764 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



While in New York the chief impelling motive that gave shape to 

 its forest policy was the desire to save the Adirondack region from 

 despoliation and private appropriation in order to keep it as a great 

 public recreation area, in Pennsylvania the chief motive was to restore 

 to productivity a large aggregate area which had been so laid waste 

 by destructive lumbering and fire that it came to be spoken of as the 

 Pennsylvania desert. As a rule the lands were obtained at low prices 

 during the early years, even when they were not acquired through 

 tax sales, because they were regarded as practically worthless. To 

 bring back a valuable forest growth in a reasonable time forest 

 management under sound silvicultural practices was essential. In 

 1903 the State Forest Academy was established at Mont Alto to 

 train youths of the State for its forest service. It was made the 

 Pennsylvania State Forest School in 1923. Most of the adminis- 

 trative force are graduates of this school. Thus a competent body of 

 technically trained forest officers has been provided. The State 

 derived a gross income from the forests in 1931 of $42,268, of which 

 $4,933 came from the sale of forest products, harvested under sound 

 methods of utilization. In addition 9,000 cords of wood were taken 

 from the forests under free-use permits. Rentals and leases, mainly 

 of sites for summer homes and private camps, furnished the chief 

 source of revenue, bringing in $27,677. Given security against the 

 undermining effect on morale and the menace of instability and lowered 

 standards created by the possibility that the organization may be 

 utilized for political ends, the Pennsylvania Forest Service can be 

 confidently expected to make the State forests steadily more valuable 

 and of greater usefulness. Of all the States, Pennsylvania has 

 achieved most in putting into effect actual forest management and 

 reclaiming to economic productiveness through State acquisition and 

 administration extensive areas of depleted and degenerated forest and 

 idle cut-over land. 



Yet after 35 years of continuous upbuilding of the State's forest 

 policy, aided by a remarkably strong public approval and by steady 

 support from virtually all the governors during the period, and 

 although in per capita wealth and consequent capacity to engage in 

 public undertakings for the general welfare the State ranks high, its 

 program is far from its goal. An adequate meeting of its forest 

 problem has not yet been provided for. How much longer it will 

 take for the State to add to its present holdings the additional acreage 

 which should be acquired and put under public management will 

 doubtless depend largely on the exigencies and accidents that in the 

 main govern the rate of progress in such matters. 



THE FIRST STEPS IN ORGANIZED FIRE PROTECTION 



The first step toward State systems of forest protection against 

 fire was taken in 1885. Laws to curb fires by establishing civil liabil- 

 ities and imposing penalties for malicious, willful, or negligent causing 

 of fires had begun in early colonial days, and had continued progres- 

 sively. In the main, the basic purpose of these laws was the protection 

 of property values, public or private, against destruction or damage, 

 by giving the owner right of redress through legal action or by pre- 

 scribing punishment for incendiaries and those failing to use due 

 care. To some extent, however, even these laws expressed recogni- 



