STATE OWNERSHIP OF FOREST LANDS 



957 



in every case, but description of conditions in a number of the States 

 in which there are large areas gives an idea of the general situation. 



Colorado, for example, owns 377,000 acres of land suitable primarily 

 for timber production, and also an area of 6,400 acres at the Fort 

 Lewis Agricultural School (Indian). The 377,000 acres, which con- 

 sists largely of isolated school sections, might advantageously be con- 

 solidated by exchange with the Federal Government, and the areas thus 

 acquired placed under the administration of the State forester. 



Montana owns possibly as much as 492,000 acres of forest land. 



Oregon owns 500,000 acres of land, the proportion timbered being 

 not yet definitely determined. 



In Washington the State University has placed the administration of 

 its 100,000 acres of forest land under its professor of forestry, an 

 arrangement which should insure development of the property consist- 

 ently with the maintenance of its permanent productiveness. Wash- 

 ington owns other forest lands besides those granted to the State 

 University. 



Federal and State legislation have already authorized exchanges of 

 land in Montana, Washington, and Idaho, and appropriations for the 

 examination of the land necessary to accomplish equable exchanges 

 and to cover the cost of title transfer have been made at various times 

 since 1912, although the actual transfers have been delayed by legal 

 intricacies. 



METHOD OF ACQUISITION OF RESERVES 



With this resume of the ownership in the various States, we may 

 make a general classification of the methods which have been employed 

 in the acquisition of forest reserves by the States. 



Since the creation of the first State forest reserve, namely, that in 

 New York in 1883, five methods of acquisition have developed. These 

 are as follows: 



(i) Permanent reservation of lands already publicly owned, includ- 

 ing both the public lands of the States and lands which had reverted 

 to public ownership through non-payment of taxes. 



(2) Exchange of lands with the United States in order to create a 

 compact area which could be easily managed by the State, as in South 

 Dakota. 



(3) Gift of lands owned by the United States, as in Minnesota. 



(4) Gift by private persons, as in Vermont and New Hampshire. 



(5) Purchase through State appropriation or bond issue. 



