living conditions
more healthful and more enjoyable.
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Forest Products.
Forests provide untold values in recreational facilities.
Forest Influences.
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ccc-forestry/chap2.htm
Last Updated: 02-Apr-2009 |
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