Coal Company Practices Forestry 



Hv A. C. Neumiller, Forester 



THE Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. and the Pan- 

 ther \'alley Water Co., one of its subsidiaries, 

 own large areas of forest land in Carbon and 

 Schuylkill Counties, Pennsylvania, approximating 'i miles 

 in width and sixteen miles in length. 



For a number of years timber was taken from these 

 lands and used for mining purposes, leaving the forests 

 in an extremely bad condition. Xo attempt was made to 

 confine forest fires with the result that today, there is a 

 vast area of waste land, covered with sprout growth of 



CHARACTER OF LAN13 OX WHICH PUAXTIXC WAS DOXE 



This land was originally covered with forest, but this was cleared off years ago and the timber used in 

 early mining operations. Since then it has been swept by lire as so much of the land in the Penrtsyl- 

 van.a anthracite region has. These tires are followed by a scrubby growth of chestnut, oak and 

 pitch pine. 



oak, maple, chestnut and pitch 

 pine, interspersed with good 

 stands of timber, which nature 

 saw fit to preserve. 



This condition is not only true 

 of the coal fields in Carbon and 

 Schulykill Counties, but it is 

 practically true of all tlie coal 

 fields in Pennsylvania. Realizing 

 the necessity for conserving the 

 timber still growing and refor- 

 esting the waste land, the Le- 

 high Coal & Navigation Co., 

 several years ago, employed a 

 forester to organize a depart- 

 ment, whose sole duty it is 1 > 

 prevent a further waste of thes.; 

 resources and to reforest the 

 wa.ste land. 



In Carbon and Schuylkill 

 Counties, as well as in other sec- 

 tions, most of the young timber 

 868 



is destroyed by forest fires. An investigation showed that 

 over CO per cent of the fires were caused by sparks from 

 locomotives; 125 of these locomotives operating daily 

 over heavy grades in and around the company's land, so 

 that it became a matter of extreme importance for the 

 department to establish a system of forest fire protection 

 without delay. 



The first step taken in this direction was the installa- 

 tion of proper spark arresters on all locomotives owned 

 by the comijany and one of its subsidiaries, the Lehigh 

 & New England Railroad Co., 

 operating in this section. 



It was also noted that forest 

 fires were caused by hunters, 

 berry pickers and other people, 

 who frequent the woods for 

 pleasure, through their careless- 

 ness with matches, etc. 



To establish adequate fire pro- 

 tection and to bring about the 

 prompt extinguishing of forest 

 fires, fire rangers were employed 

 and instructed in the most ap- 

 proved methods in preventing 

 and putting out fires. 



At this time, there are eight 

 fire rangers, each assigned to a 

 district, where there are natural 

 look-out points and telephones. 



RANGERS AND LABORERS PLANTING 



1 hese planting crews under the supervision of Forester Newmiller during the spring of this year planted 

 nine thousand trees, these being four thousand white pine, three thousand Norway spruce, and two 

 thousand white ash. The planting covered twenty acres and the trees and the work cost approximately 

 $10 an acre. 



