NEWS AND NOTES 



Forest Patrol Men 



State Forester E. M. Griffith has appointed 

 the following federal patrolmen for the 

 forest reserves in Northern Wisconsin : T. B. 

 McNutt, Minocqua; Guy Morrill, Gagen; 

 M. H. Thompson, Rhinelander; H. M. Dun- 

 ham, Woodruff; Fred Melby, Sayner, and 

 T. D. Arnold, Rhinelander. The appoint- 

 ments are made in co-operation with the 

 United States forest service. The patrol will 

 work with the State forest rangers in pro- 

 tecting the timber at the headwaters of the 

 Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers from forest 

 fires. The government allows the State for- 

 estry board $5,000 for the employment of 

 these men. 



The patrol will cover not only the State's 

 reserves, but private lands in the midst of 

 and adjacent to them. When not needed in 

 protective work of that kind, they will be 

 engaged in building roads, trails and fire 

 lines. Most of the patrolmen will be 

 mounted on horses. Those on railroad lines 

 will be provided with hand-propelled ve- 

 locipedes. 



Fire Protection 



Supervisor Nelson Macduff of the San- 

 tiam forest reserve in Oregon states that 

 during the last year many important pieces 

 of trail work have been finished to protect 

 against forest fires. Mr. Macduff states that 

 the government has purchased material for 

 a telephone line 60 miles in length. This 

 line will help protect the government timber 

 on the Santiam reserve in Linn and Marion 

 counties, and besides be of benefit to the 

 private timber on the reserve. 



Protective Association Active 



The Northern Forest Protective Associ- 

 ation of Michigan which was formed at a 

 meeting of the timber owners of the upper 

 peninsula held in Marquette a year ago this 

 spring, will commence its season's work 

 in the course of the next ten days. The 

 object of the association is to protect the 

 standing timber of the upper peninsula from 

 being devastated by fire and to this end 

 twenty rangers are kept patroling the 

 wooded sections north of the straits from 

 early spring until after the beginning of 

 winter. The work of the association last 

 year proved a decided success and resulted 

 in the saving of timber whose value mounted 

 well up into the thousands. 



Branch Organizations 



The Massachusetts Forestry Association, 

 which for the past 14 years has been ac- 

 tively engaged in agitating better forestry 

 laws, has started to organize branch organi- 

 zations in nearly all the large cities of the 

 State. Organizations have already been 

 formed in Worcester and Fitchburg, and the 

 work of organizing a branch in this city is 

 now under way. The purpose of these 

 branch organizations is to bring members 

 of the State organization together for local 

 work. 



Encouraging Tree Growtli 



The growing of trees in New York State 

 has been penalized by taxing the crop as 

 though it were a yearly crop; like wheat or 

 oats, explains The New York Times. In 

 order to pay the tax and escape its future 

 burden, the farmers have been compelled to 

 cut down their trees and market them. Now 

 the Legislature has remedied this. The 

 newly enacted Jones law exempts from as- 

 sessment and taxation for thirty-five years 

 parcels of one to 100 acres, which shall be 

 planted for forestry purposes, with not less 

 than 800 trees to the acre, while lands under- 

 planted, with less than 300 trees to the acre, 

 shall be assessed for thirty-five years at "50 

 per cent of the assessable valuation," exclu- 

 sive of the forest growth. That puts a 

 premium upon the planting of trees. 



Aiding Floods 



People who do not believe that cutting of 

 forests about the head waters of streams 

 will increase floods should read a recent 

 bulletin of the government forest service, 

 dealing with floods in the Castle Valley of 

 Utah. 



Previous to the settlement of this valley 

 in 1878, there were no floods. Later, when 

 cattle and sheep were pastured on its hill- 

 sides, destructive floods became very com- 

 mon, and would even follow a sharp summer 

 rain. A committee of stock growers and 

 farmers investigated the subject, and de- 

 cided that the close cropping of the forage 

 by cattle and sheep had let the water run 

 off quickly into the valleys. Since grazing 

 was restricted, the floods have largely 

 ceased. 



If such a slight obstruction as the light 

 grass of the hillsides operates to hold water 

 back and equalize its flow, how much more 

 must the rich vegetable mould that gathers 

 on and in the soil under the leafy protection 

 of a thick forest? 



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