THE FOREST PARKS OF NEW YORK 



By JOHN S, KENNEDY 

 Secretary, Public Service Commission, Second District, Albany, N. Y. 



THERE is no section of country in 

 all the world with more beauti- 

 ful forests than the populous 

 State of New York. To the thought- 

 less observer it may seem strange that, 

 with its great and apparently closely 

 settled population, it takes the lead of 

 all the States in acreage of state-owned 

 forest preserves, but such is the fact ; 

 and it is now the established policy of 

 the State to constantly increase its 

 acreage. 



In the early days there was no sec- 

 tion of the United States that contain- 

 ed a more dense, evenly distributed, or 

 valuable forest than that within what is 

 now the State of New York. In fact, 

 New York State was the home of the 

 lumberman, and saw the beginning of 

 actual lumbering in the United States. 

 Like all the States in the Union, like 

 all countries where civilized man has 

 dwelt for any length of time, the de- 

 struction of the forests by lumbering 

 and other means has gone too far, and 

 evil results therefrom begin to appear 

 and make themselves felt. 



As New York was the first State 

 where lumbering was done on a 

 large scale, so it was the first State to 

 take positive and active means to stop 

 the timber waste ; to manage, control, 

 and replenish the forest growth. The 

 question was discussed during the time 

 of Governor DeWitt Clinton, but the 

 first move was in 1872, when Governor 

 Horatio Seymour secured an appiro- 

 priation from the legislature for mak- 

 ijig a forest survey. 



The Adirondacks at that time were 

 an unbroken wilderness, and the bear, 

 the elk, the moose, and the wolf roamed 

 about with little fear of interruption. 

 The real beginning, however, was made 

 by the enactment of a law. in t86c;. 



providing for a commission to super- 

 vise the forest regions. From that 

 time much reclaiming work was done, 

 many experiments in tree garden work 

 made, and a considerable amount of 

 wild forest land acquired by the State 

 in the Adirondack and Catskill Moun- 

 tain regions for a State Eorest Pre- 

 serve and some of the waste land 

 planted to trees. 



By statute;, in 1892, confirmed by the 

 Constitution in 1895, a park was es- 

 tablished in both regions, composed of 

 certain lands in sixteen counties. In 

 the Constitution the State has laid 

 down its established policy providing 

 that "The lands of the State, now own- 

 ed or hereafter acquired, constituting 

 the Forest Preserves as now fixed by 

 law, shall be forever kept as wild forest 

 lands. They shall not be leased, sold, 

 or exchanged, or be taken by any cor- 

 poration, public or private, nor shall the 

 timber thereon be sold, removed, or 

 destroyed." 



The first years of State regulation 

 were not very effective. True, great 

 tracts of land were acquired, but no 

 intelligent effort was made to bring 

 the importance of the forest in all its 

 bearings to the attention of the general 

 public or to induce lumbermen when 

 cutting to leave some reasonable for- 

 est covering on the hillsides and moun- 

 tain tops, or to leave seed trees of the 

 corn-bearing species at short intervals 

 to promote natural re-seeding. No 

 consideration was given to the dimin- 

 ishing water supply or to the cause of 

 its diminution. Little care was used 

 to protect the forests from ravages by 

 fire. 



It is true that a firewarden system 

 was established and fairly good work 

 done, yet year after year many thous- 



69s 



