STATE NEWS 



387 



South Dakota 



The season of 1914 in South Dakota opens 

 with a promise of a considerable activity on 

 the State Forests. The tire season normally 

 opens clurin.^ the middle of April and con- 

 tinues through October. The tire plan inau- 

 gurated in 1913 will be continued with some 

 improvement during the present season. The 

 operation of this plan in conjunction with the 

 plan of the adjoining Harney National For- 

 est and in cooperation with Federal assist- 

 ance under the Weeks' Law should furnish 

 effectual protection to the State's forest lands. 



Owing to the burning of the plant of the 

 Lanphere-Hinrichs Lumber Company at Raind 

 City in January, logging operations on the 

 forest were at a standstill for some time, 

 excepting for the operations of three or four 

 small portable mills. However, it is ex- 

 pected that the new mill of the company will 

 be in operation again by June 1, when cutting 

 will be resumed on the State tract on Rapid 

 Creek. 



The Game-Fence, enclosing 61,000 acres of 

 the Custer Forest as a game preserve, will be 

 completed this season and ready for the game 

 to be purchased by the Game Commission. 

 The erection of this fence was "wished on" 

 the Department of School and Public Lands 

 by the last Legislature, and its construction 

 has been in charge of the State Forest Serv- 

 ice. Already a carload of elk from the Jack- 

 son's Hole country has been received at the 

 preserve, and are confined in a special corral 

 of one mile square constructed in February 

 on Squaw Creek. A loss of three occurred 

 in shipping, but the balance of the herd seem 

 to be in good condition and perfectly at home 

 on the forest. 



Owing to late rains last fall and some early 

 spring moisture, grazing conditions appear to 

 be normal for the spring months. 



a million trees will be planted on the Higgins, 

 Houghton, and Fife Lake Forests this spring. 

 White and Norway pine are used almost alto- 

 gether in this work, although experiments 

 are being conducted on a small scale with 

 such species as Austrian and Scotch pine, 

 European larch, and Norway spruce. 



Michig-an 



In order to encourage private owners in 

 the reforestation of their waste lands, the 

 Public Domain Commission has in the past 

 offered planting stock from its forest nursery 

 at Higgins Lake to the people of the State 

 at very low figures. The same policy will be 

 pursued this year. Among the species listed 

 for sale are both seedlings and transplants of 

 white pine. Western yellow pine, Scotch pine, 

 Lodgepole pine, white spruce, blue spruce, 

 Norwav spruce, red spruce, and Douglas fir. 

 The prices range from $2.00 per thousand for 

 seedlings two years old to $8.00 per thousand 

 for transplants of large size, which include 

 packing, crating, and delivery to the railroad 

 station. Plants are not sold in lots of less 

 than .500. Many orders for spring delivery 

 have alreadv been received, and the indica- 

 tions are that the demand for planting stock 

 this season will show a marked increase over 

 that of former years. 



The area of State lands reforested each 

 year is gradually increasing. More tlian half 



California 



California observed Fire Prevention Day 

 on April 18 with gratifying success. State 

 Forester Homans, for the State Board of 

 Forestry, had 135,000 pamphlets distributed 

 to the school children of the State. These 

 told of the damage done by forest fires, gave 

 instruction on how to prevent and how to 

 fight them, and carried also valuable sug- 

 gestions to teachers for continuing this 

 course of instruction during the year. This 

 sort of educational work is having a de- 

 cidedly good effect. 



Minnesota 



State Forester Wm. T. Cox's third annual 

 report as State Forester of Minnesota is 

 just out, and, as might be expected, goes into 

 most interesting detail as to the work of his 

 department during the year. He says that 

 fire prevention was the chief task of the 

 service during 1913 and that considerable at- 

 tention was also given to obtaining more 

 accurate information regarding the forest 

 resources and of educating the public to a 

 proper appreciation of the forest problem. 

 Mr. Cox says he believes that as soon as 

 the majority of the people of Minnesota 

 realize the condition of the forests, the im- 

 portance of the industries which they sus- 

 tain, and the business necessity of properly 

 caring for the woods that the tremendous 

 handicap under which the forest service is 

 laboring will be removed and sufficient funds 

 provided to carry on the work. With this 

 in view much effort was given in 1913 to- 

 wards reaching the public both through meet- 

 ings and through the press. 



New Hampshire 



The Connecticut Valley Lumber Company, 

 under the joint management of Stone & Web- 

 ster and Hornblower & Weeks, with ex- 

 tensive timberland holdings in northern New 

 Hampshire and Vermont, has closed a con- 

 tract with the Berlin Mills Company, of 

 Portland, Me., and Berlin, N. H.. covering 

 the sale of all softwood timber situated on 

 the Androscoggin slope. It is estimated that 

 about .500.000,000 feet of timber is affected. 



This is a tract of about 45,000 acres of 

 virgin territory never before operated, the 

 Connecticut Valley Lumber Company hav- 

 ing confined its operations to the Connecti- 

 cut slope, where it owns approximately 260,- 

 000 acres with a softwood stumpage of about 

 1.500.000,000 feet. 



