COMMUNITY FORESTS 



By C. R. TILLOTSON, District Forest Inspector 



In preceding sections, national and State forests have been dis- 

 cussed. The Nation and the States are engaged in a big way in 

 ownership and administration of forest lands. To a much lesser 

 degree the same is true of the smaller political units. Several hundred 

 towns, counties, boroughs, and cities in the United States today own 

 forest land that is set aside for definite purposes and appears destined 

 to remain in public ownership. Ordinarily such lands are called 

 town or municipal forests, or county forests^ 



TOWN OR MUNICIPAL FORESTS 



The town or municipal forests correspond after a fashion to the 

 communal forests of Europe, and in numerous cases owe their origin 

 partly at least to the enthusiasm aroused by glowing accounts of these 

 European forests, how they served as recreation centers and game 

 and bird sanctuaries, how they gave employment to many people, 

 and above all yielded so much revenue from the sale of forest products 

 that local taxes were unnecessary. There are such forests in Europe. 

 The outstanding examples are rather large in size, one or two thousand 

 acres or more, and the population of the fortunate proprietary com- 

 munity is small. That a comparatively large forest area which has 

 been skillfully managed over a long period of years in Europe can 

 support the governmental activities of a sparsely populated commune 

 or municipality is entirely possible. Unfortunately progress up to 

 the present time does not as yet hold much promise of similar develop- 

 ments in the United States in the immediate future at least. 



The European commune corresponds closely to the New England 

 town. In the New England States, outside of cities, the town or 

 township is the important local political unit. It bears practically 

 the same relation to the State government that counties do in most 

 other States. The initiation of local public projects or activities, 

 the raising of funds by taxes and indicating how these funds shall be 

 spent are determined by a vote of the people in town meeting. Offi- 

 cials usually termed selectmen are elected to administer the affairs, 

 expenditures are closely watched, and any project undertaken is 

 usually carefully scrutinized. It is in this atmosphere that these 

 publicly owned forests called town forests in New England have 

 come into being in large numbers, where the idea is being actively 

 nourished, and where they are already of local importance in one or 

 more aspects. 



Among the early, if not the earliest, States to authorize specifically 

 the acquisition of municipal forests were Massachusetts in 1882, 

 New Jersey in 1906, Pennsylvania in 1909, Minnesota, New Hamp- 

 shire, and Indiana in 1913, and Vermont in 1915. Prior to specific 

 legislation, however, there are records of town-owned forest land 

 which met the specific purposes for which town forests are created. 



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