REPORT ON FORESTS. n 



question of preserves for game also comes in as of importance, 

 and the sportsman as well as the naturalist wants the woodland 

 and is the friend of protection for the forest. 



PROTECTION AGAINST FOREST FIRES DUTY OF THE STATE. 



The protection of the forests demands the care of the com- 

 munity and the State in stopping the fires which are caused by 

 carelessness, malice and avoidable accidents. The great Pines dis- 

 trict of Southern New Jersey should be protected against fires. 

 The forests of the Highlands should be protected against exces- 

 sive wasting and clearing on account of their value to the pub- 

 lic water-supply. For the encouragement of this retention of the 

 land in wood there may be a bounty-system or rebate of taxation. 

 The owner of woodland who derives no regular income from it 

 and has no yearly crop might be exempted from taxation so long 

 as the timber was uncut, or might be obliged to pay a percentage 

 of the revenue whenever his woodland was cleared. In this 

 way the hillsides and the more inaccessible tracts might be 

 kept in wood. On the Blue or Kittatinny mountain the 

 protection against fires is demanded, because of the easy in- 

 flammability of the pitch pine, and the dry condition of the 

 pine and deciduous-tree leaves in the autumn and in the 

 spring. In the southern part of the State the necessity of public 

 protection is imperative if there is to be any production of timber 

 or lumber in that part of the State. Both Mr. Pinchot and Mr. 

 Gilford have recommended fire-lanes. Mr. GifFord's suggestion 

 that these lanes be also public roads, and possibly State roads, is a 

 good one so far as protection goes. Some system of protection 

 must be adopted if ever these terrible forest-fires are to be stopped. 

 If State reservations are to be created these three great divisions 

 or districts are the ones in which they are to be located. A for- 

 est system with State control must mean State ownership of lands 

 in order to be effective in either protection or in the cultivation 

 of wood as a crop in silviculture. The control of the forests by 

 the State is a subject of great public importance and demands the 

 careful study of the wise legislator, in order to avoid the error of 

 excessive paternalism in government on the one hand and the 

 reckless and riotous excesses of individual liberty and license 



