THE ADMINISTRATION OF STATE FORESTS 



second, extinguishing any fires which 

 may occur. The rangers are patroling 

 the customary lines of travel, points of 

 danger, watching for fire, cautioning 

 people, posting fire notices, and other- 

 wise trying to educate people in regard 

 to the ease with which forest fires may 

 be set and the consequent damage which 

 results. 



One of the most effective plans of 

 this system is the establishment and 

 operation of observatories on high 

 mountains. At the present time tele- 

 phone lines have been built to the top of 

 fifty-one mountains. Men who are 

 familiar with the territory surrounding 

 the mountains are located on them dur- 

 ing the fire season keeping a careful 

 watch of the territory by means of field 

 glasses, and whenever a smoke is ob- 

 served they immediately telephone to 

 the ranger or fire warden who is the 

 most accessible and notify him of the 

 fire. Any of you who have had the 

 pleasure of climbing some of our 

 Adirondack mountains and enjoying 

 the wide view can appreciate what a 

 point of vantage these mountain tops 

 offer and how an observer in a few 

 seconds by looking in all directions with 

 his naked eye can practically patrol a 

 few hundred thousand acres and easily 

 detect any fires. On the other hand the 

 forest ranger may travel through the 

 dense woods and pass within a very 

 short distance of a fire and fail to ob- 

 serve it unless the wind happens to be 

 blowing the smoke toward him. The 

 efficiency of these mountain stations has 

 been demonstrated many times. 



The increased price of forest prod- 

 ucts and the scarcity of the material in 

 some places, coupled with the fact that 

 in various localities the State owns so 

 much land that there is but a very 

 limited source of supply for local use, 

 tends to induce trespass. The present 



Constitution was adopted in 1894. At 

 that time the conditions were very dif- 

 ferent than at present. The acreage of 

 land was less than one-half as much as 

 is now owned. The amount of timber 

 affected was probably not more than 25 

 per cent, of what is now owned. The 

 amount of timber affected was probably 

 not more than 25 per cent, of what is 

 now upon these lands, and furthermore 

 was a much smaller percentage of the 

 entire stumpage of the State. In other 

 words, during the past twenty years a 

 very decided change has taken place in 

 regard to the proportion of timber lands 

 and timber affected and its relation to 

 the requirements of the State. There 

 are instances of where people are re- 

 quired to pay about $20 per ton for coal 

 when there is more than enough fuel 

 going to waste at their very doors. 



The use of State land is a very im- 

 portant proposition. About three hun- 

 dred miles of camp sites on State land 

 in the forest preserve are open to free 

 use of the public, provided they do not 

 cut any trees or erect any structures ex- 

 cept tents. The care which it is neces- 

 sary to exercise in watching these people 

 of a transient nature is very great, and 

 it has often been argued that if it were 

 possible to lease camp sites these people 

 instead of being transient would have 

 a personal interest in the land which 

 they occupied and it would greatly in- 

 crease the fire protection. There are 

 several hundred people who are living 

 on State land in the forest preserve 

 under varying conditions, and the policy 

 of dealing with these problems is very 

 important. 



There are many other things in re- 

 gard to the administration of this im- 

 portant proposition that might be of in- 

 terest to you, but there are so many 

 ethers here that I will try and give 

 some one else a chance to be heard. 



In New York's railway mileage of over 8,000 practically all of the ties used in the 

 tracks come from other states. Long leaved pine and oak are brought from the South 

 and chestnut from the southern Appalachian Mountains. These ties now cost the railroad 

 from 65 to 80 cents a piece whereas 15 years ago they could be purchased for from 35 to 50 

 cents a piece. Many railroads are planting trees to supply ties for the future. 



