The Interdependence of Forest Conservation and Forestry Education.

THE economic and industrial development of the western continent is comparatively recent. The abundance of the natural resources in the new world made the consideration of their exhaustion a subject of little public interest. The increasing rapidity in the depletion of these resources, particularly in the most populous and best industrially developed of the American republics, has within recent years emphasized the need of foresight in dealing with them. The United States has been the foremost of the western nations in urging the conservation of national resources through better use and in enacting national and state laws regulating use. When a nation is new and sparsely populated the necessary encouragement for industrial expansion and increased population makes governmental regulation of forest and other natural resources less essential. There comes a time, however, in the life of every nation when future needs must be safeguarded from present private greed. When this time comes a change must be initiated in the method of handling these resources. The recognition of this principle caused the United States in 1891 radically to change her policy regarding the unoccupied national domain and begin the establishment and organization of national forests. Prior to this time practically all of the forests in the entire country could be exploited without regard for a second crop, because nearly all timberland was o n A pr il 14 , 2 01 7