Forest Laws to be Sought in 1913 



WITH the 1913 session of the Legislature just a short 

 time away, the state forestry board has begun outlin- 

 ing needed amendments to existing laws, addition of 

 new ones deemed almost imperative, and the drafting of bills 

 which will greatly aid in conserving the state's great timber 

 interests. Request will be made that the annual appropria- 

 tion be increased to $150,000 and that an additional $100,000 

 be set aside with which to obtain lands and timber for state 

 forests. 



To Require Loggers to Take Out Permits For Work. 



The Legislature will be asked to authorize the forestry 

 department to require loggers to take out a permit to operate, 

 and to specify just where and when they propose the work. 

 Then all operations will be under surveillance of a forest 

 ranger and brush and slashings disposed of according to his 

 directions. 



The forestry board will ask that the appropriation for ob- 

 taining tax title lands for forestry purposes be reinstated and 

 that the law be so amended that non-agricultural lands delin- 

 quent for five years or more can be taken over by the state 

 and administered by the forestry board. The present law 

 provides that only lands delinquent since 1891 can be so taken 

 over. It permits property owners to let taxes drag for years 

 and then by paying 50 per cent of what is due, wipe the slate 

 clean. The law is looked upon as a golden harvest for tax 

 dodgers as it now appears on the statute books and prevents 

 the state from getting revenue due it from idle land. 



Among other things, the forestry board proposes to ask the 

 Legislature for the following acts: 



Fourteen Acts the Board Has Under Consideration. 



An amendment requiring 1 rights-of-way of state roads to be 

 not only cleaned up in the first place, but the brush cut at least 

 once a vear and burned. 



