686 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



K.tt public anxiety. A popular campaign was conducted 

 under the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce of 

 New York to secure State action to save ihc Adirondack 

 forests. The State legislature had appointed a committee 

 of three men to reach some conclusion in regard to the 

 Adirondack problem, but little headway was made on ac- 

 count of the lack of expert counsel. Accordingly in 

 1884 a commission of experts was authorized Ly the 

 legislature to study the situation and to make recom- 

 mendations. Dr. Sargent was appointed chairman ol 

 this commission. His report submitted in ihe following 

 year contained recommendations in regard to the estab- 

 lishment of a definite forest policy for the State. The 

 bill accompanying the report was the basis for the law 

 of 1885 which established a State Forest Preserve, au- 

 thorized the appointment of a forest commission, and 

 contained other features of State policy upon which the 

 whole system of forestry in New York has been con- 

 structed. 



The Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University was 

 established in 1872. Dr. Sargent has been its director 

 since that time. His position at the head of this institu- 

 tion afforded him an opportunity to take the lead in for- 

 estry in many ways that have counted large in influence 

 during the whole period of its existence. Repeatedly he 

 was called upon to render public service both in State 

 and national matters. Among his early contributions 

 were his reports in 1875 and 1878 to the Massachusetts 

 State Board of Agriculture on the planting of trees, 

 supplemented by additional information in subsequent 

 years. One of the most important instruments of edu- 

 cation in forestry used "by him was Garden and Forest, 

 a magazine published under his immediate direction, or- 

 ganized in 1887 and continued for ten years. This 

 magazine was primarily designed to promote the in- 

 terests of forestry and landscape gardening. On the 

 side of forestry it contained a wealth of interesting ma- 

 terial. A student of forest history can obtain in these 

 ten volumes better than anywhere else a conception of 

 the incidents of importance in the forest movement dur- 

 ing that period. By articles and editorials the different 

 public questions relating to forestry were discussed and a 

 strong position taken by the editor in regard to public 

 policy. As early as 1889 Garden and Forest urged the 

 need of adopting a definite national forest policy, with 

 special reference to the handling of forest lands on the 

 public domain. Specifically it urged the withdrawal 

 of the public forests from further disposal to private 

 individuals, their temporary patrol by the Army against 

 forest fires and depredations, and the appointment of a 

 competent commission to prepare a plan for the ad- 

 ministration of the public properties. One finds in the 

 editorial columns discussions in regard to a national 

 park policy, the service of forests in watershed pro- 

 tection, the problems of forestry in New York State and 

 elsewhere, the need of courses in forestry in our educa- 

 tional institutions, and many other subjects which to- 

 day also are being discussed in our forest periodicals. 



Within the last two years there has been initiated a 

 nation-wide campaign to save a remnant of the great 

 Rodwood forests in California. An association has been 

 organized under the name of "Save the Redwoods 

 League." Its purpose is to secure funds to acquire from 

 private owners small groves along the State highway 

 that runs near the coast through the Redwood belt, and 

 to establish a number of public parks which shall remain 

 for all time in their natural state. It is interesting to 

 note that in 1897 Dr. Sargent proposed in an editorial 

 in Garden and Forest the raising of $500,000 for a similar 

 purpose. In this appeal he said among other things : 



"To those who have wandered among these mighty 

 trees, built up by the slow growth of centuries, and felt 

 the inspiration of their solemn beauty, the destruction 

 of the Redwood forests seems to be a sacrilege which 

 should not have been allowed, and certainly, if some small 

 part of it is not preserved, a great wrong will be done to 

 the world, which will lose, with the passing of the Red- 

 woods, one of its fairest possessions." 



The first step in a National Forest policy was taken in 

 1 891. It will be recalled that certain of the old laws 

 for the disposal of public lands had become obsolete or 

 subject to abuse. An effort was made to revise the 

 public land laws by the Act of March 3, 1891. In this 

 Act the authority for the sale of public lands was abro- 

 gated, the troublesome Preemption and Timber Culture 

 Acts were repealed, the Desert Land and Homestead Acts 

 were modified, and various other changes made in tho 

 land system. The friends of forestry were able to se- 

 cure the insertion in the new law of a clause granting to 

 the President authority to set aside by proclamation 

 portions of the public lands as forest reservations. It 

 was this authority which laid the foundation for the pres- 

 ent system of National Forests. The establishment of 

 reservations proceeded, however, slowly and under many 

 difficulties, largely due to the lack of the proper 

 machinery for administering the forests and for 

 making the necessary plans to extend the system. Dr. 

 B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of Forestry in the 

 Department of Agriculture, was taking an active leader- 

 ship in bringing about a more efficient plan for adminis- 

 tering the public forest problem. But he was handi- 

 capped because the jurisdiction over the forests rested 

 with the Interior Deoartment while he was attached to the 

 Department of Agriculture. Sufficient interest in the 

 question of public forests was aroused to induce Con- 

 gress in 1896 to authorize the National Academy of 

 Sciences to make an investigation and report "on the inau- 

 guration of a national forestry policy for the forested 

 lands of the United States." A commission of seven men 

 was appointed by the Academy with Dr. Sargent as 

 chairman. An appropriation of $25,000 was made by 

 Congress which enabled the commission to visit the west 

 during the summer of 1896 and to obtain a first hand view 

 of the public forest problem. As a result of its report 

 and in response to Dr. Sargent's recommendations, 

 President Cleveland set aside new forest reservations 



