FORESTRY LAMS OF NORTH CAROLINA.^ 



INTRODUCTION. 



The General Assembly of 1915 enacted more legislation for the con- 

 servation of our natural resources than any previous one in the history 

 of the State. The eastern fisheries, part of which had been protected, 

 but the greater part exploited almost without restriction, were all put 

 under a State-wide Fisheries Commission. This law ought to insure the 

 growth of our fishing industry which for a long while has been steadily 

 declining. The Highway Commission bill, though not, strictly speak- 

 ing, a conservation measure, is one of the most complete and effective 

 laws for the encouragement and construction of good roads now in force 

 in the South ; and good roads are so closely connected with consen'ation 

 that it is difficult to separate them. 



The new laws connected with forest consen'ation, though not as com- 

 plete and effective as the tw^o already mentioned, because unsupported 

 by any appropriation, cover, however, a wider field, and definitely com- 

 mit the State to two policies, new in I^orth Carolina, though well tried 

 and permanent in many other States of the Union. These policies are : 

 (a) State protection of the private as well as public forest lands of the 

 State from fire, in the same way that cities and towns provide for the 

 protection of the property of their citizens; (h) the purchase and ad- 

 ministration of forest land by the State for the purposes of demonstra- 

 tion and experiment, for the recreation, health, and pleasure of its citi- 

 zens, and for the protection of its streams. 



In order that a clear understanding may be had of the administration 

 of the new forest fire law and the "State forest" law, the enforcement of 

 which is intrusted to the State Geological Board, the law creating this 

 board is here introduced. 



THE STATE GEOLOGICAL BOARD. 



The General Assembly of 1905 reorganized the State Geological Sur- 

 vey, enlarging its scope and changing its name to the State Geological 

 and Economic Survey. At the same time the Survey. Avas given addi- 

 tional powers and duties to those it already possessed dealing Avith the 

 investigation and development of the natural resources of the State. 



*Spe Press Bulletin No. 147, N. C. Gcol. aud Eoon. Survey, "Forestry Laws of North 

 Carolina." 



