108 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



counties, viz: Forest, Vilas, Oneida, Iron and Price, and within this area 

 there is not only a wonderful lake region of over 1,200 lakes, but also the 

 hea<lwaters of four of the greatest rivers in the State, viz: the Wisconsin, 

 Chippewa, Menominee and Wolf. 



STATE FOREST POLICY 



The State lands set aside for the reserves, as also the lands purchased, 

 are not suitable for agriculture, being either too sandy, rocky or swampy, 

 but these lands have grown some of the finest pine timber in the State, and 

 all the young timber needs is protection from fire. The State forest policy 

 then is looking to the accomplishment of the following points, viz : 



1. The protection of extensive forests upon the headwaters of four im- 

 portant rivers. This together with the use of many lakes as storage reser- 

 voirs will tend to make the flow of these rivers unusually regular, thus pre- 

 serving and even improving many waterpowers, which will become increasingly 

 valuable, especially since Wisconsin has no deposits of coal. 



2. Supplying the wood-using industries of the State with a considerable 

 amount of timber, and thereby it is hoped keeping many of them within 

 the State. 



3. Preserving the forests in the beautiful lake region of northern Wis- 

 consin will both protect and greatly enhance its present attractiveness as a 

 resort region, for not only the citizens of the State, but of the entire Missis- 

 sippi Valley as well. The value of such a resort region is not generally 

 understood, even from the dollar view point, but the report of the bureau 

 of labor of New Hampshire for 1005, shows that the resort business yielded 

 in that year over $10,000,000, and the report of the Forest, Fish and Game 

 Commission of New York for the same year, states that it was over |7,000,000. 



4. The young timber on the reserves will be protected and denuded areas 

 planted so that in future years the State will receive a direct and increasing 

 revenue from the sale of mature timber. 



If Wisconsin had been as wise as Canada and retained its timbered 

 lands instead of selling them, the forester would have a going concern, and 

 the timber would be his stock, which he would sell as it became mature, and 

 thus be able to show a revenue at once. But Wisconsin chose in the past 

 to sell its timberlands to anyone and everyone at a fraction of what their 

 present value would be, and therefore the State must buy back the timber- 

 lands that it sold, only now thousands of acres have been cut over, and burned, 

 and hence it will be many years before there will be much merchantable 

 timber to sell. The bright side, however, is that much of the timber that was 

 left is now, with increasing demands, becoming valuable. It is impossible 

 to foretell what timber will be worth twenty-five or fifty years from now, but 

 it is, at least, safe to say that it will be worth as much as it is today. 



Taking into consideration the acreage of land within the forest reserves 

 that contains virgin timber and that which is fairly well timbered, also the 

 areas that contain only young growth and those that must be planted, it is 

 not probable that in tweny-five years the State would receive a net revenue 

 of over $1.00 per acre, but at the end of fifty years this should have risen to 



