Conservation Commission 171 



and steep slopes together with areas around certain bodies of water 

 which should not be lumbered. Second, the less abrupt and more 

 remote areas which could be lumbered conservatively. 



A classification of this character would probably result in 

 200,000 acres being retained for protective forests and about 

 1,000,000 being used for wood production. The revenue from the 

 former would be derived from leasing of camp sites, while from 

 the latter it would come from the sale of mature, dead and down 

 timber and from trees which should be cut in order to permit 

 proper growth of younger trees. 



Location. — There are, as already noted, 313,277 acres of the 

 preserve which are outside the two parks. This area includes 

 183,725 acres of land under water, leaving a balance of 129,552 

 acres of land of varying character. This area of land is con- 

 tained in 1,166 separate parcels exclusive of the islands in Lake 

 George or lands under water. They do not perform a true func- 

 tion as a " Forest Preserve." The areas vary from a fractional 

 part of an acre to tracts of a thousand acres. A few are so situ- 

 ated that they could be used for forestry purposes, but fully 

 90 per cent, of the parcels are small, isolated, often difficult to 

 locate accurately, and difficult and expensive to protect. As a 

 matter of policy it would seem more desirable to dispose of these 

 outlying areas and acquire other land within the parks. This 

 will result in consolidating present holdings, reduce administrative 

 expense and have the same investment and area better serve its 

 purpose. 



Utilization of Timber. — The compilation shows that there was 

 found upon the 1,585,496 acres 8,065,986,000 feet B. M. of mer- 

 chantable material. This timber is all upon the 1,204,538 acres 

 classified as merchantable forest area. The average acre of such 

 lands, therefore, contains about 6,700 feet B. M. of material. 



There are included in this amount both mature and immature 

 trees. There are large areas of virgin forests (estimated 70,000 

 acres), also extensive areas of lumbered lands (estimated 1,130,- 

 000 acres) upon which the greater proportion of timber is mature 

 and is not increasing in volume or value. There are other areas 

 covered with poplar, a tree that reaches maturity in a compara- 

 tively short time, which is very valuable for pulp and other pur- 



