A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 823 



the hostility and obstruction often encountered, the lack of coopera- 

 tiveness in some cases on the part of the State's legal officers, and the 

 political influence which some law violators have and can bring to 

 bear. It must be said, moreover, that very commonly the State 

 organizations are not disposed to insist upon complete compliance 

 with the law or regulations. This is apparently due to the belief 

 that too strict methods will react unfavorably to their organization 

 and to the accomplishment of their objectives. 



It is not surprising that reports concerning some States indicate 

 that of the regulatory measures relating to fire protection, the laws 

 requiring slash disposal and snag felling are not so well observed or 

 enforced as they might be, that costs of compulsory patrol are not 

 assessed in full against individual land owners, and that individuals 

 responsible for forest fires are not always punished. Nor have the 

 regulatory laws which in two States provide for leaving seed trees, 

 under certain conditions, on land that is being logged been generally 

 observed or enforced. It is encouraging, however, that the enforce- 

 ment of regulatory protective measures is improving, and is now much 

 better than it formerly was. With increasing public interest and 

 support, the task will grow less and less difficult. 



The prospect for State regulation of logging operations is much 

 more dubious. As a rule, there is little public demand for it, or 

 persuasion that the public interest is in fact materially involved. An 

 exception to this is found in some of the States in which water re- 

 sources are of highest importance, and in one or two of these proposals 

 of regulatory laws designed to assure the protection of watersheds are 

 not unlikely to be advanced at almost any time, with strong backing 

 of public sentiment. The regulation of logging operations by single 

 States is certain to be made difficult by the objection that the opera- 

 tors might, and in some cases probably would, be placed at a financial 

 disadvantage as against operators in other States; though intelligent 

 regulation might sometimes have the effect of increasing rather than 

 decreasing the operator's net returns. Legislation might easily be 

 too ambitious, unnecessarily restrictive, founded in fact upon too 

 little knowledge either of the art of woods management or of the 

 operating problems of the lumberman. If the regulatory laws pro- 

 posed were of the type in effect in Sweden, where local boards on which 

 lumbermen are represented prescribe the measures to be followed on 

 each particular piece of timberland cut over, opposition would doubt- 

 less be more readily overcome and in time something practically useful 

 might be worked out. Effort directed along this line would be a 

 forward step. 



STATE FOREST LAND ADMINISTRATION 

 STATE FOREST LAND OWNERSHIP 



In past years the Forest Service has at various times obtained from 

 the several State forestry departments data on State forest holdings, 

 classified under the three heads of State forests, State parks, and other 

 forest lands. The classification was made by each informant in 

 accordance with the local terminology or point of view; and this 

 introduced various inconsistencies. The most recent compilation of 



168342 33 vol. 1 53 



