THE ADIRONDACK PROBLEM 



A. KEPORT MADE BY HON. GIFFORD PINCHOT TO THE CAMP-FIRE CLUB OF 

 AMERICA, NEW YORK CITY, DECEMBER 2, 1911. 



HORESTRY in the State of New York is flourishing everywhere except 

 in the woods. This is the essential fact in the present situation. The 

 Constitution forbids the practice of forestry on State lands, and scarcely 

 a single tract of privately owned forest, either in the Catskills or the Adi- 

 rondacks, is today being cut under the rules of practical forestry. On the 

 other hand, within the last ten years the destruction of forests by fire and 

 bad logging has been greater than ever before. 



The Adirondack forest is one of the most precious possessions of the 

 people of the State of New York. In conserving water-flow and supplying 

 timber, as a recreation ground, and as a vast sanitarium, it is indispensable 

 to the growth and welfare of the State. The purchase of the Adirondack 

 Park is probably the best investment the citizens of New York ever made. 



The Adirondack Preserve consists of all State lands in the twelve Adi- 

 rondack counties, and includes about 3,300,000 acres. The Adirondack Park 

 includes only State lands within the so-called "blue line," 1,500,000 acres in 

 area, or about half the total area the "blue line" bounds. 



The other half is owned by lumber companies, associations, clubs and 

 individuals. Substantially all of it is useless for any other purpose than to 

 grow trees. The tree growth upon it, however, renders so many and such 

 important services that no similar forest area in the United States is of 

 such high value to so many people. 



The object of this report, prepared on behalf of the National Conservation 

 Association for The Camp-Fire Club of America, is to make it easier for the 

 people of New York to get the benefit of the Adirondack forests, and to protect 

 them against waste through mis-use and non-use. 



The first duty of the State towards the North Woods is to protect them 

 from fire. Because of previous neglect not less than a quarter of the whole 

 area has been burnt. Of late, and especially since the great fire of 1908, good 

 svork by the State fire patrol has much reduced the number of fires. But it 

 is not enough that there should merely be fewer fires in the Adirondacks. 

 rhere should be no fires there at all. 



NEED OP FIRE PROTECTION 



The principle of controlling a fire in a forest is precisely the same as that 

 3f controlling a fire in a city. The essential thing is to get the necessary fire 



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