Government Forest Work 31
the Secretary of Agriculture. Forest officers are agents
of the people and their duty is to assist the public in
making use of the resources of the forests. They aim
to prevent misunderstanding and violation of forest
regulations by timely and tactful advice rather than
to follow up violations by the exercise of their authority.
Forest users can aid greatly in the efficient performance
of the public business by according to forest officers
the same frankness, consideration, and courtesy which
the forest officers are expected to show them.
THE EXTENSION OF FORESTRY PRACTICE
The greatness of the national forest enterprise and
the prominence accorded its accomplishments have
given the impression to some that the problem of
forestry is solved. In point of fact, this is by no
means the case, for the national forests contain only
about one-sixth of the forest area of the country and
not quite one-fourth of the standing saw timber.
Private owners hold almost four-fifths of the timber-
land of the United States. A small amount (about one-
thirtieth) is in national parks, military and Indian
reserves, State and municipal parks and forests, and
the public domain. The amount of lumber which is
actually placed on the market from the national
forests amounts to only about 2 per cent of the entire
consumption of the country. The rest comes from
private lands. While the proportion will be altered
in the future, the country must still look to private
lands for a large part of its forest supplies.
The forests of the country that are in private hands
are being depleted with great rapidity. Conditions
are changing, however, and private owners are giving
more and more attention to forest management.
Unstable ownership of forest land has been a large
obstacle to the rapid spread of timber growing; but
there is now evidence of a trend toward greater stability
of ownership accompanied by an attitude on the part
of owners of greater interest in timber growing as a
form of land use.
