848 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



New York, and Wisconsin, does there appear to be any real movement 

 looking to the ownership and development of such areas. In the 

 other States the small areas mentioned usually represent some tract 

 or tracts of land that are a part of the land owned by one or more of 

 the county institutions ; The Illinois area of 36,000 acres is mostly 

 in Cook County and is in reality a forest park for the city of Chicago. 



In New Jersey, county forests have been established largely for 

 the same purpose, that is, they are recreational areas set apart for 

 people living in the congested industrial centers. 



In New York and Wisconsin, real impetus has been given to the 

 county-forest movement by special legislation which provides for 

 State participation in the expense. In New York State the legisla- 

 tion provides for State contributions up to $5,000 a year to any 

 county for the purchase of lands, for their reforestation, and for the 

 protection of plantations or other forest growth thereon. While title 

 to the lands is vested in the county, the State law provides that the 

 area must be forever devoted to the purposes of watershed protection, 

 of timber production, and other forest products, and for recreation 

 and kindred purposes. This law is a close concomitant of another 

 New York State law which provides for the purchase of lands for 

 State forests. All lands owned or acquired by the county for the 

 purposes mentioned are exempt from State and county taxes and for 

 the purposes of all other taxes can be assessed at not to exceed the 

 price paid for them, or, if acquired by gift, at the value thereof for 

 forestation purposes but not exceeding the valuation as fixed upon 

 the assessment roll 2 years prior to the gift. The board of supervisors 

 of each county may sell trees, timber, or other forest products from 

 these areas upon terms deemed for the best interests of the county 

 and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the 

 conservation commissioner. 



The three outstanding features of this law are (1) State participa- 

 tion in the purchase of land whose title is vested in the county; 

 (2) the provision that the land must be forever devoted to the pur- 

 poses for which it was acquired; and (3) the provision that sales of 

 timber from the areas are subject to rules and regulations prescribed 

 by the conservation commissioner. 



In Wisconsin, tax-delinquent lands revert to the counties. From 

 these lands, some 460,000 acres of county forests have been blocked 

 out into forest units. 



Wisconsin has definitely stimulated the creation of county forests. 

 The forest-crop law of 1927 was amended in 1929 to permit the 

 counties to list county-owned land as " forest-crop land." For every 

 acre of land listed the State pays 10 cents annually to the township 

 in which the land lies. The county pays nothing. As a further 

 encouragement, the 1931 legislature ordered the conservation depart- 

 ment to pay the counties an additional 10 cents to be used in the 

 development of the forest units. Thus, every acre of county forest 

 draws 20 cents of State money each y^ar, 10 cents to the county and 

 10 cents to the township. The State in return is to receive 75 percent 

 of the yield from the forests. County forests have been established 

 in eight counties; other counties are hastening to get in on the 

 arrangement. 



In order to understand the alacrity with which the forested counties 

 of Wisconsin are creating forest units, as well as properly to appraise 



