Our tree planting partner, Atlas Services LLC, recently shared a bookmark printed in 1937 that they acquired.  The values included in the bookmark are as relevant today as they were over 80 years ago. Read the copy here and then scroll to the bottom to see the original bookmark. 

FORESTS
Save the Soil
Hold Back the Waters

The forest is the best of all nature’s soil binders and water holders.

The canopy of living leaves and the carpet of fallen leaves protect the soil from beating rain.  The tree roots, running in the fine network beneath the ground cover, bind the soli and help to hold it in place.

The soft thick mat of fallen leaves, needles, twigs, cones, seeds, and decaying wood that covers the forest floor, easily absorbs the rain and feeds the water down into the mineral soil.  There it joins the great body of underground water that keeps the earth moist and comes slowly to the surface in springs and clear rivulets.

Where the watersheds are protected by these forest influences the fertile soil stays in place and the streams run clear.  Where the watersheds are denuded the best and most fertile soil is washed into middy, irregularly flowing streams, to clog reservoirs or to be carried away to the sea and lost.

For Wood – For Water – For Fertile Soil

PRESERVE THE FOREST

U.S. Forest Service, May 1937

We love finding cool pieces of U.S. history that celebrate our National Forests!