1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



president of the board, General Andrews, its secretary, and Professor Green. It took 

 action at once to arrange for a visit of inspection of the Minnesota forests by Dr. C. A. 

 Schenck. 



Michigan has likewise created a permanent forest commission, with the Commis- 

 sioner of the State Land Office as ex-officio member. The personnel of the commis- 

 sion, headed by Mr. Arthur Hill, a prominent lumberman, promises most favorably. 

 The main provision of the act is that the governor appoint a State Fire Marshal, for a term 

 of two years. The marshal appoints two deputies, one of whom shall reside in the upper 

 peninsula ; and in addition, city and town fire marshals throughout the State are made 

 deputies. A bill to create the office of firewarden, with provisions based on the Massa- 

 chusetts law of 1894, was introduced but failed of passage. Its supporters, however, 

 have good hope of securing its enactment at the next session of the legislature. 



\Vhat Minnesota has been attempting for the North and West, North Carolina is 

 urging for the South, and for the seaboard States in general. A great National Park 

 is proposed for the crest of the Alleghenies primarily for timber preservation. 



Georgia has passed a significant amendment to her forest fire law by which the set- 

 ting of fire to woods wilfullv, carelessly, or negligently is now made a misdemeanor, 

 whereas formerly malicious intent was specified, a provision which made the law in- 

 operative from the difficulty of establishing proof. A number of other States stand in 

 need of similar amendments before their statutes, long dead on the books, can be 

 rendered effective. 



Wisconsin has provided that forest wardens, formerly appointed in every organized 

 town, are henceforth to be appointed in certain counties, while in the remaining coun- 

 ties they are to be appointed only on request of the supervisors. 



In the matter of tree planting and conservation on a small scale Indiana has passed a 

 law offering partial remission of taxes on definite proportions of holdings covered with 

 a specified number of forest trees per acre, either as virgin forest or as planted or par- 

 tially planted to that number. Such areas are to be assessed at a valuation of $i 

 per acre. 



Nebraska and Nevada have repealed their laws providing bounties for forest trees 

 planted and cultivated. Like the bounty law of Pennsylvania, they have had small 

 results because of the trivial inducement offered. 



The Legislature of North Dakota recently established a school of forestry, located at 

 the village of Bottineau ; and a bill has just been introduced in the United States Senate 

 (Senate Bill i^S, December 6), providing for the grant of thirty thousand acres of 

 public land, to be selected by the proper authorities of the State, to aid in the mainte- 

 nance of the school. The bill has been twice read, and is now referred to the Com- 

 mittee on Public Lands. 



Oregon has created the office of game and forest warden. 



The meetings of the American Forestry Association during the past year have been 

 indicative of a great advance in forestry. A special summer meeting was held at Los 

 Angeles, California, on July 19 and 20. Prior to the date of the meeting the local 

 press made frequent mention of the coming convention, laying stress on the importance 

 of the subject and the value of an expert discussion of it. This, the first meeting of the 

 Association on the Pacific coast, was very well attended. Papers on "The State and 

 Forestry," by Hon. W. S. Melick, of Los" Angeles; " The Bitter Root Forest Reserve," 

 by Mr. J. B. Lippincott; " Some Relations Between Forests, Percolation and Water 

 Supply," by Mr. H. Hawgood, and many others of value were read and discussed, and 

 have since appeared in THE FORESTER. The resolutions passed urged Federal ac- 

 tion of the broadest and most effective character for the preservation, restoration and 

 utilization of the national timber lands and water supplies; favored the adoption of a 

 system of leasing public grazing lands, under which revenues would be devoted to the 

 development of forest preservation and irrigation, but without any grant in trust or 



