Only about 190 acres have thus far been added to 

 the Reserve lands by purchase of desirable pieces. A 

 number of additional tracts were offered for sale to the 

 Commission, but a lack of funds made their purchase 

 impossible even though the prices were for the most 

 part reasonable. The purchase, especially, of cut- 

 over swamp forests would certainly prove a good in- 

 vestment and it seems a pity that more of this class 

 of lands can not be acquired when offered. 



No lands have been sold or exchanged as yet and 

 the only application to purchase any of these lands 

 came from a man who does not even live on the farm 

 he owns, but resides in town and subsists by teaming. 



As in the past, the principal work on the Reserve 

 consists in: 



Protection of the land, principally against fire. 

 Reforestation and improvement. 

 Survey and classification of the lands. 



Protection of the Lands 



The question is often asked: "What is the use of 

 protecting these lands when all the forest is cut and 

 burned off? " To understand this condition it is neces- 

 sary to trace the history of these lands since the forest 

 was cut and also keep in mind the character of the 

 lands themselves and their value. 



After fire followed the lumbering operation and killed 

 the greater part of the smaller and less valuable mate- 

 rial left in lumbering, sun and wind had access to the 

 ground, which, itself was freshly fertilized by wood 

 ashes and there was still abundance of seed distrib- 

 uted by the remaining large trees and groves of trees 

 to seed the land. Soon there sprang up a growth of 

 aspen or poplar and sprout woods of oak and in many, 

 probably most places, the thickets of aspen and oak 

 soon were dotted by thousands of young pine which on 

 account of their slower growth were hardly observed 

 at first. In this re-seeded or re-stocked condition these 

 lands were easily worth $10.00 per acre to the State of 

 Michigan, but unfortunately the value of these lands 

 was not recognized, they were given no protection 

 whatever, and thus in a few years a second, often more 

 serious fire, swept over the land. 



This second fire not only destroyed practically all 

 young growth but usually burned down what rem- 

 nants of defective trees survived the first fire and thus 

 left the ground without seedling as well as without 

 trees to get new seed from. In addition the second 

 fire usually burned the organic material on the ground 

 to a very serious extent and thus sadly impoverished 

 the soil. 



After the second fire re-stocking was quite slow and 

 yet Nature made renewed efforts. The persistent oak, 

 though killed back to the very roots, sent up new 

 sprouts and the light seed of the aspen was blown in 

 from many miles away, but the pine was no longer to 

 be found all over the burns, but occurred sparsely and 

 in only a few spots where even the second fire had not 

 killed all there was. Even in this condition there was 

 hope of a new forest cover. There was abundant 

 growth to warrant protection and care. But the 

 same policy continued. The State and county did 

 not see fit or did not feel able to protect the millions of 

 dollars worth of property. As soon as enough dry 

 leaves and twigs accumulated on the ground to make 

 another fire possible, there was plenty of carelessness 

 to supply the match. This third fire and like it the 

 fourth and fifth (for many spots on the Reserve have 

 seen at least that many) was a mere "surface fire"; a 

 fire which bears hardly a semblance to the regular for- 



