70 



Conservation to advise regarding the scientific work of the state, forestry 

 being mentioned as one specific phase of it, this to be represented on the 

 board mentioned by an expert on the subject. Under the direction of this 

 board, Professor John M. Coulter, the expert in forestry, was instructed to 

 present a report on possibilities along this line. As a result of his recom- 

 mendations which followed some investigational work by graduate students 

 under him, the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation recommended 

 that a forester be employed to make a preliminary study of the needs and 

 possibilities of the situation. An item was included in the budget of the 

 Natural History Survey to provide for the salary of the forester whose 

 work began July 1st, 1919. 



Now I think I have recounted the history of forestry in Illinois. I want 

 to call attention to the fact that we have in the vicinity of Chicago, in 

 Cook county, forest preserves, that have led many people to think seriously 

 of this question of forestry, and of the desirability of preserving trees. 



As we look forward, what is the situation? The first thing we did was 

 to ask the legislature for an appropriation to start something and they 

 did give us a small amount which we plan to use to make a survey which 

 will reveal in printed form the various conditions which have been discussed 

 in this room during the last day. We hope to use this for the purpose of 

 stimulating interest in preserving the forests of Illinois. We want to be 

 able to provide valuable information so that at the next session of the leg- 

 islature, we may be able to get a larger appropriation and then really 

 start work as it should be started. We have made the right kind of a 

 beginning. We gave careful consideration to the kind of a man we should 

 have for state forester. We found one who pleased us and with whom we 

 are increasingly pleased as the days go by. He is working under handicaps 

 of not having enough help in men or money, but he has made a good be- 

 ginning. Now then, the question is, what can we do in the future? There 

 again we come to some peculiar conditions which confront us. Illinois is 

 in the midst of a big undertaking we are now trying the budget system. 

 If there is a legislative body which knows nothing of the relation of income 

 to outgo, it might easily be induced by argument to make an appropriation 

 of a hundred thousand dollars for forestry purposes, but you can't get by 

 with this and the budget system. 



We can't get an appropriation unless we can show that we can actually 

 give something that will benefit Illinois. This applies to forestry or any- 

 thing else. We are now at work on a good roads program which will cost 

 us over a hundred million dollars. Not only the roads which the state is 

 building, but those of local communities, are being reconstructed. We are 

 undertaking a great waterways program in Illinois, and an investment of 

 a good many million dollars is going into that, not only for tomorrow but 

 for the future. We are engaged in making a topographical survey of Illi- 

 nois, in co-operation with the United States Government. We have just 

 completed about twenty-three per cent, of the map making. We want to 

 publish that just as fast as we can. Incidentally, we have started a little 

 bit of work along drainage lines. 



All of these things are working favorably toward forestation, because 

 people are being united as they never were before. We have begun to 



