tion Commission, give thirty days' notice to the assessors of the 

 tax district in which the land is located. The assessors shall forth- 

 with assess the stumpage value of the timber proposed to be cut, 

 and such owner shall pay to the collector of the town in which the 

 land is located a tax of 5 per cent, of such assessed value of stand- 

 ing timber. The law prescribes a penalty of three times the tax 

 for failure to make the proper payment to the collector. 



TAXATION OF WOODLOTS. 



(Pursuant to Section 17 of the Tax Law as Added by Chapter 363, 



Laws of 1912.) 



The purpose is to encourage the maintenance of woodlots and 

 initiate the practice of forestry by private owners. 



The provisions apply to any tract not exceeding fifty acres cov- 

 ered by a natural or planted forest growth or both, provided it is 

 not situated within twenty miles of a city of the first class, ten 

 miles of a city of the second class, five miles of a city of the third 

 class or one mile of an incorporated village. 



The reduction is secured in the following manner: The owner 

 must make application for classification of his land as a woodlot on 

 blanks (Forestry Form 68) supplied by the Conservation Commis- 

 sion prepared in duplicate and accompanied by a plot and description 

 of the land together with full answers to all the other questions. 

 If an inspection by a competent forester shows that the land is of 

 suitable character to be classified as a woodlot, the Commission shall 

 submit a plan of management, and if the owner agrees to carry out 

 the plan of management recommended, the Conservation Commis- 

 sion must prepare the necessary certificate for transmittal to the 

 county treasurer, and the local tax assessors will be instructed to 

 assess the land in accordance with the provisions of the law. (The 

 entire tree growth is exempt from annual assessment and taxation.) 

 The law also provides that the assessment shall in no case exceed 

 $10.00 per acre. 



This reduction applies as long as the owner fulfills his agreement 

 to manage the forest in accordance with the plans furnished by 

 the Commission. In case the owner at any time thereafter fails to 

 use the property exclusively as a woodlot the exemption and reduc- 

 tion shall no longer apply. 



Whenever cutting of live trees is to be done except for firewood 

 or domestic use of the farm the owner must give the Conservation 



