42 REPORT OF SPECIAL FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



Adirondack Forest Reserve, the natural reprodcu- 

 tion of white pine is wonderful. Here vast areas 

 have reforested themselves with as fine a growth 

 as ever stood on these lands. 



If Wisconsin is to continue its Forestry work and 

 have a forest reserve, the question of its location 

 is first to be considered. There are millions of 

 acres of undeveloped land in Northern Wisconsin. 

 Just what percentage of these will ultimately be 

 used for agricultural purposes cannot at this time 

 be determined. Many things must be taken into 

 consideration in determining this. Even the very 

 poorest of lands if located adjacent to good tillable 

 soil can be profitably used for grazing and pastur- 

 age, but where there are large areas of poor or un- 

 profitable agricultural lands it would seem that these 

 might best be used for forestry. 



In the lands held by the State there are, of course, 

 some good agricultural lands. Generally speaking, 

 however, the average State holding does not com- 

 pare favorably with the land that is held by specu- 

 lators or by those who are engaged in farming. In- 

 variably, in their investigations, the members of 

 the Committee found the State lands about the 

 poorest in the locality inspected. We believe the 

 report of the soils survey now being made will bear 

 out the opinion of the Committee in this regard. 

 The Forestry Department has refused to make a num- 

 ber of purchases by reason of the agricultural value 

 of the lands. In fact, they have had several farms 

 offered at very low prices. So it is not altogether 

 an accident that the State owns the poorer lands. 

 Naturally, the better lands have gone into the hands 

 of the actual settler more rapidly and the owners 

 have not been so anxious to dispose of them at 

 low prices. 



The eye of the State and Nation for many years 

 has been turned to that area in the Northeastern 

 part of the State situated in the counties of Forest, 

 Iron, Price, Oneida and Vilas, having in view its 

 adaptation to forestry purposes. All the State 



