958 JOURNAL O? FORESTRY 



PURPOSES OP STATE FOREST RESERVES 



The purposes which State forest reserves are intended to fulfill are 

 primarily as follows : 



(i) To preserve for public use and enjoyment areas particularly 

 valuable for recreation. 



(2) To protect water supplies from contamination, or from the sedi- 

 mentation caused by erosion, and to regulate stream-flow. 



(3) To produce timber as a State business. 



(4) To demonstrate scientific forest management to private owners. 

 Generally more than one of these purposes is fulfilled by every State 



reserve. 



(i) Recreation 



The acquisition of forest lands to preserve for public use areas of 

 particular value for purposes of recreation is well exemplified in the 

 Adirondack and Catskill Preserves in New York, the Crawford Notch 

 Reserve in New Hampshire, most of the mountain-top reservations in 

 Massachusetts, the Interstate Park along the Palisades in New York 

 and New Jersey, and the California Redwood Park. 



The need of public ownership of areas required for free public en- 

 joyment seems beyond argument, and a State may undoubtedly exer- 

 cise its pleasure in securing tracts for this purpose. Since our customs 

 of land tenure allow individuals to monopolize property desirable for 

 public use and enjoyment, the public must, at the worst, if it desires 

 such property for general use, pay the penalty for having allowed it to 

 pass from its ownership. 



There are in many States places of scenic beauty which should be 

 acquired for public enjoyment as soon as the public purse allows. Re- 

 cently (October, 1915) the Supreme Court of the United States, in the 

 case of the City of New York vs. William Sage, has affirmed the prin- 

 ciple that the additional value gained for property under action of 

 eminent domain cannot be taken into account in determination of the 

 compensation to be paid to the owner — an encouraging refutation of 

 the idea that submission to extortionate demands in the acquisition of 

 property for public uses is necessary. 



(2) Protection of Water Supplies 



The acquisition of forest lands to protect water supplies is not clearly 

 exemplified in any particular State, although the need of such protec- 

 tion is one of the arguments most frequently urged as a reason for 



