Forest Land in Minnesota Devastated by Fire. This View Will Explain to Some Extent the Diminution 



in the Cut of White Pine 



a result of definite outlay of time or 

 money, they are in all respects a crop, 

 and represent income on the land. The 

 effect of the present system of taxation 

 is to force the owners of valuable tim- 

 ber to cut it to escape extortionate 

 taxes and to discourage the growing 

 of new crops of timber trees. It is not 

 possible to cut and market timber until 

 it reaches certain sizes, and the longer 

 it is allowed to grow, the more valu- 

 able the product becomes to the com- 

 munity. 



Standing timber should be released 

 from taxation wherever it can be shown 

 that the property is being managed for 

 the continuous production of wood 

 crops. The best method of accomplish- 

 ing this is to limit the assessed valua- 

 tion of such lands to the value of simi- 

 lar wild or unimproved lands not 

 timbered, and provide that the lands 

 shall be managed under plans approved 

 by the state forestry officials. Should 

 this discrimination in favor of forest 

 lands cause too great a loss of revenue, 

 a tax should be laid on the timber when 

 it is cut rather than to revert to taxa- 

 tion of standing timber. Tax reform 



for woodlands may be expected soonest 

 in states whose supply of virgin timber 

 is nearest to exhaustion. 



The forest policy of any state would 

 be incomplete if confined to such gen- 

 eral legislation to encourage private 

 forestry. There is much to be learned 

 in this country regarding methods of 

 handling woods to get the best growth 

 of most valuable timber. Mistakes are 

 costly, for they do not become fully ap- 

 parent for many years. The state 

 should provide against such mistake 

 and waste effort on the part of its citi- 

 zens, first, by employing a forester with 

 a thorough professional education and 

 considerable experience to give infor- 

 mation to those in need of it ; and sec- 

 ond, by acquiring land as forest re- 

 serves for the purpose of experiment- 

 ing and demonstrating the best meth- 

 ods of forest management. Such a 

 policy is illustrated by the work of the 

 agricultural experiment stations. There 

 is no state so small or with so little 

 waste land that it would not be justi- 

 fied in establishing small forest re- 

 serves for educational purposes. 



475 



