GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 397 



tillage. It shall also inquire as to the effect of the 

 diminution of timber and wooded surface of this 

 state in lessening the rainfall and producing 

 droughts, and the effects upon the ponds, rivers, 

 lakes and the water-power and harbors of the state, 

 and affecting the climate and disturbing and de- 

 teriorating natural conditions."' It must make a 

 study of second-growth timber, the protection, condi- 

 tion and improvement of overflowed and stump lands. 

 The Commissioner of the State Land Office was 

 directed to withdraw from entry 200,000 acres of 

 state tax homestead lands, and the Commission was 

 authorized to receive conveyances of land from pri- 

 vate sources. The Commission was to set before the 

 legislature a forestry policy for the State, and the 

 act carried an initial appropriation of $2,000 a year 

 for inaugurating this work. The amount of this 

 appropriation may be taken as the due measure of 

 the importance of the work which the Forestry Com- 

 mission had been set to perform as held by the com- 

 bined legislative wisdom of the day. 



In 1901 the legislature placed lands m Roscommon 

 and Crawford counties under the Forestry Commis- 

 sion to be held as a permanent forest reserve. In 

 1903 the State Land Commissioner was made Forest 

 Commissioner, whose "orders shall be supreme in all 

 matters relating to the preservation of the forests of 

 this state and to the prevention and suppression of 

 forest fires." By the same act township supervisors, 

 mayors of cities and presidents of villages were made 

 local fire wardens. The Forest Commissioner was 



