6 4 



THE FORESTER. 



March, 



Forest Administration. 



Excessive Timber Land Taxation. 



In discussing the relation of taxation 

 and forest destruction a lumber exchange 

 says: 



The Pine of Itasca County, Minnesota, is 

 being cut as fast as possible simply to get it 

 out of the way and converted into money before 

 the tax collector can confiscate a large part of 

 its value. Taxes are so high that timber which 

 is not immediately cut becomes a sinkhole in 

 which investments are lost, instead of a source 

 of profit. If forest lands were taxed with more 

 consideration, owners would have a natural 

 inclination to hold them for an advance in 

 value. As taxes are now assessed, they offset 

 any increase in the value of the timber that 

 results from a diminution of the Pine supply. 



It is a very shortsighted policy which 

 prompts officials in frontier counties to pile up 

 debts for the timber owners to pay in the form 

 of taxes. The effect is that lumbermen re- 

 move the timber as rapidly as the market v ill 

 allow, and afterward let the taxes go bv de- 

 fault. This leaves the country without any 

 taxes with which to make improvements and 

 meet its obligations. If county expenses were 

 kept at a minimum and made proportionate to 

 the actual development of the county, and 

 were incurred only as needed, the rate of tax- 

 ation would be comparatively low. Then the 

 lumberman could afford to leave his timber 

 standing, and in the long run the county would 

 derive a far greater revenue from his property 

 than under the present practice. 



It can furthermore be said that the deplorable 

 financial condition to which forested counties 

 are brought by the method pursued of preying 

 on the lumbermen is also accompanied by the 

 rapid denudation of the lands. Magnificent 

 forests, which might be held in reserve for 

 years, are hurriedly cut off, and in a few years 

 the lumber industry of the section is at an end. 

 Any motive for preservation and continuance 

 is negatived by excessive taxation. It is also 

 probable that if taxes could be entirely remitted. 

 or made merely nominal, on cut-over lands, 

 owners might be induced to make attempts to 

 reforest them and hold the lands in reserve for 

 perpetual timber growth if not wholly as an 

 individual enterprise, at least in conjunction 

 with the State or National Government. 



Cottonwood and Chalk creeks. The 

 South Platte Reserve reaches into Chaf- 

 fee County one mile west of the dividing 

 line between Park and Chaffee counties, 

 extending south to a point about oppo- 

 site the Annie C. C. mine, and with that 

 exception Chaffee County is without the 

 protection afforded by a forest reserve. 

 It would seem that the Arkansas River 

 is of sufficient importance with its great 

 volume of water, reaching as it does 

 through hundreds of miles of agricultural 

 country, to demand the immediate estab- 

 lishment of such a reserve. No section 

 of country has been or is being more 

 steadily drawn on for all kinds of timber 

 than Chaffee County, and without the 

 placing of some such restriction as is 

 afforded by the forest reserve regulations, 

 it is a question of but a short time until 

 the entire available supply of timber 

 will be exhausted, and the inevitable re- 

 sult will be a diminished water supply, 

 which will be disastrous to the agricul- 

 tural interests, not alone of this county, 

 but the entire farming section through 

 which the Arkansas flows Buena Vista 

 {Colo.) Herald. 



An effort should be made by the proper 

 parties to secure the establishment 

 of a forest reservation covering the 

 headwaters of the Arkansas River, 

 Lake, Pine, Four Mile, Seven Mile, the 



A special legislative commission raised 

 last year by the General Assembly of 

 New York to investigate the advisability 

 of acquiring additions to the forest pre- 

 serve in the Adirondacks has filed its 

 report. The latter, a voluminous docu- 

 ment, criticizes past extravagances upon 

 the part of the forest department and 

 charges too much politics in its conduct. 

 The commission recommends the pur- 

 chase of certain virgin timber lands for 

 the exemplification of projected timber 

 culture by the State and commends the 

 German system of reforestation ; also 

 that the ownership be vested jointly in 

 the State and Nation, and that the prop- 

 erty be made a national health resort 

 after the manner of Baden-Baden, Ger- 

 many. 



