256 



THE FORESTER. 



November, 



for four years. The appointment shall date from 

 July first, eighteen hundred ninety-nine. The 

 term of the Commissioner of the State Land Office 

 as a member of this commission shall be coexten- 

 sive with his term as Commissioner of the State 

 Land Office. At the expiration of the terms of 

 the appointive members their successors shall 

 be appointed, each for a term of four years. 

 Such commission shall elect one of its members 

 president, another member secretary. It shall 

 maintain its office and records in the Capitol at 

 Lansing in the State Land Office, and shall 

 serve without compensation, but shall be en- 

 titled to traveling and other expenses while on 

 business relating to the work of the commission. 

 Also all necessary cost of postage, stationery and 

 printing and other incidental expenses : Pro- 

 vided, That the secretary may be paid such 

 amount as the commission may determine, not 

 to exceed three hundred dollars per annum : 

 And Provided Further, That all accounts shall be 

 audited by the State Board of Auditors. 



Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of such Forestry 

 Commission to institute inquiry into the extent, 

 kind, value and condition of the timber lands of 

 the State ; the amount of acres and value of 

 timber that is cut and removed each year, and 

 the purposes for which it was used ; the extent 

 to which the timber lands are being destroyed 

 by fires, used by wasteful cutting for consump- 

 tion, lumbering, or for the purpose of clearing 

 the land for tillage. It shall also inquire as to 

 the effect of the diminution of timber and 

 wooded surface of this State in lessening the 

 rainfall and producing droughts, and the effects 

 upon the ponds, rivers, lakes and the water 

 power and harbors of the State and affecting 

 the climate and disturbing and deteriorating 

 natural conditions. It shall also examine into 

 the production, quantity and quality of second 

 growth timber and note and report upon all 

 facts, improvements and changes in reference 

 thereto, also as to the condition, protection and 

 improvement of denuded, stump, swamp and 

 overflowed lauds, and what means it may deem 

 expedient in carrying into full effect the intent 

 and purpose of this act. The commission shall 

 recommend to the Legislature, in the year nine- 

 teen hundred one, within ten days from its 

 opening, their findings, in the form of a bill or 

 lulls to carry out the objects for which this com- 

 mission is appointed. 



Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the Commis- 

 sioner of the State Land Office to furnish the 

 commission any and all data concerning lands 

 of all classes in which the State is directly or in- 

 directly interested, that may be valuable in for- 

 mulating a method of managing State lands 

 suitable for the growing of forests. He shall 

 also as far as possible aid the commission in its 

 investigations and render all the assistance in 

 his power in preparing a report which shall em- 

 body a definite forestry policy for the State of 

 Michigan. 



4. Upon the recommendation of the said 

 Michigan Forestry Commission the Commis- 



sioner of the State Land Office shall withdraw 

 from sale two hundred thousand acres of lands 

 known as State Tax Homestead lands and Swamp 

 lands belonging to the State, and withhold the 

 same until after the adjournment of the Legis- 

 lature after such reservation. The commission 

 shall be authorized to receive by deed to the 

 State, from the owners, any tracts of land which 

 in its judgment may be suitable as forest re- 

 serves, to be kept by the State : Provided, how- 

 ever, That this act shall not be construed so as 

 to effect in any manner the rights or interests 

 of any person to or in any lands which such per- 

 son may have acquired previously to the day on 

 which this act shall go into effect. 



Sec. 5. Said commission shall make an annual 

 report to the Governor, on or before the first day 

 of December in each year, of such facts and sta- 

 tistics as it may deem of public interest, and 

 recommend such legislation as may be necessary 

 for the preservation and restoration of the tim- 

 ber and forestry of the State, or any portion 

 thereof, and cause such number of reports, not 

 exceeding two thousand copies, to be printed 

 each year for public use and distribution, which 

 report shall be printed by the Board of State Au- 

 ditors. The expense of the commission, as pro- 

 vided in section one of this act, shall be paid on 

 vouchers certified by the president of the com- 

 mission to the Auditor General and paid by the 

 State Treasurer, out of the general fund, upon 

 the warrant of the Auditor General : Provided, 

 That not more than two thousand dollars shall 

 be expended by the State in anyone year under 

 the provisions of this act. 



Under a provision of this law the Gover- 

 nor of the State appointed as members of 

 the Commission, Mr. Arthur Hill of Sag- 

 inaw, and Charles W. Garfield of Grand 

 Rapids, the third member being the Com- 

 missioner of the Land Office, Mr. William 

 A. French, who became a member of the 

 Commission by virtue of his office. The 

 Commission organized by the election 

 of Mr. Garfield as president and Mr. 

 French as secretary. Mr. Hill has been 

 absent from the State a greater portion of 

 the time since the organization of the Com- 

 mission, and I have been reaching, as far 

 as my time would permit, for data upon 

 which to base recommendations for future 

 legislation. I have kept a running fire in 

 the newspapers of the State, and ourfriends 

 of the press with hearty unanimity, grasp 

 any facts that are brought out by the Com- 

 mission and are glad to give them to the 

 people. By this means we are awakening 

 a good deal of interest in the work of the 

 Commission. 



