165 



Fourth, the state should acquire by purchase a tract of about 75,000 

 acres in certain counties in the southwestern portion containing the larg- 

 est unbroken areas of forest land, and consequently most exposed to 

 damage by fire. Upon this area fire-protection should be undertaken 

 by the use of modern methods and equipment already successful in many 

 other states, such as look-out-towers, paid fire-wardens, and a telephone 

 and trail system. The cost should be kept within reasonable proportions, 

 based on the area acquired, but the protection should extend over the 

 entire region tributary to the state-holding of land. As is now the case 

 in Ohio, it would be desirable for this organization for fire-profection 

 in the comparatively small and relatively inaccessible state forest area to 

 be i>laced under the direct jurisdiction of the state forestry division 

 at the agricultural experiment station rather than have it attached to 

 some other administrative department where it would not receive proper 

 attention or guidance and might completely fail of effectiveness. All 

 such projects on the part of the state, for the present at least, must be 

 purely educational in intention, the purjiose being to reach and influence 

 ihe f anil- woodland owner as rapidly and effectively as possible. 



The establishment of forest parks for recreation, as exemplified by 

 the creation of the Cook County Forest Preserves, is not forestry in the 

 economic sense, nor is it intended to provide supplies of wood for Illi- 

 nois industry or consumption. There are several areas of woodland of 

 great scenic beauty in the state where the timber is still preserved by the 

 owners. These tracts should be acquired by the state or by counties 

 as parks and managed as such for the absolute preservation of the forests 

 and the beauty of the site. The management of these park areas requires 

 but a limited knowledge of forest economics or silviculture, though this 

 knowledge is helpful in protecting and improving the forest. The urban 

 populations of the state will be directly and intensely interested in these 

 park projects, which should be encouraged in every possible manner. 

 But for the present at least, they should be kept sharply distinct from 

 forestry, and their acquisition and management should not be confused 

 with that of state forests acquired for forest production or with the 

 project for farm wood-lot extension. 



Opportunities for the State of Illinois to constitute large public hold- 

 ings of forest land, outside of a few tracts in the south, are circumscribed 

 by the divided and scattered character of the remaining timber lanth 

 which will continue to be owned by farmers as part of the farm economy. 

 The great wood-using industries of the state, now drifting with the tide 



