FOREST PROVISIONS OF NEW YORK STATE 

 CONSTITUTION 



By C. R. Pettis^ 



The constitutional convention of the State of New York, which 

 was held in 1893, adopted a provision (Article 7, Section 7) which 

 read as follows: 



"The lands of the State, now owned or hereafter acquired, 

 constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be for- 

 ever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold 

 or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, 

 nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed." 



The reason for the act of this Assembly cannot be under- 

 stood without a few words in regard to the land policy of the 

 State of New York. The policy of the province and state had 

 been to dispose of its lands. As early as 1708 the entire Catskill 

 area was patented by Queen Anne, while large areas in the 

 Adirondacks were first sold by the English colonial government, 

 although some of them were later forfeited to the state under 

 the "Acts of the Attainder." 



The early state government found itself in possession of 

 extended tracts of land in the Adirondacks. Some of these were 

 set aside as bounties for soldiers; small areas were reserved for 

 the encouragement of gospel, school and literary purposes ; while 

 vast areas were sold. The money received was but a pittance. 

 In some cases the consideration was a few cents per acre. The 

 conveyances were usually by townships of approximately 26 

 to 30 thousand acres, or even larger areas. Many names 

 that appear in the history of this state were patentees. Sir 

 William Johnson and Alexander Ellis, the latter, president of 

 the Hudson Bay Co., were large grantees. There seemed to be 

 a desire to create large estates in this wilderness and no less a 

 person than Joseph Bonaparte was one of the principals. An 

 immense amount of money was spent in attempts at colonization 

 and development. The dreams of Arthur Noble, John Brown of 

 Providence, Macomb and many others of a developed estate in 

 the wilderness failed. The first quarter of a century after the 

 grants were made by the state government, there were substan- 



^ Superintendent, State Forests of New York. 

 50 



