s were built and there came a demand from abroad
for lumber, the forests were attacked upon a much larger scale.
The need of the moment was all that concerned the lumbermen, and
they took no care for the preservation of the young trees, which
in time would have renewed the supply. The litter of the trunks
and branches which they left upon the ground furnished fuel for
the fires which frequently swept over these areas and killed the
remaining growth.

As a result of these fires, the few animals that have escaped the
hunters have been killed or driven from their homes, and the forest
cover, which would retain much of the moisture and preserve it
for the supply of the streams in summer, has been destroyed. The
removal of the forest cover leads also to the washing away of the
soil, the shoaling of the streams, floods in spring, and low water
in summer. In fact, all the people and industries of the region
are affected by its loss. It may take hundreds of years for the
country to recover; indeed, if the rainfall is light, the forests
may never grow again, without artificial aid.

[Illustration: FIG. 130.--A BURNED FOREST, CASCADE RANGE, OREGON]

The careless stockman, seeking to enlarge his pastures by burning
the underbrush, sets fires which often destroy hundreds of square
miles of forest. The summer camper and the prospector also frequently
go on their way without extinguishing the camp fire, though a great
forest fire may be the result.

Ours is a fertile and productive earth, capable of supporting a
multitude of living things. For ages the lower animals, as well
as savage man, lived under the protection of Nature, making the
best use of her products of which they were capable; but they never
brought about the unnecessary, and often wanton, destruction of
which we are guilty,--we, who call ourselves civilized. In killing
the wild animals we cannot make the plea of necessity, as can savages
who have no other means of support. Likewise, there is no necessity
for killing the beautiful singing birds, merely for their plumage.

[Illustration: FIG. 131.--EROSION UPON AN UNPROTECTED SLOPE]

The forests are cut away without any thought of the retribution
which Nature is sure to bring upon us. They are of vast importance
to the well-being of the country and are the natural possession
of all its people. We ought not to permit them to be destroyed
indiscriminately for the benefit of a few. We need lumber for many
purposes; b