THE PROGRESS OF FORESTRY IN WISCONSIN 111 



at least |2.00 per acre. It should be explained that the revenue from fire- 

 wood and all other forest products is included in this estimate, also the 

 revenue from leasing camp and cottage sites, which will be very considerable. 

 If then the State acquires a forest reserve of 1,500,000 acres, it should be able 

 to count on a net annual revenue of $1,500,000 after twenty-five years, and 

 of $3,000,000 after fifty years. 



CREATION OP STORAGE RESERVOIRS 



Wisconsin has adopted the policy of allowing river development com- 

 panies under the most careful State supervision to use many of the lakes at 

 the headwaters of the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers as storage reservoirs, 

 so as to hold and store up the excess or flood waters, and then draw upon 

 the reservoirs in times of low water when the water powers upon these rivers 

 are in great need of more power. No new storage dam can be built without 

 the consent of the State Board of Forestry, and the board also controls the 

 level to which the water may be raised or lowered, so that the beauty and 

 attractiveness of these lakes for summer camps and cottages will always be 

 carefully protected. With a large forest reserve surrounding these lakes 

 and thus preventing the deep snows from melting too rapidly, and the lakes 

 as storage reservoirs holding back the spring freshets, the streamflow of 

 the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers can be systematically regulated, and thus 

 the water powers will gain enormously from a constant and even flow. 

 Wisconsin has gone much farther than the other States in developing a 

 definite policy looking to the full development of storage reservoirs and the 

 forest reserves will always protect the reservoirs from silting up. 



WOOD USING INDUSTRIES 



In 1910 a study of the wood-using industries of Wisconsin was made 

 in co-operation with the Forest Service, and the main points brought out in 

 the investigation are shown in the following short summary : 



Statistics covering the production of lumber and other products of the 

 saw mill and woods of the United States are compiled and published annually 

 by the bureau of the census in co-operation with the Forest Service. In 1860 

 Wisconsin ranked seventh in the list of States arranged according to the 

 quantity of lumber produced. Ten years later fourth place was occupied, 

 third in 1880, second in 1890, first in 1900 and 1904, second in 1905, third 

 in 1906, and fifth in 1907 and 1908. For the last mentioned year, figures 

 were furnished by 899 saw mills in Wisconsin, reporting a total production 

 of 1,613,315,000 board feet, or 4.9 per cent of the total output of all the mills 

 in the country. Though showing a decrease in production in comparison with 

 the figures of the preceding year, 1907, Wisconsin retained its relative 

 position among the States for production. The cut of white pine in the State 

 has decreased largely in the last few years, though this loss in production has 

 been offset by the increased output of hemlock and hardwoods. The State 

 ranked second in the cut of white pine, first in hemlock, third in maple, first 

 in birch, basswood and elm, fifth in ash, and second in tamarack in 1908. 



