CONSERVATION REALIZED IN MASSACHUSETTS 



By Harris A. Reynolds 

 Secretary, Massachusetts Forestry Association 



ffiASSACHUSETTS is not blessed 

 with coal or copper mines, nor 

 oil and gas wells. Consequently, 

 it has none of those natural re- 

 sources to conserve. It has a prob- 

 lem, however — the preservation of 

 its forests, and the reclamation of 

 its waste lands. It may surprise 

 those who are not familiar with Massa- 

 chusetts to learn that as one of the 

 States first settled, it is still nearly one- 

 fifth wild or waste land. About 1,000,- 

 000 acres of the State are covered with 

 scrub growth, or deserted farms where 

 the soil is either too wet or too rocky 

 to produce profitably without the appli- 

 cation of scientific farming methods. 

 On the other hand, this land is ideal for 

 the growth of white pine, which thrives 

 like a weed all over the State. It is 

 evident that permitting this land to lie 

 idle is a great economic waste to the 

 State and community at large amount- 

 ing to millions of dollars annually. 



Conservation was practiced in this 

 State, however, long before the Con- 

 servation Commission produced its 

 voluminous report. In 1898, the Mas- 

 sachusetts Forestry Association was 

 organized and incorporated. It is a pri- 

 vate organization and consisted at that 

 time of only a few far-sighted citizens 

 who saw the need of preserving our 

 shade trees and protecting our forests. 

 Until the past year, its energy was 

 directed mainly toward procuring 

 forest legislation. The Tree Warden 

 Law was passed in 1899, requiring 

 every town to select a citizen whose 

 duty it is to protect the trees and see 

 that the shade tree laws are obeyed. To 

 create the office of State Forester was 

 more difficult. It took several years to 

 convince the Legislature that such a 

 State Department was needed. This 

 was done only after the Association 

 had employed a forester and gave his 

 services gratis to the people of the 



800 



State for one year. The following 

 year the office of State Forester was 

 created and the State Forestry Depart- 

 ment organized. This department last 

 year spent $355,000, including the 

 Gypsy Aloth Funds, which were $315,- 

 000. In bringing the Weeks Bill into 

 life as an Act of Congress, this asso- 

 ciation took a leading part. The pur- 

 pose of this act is to create national 

 forests on the headwaters of navigable 

 streams, especially in the White and 

 the Southern Appalachian [Mountains, 

 the forests to be so located as to protect 

 the watersheds against erosion and to 

 regulate the flow of the streams. 



Last year, largely through the instru- 

 mentality of this association, the State 

 Forest Fire Warden Act was passed, 

 creating the office of State Forest Fire 

 Warden under the direction of the 

 State Forester. Mr. M. C. Hutchins, 

 formerly of the New York State Fire 

 Service, took charge of this work, and 

 for the past year he has been perfecting 

 our fire protection system. Lookout 

 stations have been established on the 

 high points in the State, from which 

 men who are stationed there during the 

 dry seasons can observe every part of 

 the State. These men are connected 

 by telephone with the fire wardens in 

 the respective towns surrounding them, 

 and immediate alarm is given at the 

 first sign of smoke. The damage done 

 by forest fires this year has been only 

 about one-twentieth of that of the pre- 

 vious year, before the system was in- 

 stalled, and the system itself is not yet 

 perfected. This assures owners of 

 woodlands that their timber will be 

 protected, and reforestation is begin- 

 ning in earnest. 



The present tax system in this State 

 is not favorable to woodland owners 

 and this year a resolution to amend the 

 State constitution was passed whereby 

 the Legislature is given the right to 



