STATE FORESTERS' MEETING 



19 



according to the recommendations of the Committee on 

 Forest Taxation, would be collected from the person 

 who cuts the timber, and operators would be required to 

 take out licenses. Exemptions are proposed for material 

 to be used for domestic purposes, including buildings, 



and on any amount less than $50 in value. This is a 

 forward-looking program, which should receive the 

 hearty support of the people generally in Connecticut 

 as a step toward increasing the prosperity of the State 

 through the rational handling of its forest resources. 



STATE FORESTERS' MEETING 



A WELL attended meeting of State Foresters from 

 -^*- seventeen different States was held at Harrisburg, 

 Pennsylvania, on December 8 and 9, for a general dis- 

 cussion of forest problems of mutual interest to the vari- 

 ous State forest organizations. Governor Sproul, by 

 whom the conference was called, opened the meeting 

 with an address emphasizing strongly the need for a 

 comprehensive national forest policy to check the devas- 

 tation of our rapidly dwindling forests. Governor 

 B. M. Olcott, of Oregon, was elected chairman of the 

 conference and presided over its two days' session. 



The two most important papers presented at the con- 

 ference were those by Colonel W. B. Greeley, Chief For- 

 ester, on "The Nation and the National Forest Policy," 

 and by Gifford Pinchot, Commissioner of Forestry for 

 Pennsylvania, on "The States and the National Forest 

 Policy." Colonel Greeley urged the adoption of a forest 

 policy which would leave the actual control of fire and 

 of cutting operations in the hands of the individual 

 States under the leadership and with the financial and 

 technical assistance of the Federal Government. He 

 advanced the idea that forest lands are public utilities 

 and held that the States should be encouraged to go just 

 as far as they will in reforestation, and that any State 

 inclined to impose restrictions on their handling should 

 be given a clear field. Mr. Pinchot, on the other hand, 

 favored Federal as opposed to State control of cutting, 

 since in his judgment Federal control is the only form 

 that can be obtained, and if obtained can be effectually 

 enforced. Both Colonel Greeley and Mr. Pinchot were 



in agreement that forest fire protection should he handled 

 by the States with the co-operation and assistance of 

 the Federal Government. 



Other papers covered a wide variety of subjects, in- 

 cluding the timber needs and supply of the various for- 

 est regions of the country, the problem of State-wide 

 forest fire protection, the organization of State forest 

 work and State forests, timber surveys, and private for- 

 estry. J. H. Wallace, Commissioner of Conservation in 

 Alabama, urged immediate action for the creation of a 

 Federal Department of Conservation, to include natural 

 resources. He declared that the conservation activities 

 which are now scattered through half a dozen different 

 Departments should be co-ordinated, and that this would be 

 a real aid to the States in the development of their policies. 



One of the interesting developments of the meeting 

 was the establishment of an Association of State For- 

 esters to bring together the forest officials of the several 

 States for the discussion of problems of mutual interest 

 and to promote co-operation in forest matters between 

 the various States as well as between the Federal Gov- 

 ernment and the States. W. T. Cox, of Minnesota, was 

 elected president of the association; F. W. Besley, of 

 Maryland, vice-president, and R. C. Jones, of Virginia, 

 secretary and treasurer. These officers, with Gifford 

 Pinchot, of Pennsylvania, and C. R. Pettis, of New York, 

 constitute the executive committee. It is anticipated 

 that the new association will be productive of much 

 good by establishing close relations between the various 

 State forest officials. 



STATE FORESTERS DEMAND LEGISLATION 



A S a result of a conference of State Forestry officials 

 -^*- held at Atlantic City, November 12 to 13, 1920, for 

 the purpose of considering the question of National For- 

 estry legislation, and attended by officials from sixteen 

 of the thirty-four State Forestry Departments, repre- 

 sentatives of the Forestry Departments in the following 

 States, fully endorsed the recommendations of the United 

 States Forest Service, relating to co-operation with States 

 in fire protection and forest renewal, as embodied in 

 the report on Senate Resolution No. 311, known as the 

 "Capper Report:" Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, 

 Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 



Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, 

 Oregon, Virginia and West Virginia. 



They also urged upon Congress the enactment of the 

 legislation necessary to make those recommendations 

 effective, accompanied by suitable annual appropriations, 

 which, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, should 

 not be less than one million dollars ($1,000,000), to be 

 expended by the Secretary of Agriculture in co-operation 

 with the several States, for forest fire prevention and 

 control, forest investigations, and timber production, in- 

 cluding forest planting. 



A CCORDING to figures of the Forestry Department T^HE lumber required to make boxes for Washing- 



^ of Canada two-thirds of Canada's forests have been " ton's 1919 crop of apples, says the Reclamation 



destroyed by fire the past 75 years. But Canada still has Service, was sufficient in quantity to build 9,660 average 



1,900,000 square miles of wonderful forest land. country houses, each sheltering a family of five persons. 



