1004 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Five States seek to prevent the exemption of mature timber by 

 providing that unless it is cut the land will cease to be classified. 

 In Massachusetts the stand must not exceed (for more than 2 years) 

 an average of 25,000 board feet of softwoods or 10,000 feet of hard- 

 woods; in New York the limits are 40,000 and 20,000 feet, respectively. 

 New Hampshire specifies a maximum of 25,000 feet, regardless of 

 species, and in Vermont the timber must be cut when the "listers" 

 (assessors) consider it mature. California provides that a special 

 board shall determine when timber is mature. If a considerable 

 area of forest should be classified, these limitations might in some 

 instances be a handicap to rational forest management. They 

 were adopted presumably for the purpose of heading off the opposi- 

 tion of nonforest-owning taxpayers. 



In Connecticut, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, 

 Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wash- 

 ington, the land must be kept stocked with trees of valuable species, 

 and planting may be required unless the land restocks naturally 

 after cutting. In Connecticut, Iowa, and Indiana grazing of live- 

 stock is forbidden in classified forests. In Michigan (wood lots) 

 it is subject to restriction, and pasturage which is detrimental to 

 the trees is forbidden in Vermont. In Delaware, the owner must 

 take proper precautions against damage by fire, grazing, or 

 otherwise. 



EFFECTIVENESS OF EXISTING RESTRICTIVE LEGISLATION 



On the whole, existing laws designed to regulate the handling 

 of private forests are not particularly effective in most of the States. 

 The general restrictions on the use of fire, including such require- 

 ments as burning permits, closed seasons, use of due precaution, 

 spark arresters, and precautionary measures in connection with 

 logging operations, are fairly w^ell enforced in most of the North- 

 eastern, Northwestern and Lake States. In several of these States 

 enforcement is spotty, depending upon the individual warden. 

 In most of the Southern and Central States, little attempt is made to 

 enforce the forest fire laws. 



Some but not all of the States having slash disposal laws enforce 

 them fairly well as far as slash along highways and railroads is 

 concerned. Laws providing for general slash disposal have proved 

 harder to enforce, and their observance leaves much to be desired, 

 except perhaps in Washington and Oregon. Even there, there is 

 considerable difference of opinion as to whether the methods em- 

 ployed produce the best results. Compulsory patrol laws have 

 proved effective in the three Pacific Coast States, but have not 

 been thoroughly enforced elsewhere. Legislation for the control of 

 pine blister-rust is fairly well enforced in the States to which it 

 applies. The seed-tree laws of New Hampshire and Louisiana 

 are not strictly enforced, and probably would not be particularly 

 effective if they were. 



Very little information is available as to the application of public 

 regulation on the forests which have been listed under the special 

 tax laws of various States. However, less than 1,000,000 acres 

 have been put under the law in those States which provide for some 

 control over listed lands. At the most, only 2 percent of the pri- 

 vately owned forest land in any State has been listed. It is evident 



