THE FORESTER. 



January, 



lias been most satisfactory. Public sentiment 

 throughout the West, which, soon after the 

 proclamation of the Cleveland Forest Reserves. 

 was in an attitude of bitter opposition, has 

 continued the remarkable change begun during 

 the year which followed the proclamations, 

 and at present opposition has practically died 

 out. The only conspicuous exception is in the 

 State of Washington, where the Republican 

 platform contained a clause asking for a resto- 

 ration to the public domain of all those por- 

 tions of the forest reserves valuable for agri- 

 culture, mining or timber. In the Black Hills, 

 where the protest was perhaps more vigorous 

 than elsewhere, it has been replaced by the most 

 cordial feeling, so that the Black Hills Forest 

 Reserve has been increased by nearly half a 

 million acres with the full assent and co-opera- 

 tion both of the local population and of their 

 representatives in Congress. 



Four new forest reserves have been created 

 since the eleven suspended reserves emerged 

 from that condition on the first of last March. 

 These are the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake 

 Reserve in Southern California, of 1,644,594. 

 acres, the Prescott Forest Reserve, of 10,240 

 acres, the Black Mesa Reserve of 1,658,880 

 acres, and the San Francisco Mountains Forest 

 Reserve, of 975,360 acres, all in Arizona. In 

 addition, the boundaries of the Pecos River 

 Reserves in New Mexico, have been changed 

 and enlarged to embrace 120,000 acres more, 

 and those, of the Black Hills Reserve have 

 been similarly changed, with an estimated 

 increase of 433,440 acres, a decrease of 189,440 

 and a final total of 1,211,680 acres. 



The care and protection of the forest re- 

 serves has been entrusted to the General Land 

 Office. For that purpose an appropriation of 

 $175,000 was made by the last session of Con- 

 gress, and during the summer the work of 

 organizing a forest force has been begun. 



The report of Mr. Frederick V. Coville, Bota- 

 nist of the Department of Agriculture, on 

 Forest Growth and Sheep Grazing in the Cas- 

 cade Mountains of Oregon, brought the ques- 

 tion of forest grazmg to public attention in a 

 thoroughly scientific and practical manner for 

 the first time. No other single factor has 

 contributed so much toward a settlement of 

 this most important question. The approval 

 of Mr. Coville's plan by the sheep men was 

 instant and widespread. 



The foundation of the New York State 

 College of Forestry, with Dr. Fernow as Pro- 

 fessor of Forestry and Dean of the Faculty, 

 and Mr. Roth as his assistant, is the most 

 notable step yet taken in forest education in 

 the United States. The last available report 

 gives the names of 39 students of Cornell 

 University who are participating in the courses 

 of the school. 



During the year another forest school, on 

 simpler lines, was begun at Biltmore, in North 

 Carolina, under the direction of Dr. C. A. 



Schenck. Four students are in attendance on 

 the thoroughly practical courses of the school. 



The mapping and description of the forest 

 reserves, under the direction of Mr. Henry 

 Gannett, of the U. S. Geological Survey, has 

 proceeded very satisfactorily during the past 

 year. Nineteen reserves have so far been ex- 

 amined, and statistics of standing timber have 

 been collected for Washington, Northern 

 Idaho and part of Oregon. The Association 

 is particularly to be congratulated on the pros- 

 pect of possessing, in the near future and for 

 the first time, reliable statistical statements of 

 forest resources in some of the most inter- 

 esting portions of the country. 



The resignation of Dr. Fernow from the 

 Division of Forestry was followed by the 

 appointment of Gifford Pinchot as Forester of 

 the Department of Agriculture, and by the 

 reorganization of the work of the Division. 

 The attention of the Division is to be directed 

 hereafter to field work, as fully as the circum- 

 stances will permit. A plan of the Division, 

 outlined in Circular No. 21, by which it under- 

 takes to assist private owners in the care of 

 their forest lands, has been responded to by 

 applications for such assistance which cover 

 about 1,100,000 acres. 



The action of the International Paper Com- 

 pany, in appointing Mr. Edward M. Griffith, a 

 trained forester, to assist in the management 

 of its timber lands, is a notable step forward in 

 the progress of forestry, since this company is 

 by far the largest producer of wood pulp in 

 the United States. Mr. Austin Cary has been 

 appointed by another company for a similar 

 purpose. 



The purchase of forest land by New York 

 State, in the Adirondacks, under the appro- 

 priation of $1,000,000, had resulted, at the 

 last report of the Forest Preserve Board, in 

 the expenditure of more than $900,000 and 

 the acquisition of over 250,000 acres at an 

 average price of $3,685 per acre. The school 

 forest of the New York State College of Fores- 

 try, of about 30,000 acres in extent, has recently 

 been added, only, however, as prospective 

 State property, since it will belong to Cornell 

 University for a term of years before reverting 

 to the State. Pennsylvania has acquired 55,681 

 acres of wild lands as the result of an ad- 

 mirable plan for the creation of State forest 

 parks at the head-waters of important streams, 

 and the rebate provided by law in the taxes of 

 timber lands is beginning to be widely claimed. 

 Forestry associations have been established in 

 Utah and Massachusetts, and the latter has 

 been exceedingly active in forwarding the 

 good work. 



One of the ends for which the Association 

 has been striving for many years, namely, the 

 establishment of a Government system of forest 

 administration, having now been attained, the 

 members of the Association can devote their 

 energies to no more important object than the 



