IO 



NEW YORK STATE FORESTRY 



visory board composed of the Dean of 

 the New York State College of Forestry 

 and one member to be selected by the 

 Association for the Protection of the 

 Adirondacks, The Camp Fire Club of 

 America and The Board of Trade and 

 Transportation of New York, the third 

 to be selected by the Empire State 

 Forest Products Association. 



If anyone can suggest a safer board 

 to protect your interests and mine, I 

 will immediately withdraw my sugges- 

 tion. Amend the Constitution and you 

 have taken the first great step towards 

 developing the richest asset of any State 

 of the Union. Then reforesting should 

 be undertaken along broad and compre- 

 hensive lines. The intermittent planting 

 of today will not produce the deep 

 forest cover necessary for the perpetua- 

 tion of our forests and the regulation of 

 our rivers. 



Believing that some means should be 

 adopted whereby the people of the 

 State might acquire larger interests in 

 our forest area, I made the following 

 suggestions as a basis for legislation at 

 the last annual meeting of the Empire 

 State Forest Products Association: 



First. An individual or corporation 

 to make application to the Conservation 

 Department to reforest certain lands. 



Second. This growing crop to be ex- 

 empt from taxation. 



Third. The trees when matured to be 

 cut under State supervision and a 

 stumpage fee paid to the State. 



Fourth. The stumpage to be a lien 

 against the growing crop. 



Fifth. The amount of stumpage to be 

 agreed upon by the owners and the 

 Commission in charge. In case of dis- 

 agreement, the two to select a third and 

 his decision to be final. 



Sixth. The trees to be considered ma- 

 ture when they have reached a diam- 

 eter of 12 inches on the stump. 



Seventh. Careful surveys and records 

 of all parcels planted shall be filed with 

 the owners and the Commission. 



Please note that the two fundamental 

 ideas underlying this suggestion are, 

 first, the investment ultimately will 

 yield a large income to the State; 

 second, it makes possible the continuous 



forest which we know must grow in 

 order to obtain the greatest possible 

 results. 



Owing to the long time involved and 

 the consequent impossibility of prompt 

 financial return to the individual, the 

 growing of these tree crops must de- 

 pend largely upon governments, and 

 governments will act only in this direc- 

 tion in response to the pressure of in- 

 telligent people. The following sugges- 

 tion is not original with me, but I be- 

 lieve it to be thoroughly practical, pro- 

 vided the Constitution is amended as I 

 have already suggested. In doing this 

 I am going to give a few figures. 



Let the State appropriate $1,000,000 

 annually for 30 years, and purchase 

 50,000 acres of land per year anywhere 

 within the State. Reforest this and add 

 the interest for 30 years, and you have 

 a net investment of $1,700,000. At the 

 end of this period cut the land clean, as 

 is done in Germany, and you will have 

 a yield of approximately 44 cords per 

 acre or 2,200,000 cords. A very con- 

 servative estimate of its stumpage value 

 thirty years hence would be $6 per cord 

 or $13,200,000. Thus leaving a credit 

 balance of $11,500,000. Deduct from 

 this the cost of a second reforesting 

 with administrative expenses, or al- 

 together $1,000,000 and you will have 

 left a net income for the State of $10,- 

 500,000 per year. 



The correctness of the above figures 

 1 have had confirmed by the experience 

 of trained foresters. If you think they 

 are wrong, cut them in half, and you 

 have an income of $5,000,000. In ad- 

 dition to the above income you would 

 have a large revenue from the private 

 lands reforested and also from our 

 State lands. The three combined should 

 treble the amount of the income from 

 the 50,000 acres. Is it not worth trying? 



Why, gentlemen, we have been asleep, 

 and if it were not for the pride I have 

 in being a citizen of this State I would 

 almost be ashamed to raise my voice in 

 behalf of this cause at so late a day. 

 Certain things that are definitely and 

 vitally true are definitely and vitally 

 worth while, and the time for far-seeing 

 constructive work has come. 



