pressing and the opening is far less attractive than it will be in the
not distant future. The number of men that will be required for this
work will depend on the development of legislation as well as upon the
desire of the private owners, lumbermen and others, to protect and
improve their property. The time is coming, and coming before long, when
all private owners of forests in the mountains, or on steep slopes
elsewhere, will be required by law to provide for their protection and
reproduction. When that time arrives, the demand for Foresters in
private work will increase to very large dimensions, and will probably
do so far more rapidly than Foresters can be trained to supply it.
The pay of Foresters in private work, whether in the employ of
lumbermen, railroads, shooting and fishing clubs, the proprietors of
large private estates, or other forest owners, has so far been somewhat
better than that for similar services in Government employ. This money
difference in favor of private employment is, in my judgment, likely to
continue, and eventually the pay of consulting Foresters of established
reputation employed in passing upon the value of forests offered as
security for investments, or in estimating the standing timber for
purchasers or sellers, or in other professional work of large business
importance, will certainly reach very satisfactory figures.
TEACHING
Approximately 110 Foresters are engaged in teaching in the United States
to-day. Their pay varies from about $1000 to about $3000, and is likely
to increase rather more rapidly than that of other professional
teachers, since less of them are available. It is not likely, however,
that the number of openings in teaching forestry will be large within
the next ten years.
TRAINING
The length of time which his training is to take and the particular
courses of instruction which he shall pursue are to the young man
contemplating the study of forestry matters of the first importance. The
first thing to insist on in that connection is that the training must be
thorough. It is natural that a young man should be eager to begin his
life work and therefore somewhat impatient of the long grind of a
thorough schooling. But however natural, it is not the part of wisdom to
cut short the time of preparation. When the serious work of the trained
Forester begins later on, there will be little or no time to fill the
gaps left at school, and the earnest desire of the young Forester will
be that he had spent more time in his preparation rather than less. In
this matter I speak as one who has gathered a conviction from personal
experience, and believes he knows.
It would be useless to attempt to strike an average of the work
prescribed and the courses given at the various forest schools. I shall
describe, therefore, not an average system of instruction but one which,
in the judgment of men entitled to an opinion, and in my own judgment,
is sound, practical, and effective.
Forest schools may roughly be divided between those which do not prepare
men for professional work in forestry, and those which do. The latter
may be divided again into undergraduate schools and graduate schools.
Most of the former offer a four-year undergraduate course, and their
students receive their degrees at the same time as other members of the
University who entered at the same time with them. The graduate schools
require a college degree, or its equivalent in certain subjects, before
they will receive a student. The men who have completed their courses
have usually, therefore, pursued more extensive and more advanced
studies in forestry, are better trained, and are themselves older and
more ready to accept the responsibilities which forestry brings upon
them. For these reasons, the graduate school training is by far the more
desirable, in my opinion.
The subjects required for entrance to a graduate forest school should
include at least one full year in college botany, covering the general
morphology, histology, and physiology of plants, one course each in
geology, physics, inorganic chemistry, zooelogy, and economics, with
mathematics through trigonometry, and a reading knowledge of French or
German. Some acquaintance with mechanical drawing is also desirable but
not absolutely necessary. Other courses which are extremely desirable,
if not altogether essential, are mineralogy, meteorology, mechanics,
physical geography, organic chemistry, and possibly calculus, which may
be of use in timber physics.
One or two forest schools begin their course of training for the first
year in July instead of in October, in order to give their students some
acquaintance with the woods from the Forester's standpoint before the
more formal courses begin. The result of this plan is to give increased
vividness and reality to all the courses which follow the work in the
woods, to make clear the application of what is taught, and so to add
greatly to the efficiency of the teaching.
In addition to this preliminary touch with the woods, any wise plan of
teaching will include many forest excursions and much practical field
work as vitally important parts of the instruction. This outdoor work
should occur throughout the whole course, winter and summer, and in
addition, the last term of the senior year may well be spent wholly in
the woods, where the students can be trained in the management of
logging operations and milling, and can get their final practice work in
surveying and map-making, in preparing forest working plans, estimating
timber, laying out roads and trails, making plans for lumber operations,
and other similar practical work. Several of the best forest schools
have adopted this plan.
The regular courses of a graduate forest school usually cover a period
of two years. They should fit a student for nearly every phase of
professional work in forestry, and should give him a sound preparation
not merely for practical work in the woods, but also for the broader
work of forest organization in the Government Service in the United
States and in the Philippines, and in the service of the States; for
handling large tracts of private forest lands; for expert work in the
employ of lumbermen and other forest owners; for public speaking and
writing; for teaching; and for scientific research.
Every well equipped forest school will have a working library of books,
pamphlets, and lumber journals published here and abroad, an herbarium
at least of native trees and shrubs and of the more important forest
herbs, together with a collection of forest tree fruits and seeds, and
specimens of domestic and foreign timbers. Exhibits showing the uses of
woods and the various forms of tools used in lumbering, as well as the
apparatus for laboratory work and surveying, and forest instruments for
work in the field, are often of great value to the student.
What should a young man learn at a forest school? Doubtless there will
be some variation of opinion as to the exact course of study which will
best fit him for the work of a Forester in the United States. The
following list expresses the best judgment on the subject I have been
able to form:
DENDROLOGY:
The first step in forestry is to become acquainted with the various
kinds of trees. The coming Forester must learn to identify the woody
plants of the United States, both in summer and in winter. He must
understand their shapes and outward structures, and where they are
found, and he must begin his knowledge of the individual habits of
growth and life which distinguish the trees which are important in
forestry.
FOREST PHYSIOGRAPHY:
Trees grow in the soil. It is important to know something of the origin
of soils and their properties and values, and of the principal soil
types, with special reference to their effect upon plant distribution
and welfare. The origin, nature, value, and conservation of humus, that
most essential ingredient of the forest floor; the field methods of
mapping soil types; the rock types most important in their relation to
soils, how they are made up, how they make soil, and where they
occur--something should be learned of all this. Finally, under this
head, the student ought to get a usable knowledge of the physiographic
regions of the United States, their boundaries, geologic structure,
topography, drainage, and soils,--all this naturally with special
reference to the relation between these basic facts and the forest.
SILVICULTURE:
Silviculture is the art of caring for forests, and therefore the
backbone of forestry. It is based upon Silvics, which is the knowledge
of the habits or behavior of trees in their relations to light, heat,
and moisture, to the air and soil, and to each other. It is the facts
embraced in Silvics which explain the composition, character, and form
of the forest; the success or failure of tree species in competition
with each other; the distribution of trees and of forests; the
development of each tree in height, diameter, and volume; its form and
length of life; the methods of its reproduction; and the effect of all
these upon the nature and the evolution of the city of trees, and upon
forest types and their life histories.
This is knowledge the Forester can not do without. Silvics is the
foundation of his professional capacity, and as a student he can better
afford to scamp any part of his training rather than this. A man may be
a poor Forester who knows Silvics, but no man can be a good Forester who
does not.
The practice of Silviculture has to do with the treatment of woodlands.
The forest student must learn the different methods of reproducing
forests by different methods of cutting them down, and the application
of these methods in different American forest regions. There are also
many methods of cutting for the improvement of the character and growth
of forests, as well as for utilizing material that otherwise would go to
waste, before the final reproduction cuttings can be made. The ways in
which forests need protection are equally numerous, and of these by far
the most important in our country have to do with methods of preventing
or extinguishing forest fires.
Well managed forests are handled under working plans based on the
silvical character and silvicultural needs of the forest, as well as
upon the purpose set by the owner as the object of management, which is
often closely related to questions of forest finance. The student should
ground himself thoroughly in the making of silvicultural working plans,
and the more practice in making them he can get, the better. So, too,
with the marking of trees in reproduction and improvement cuttings under
as many different kinds of forest conditions as may be possible.
The artificial reproduction of forests is likely to occupy far more of
the Forester's attention in the future than it has in the past. Hence
the collection of tree seeds, their fertility and vitality as affecting
their handling, the best methods of seeding and planting, and the
lessons of past failures and successes, with the whole subject of
nursery work and the care of young plantations, must by no means be
overlooked.
Much incidental information on the subject of forest protection will
come to the student in the course of his studies, but special attention
should be given to learning which of the species of forest insects are
most injurious to forest vegetation, how their attacks are made, how
they may be discovered, and the best ways by which such attacks can be
mitigated or controlled. So also the diseases of timber trees will repay
hard study. The principal fungi which causes such diseases should be
known, how they attack the trees, and what are the remedies, as well as
(although this is far less important) the way to treat tree wounds and
the correct methods of pruning.
FOREST ECONOMICS:
Forest Economics is a large subject. It deals with the productive value
of forests to their owners, and with the larger question of their place
in the economy of the Nation. It considers their use as conservers of
the soil and the streams; their effect on climate, locally, as in the
case of windbreakers, and on a larger scale; and their contribution to
the public welfare as recreation grounds and game refuges. It includes a
knowledge of wastes from which the forests suffer, and the consequent
loss to industry and to the public, and in this it does not omit the
effects of forest fires. Statistics of forest consumption; the relation
of the forest to railroads, mines, and other wood-using industries; its
effect upon agriculture, stock raising, and manufacturing industries;
and its effect upon the use of the streams for navigation, power,
irrigation, and domestic water supply; all these are important. The
student should consider also the forest resources of the United States,
their present condition, and the needs they must be fitted to supply.
FOREST ENGINEERING:
Forest engineering is steadily becoming more and more necessary to the
Forester. He must have a working knowledge of the use of surveying
instruments; the making of topographic surveys; the office work required
of an engineer; the making of topographic maps; the location of trails,
roads, and railroads; and the construction of bridges, telephone lines,
cabins, and fences, together with logging railroads, slides, dams, and
flumes.
FOREST MENSURATION:
[Illustration: FOREST SERVICE MEN MAKING FRESH MEASUREMENTS IN THE
MISSOURI SWAMPS]
Forest mensuration, the art of measuring the contents and growth of
trees and forest stands, is of fundamental importance. The principles
and methods of timber estimating, the actual measurement of standing
timber, log rules, the making of stem analyses to show the increase of a
tree in diameter, height, and volume, the construction of tables of
current and mean annual growth per acre and per tree, and the methods of
using the information thus formulated,--all these are necessarily of
keen interest to the man who later on will have to apply his knowledge
in the practical management of woods.
FOREST MANAGEMENT:
Forest management is concerned with the principles involved in planning
the handling of forests. Questions of the valuation of forests form a
most essential part of it,--such questions as the cost of growing timber
crops, the value of land for that purpose, the value of young timber,
the valuation of damage to the forest, and the legal status of the
damage and the remedy.
Business principles are as necessary in the management of forests as in
the management of mills or farms. These business principles work out in
different forms of forest policy adapted to the needs of different kinds
of owners, such as lumbermen and the Government. What the young Forester
has learned about growth and yield, about timber estimates and forest
statistics, and many other matters, all finds its application in forest
management. He must also consider the methods and principles for
regulating the cut of timber, or for securing sustained annual yields.
All this forms the basis for the preparation of working plans for the
utilization of forests under American economic and silvicultural
conditions, not only without injury, but with benefit, to their
continued productiveness.
The subjects of forest surveying and working plans are intimately
related. Maps are indispensable in the practical work of making a forest
working plan. Topographic mapping, timber estimating, forest
description, and the location of logging roads, trails, and fire lines,
together with Silvics and a knowledge of growth and yield--these and
many other subjects enter into the making of a practical working plan to
harvest a forest crop and secure a second growth of timber. The student
should get all the practice he can in marking timber for cutting under
such a plan.
The young Forester must make himself familiar with the administration of
the National Forests. He must know how the business of the forest is
handled, how it is protected against fire, how the timber is sold, how
claims and entries are dealt with under the public land laws, how land
in the National Forests is used to make homes, how trespass is
controlled, how the livestock industry on the National Forests is
fostered and regulated, and how the extremely valuable watersheds they
contain are safeguarded and improved.
THE PRACTICE OF FORESTRY:
The practice of forestry is necessarily different in different kinds of
forests and under different economic conditions. All that the Forester
knows must here be applied, and applied in workable fashion, not only to
the forest, but to the men who use the forest. This is peculiarly true
of the practice of forestry in National and State Forests everywhere.
FOREST PRODUCTS:
Under this general subject, the forest student must acquaint himself,
through the microscope, with the minute anatomy of the woody stem of
coniferous and broadleaf trees, and the occurrence, form, structure, and
variability of the elements which make it up. He should become familiar
with the methods of classifying the economic woods of the United States,
both under the microscope and with the unassisted eye, and for this
purpose should know something of their color, gloss, grain, density,
odor, and resonance both as aids to identification and as to their
importance in giving value to the wood; the defects of timber; its
moisture content, density, shrinking, checking, warping; and the effect
of all these upon its uses.
The chemical composition of wood and of minor forest products, such as
tannins and dye stuffs, is important; the properties governing the fuel
value and the other values of wood must be studied, as well as the
methods of using these properties in the making of charcoal and wood
pulp, in wood distillation, the turpentine industry, in tanning and
dyeing, and in other industries.
A field of great importance is the relation between the physical
structure and the mechanical properties of wood. A student should inform
himself concerning the standard methods of testing the properties of
structural timber, by bending, compression, shearing, torsion, impact,
and the hardness and tension tests, with their relation to heat and
moisture, and the methods of seasoning, the use of preservatives, and
the effect of the rate of application of the load.
Woods vary as to their durability. It is important, therefore, to know
about the causes of decay, the decay-resisting power of various woods,
the relation of moisture content to durability, why the seasoning of
wood is effective, the theory and the commercial methods of wood
preservation, and its relation to the timber supply.
LUMBERING:
Lumbering the Forester should know more than a little about, as how to
organize lumber operations, the equipment and management of logging and
milling in various forest regions, the manufacture, seasoning, and
grading of the rough and finished lumber, cost keeping in a lumber
business, methods of sale, market requirements at home and abroad,
prices, the relation of the lumber tariff to forestry, lumber
associations, timber bonds, and insurance. The practical construction of
logging equipment, such as aerial tramways, log slides, dams, and
flumes, is of peculiar importance, and so are the conditions and changes
of the lumber market.
Experience on the land of some operating lumber company is of great
value. It should include a study of logging methods, log scaling, waste
in logging, the equipment and handling of the mill, the sawing and care
of rough and finished lumber, its grading, and so far as possible an
acquaintance with wood working plants of various kinds, and with the
operations of turpentine orcharding. Studies along these lines may with
advantage be almost indefinitely extended to include, for example the
utilization of steam machinery for logging, the improvement of streams
for driving logs, and other similar questions.
FOREST LAW:
The Forester must have at least a slight acquaintance with forest law,
both State and National. It is important to know something of the
general principles of classifying the public lands, of State laws for
fire protection, the development of forest policies in the various
States as legally expressed, and the important laws which govern the
creation and management of State forest reserves.
Forest taxation, State and local, which has, when excessive, so much to
do with hastening forest destruction, is one of the most important
questions which can engage the attention of the Forester.
Under the subject of Federal Forest Law, it is not sufficient for the
student to acquaint himself with those laws alone which govern the
forests. He must also have some knowledge of the creation of a forest
policy out of the public land policy of the United States, some
acquaintance with the public land laws. A good working knowledge of the
laws and regulations governing the National Forests is indispensable,
and the student should at least know where to find the more important
court decisions by which they are interpreted.
FOREST HISTORY:
The history of forestry in Europe has a certain importance in throwing
light on our own forest history and its probable development, and this
is especially true of the history of the administration of Government
forest lands and of education in forestry.
The history of forestry in the United States, however, is far more
important. The Forester must know the story of the growth and change of
National Forest organizations, the Forest Officers and their duties, the
cost, size, and effectiveness of the Government Forest Service at
different times, the Civil Service regulations under which it is
recruited, and other similar matters. It is important likewise for him
to become thoroughly saturated with an intimate knowledge of the
development of forestry in public opinion in the United States, its
extension to the other natural resources through the conservation
policy, and the relation of the Forester's point of view thus expressed
to the present welfare and future success of the Nation.
It is not always possible for the forest student to become a woodsman
before entering his profession, but it is most desirable. A Forester
must be able to travel the forest alone by day and by night, he should
be a good fisherman and a good hunter (which is far more important than
to be a good shot), and deeply interested in both fish and game. The
better horseman he is the better Forester he will be, and especially if
he can pack and handle pack horses in the woods. So that whether the
young Forester begins with a practical knowledge of woodcraft or not, he
must not fail to acquire or improve it, for without it he will endanger
the whole success of his career.
Some knowledge of first aid to the injured is likely to be of great and
sudden value to a man so much of whose life must be spent in the woods,
at a distance from medical aid. The time spent in getting information on
this subject will be anything but wasted.
ENGLISH:
The ability to write and to speak good, plain, understandable English is
a prime requisite in the Forester's training. It is a part of education
frequently neglected, especially by those in engineering or scientific
pursuits; yet its importance for the Forester is very large. As already
pointed out, the Forester is on the firing line of the conservation
movement; he is pioneering in a new profession. For this reason he will
often need to explain his stand and convert others to his beliefs. In
addition, he must make available to others the results he secures from
the study of new facts. A usable command of his own language will stand
him in good stead, whether he needs to talk face to face with another
man, or from a platform to a concourse of people, or to put into
readable printed form the results of his observations or his thinking.