REPORT OF THE FOREST COMMISSIONER. 



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The State of Maine is rich in natural resources. At the 

 present time nearly three-quarters of our area, or more than 

 fourteen million acres, is classified as forest land. These for- 

 ests are composed of trees well suited to the needs of our people. 



The utilization of forest products has been carried on in 

 Maine since the early settlement of the country, and today the 

 industry is of first importance in the State. Maine ranks first 

 among the states in the annual cut of spruce and balsam fir, 

 and third in that of white pine and birch. Towns and com- 

 munities depend upon the lumbering industry for support. The 

 annual cut of all kinds of timber in the State approximates one 

 billion feet. The value of the logs at the mills is probably 

 twelve million dollars, while the value of the manufactured 

 product probably exceeds twenty million dollars. 



Among the states Maine ranks third in developed water- 

 powers. These wonderful powers have an estimated value of 

 one hundred and fifty million dollars and are the very back- 

 bone of the present industrial life of the State, and the founda- 

 tion on which future development will be built. They are pro- 

 tected and regulated by the forests on the water-sheds of the 

 rivers. The function of the forest in regulating flow is easily 

 illustrated if we examine the run-off on a barren hillside, where 

 water is discharged as soon as it falls, causing floods and 

 erosion of the soil. If the water-shed of a stream is forested 

 the discharge of water is gradual and the flow of the stream 

 consequently well regulated and of pure water. 



But it is not alone for the lumber that they yield, or the water- 

 powers that they protect, that the forests of Maine are of value, 

 for they have a further and perhaps greater value as the greatest 

 recreation ground of this nation. Our twenty-two hundred in- 

 land lakes are dotted with camps, hotels and cottages, where 

 two hundred thousand people from beyond our borders spend 

 their annual vacation. It is estimated that the fish and game 



