PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 49 



Their headquarters are at the capitol. The officers of the commission are 

 a secretary, a warden, an assistant warden, two inspectors, and a 

 stenographer. There are also fifteen foresters provided for, whose duties 

 are upon the forest preserve itself. 



The argument in favor of the appointment of such a commission was 

 that there were still over 800,000 acres of forest lands belonging to the 

 state, most of them lying in the Adirondack region, and that fires and 

 trespassing were constantly diminishing their value and threatening 

 ultimately to entirely destroy the timber. It was reasonably claimed that 

 a few responsible men put in charge of these timber lands would soon 

 reduce the annual losses to a minimum. 



An elaborate set of laws for the guidance of the commission and its 

 officers were embodied in the act creating the commission. Full power to 

 enforce these rules and regulations, and to punish offenders, have never 

 been given to the commission, however. 



The commission or its officers, or any other person acting under written 

 orders from the commission, may arrest any person violating the 

 provisions of the act. Each supervisor of a township in which any state 

 land is located, except in certain counties specified, shall be by virtue of 

 his office the protector of such land, subject to the instructions he may 

 receive from the forest commission. Such supervisors are also ex officio 

 firewardens of their townships, with full authority to call upon and direct 

 the citizens in extinguishing any forest fire that may threaten damage. 

 In certain counties mentioned in the act the commission is required to 

 appoint firewardens and their duties and compensation are fixed by law. 



Firewardens and supervisors acting as such are required to make a 

 report of fires occurring in their jurisdiction, and to furnish such other 

 information each year as the commission may require; such information 

 is compiled and embodied in the annual report of the commission. 



The duties and liabilities of railway companies whose roads run through 

 lands liable to be overrun by fires are specifically defined, and a severe 

 penalty affixed for non-compliance with the provisions or requirements of 

 the act. 



Forest officials are to have rules printed and cause the same to be 

 posted in school-houses, inns, saw mills, lumber camjDS and other places for 

 the prevention and suppression of forest fires. 



Provision is made for the severe punishment of incendiaries, and of 

 those who refuse to assist in extinguishing fires, and for injuring trees or 

 timber on the lands of others, and for cutting trees or carrying away 

 timber from any lands belonging to the estate. 



So far as I am able to learn, the law establishing the commission works 

 admirably and has been the means of j)rotecting the state lands from 

 serious damage by fire and from serious trespass. 



These state lands, however, occupy but a comparatively small part of 

 the forest area of the Adirondack plateau. The balance are owned by 

 individuals — lumbermen, sportsmen and others — and the timber in many 

 places is being rapidly stripped off, leaving the surface to dry up; and 

 when once fire gets in, the accumulated humus is burned from the rocky 

 soil, leaving only a barren waste on which it is impossible for a new tim- 

 ber growth to start. The winds of winter and the rains of spring and 

 autumn carry the little remaining earth away to discolor the mountain 

 torrents and finally deposit the same in bars of sand and silt along the 

 Hudson, and at its mouth in the noble harbor of New York bay. The 



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