MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



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The Michigan Forestry Association was organized in Grand Rapids August 30, 1905, having for its object the promotion of a ra- 

 tional system of forestry in Michigan. The society is managed by the following roster of officers: President, Hon. Chas. W. Garfield, of Grand 

 Rapids; Vice- President, John H. Bissell, of Detroit; Secretary, Filibert Roth, of Ann Arbor; Assistant Secretary, Henry G. Stevens, Detroit; 

 Treasurer, W. B. Mershon, Saginaw, W. S. Board of Directors Hon. J. E. Beat, Ann Arbor; J. J. Hubbell, Manistee; Mrs. Lena E. Mautner, 

 Saginaw; Prof. James Satterlee, Lansing; Fremont E. Skeels, Cadillac; W. E. Williams, Pittsford; Dr. Lucius L. Hubbard, Houghton; Mrs. 

 John C. Sharp, Jackson. 



THF SFPRFTARY'S fflRNFR retary A. C. Carton, of the Public Domain den's departments. Men cannot cope with the 

 11L JLVIXL, 1 rtl\ 1 O V,V/I\HLiI\. Commission, in comparing forestry in Michi- question of subduing forest fires while spend- 



gan with the work of the general government, ing their time "rooting" politically. 



FIRE VIOLATORS PUNISHED. "Why, we have 5,000,000 trees on our re- 



Clarence H. Phelps, deputy state fire warden serves," says Secretary Carton. "Half as BURN THE SLASHINGS. 



and game warden, of West Branch, whose many as the general government has, and we . W. Griffith, state forester of Wisconsin, 



work this summer has been confined almost have sold this year at cost to Michigan people w ho has given the preservation of forest pro- 



entirely to fire work in the northern counties, 2,700.000 trees. In a few-rears we will be up ducts considerable study since the big forest 



says: to the general government and leading all fires during the summer of 1908, advocates the 



"We have had a tough time this summer other states - The reports from other states burning of all hemlock and pine slashings left 



and there was danger of a repetition of the show tllat onl y tw . or three are ahead of us by lumbermen in the forests of that state. As 



Metz disaster only once. That was at Portage """' The commission has a definite policy the forest conditions in Wisconsin are prac- 



Lake where scores of people were for two mapped cut. and it will not be long before tically identical with those in Northern Michi- 



days in imminent danger, while thousands of cven greater results can be shown. gan , Mr. Griffith's recommendations are of in- 



dollars worth of property was endangered and "During the two years since the commission terest in Michigan. 



thousands were destroyed. That fire was the I 00 *, charpt- of the big reserve not a single Mr Griffith believes that the burning of the 



result of carelessness on the part of two ccmp- fire has injured any of the seedlings, because s i ashings wou ] d be the most effective means 



ers and they were both arrested. The law we have ke l )f nre lanes clear and protected the of prevent j nR disastrous fires. He has found 



of 1907 made it possible to arrest, fine and im- tr <^'*- that most of the fires have originated in cut- 



prison those who carelessly or negligently set The over dj str j cts where the slashings have been 



fires, and we're pushing the careless ones as commission has approved of a plan to clean , eft to . dry Mr Griffith has recommended to 



hard as we can. We have convicted six men P f the state lands and get rid of the matured the i eg j s ] at j ve CO mmittee on water power, for- 



in Crawford county alcne. and old timber The land department has this estry and dra j nage> the draw i ng up of a !aw 



' 



ware "hi r^eTve ? .5" * forester was questioned as to the 



and left after dinner without extinguishing < - expense of burning the slashings, and he said 



the blaze. When they started back, they were ' U mnfirfnt that n* threat as has hpen that sixty, cents per 1,000 square feet of ter- 



mct by flames in the brush. Their outfit was J reforestation this that - 



can. ru " fifiM^^gjtg *- thus gain an idea of the cost of 



hen, to y nothing of the danger to life at ^^yS'^^w .td'le wFneed"'! Mr. Griffith declares himself strongly in 



the cottages. We had every available man in b; Qn * e * favor of the state O . f Wisconsin retaining pos- 



Another thing the commission has done is to Cession of all the water power rights it now 



tnelr bring about a much better feeling among the owns. He says the state should refuse to 



work while the lumber camps were deserted, peop ] e o f tne upper part of the state regarding grant dam franchises unless given control as 



the men all fighting fire. It was a tough bat- t h e commission's projects. A few years ago a consideration. The state, he declared, should 



tie and for a time the fight seemed hopeless, everyone up there was opposed to the big retain all the rights it still possesses. 



Then we went after the two campers and put reserve Now there is said to be hearty co- The state forester's arguments relative to 



operation and a thorough understanding of the burning of slashings were so forcible that 



About seven cut of ten of our forest fires what the corn rn iss j on is accomplishing. it is now expected that the legislature will 



,n the north originate from engine sparks but at its forthcoming session a law making 



FORFST T ATJn* T?F<?TORFn TO this work compulsory on the part of the lum- 



The people are becoming more careful, too. EST LANDS RESTORED TO bermn This P quest f on has ^ discussed by 



Lnder the law of 1907 the supervisor of each a number of ' h tjmber ators 



5 the trwn fire warden. He can President Taft has signed a proclamation both Northern Wisconsin and the upper penin- 



hire as many men as is necessary to fight fire, elmnnatmg 6.075 acres of land from the Hay- sula for more than a year past, and it is said 



He presents his bill to he township and the den National Forest, in Wyoming, in pursu- that many of them are ready to co-operate 



township pays. The bills are then sent to anc e of the administration's general plan of w j t h trie state officials 



Lansing and the state reimburses the town- restoring to the public domain all areas not ^, ' . . 



,hip for one-third of its expenses. All fines valuable for forest purposes. The eliminated t ThlS e ?V " ^T! * V " Y , inte ,f estin * 



For violations of the fire law are turned over , racts arc situated mainly alon- the north- P ' C whlch has '* Sl, umbermen 



to the cnunty treasury and credited back to ca?tcrn boundary of the forest. The largest ^V^ lT K l / k ^ ' <*** 



the township where the violation occurred. alld most important part of the elimination, il^"s has become law and while some men 



This is done to help out the town treasuries. m0 re than 4.000 acres, is said to offer oppor- kl <* ' f a ly "penses of this kind, the matter 



"[ think this is the only instance in which tunity only for dry farming, no water being 'i*5? 5,^ In ^ "fdwoods where the 



fines are collected and not turned into county available frr irrigation. The unappropriated b [ US ^ T ec l u ' res rnon ths of drying before i 



Irbrary funds. But the fines don't amount to el i minntc(1 , and la b tcr wil , be opened to settle- e at an ,'" sl l ape f tO bur "' th ' S matter requlres 



much compared with the expenses. The tax- men t special treatment. 



payers, however, are aiding by their careful- _ But in an y case the fundamental fact re- 



ness and they are now becoming very much WAT?F>TTMQ roTTTrryur. mams namely: No man should have the right 



interested in fighting the fires. If-WKJtST WAKJ to endanger cither his own or his neighbor's 



"Up in Presque Isle county they have had One never hears of a deputy fire warden forest or other property by hundreds of acres 



some bad fires again, but no such damage as being "among those present" when an ex- of dangerous unsightly slash. 

 vv-as done several years ago." tensive forest fire is raging, comments the 



Manistique Pioneer-Tribune. If it were not Governor Warner 'has appointed the follow- 



for the activity and alertness of the lumber ing additional delegates from Michigan to 



. - . nTr 



A L.t,ADil,K. companies and their employes, much more the national conservation congress, to be held 



Michigan is one of the leading states in the damage would result from the fires. Aside at St. Paul, Minn., September 6 to 9: W. D. 



union in reforestation projects, does r early from sitting in the shade of the corner grocery Young, Bay City; M. D. Olds, Cheboygan; 



as well as the general government itself, in st re and expounding politics, the deputies do E. F. Loud. Au Sable; W. B. Mershon, Sagi- 



fact. and has a well defined 1 policy mapped little else t earn the lucrative salaries paid naw; Charles W. Garfield, Grand Rapids; 



nut, which promises within a few years to them by the state. If experienced woodsmen G. Von Platen, Boyne City; J. S. Stearns, 



make the state the leader in this important were appointed and given free rein there would Ludington; Bruce O'Dell, Cadillac; Prof. 



work. This, in brief, is the statement of Sec- be less cause for censuring the state fire war- Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor. 



