738 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the Hudson. In New England ^ many manufacturing enterprises 

 were dependent for power on the rivers fed from the White Mountain 

 region. Pennsylvania was deeply concerned over the fast increasing 

 amount of denuded land which was gaining for itself the name of 

 "the Pennsylvania desert." 



So forestry in the Northeast got off to an early start. In New York 

 and Pennsylvania, policies of State forest ownership came to the fore 

 at once. As technical foresters became available and the forestry 

 movement grew stronger throughout the country, most of the other 

 vStates created forestry departments, which at first were set up prin- 

 cipally to inform and advise forest owners on forestry practices and 

 to gather information on the forest resources and forest needs of their 

 several States, but which soon began to take on administrative duties 

 of fire control, followed more or less shortly in a majority of cases by 

 the first steps toward building up State forests. While some of the 

 Northeastern States have relatively little to show in forestry, the 

 region as a whole is outstanding in the strength of its organizations, 

 the financial support given them, and the scope of their programs. 

 In recent years, provision for the outdoor recreational needs of a 

 highly industrialized and populous section of the country has come 

 to occupy a larger place in the plans and activities of the forestry 

 departments than was contemplated at first. 



In short, the early exploitation of the virgin stands, the large 

 amounts of second growth, the extent of the forest lands unusable for 

 other purposes than timber growing, the importance of local timber 

 supplies to meet expanding industrial and construction requirements, 

 the recreational needs of a large and growing urban population, the 

 importance of water, the length of time during which public forestry 

 has been under way, and the wealth of most of the States, making 

 relatively liberal public expenditures for forest purposes easy, explain 

 why in the northeast forestry stands high and policies of State forest 

 ownership and administration are further developed than in any other 

 region, with a total of nearly 4,500,000 acres in State forests and 

 parks. 



In the Lake States, also, forestry got off to an early start, but with 

 less success. The terrific forest fires of 1894 were followed the next 

 year in both Minnesota and Wisconsin by provision for a chief fire 

 warden, and in 1899 Minnesota set up a State board of forestry and 

 Michigan a forestry commission. Unlike the Northeastern States, 

 however, the Lake States at the turn of the century were still in the 

 hey-day of lumber production from the enormous virgin stands of the 

 region. While there was a considerable body of public sentiment in 

 favor of forestry, the era of timber exploitation and land development 

 gave rise to powerful antagonistic forces. Minnesota enacted legis- 

 lation in 1903 authorizing the forestry board to purchase lands for 

 forest reserves; but virtually nothing was done. Local sentiment in 

 the heavily forested counties preponderantly and strongly favored 

 cutting the timber off, in expectation that the stump lands would be 

 converted into farms and for the sake of the immediate returns from 

 lumbering. In Wisconsin, for a few years, a substantial and very 

 promising program of State forest acquisition and administration was 

 entered upon, only to be suspended. In all three States until within 

 the last decade, the building up and maintenance of systems of pro- 

 tection against forest fires has been the principal concern and accom- 



