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THE FORESTER. 



May, 



Timber Protection in Minnesota. 



The bill to repeal the Fire Warden 

 Law in Minnesota was defeated at the 

 last session of the Legislature. The 

 wisdom, and, in fact, necessity of afford- 

 ing efficient protection to these timber 

 lands is shown by the following state- 

 ments. 



Commissioner Hermann, of the Gen- 

 eral Land Office, said : 



"Instead of repealing the law it should 

 be made more stringent, and every effort 

 made to bring about co-operation with 

 the Federal authorities. In many in- 

 stances the public timber of the United 

 States and of a State are so contiguous 

 as to make protection of one protection 

 of the other. This should be mutually 

 in the matter of surveillance. The ten- 

 dency of most States is to protect the 

 timber interests, and recent legislation 

 in New York is in the interest of forest 

 preservation in the Adirondack region. 

 I have noted, with interest, the relation 

 of Minnesota to timber interests. The 

 State lands of Minnesota aggregate a 

 great deal, and an important part of their 

 value comes from the timber contained 

 on those lands. The forests of that 

 State, I presume, in common with the 

 forests of the General Government, are 

 subjected to great depredations, and the 

 greatest depredator of all is the fire fiend. 

 The loss sustained in one of the last 

 notable fires aggregated more than would 

 compensate for fifty years' appropriations 

 for the administration of forestry. This 

 subject is of great importance to Minne- 

 sota, and I cannot understand a desire 

 to relax from the most efficient efforts 

 that can be made for the protection of 

 her forest interests. 



"The chief difficulty we have experi- 

 enced is to secure active co operation on 

 the part of the States with the Federal 

 authorities in aid of prevention and ex- 

 tinguishment of fires, as well as in the 

 apprehension of depredators on forest 

 lands. Efforts should be made by the 

 Legislatures in all States to make their 

 legislation in line with that of the Federal 

 Government. I have urged that the for- 

 est rangers on the several reservations 



should be better equipped to enforce the 

 law. Our department has asked the 

 Attorney General of the United States 

 to have United States marshals deputize 

 the rangers to make arrests for offenses 

 committed in defiance of forest regula- 

 tions. I have been in some correspond- 

 ence with executive officers in different 

 States asking that co-operation may be 

 had on the part of forest wardens of 

 such States with Government officials, 

 which would inure to the benefit of the 

 Federal and State interests. I would be 

 glad also if the Federal forestry officers 

 could have authority to act as game war- 

 dens, so that while protecting timber 

 interests they could also aid in protect- 

 ing game on the reservations without 

 additional cost to the State 



"The State laws of Minnesota for the 

 protection of timber interests are equal, 

 if not superior to, those of any State, 

 and the annual reports of the State offi- 

 cials contain much interesting and val- 

 uable information, and it is to be hoped 

 that the State authorities will strengthen 

 rather than detract from the efficiency of 

 their laws for forest preservation. This 

 forestry question is becoming more im- 

 portant every year, and statistics show 

 that if losses by fires are not speedily 

 checked our great timber interests will 

 soon be things of the past. State and 

 Federal authorities in this country may 

 with profit study the results and experi- 

 ences of Prussia and other European 

 countries in promoting their export trade 

 in timber by wise national laws for for- 

 estry preservation and development." 



Gifford Pinchot, Forester of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, who is familiar 

 with Minnesota's law to prevent forest 

 fires, regards it as one of the best in force. 

 He said : 



" If the bill under consideration is in- 

 tended to do away with the office of chief 

 fire warden and suspend the work which 

 has been conducted by Gen. Andrews I 

 disapprove of it heartily. Whatever the 

 actual accomplishment of Gen. Andrews 

 during his tenure of this office (and in 

 my judgment the good he has done is 



