1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



39 



State Forestry Associations. 



Energetic Efforts of Representative Organizations. 



Minnesota. 



Minnesota has the oldest Forestry As- 

 sociation in this country. Though the State 

 has expended nothing for planting trees in 

 the forest regions, it expends $20,000 an- 

 nually in bounties for tree planting on the 

 prairies, and in all has expended for that 

 purpose over half a million dollars. 



At the annual meeting, at Minneapolis, 

 a short time ago, General C. C. Andrews 

 read a very complete paper on "The 

 Progress of Forestry in this Country." 

 He spoke of the advance made by indi- 

 vidual States, a brief review of a few of 

 them being as follows : 



The State Geologist of New Jersey re- 

 marks that " the question of forest pro- 

 tection in New Jersey is really included in 

 the greater problem of the State's water 

 supply and its conservation." He is of 

 the opinion that the forested regions in the 

 Highlands should be reserved and held in 

 forest to maintain water supply. "Their 

 value," he says, "as great gathering 

 grounds for the unfailing supply of pure 

 water to the many seashore towns and set- 

 tlements and the cities in the valley of the 

 Delaware, is such as to make the reserva- 

 tion of these tracts for this use a question 

 of public importance." The investiga- 

 tions of the forested lands of New Jersey 

 by the State Geologist are still in progress. 



New York has a most efficient forestry 

 staff and is expending more money in the 

 work than all the other States combined. 

 Within about a couple of years the Legis- 

 lature has appropriated $1,800,000 to buy 

 land, for park and forestry purposes, in 

 the Adirondacks. About one million acres 

 are now held there by the State, another 

 million acres are held for purposes of rec- 

 reation by clubs and individuals, and still 

 another million acres are owned by private 

 parties for ordinary purposes. The Cat- 

 skills having grander scenery and being 

 much nearer to the great metropolis, a 



movement is on foot to increase the State's 

 holdings in that beautiful region. 



More than a year ago the Wisconsin 

 Forestry Commission made a valuable re- 

 port to the State Legislature accompanied 

 by a bill "To establish a system of state 

 forests and provide for the management 

 of the same." Though discussed in the 

 legislature, the bill was not enacted, but 

 will probably come up at the next session. 

 The arguments in the report fully sustain 

 the conclusions that " the establishment of 

 a system of state forests is a necessity, not 

 only for the protection of the climate and 

 water flow of the State, but for the purpose 

 of providing a sufficient supply of raw 

 material to the various lumber and wood 

 industries of the State " ; that the money 

 expended to establish the system "will, 

 after a reasonable time, return into the 

 State Treasury, and the system once 

 fairly established will yield a large annual 

 income that will, to a proportionate extent, 

 do away with the necessity of taxation." 



In Minnesota there are probably about 

 three million acres, in detached localities, 

 of idle non-agricultural land which would 

 begin to earn a good revenue as soon as it 

 could become forested. Our soil and cli- 

 mate being so favorable to the growth of 

 the White Pine, the most valuable of all 

 trees, a wise and courageous forest policy 

 would be of immense benefit. Our state 

 can well be in the front rank on this im- 

 portant question if it will but improve its 

 opportunities. In this as in many other 

 States it is to be noticed that the press is 

 doing valuable service towards instructing 

 the public mind on the needs of better for- 

 estry methods. Women's clubs are also 



j 



interesting themselves in the question. 



On the whole it would seem that more 

 has been accomplished for forestry in this 

 country in the last five years than had been 

 accomplished for a long time before and 

 the prospects for the cause are certainly 

 very encouraging. 



