A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



845 



to the town meetings held in March, Gov. John E. Weeks of Ver- 

 mont sent a letter to all town selectmen in respect to owning and 

 developing town forests. Following this particular letter 12 towns in 

 Vermont appointed committees to consider the matter and several 

 others appropriated funds to buy lands or to plant trees on land 

 already owned. 



On December 7, 1928, a meeting was held in Boston and an organi- 

 zation perfected of the Massachusetts town-forest committees, the 

 only one of its kind in the United States so far as is known. It meets 

 yearly to discuss town-forest problems and to make a field examina- 

 tion of one or more town forests. It appears destined to keep the 

 subject of town forests in Massachusetts very much alive. The 

 Massachusetts State Forestry Department is cooperating closely and 

 has offered to map and make 5-year plans for any of the town forests 

 upon request from the town authorities. 



In New York the town-forest movement has made even better 

 headway, in respect to number and total area of such forests. Fully 

 three fourths of the total number in that State consist of lands sur- 

 rounding the municipal water supplies. Some outstanding examples 

 are the areas owned and developed by New York City and by Glens 

 Falls. The movement in New York doubtless was given its" princi- 

 pal impetus by the State law providing that the conservation depart- 

 ment should furnish trees free of charge for reforesting such publicly 

 owned lands. The number, area, and distribution of town and 

 municipal forests, so far as these are known, are indicated in table 1. 



TABLE 1. Town and municipal forests in the United States 1 



Region and State 



Forests Area 



New England: Number Acres 



Connecticut 23 29,910 



Maine 8 1,284 



Massachusetts 90 25,635 



New Hampshire . . 82 16,783 



Vermont.. 42 9,000 



Total 245 ~827512 



Middle Atlantic: 



Maryland 9 24,514 



New Jersey 56,397 



New York 390 170,500 



Pennsylvania 33 30,728 



Total 432 ~282, 139 



Southern: 



Alabama 1 600 



Georgia 5 1,103 



North Carolina 37 43,911 



South Carolina. 1 10, 436 



Total . ~ 44 ~~56,050 



Central: 



Indiana 6 6,150 



Missouri 1 2,000 



Ohio 23 22,000 



Total 30 ~~30, 150 



Lake: 



Michigan 45 1,660 



Minnesota 1 3,000 



Total - 46 4, 660 



South Rocky Mountain: 



Arizona 3 14,254 



Utah 1 4,000 



Total , ~ 4 18, 254 



Grand total . . . 80T 473, 765 



1 Not including a number of forests owned by cities in the Northwestern States to protect water supplies, 

 about wiuch data are lacking. 



