STATE NEWS 



Michigan 



At a recent meeting of State Forest Service 

 officers, plans were formulated for bringing 

 about the State and Federal Government the 

 exchange of a considerabel acreage of forest 

 land. As a result of this meeting the ex- 

 amination of the lands in question was begun 

 and the field work will probably be completed 

 by the middle of January. The State lands 

 which the Government will acquire, consist 

 of about 15,000 acres intermingled with the 

 Government holdings in the Marquette Na- 

 tional Forest in Chippewa county and in the 

 Michigan National Forest in Iosco county. 

 In exchange for this, the State is to receive an 

 equal area of Government lands. Shoiald this 

 exchange be consumated, it will result in the 

 addition of about 4,000 acres to the Marquette 

 National Forest and 11,000 acres to the 

 Michigan National Forest. On the other hand, 

 the acreage of the Higgins Lake State Forest 

 in Crawford and Roscommon counties will be 

 increased by about 1,400 acres, the Houghton 

 Lake State Forest in Roscommon county by 

 3,600 acres and the Lake Superior State 

 Forest m Luce county by 10,000 acres. From 

 an administrative point of view, the exchange 

 would be highly beneficial to both parties, 

 inasmuch as it would be a big step towards the 

 consolidation of their respective holdings. 



To keep pace with the increased demands 

 for planting stock for reforestration projects on 

 the State Forests, the nursery at the Higgins 

 Lake State Forest has recently been enlarged. 

 Formerly this contained only five acres. With 

 the addition that has been made, there are 

 now a little over ten acres of available growing 

 space. At present there are in the nursery 

 approximately 3,000,000 seedlings and trans- 

 plants of various coniferous species. The 

 addition will make it possible to double, or 

 perhaps treble the present output. 



area of 70,000 acres and bringing the total 

 acreage of the State forests up to 994,062. 



Pennsylvania 



The Department of Forestry announces the 

 final purchase of what is known as the Pine 

 Grove Furnace property in the South Moun- 

 tains. This property was for a long time 

 under the direction of Jay Cooke who was very 

 largely instrumental in helping to finance the 

 civil war. With the recent turning over of 

 7,562 acres of land, the State now owns in the 

 South Mountains a forest extending in one 

 continuous body almost from the Susquehanna 

 river to the Maryland line, and having a total 



Georgia 



Recently a woodlot was examined and re- 

 ported on in Habersham County by officials of 

 the Forest School, University of Georgia, and 

 on this trip an address was made before the 

 Nacoochee Institute at Sautee in White 

 County. 



Later on Professor Akerman made a trip on 

 the other side of the Blue Ridge, delivering 

 addresses at Hiawassee, Young Harris, and 

 Blairsville, reaching over 900 persons. The 

 talks stressed the need^ for protection from 

 fire. At the time fires were running in the 

 mountains and the air was full of smoke,*^so 

 that the talks were to the point. 



Kentucky 



During the latter part of 1913 there were 

 a large number of forest fires, particularly in 

 the eastern part of Kentucky. State Forester 

 Barton says: "The fire plan inaugurated by the 

 office of the State Forester in cooperation with 

 the Forest Service of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has been effective so far as 

 we have been able to put the plan in operation 

 in the field in the suppression and control of a 

 large number of forest fires. In addition 

 it has been of great educational benefit in 

 serving to call the attention of the people to 

 the large number of forest fires which occurred 

 in the State and especially after such a long 

 dry season as the past summer. While the 

 statistics with regard to the number of fires, 

 cause, etc., have not as yet been compiled, a 

 casual survey of them is interesting in that it 

 shows that the two chief causes of fires are the 

 railroads and the carelessness of hunters. 



"The demand for county forest wardens in the 

 eastern part of the State has been greater than 

 the ability of this office to supply such wardens 

 with funds available. There does not, however, 

 seem to be any question about the fact that 

 the forest protective measures initiated by the 

 State Board of Forestry meets a real need, that 

 the work is meeting with the support of the 

 timberland owners and other timber interests, 

 particularly in the eastern section of the State 

 where the large timbered areas are." 



The biennial report of the State Forester is 

 in the course of preparation and will be ready 

 for the Legislature about January 1. 



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