812 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



was recently acquired parts of it had 

 been logged over. It was therefore 

 covered with debris. A destructive 

 fire broke out on the twelfth of May, 

 1915, and again after two rain storms 

 on the twenty-seventh of May, and in 

 spite of all efforts is still burning on 

 the fourteenth of June. This shows 

 how difficult it is to put out a mountain 

 fire on cutover land, and how needful 

 to acquire it before it is cut. Unless 

 the remaining timber on the high slopes 

 is acquired before it is cut over, there 

 will be grave danger of other such fires 

 after the Government has acquired 

 the land. Lumber operations are active 

 in parts of the White Mountains. 



Considerable tracts of land have been 

 acquired in Bethlehem and Franconia, 

 including the northern slopes of Mt. 

 Lafayette and Mt. Garfield. A new 

 trail constructed by the Government 

 for making this forest accessible in case 

 of fire, opens up also to visitors for the 

 first time the summit of Mt. Garfield 

 and the beautiful falls on the north side 

 of the mountain. 



Two tracts have been taken in the 

 Pemegewasset Valley in the towns of 

 Woodstock and Thornton; one of these 

 tracts covers the eastern foothills of 

 Mt. Moosilauke and extends up to the 

 height of land that forms the Connecti- 

 cut and Merrimac watersheds. Here is 

 the Lost River, a series of glacial caverns 

 and giant potholes made by the receding 

 ice-sheet many thousands of years ago. 

 This small tract has been purchased 

 by the Society for Protection of New 

 Hampshire Forests. 



Not the least of the Government 

 purchases lies on the southern slopes of 

 Mt. Moosilauke; a tract of about 7,000 

 acres. This purchase includes the most 

 timber per acre and the highest value 

 per acre on the average, of any land 

 thus far acquired in the White Moun- 

 tains. Here much mature spruce tim- 

 ber is standing. Here the Government 

 has located the first of its felling opera- 

 tions. Over a considerable area that 

 has been partially cut over in years past, 

 and where the young growth is springing 

 up in excellent condition, a body of 

 mature trees is obstructing the develop- 

 ment of young trees. No better place 

 could be selected for beginning the 



work of logging under the Government 

 method. The mature timber needs to 

 be saved. Young growth needs more 

 light and relief from competition; the 

 brush will be disposed of so that no 

 danger of fire will remain. The form 

 of contract requires that a strip of 

 timber shall be left on either side of 

 the highway. 



And now the question arises, shall 

 the Weeks Act be renewed? The 

 experiment has been successful, and 

 shall the country embark upon this 

 permanent policy? New England an- 

 swers, Yes, and will work for the meas- 

 ure; but New England wants a larger 

 and more sympathetic view of her needs 

 in the administration of the new Act. 

 A glance at the map of northern New 

 England will show that in laying out 

 the present limit in which purchases 

 are made, no attempt is shown to cover 

 the head waters of the Androscoggin 

 River, the Kennebec River or the 

 Connecticut River. The Androscoggin 

 and the Kennebec have extensive nat- 

 ural lake storage, and, too, perhaps 

 the protection of their flow is less a 

 matter of immediate necessity. The 

 Connecticut River, however, has no 

 natural lake storage. Its flow is directly 

 dependent upon the forest cover. This 

 river affects directly the well-being of 

 a very large population estimated at 

 more than 2,000,000 people, located in 

 four States. It bears an extensive 

 commerce, and a strong movement is 

 on foot to extend navigation upon it 

 for many miles. Surely this river, if 

 any in the country, deserves adequate 

 attention at the hands of federal 

 authorities, to whom the administration 

 of the Weeks Act is entrusted. There 

 is a considerable body of wild moun- 

 tainous land in northern New Hampshire 

 that should be included in the Govern- 

 ment purchase in order to protect this 

 river. The original source of the Con- 

 necticut is in New Hampshire. There 

 is a large body of land in Vermont that 

 is equally important to its even flow. 

 Vermont has not yet passed the enabling 

 act, but is considering it, and will 

 probably do so at the next session of its 

 legislature. We ask particularly for a 

 larger consideration of the needs of 

 the Connecticut River. 



