216 STATE FORESTS AND FOREST POLICIES 



states may cooperate in fire protection or in other work on private or 

 corporate timber properties. 



6. Research. Whenever educational institutions are present, this 

 activity is generally left to them. If not, however, much investigative 

 work may be carried on if funds are available. Special state-sup- 

 ported research centers have been established, as at Mont Alto in 

 Pennsylvania, Cloquet in Minnesota, and Roscommon in Michigan. 



There are now 4,395,000 acres in State Forests and another 2^ 

 million in process of acquisition. There are also over 2% million 

 acres in State Parks which are frequently managed or operated as 

 State Forests. Of all the State Forests, 89% of the area is in the 

 Northeast, the Middle Atlantic States, and the Lake States. The 

 State Forests of Montana, Idaho, and Washington comprise a large 

 share of the balance. 



There is a sharp distinction between the objectives of National 

 Forests and National Parks. This, however, does not exist to the 

 same degree in the management of State Forests and Parks. The 

 federal distinction is best shown in the development and use of all 

 resources in the National Forests, whereas there is no commercial use 

 or development in National Parks. Often the objectives in manage- 

 ment may be the same in State Parks as in State Forests. For ex- 

 ample, in New York no cutting is permitted in over 2 million acres of 

 State Parks in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, by consti- 

 tutional prohibition, whereas in other State Parks, outside these 

 mountainous areas, cutting is permitted. .Many of the western states 

 obtained their State Forests from the school sections 16 and 36 in 

 each township, which were allocated to the various states from the 

 public domain. Each state has a somewhat different policy with 

 respect to the distinction between State Forests and State Parks. 

 Sometimes both come within the same department, and sometimes 

 there is a separate organization for each activity. 



Similarly, the organization of the forestry work varies widely. 

 The state forester is also known as director, forest commissioner, or 

 chief of a division of a State Forest or conservation commission. He 

 may be appointed by the governor as in Georgia, Montana, Iowa, 

 Maine, and Vermont, or by a state board or commission as in Texas, 

 Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Michigan, Idaho, and Oregon. Tenure 

 of office may be optional with his superior or for a definite term. He 

 may be subordinate to a board, commission, or commissioner, or he 

 may report directly to the governor. In relatively few of the states 

 is the work under or connected with an agricultural board or de- 

 partment. 



