158 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



Wisconsin's Legislature has pro- 

 vided for the purchase of tax sale 

 lands by the Forestry Commission, to 

 be used as State forest and for stor- 

 ing waters upon Wisconsin rivers to 

 maintain equable stream flow. Some 

 320 fire wardens are maintained by the 

 State. The Nebagamun Lumber Com- 

 pany has given 4,000 acres of land to 

 the State as a forest reserve. 



Minnesota's excellent fire law is 

 made effective through the efforts of a 

 volunteer patrol. The Governor 

 strongly urged upon the last Legisla- 

 ture the importance of forestry legisla- 

 tion, but with little effect. 



In Iowa the State Experiment Sta- 

 tion is conducting an educational pro- 

 paganda through the use of bulletins. 



Nebraska leads in tree planting. 



In Kansas the Commissioner of For- 

 estry gathers statistics of forest plant- 

 ing through annual reports from those 

 to whom stock has been furnished. 



Arkansas has recently been pro- 

 vided with a National Forest of over a 

 million acres, the easternmost of all 

 our National Forests. 



In Colorado the Agricultural Exper- 

 iment Station is experimenting exten- 

 sively in tree planting. Convincing 

 evidence exists of strongly improving 

 sentiment in favor of forestry and the 

 National Forest policy. 



In Arizona, the Grand Canyon of 

 the Colorado, a part of the Grand 

 Canyon National Forest, has recently 

 been proclaimed by the President, un- 

 der the act of June 8, 1906, as a Na- 

 tional Monument. 



The newly established Oregon For- 

 estry Commission has organized, and 

 arranged for the appointment of about 

 400 fire wardens and the distribution 

 of 500 copies of the new forest fire 

 law. 



In California the State Forester is 

 experimenting with the planting of 

 eucalyptus, and the regents of the 

 State University contemplate reforest- 

 ing the slopes east of the university. 

 The State convention at Petaluma 

 took advanced ground, among other 

 things recommending that the expense 

 of extinguishing forest fires be snared 



equally by the State and the county in- 

 volved. The State Forester has or- 

 ganized fire patrols in ten counties ; 

 367 fire wardens have been appointed, 

 and thirty miles of fire lines, encircl- 

 ing redwood parks, have been cleared. 

 In southern California the co-opera- 

 tion of ranchers, water companies, and 

 towns along the foothills with the Xa- 

 tional Forest supervisor has been se- 

 cured in the building of fire-breaks for 

 the better protection of the National 

 Forest. The State Forester is utiliz- 

 ing the State police powers to protect 

 the watersheds against devastation by 

 private owners. The National Forests 

 have been enlarged, one extension in- 

 cluding the famous Calaveras grove 

 of big trees. More recently, the Pres- 

 ident has made a Xational Monument 

 of the Pinnacles, one of the natural 

 wonders of the State. 



I "mil recently Hawaii has had re- 

 serves of 300,000 acres, the Territory 

 owning nearly half, but all man- 

 u-vd under plans prepared by the Su- 

 perintendent of Forestry. An addi- 

 tion of 23,000 acres has recently been 

 made .on the Island of Maui by the 

 provision that the government lands 

 within reserve limits now leased to 

 private parties shall, at the expiration 

 of the present leases, become part of 

 the forest reserve. The private lands 

 are sometimes administered by the 

 Territorial Board of Agriculture and 

 Forestry. Private owners show a gen- 

 eral disposition to turn over their 

 lands to the Government for adminis- 

 tration under forestry principles. They 

 have also agreed to reforest govern- 

 ment lands at private expense. The 

 Governor has proclaimed November 

 1 5th as Arbor Day. 



Interstate action is now being dis- 

 cussed. At the Saginaw, Mich., meet- 

 ing a conference of the foresters of 

 Minnesota. Wisconsin. Michigan. Illi- 

 nois, Ontario, and Quebec was held to 

 devise suitable uniform legislation on 

 the taxation of growing forests and 

 the burning of slash by lumbermen. 



On the whole, a decided improve- 

 ment in the forestry situation in the 

 States is evident. 



