which aided greatly the phenomenal growth of our cities, towns,
railroads, and farms.
Fortunately the future promises to be brighter. Mining com-
munities frequently fall into decay with the exhaustion of their
mineral deposits, but it should not be necessary to place our timber
in the same category. It is becoming generally appreciated that
while there is only one crop of minerals many crops of timber may
be harvested from the same piece of land.
A good illustration of how communities that have lost their for-
ests can be brought back to prosperity is found in the Michigan
state activities at Grayling. The territory immediately about
Grayling supplied billions of feet of white pine in the heyday of
lumber production in Michigan. Following the exhaustion of the
original stands the region began to decline. Population decreased.
The land which had produced some of the finest timber ever seen
in the world did not prove profitable for agriculture and many
farmers were literally starved out. During the past decade, the
state has taken over extensive areas about Grayling for state for-
ests. An intensive planting program has been started, and about
4,000 acres are planted yearly. A policy of employing local help
in the planting and other care of these state forests has given em-
ployment to about 150 local farmers.
That far-sighted lumbermen have confidence in the future of
:ommercial forestry when developed under suitable conditions is
evidenced by the large operations established at Cloquet, Minne-
sota, and Bogalusa, Louisiana. Here integrated wood using opera-
ions convert the trees into lumber, wood pulp and other products,
permitting close utilization of the forest.
Forest utilization is being placed upon a continuous and sus-
rained yield basis. Instead of cutting out their holdings, these
large corporations are balancing plant capacities with the forest
oroduction possibilities of the community. They are taking the nec-
essary steps to keep the forest land of the community in continuous
.ntensive production, with the direct result of community pros-
perity and advanced social conditions. These two instances of
commercial forestry are the result of private enterprise applied
‘0 a combination of virgin timber and second-growth timber, with
some planting.
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