MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



STATE FOREST POLICY. 



By Herman Haupt Chapman, Assistant Pro- 

 fessor of Forestry, Yale University, 

 in Conservation. 



As the virgin timber supplies in the different 

 States near llu- point of exliaustion. the question 

 < f growing timber to meet the many urgent needs 

 nt" our industries and arts , is bn't:gin squarely 

 before the public. The National Government has 

 bjui aiile by timely legislation and the courageous 

 action of several of our presidents to retain title 

 to an immense area of public timber lands lying 

 wist lit" the .Mississippi river. But c.mstitutiona 1 

 limitations wi'l probably confine the operations of 

 tiie government to public lands, or to tracts situ 

 ated at the headwaters of navigable waterways. 

 In the eastern states, especially, state governments 

 have dut.es ;:ml responsibilities in forestry which 

 can never be assumed successfully by the Na- 

 tional Government. 



The lir-l of these duties is the encouragement of 

 private forestry. No matter how much land tin- 

 state may finally acquire, much the larger and 

 more valuable portion of the timberlands capable 

 of producing the most rapid growth of timber 

 will remain the property of private owners as 

 wood-lots pr of large land owners or corpora- 

 tions as cutover lands. Upon these lands, the 

 production of new crops of timber must depend 

 upon private effort. 



But left to themselves, private owners will be 

 -low to undertake forestry on a large scale. The 

 extensive growing of timber can be carried on 

 by individuals only as an investment which must 

 give them a return on their money. Under pres- 

 ent conditions the danger of destruction or severe 

 damage to timber by forest fires is so great that 

 such investments are not safe, and the compara- 

 tively long period which the investor has to wait, 

 with his property exposed all the time to fires, 

 before he can realize any reutrns will discourage 

 many who otherwise would grow timber. A sec- 

 ond, equally serious drawback is the heavy taxes 

 which in many localities are assessed against 

 standing timber and which threaten to absorb 

 whatever profit might otherwise be made by the 

 owner. It is clearly the duty of state governments 

 to remove these two great obstacles to private 

 forestry by passing and enforcing suitable laws. 

 Most states have already passed fire laws mak- 

 ing it an offense to set fire to woodlands either 

 purposely or accidentally. Such laws have always 

 remained a dead letter until the office of fire 

 warden was created for the proper enforcement 

 of the law. The most primitive form of a fire 

 warden system is that which imposes the duties 

 of fire warden for a town upon the town super- 

 visors. Experience has shown that such officials 

 are indifferent to these added duties. The best 

 results have been obtained in states which have- 

 created the office of state fire warden and made 

 the local or town wardens appointive. The town 

 board may retain the power of appointing a fire 

 warden, or he may be appointed by the state 

 warden, who should in any case approve the 

 appointments and have the power to remove an 

 inefficient warden. By this plan a warden may 

 be secured who is willing to devote the proper 

 time to his duties and who can be retained in 

 office by reappointment as long as he is willing 

 to serve. With an active and efficient state fire- 

 warden to supervise the work of the town war- 

 dens, instruct them in their duties and weed out 

 incompetent wardens a sound basis is laid for 

 lire protection of woodlands. 



But no force of fire wardens, however good. 

 can prevent tires if neither the owners of forest 

 lands nor the residents of the locality desire pro- 

 tection. Tf fires are constantly being set, and 

 the warden's duty is merely to extinguish them, 

 the i-xpen-e would be prohibitive. Prevention of 

 lire is the cheapest method, and this can be ac- 

 complished by education of the public to the 

 damage done by small as well as large tires, by 

 punishment of offenders, and, when possible, by- 

 providing for patrol during the dry times by tin- 

 wardens or deputies. 



Large owners can supplement the work of town 

 wardens by using their employes as a fire patrol, 



"The Old Corduroy Road" 



and state laws should provide for the appointment 

 of such persons as fire wardens. 



The progress already made in some states 

 under proper laws is such as to encourage tin- 

 belief that complete fire protection may, in time, 

 be secured wherever an honest effort is made 

 along the right lines. 



In the matter of tax reform for the encourage- 

 ment of private forestry, little progress has been 

 made. Manx- laws have been passed providing 

 for some form of bounty, rebate or exemption on 

 plantations of timber trees. Some have been 

 declared unconstitutional, while others have not 

 been taken advantage of. A more general reform 

 is needed. As long as timber is looked upon as 

 real estate it will be overtaxed. Virgin timber 

 which has cost the owner no effort to produce it 

 may with some reason be assessed on the basis of 

 realty, but where woods are grown as a result 

 nt" definite outlay of time or money, they are in 

 all respects a crop, and represent income on tin- 

 land. The effect of the present system of taxa- 

 tion is to force the owners of valuable timber 

 to cut it to escape extortionate taxes and to 

 discourage the growing of new crops of timber 

 trees. It is not possible to cut and market timber 

 until it reaches certain sizes, and the longer it is 

 allowed to grow, the more valuable the product 

 becomes to the community. 



Standing timber should be released from taxa- 

 tion wherever it can be shown that the property 

 is being managed for the continuous production 

 of wood crops. The best method of accomplish- 

 ing this is to limit the assessed valuation of such 

 lands to the value of similar wild or unimproved 

 lands not timbered, and provide that the lands 

 shall be managed under plans approved by the 

 state forestry officials. Should this discrimina- 

 tion in favor of forest lands cause too great a 

 loss of revenue, a tax should be laid on the tim- 

 ber when it is cut rather than to revert to taxa- 

 tion of standing timber. Tax reform for wood 

 lands may be expected soonest in states whose 

 supply of virgin timber is nearest to exhaustion. 



The forest policy of any state would be incom- 

 plete if confined to such general legislation to 

 encourage private forestry. There is much to 



be learned in this country regarding methods of 

 handling woods to get the best growth of most 

 valuable timber. Mistakes are costly, for the> 

 do not become fully apparent for many years. 

 The state should provide against such mistakes 

 and waste effort on the part of its citizens, first 

 by employing a forester with a thorough pro- 

 fessional education and considerable experience 

 to give information to those who need it ; and 

 second, by acquiring land as forest reserves for 

 the purpose of experimenting and demonstrating 

 the best methods of forest management. Such a 

 policy is illustrated by the work of the agricult- 

 ural experiment stations. There is no state so 

 small or with little waste land that it would not 

 be justified in establishing small forest reserves 

 for educatinnal purpose-*. 



But most states cannot stop here. In nearly 

 every large state there are bodies of land not 

 suitable for agriculture which, for many reasons, 

 the state should own and manage as forest re- 

 serves. 



The best use to which land can be put is tin- 

 production of farm crops. But lands too moun- 

 tainous or rocky to be cultivated will grow val- 

 uable crops of timber and if used for this pur- 

 po.-i-. contribute to the resources of the state. 

 .()nly when every acre of productive land is put 

 to its best use. is the highest prosperity attained. 



But aside from producing crops of wood for 

 use, the growing of timber on mountainous land 

 is desirable for two other purposes. The first of 

 these is the preservation of the soil on steep 

 slopes by preventing erosion, and the consequent 

 regulation in the flow of streams and reduction of 

 danycr from floods. This is one of the most 

 striking and most easily demonstrated effects of 

 forests, and in certain mountain regions is the 

 chief argument for forest preservation. 



The 'second motive for devoting mountain lands 

 to timber growth is to furnish parks and pleasure 

 grounds for the public. This last incentive is t In- 

 simplest and most widely understood of the three. 

 and will meet with the most ready support. But 

 it has often been unduly emphasized. A state 

 forest policy which is unable to harmonize these 

 three essential objects of forest reserves, name- 



