FORESTRY BEGINNINGS IN VERMONT 



By AUSTIN F. HAWES, State Forester 



IN OUTLINING the forestry policy 

 of any state, the first thing to con- 

 sider is, of course, the prevention of 

 fires. My first consideration in starting 

 here was therefore to determine just 

 how serious the fire question is in the 

 state and what measures seem wise to 

 adopt. This study has convinced me 

 that Vermont is one of the most fortu- 

 nate states of the northeast in regard to 

 forest fires. The topography and 

 character of the forests are chiefly 

 accountable for this situation, for 

 there are in the state no im- 

 mense, uninterrupted forest areas cor- 

 responding to those of Northern Maine 

 or the Adirondacks. Agricultural lands 

 and rivers divide the forests into blocks. 

 While spruce is the chief timber of the 

 state, it usually occurs mixed with hard- 

 woods and these forests are less suscept- 

 ible to fire than pure soft woods. Only 

 in the Champlain and Connecticut val- 

 leys are there any dry sand plains, and 

 these are neither extensive or within 

 reach of a dense population as are those 

 of Eastern Massachusetts and Southern 

 New Jersey, where fires are so regu- 

 lar. Railroads are responsible for a 

 small proportion of our fires, for, with 

 the exception of the few cuts through 

 the Green Mountains, they extend 

 through agricultural river bottoms. 

 In years of ordinary rainfall the state 

 is almost exempt from fires, but (luring 

 the exceptionally dry seasons, spring of 

 i<)<>3 and the fall of 1908, when all of 

 Xew England and New York were 

 >hrouded in smoke, Vermont suffered 

 its share of damage from fire. These 

 fires were almost wholly in the larger 

 forest blocks of the Green Mountains 

 and were due rather to carelessness of 

 choppers, hunters, and brush burners 

 than to railroads, which seem to have 



been the chief cause in New York and 

 Maine. 



The legislature of 1904 provided that 

 the first selectman of each town act as 

 fire warden, and in the eight unorgan- 

 ized towns that wardens be appointed 

 by the Forest Commissioner. This offi- 

 cial has now been superseded by the 

 State Forester. Although it is one 

 of the maxims of the forestry 

 movement that combining the work of 

 fire warden and selectman is poor pol- 

 icy, I believe that the exemption of 

 three-quarters of the towns from these 

 fires makes it inadvisable to try to 

 change the law, especially when the deli- 

 cacy of detracting from the prerogative 

 of the selectman is taken into consider- 

 ation. The apparent special danger 

 of certain sections, however, suggests 

 additional legislation which shall give 

 the State Forester authority to appoint 

 district wardens in certain towns who 

 shall nominally be under the selectmen, 

 but practically be responsible to the 

 State Forester. 



Opinions as to the value of the watch 

 towers built in Maine have thus far 

 been so varied that none have yet been 

 consructed in Vermont. As there is 

 comparatively little danger except in 

 times of serious droughts, their value 

 for Vermont seems problematical, as 

 the air is then so full of smoke as to 

 render them useless. 



Instead of sharing the expense of 

 fighting all fires with the towns, the 

 state pays the balance when the cost 

 exceeds five per cent of the grand list 

 of the town. In this way the poor, un- 

 inhabited towns receive the greatest 

 help. During the bad fire season of 

 1908 the state came to the assistance in 

 this way of twenty towns, paying in all 

 about $6,000. The greatest amount 



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