UNDER MINNESOTA'S NEW FOREST LAW 



By W. T. cox. 



^^s^HE Minnesota Forest Service was organized in May, 1911. It was then 

 C^J that the state forestry board, in accordance with the Act of April 12th, 

 ^^^ appointed '^a trained forester" and turned over to him the adminis- 

 trative work of the department. The forest law is a comprehensive one,* care- 

 fully drawn and passed upon previous experience in this and other states. 

 It provides an annual appropriation of |75,000, in addition to certain specific 

 appropriations made for the care and protection of the state forest reserves 

 and parks. 



The task of the service is enormous. Minnesota originally had approxi- 

 mately 83,000,000 acres of forest. Of this 5,000,000 acres have been cleared 

 for farming, leaving 28,000,000 acres of forest land in the state. This is 

 exclusive of the lakes lying within the forest region. There are about 4,000,000 

 acres of Indian reservation and national forest lands in the state, leaving 

 24,000,000 acres extending north and northwestward from the mouth of the 

 St. Croix three hundred miles to the Canadian boundary, and for more than 

 three hundred miles along the boundary from Lake of the Woods to Lake 

 Superior. This enormous area, now largely cut over and much of it burned, it 

 is the duty of the state forest service to protect from fire. 



Since the organization of the service last May considerable progress has 

 been made. The state has been divided into twenty fire districts which 

 embrace the coniferous forest region. In charge of each of these districts is a 

 district ranger, selected solely because of his experience and ability as a 

 woodsman the type of man commonly employed as logging superintendent. 

 These men are located at the most convenient points for reaching the different 

 portions of their districts and keeping in touch with their patrolmen and 

 with the public. The rangers have selected the headquarters for their patrol- 

 men and assigned to each of them a definite area to patrol. Both the rangers 

 and patrolmen have been instructed in the field as to their duties. 



Many lookout towers have been erected, and a larger number, as well as 

 some telephone lines, are in process of construction. Trails are being cut out 

 and canoe routes improved to furnish quick means of communication in 

 districts heretofore practically impassable. Wagon roads are being encour- 

 aged by substantial assistance in the actual clearing out of the timber where 

 the roads will serve as valuable fire lines. Several fire lines other than wagon 

 roads are being cut out in places where they will play an important part in 

 preventing the spread of fires in dangerous localities. Canoe routes are being 

 mapped as well as improved, and portages improved so that they will no 

 longer have to be dreaded by the traveler. Good camping places are desig- 

 nated, with the idea of persuading people to use the same sites and thus mini- 



*The text of the Minnesota forest law was published in American Forestry, May, 

 1911. page 307. 



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