1194 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



cerning itself as to the return to the State is also a policy of protection to the 

 private owner and may save him from entering into a loss transaction. 



Although privately owned lands have been under the forest crop law to any 

 considerable extent for barely three years, and although the conservation depart- 

 ment is only now considering the removal of lands on which forestry is not being 

 practiced, many owners are themselves discovering that natural reproduction 

 will not take place rapidly enough or be of a character that will insure a merchant- 

 able crop worth the annual tax under the law and in consequence are either 

 removing these lands from its provisions or are abandoning title by failing to pay 

 the acreage share. 



Wisconsin has definitely stimulated the creation of county forests. 

 Of all the Lake States, Wisconsin is the only one in which county 

 areas assume an important place in the State forestry scheme. Tax- 

 delinquent land after the period of grace reverts to the counties. 

 From the reverted lands, some 460,000 acres of county forests have 

 been blocked out into forest units. 



The Wisconsin forest cooperative law of 1927 was amended in 

 1929 to permit the counties to list county-owned land on the same 

 terms as that privately owned. For every acre of land listed the 

 State offers to pay 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 department to pay the 

 counties an additional 10 cents to be used in the development of the 

 county forest units. Thus every acre of county forest draws 20 cents 

 of State money each year, 10 cents going to the county and 10 to the 

 township. The State in return is to receive 75 percent of the yield 

 from the county forests. County forests have been established in 

 eight counties and others are in the process of establishment. 



In order to understand the alacrity in which the counties are creating 

 forest units, as well as to appraise properly the possibilities of future 

 accomplishments, it is necessary to look into the fiscal system ob- 

 taining. In Wisconsin real-estate taxes are collected by the town- 

 ships, and the portion for county purposes is passed on to the county 

 treasurers. Some of the county funds are then returned to the town- 

 ships as county aid for schools and other services. A special law 

 permits the townships to turn over the delinquent tax lists to the 

 county in lieu of cash. Thus, from many heavily delinquent town- 

 ships the county receives no cash or may even be in debt to the town- 

 ship. In one county in 1931, although the county levy wasji>140,000, 

 after $40,000 was returned to the townships for school districts, there 

 was but $1,500 cash for county purposes. The balance was in the 

 form of delinquent tax lists. The banks have refused further loans, 

 and the county confronts an ^ emergency. 



Although county forests exist only in Wisconsin, the counties may 

 become a more important factor in the Minnesota situation. There 

 the title to tax-delinquent land passes to the State after 5 years, but 

 the State holds the land as trustee for the various taxing units in 

 proportion to the unpaid taxes. The State's equity in these taxes is 

 usually less than 10 percent. There is considerable disposition among 

 local county and town officials to maintain that under these circum- 

 stances the county, rather than the State, should have the determin- 

 ing voice in regard to what is done with the land. It yet remains to 

 be seen what kind of division of responsibilities will be satisfactorily 

 worked out in Minnesota. 



Economic surveys. Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin have 

 each been engaged lately in economic surveys to determine the 



