122 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



this precaution exists only two months 

 of the year, and in its full extent only in 

 years of drought, the patrol should be 

 organized as far as possible from the 

 present force in the Forest, Fish and 

 Game Commission, but with such addi- 

 tions as are absolutely required to make 

 it effectual. 



The interest on the amount of the 

 losses from fire in forests during the 

 year 1903 would be adequate to maintain 

 for all time a fire patrol service at what 

 are now exposed points. Regular sta- 

 tions for dumping fire-boxes should be 

 established and strict regulations for 

 their exclusive use enforced. The only 

 true way to fight fires is to prevent them. 



REFORESTING. 



Closely related to fire prevention is 

 reforesting. The dead timber and de- 

 bris on denuded and burned lands are, in 

 the absence of green timber, a standing 

 menace from fire a great menace in ex- 

 ceptionally dry seasons and a menace at 

 all times. Such tracts burn over repeat- 

 edly until the debris is completely con- 

 sumed. The tendency is for such areas 

 to enlarge their borders, and every fire 

 has an ill effect upon the soil. The only 

 remedy is tree planting. Experiments 

 already made by the Forest Department 

 show this to be entirely practicable, the 

 cost varying from three to five dollars 

 per acre. If planted with soft woods, it 

 will produce a forest cover furnishing 

 all of the benefits of a forest except mer- 

 chantable timber in from twenty to 

 twenty-five years, and merchantable 

 timber in from thirty to fort} 7 years. 

 Under the terms of the forest amendment 

 to the constitution as thus far construed , 

 the state government is powerless to 

 remove or disturb this dead timber and 

 debris, even though necessary to enable 

 it to plant young trees. An amendment 

 should, in our judgment, be adopted so 

 far modifying its terms as to permit the 

 legislature to authorize the destruction 

 or removal of the dead timber by the 

 state itself through its own agencies and 

 employes, and not by contract, for the 

 purpose of reforestation. 



FEDERAL AID. 

 The national government, perceiving 



that an intelligent public sentiment is 

 an indispensable prerequisite to forest 

 preservation, has adopted the policy of 

 cooperating with the states in defining, 

 classifying, and describing their forests 

 with a view, first, to determining the 

 best means of extending and improving 

 the forest cover for its protective value; 

 second, to preventing fires, and, third, 

 to managing forests on common-sense 

 financial principles. The Bureau of 

 Forestry in the Department of Agri- 

 culture proposes to undertake this work 

 in New York at the joint expense of 

 the state and nation, and undertakes to 

 do the work within two years. An ap- 

 propriation of $10,000 the first year and 

 $5,000 the second year is requested, and 

 your committee recommend that the re- 

 quest be granted. Similar appropria- 

 tions have already been made by the 

 States of California and New Hamp- 

 shire. 



In making the foregoing recommen- 

 dations, the committee is aware of the 

 uncertainty and doubt, not to say sus- 

 picion, hitherto revealed in the public 

 mind of any and all plans for the im- 

 provement and preservation of our for- 

 ests based upon any modification of ex- 

 isting constitutional provisions. So long 

 as great commercial interests desire for- 

 est products, and the ownership and 

 exclusive possession of vast tracts is 

 sought by wealthy persons as game 

 preserves and forest parks, there will be 

 need of a vigilant and powerful public 

 sentiment to protect the public interest. 



We are conscious that the measures 

 proposed are not in any sense a solution 

 of the problem of establishing a rational 

 system of forestry which shall increase 

 the natural forest growth as the cultiva- 

 tion of wild fields multiplies their natu- 

 ral products. We shall be content if 

 measures can now be adopted to preserve 

 what we have, and to undertake the 

 reforestation of tracts recently devas- 

 tated. Such a course will serve to cre- 

 ate in the public mind an intelligent and 

 discriminating acquaintance with the 

 problems in hand, to prepare the way 

 for the future development of forestry on 

 public and private lands, which shall 

 secure to the people of the state the ben- 

 efits of abundant and flourishing forests. 



