found 12 per cent of the area in swamp woods with dis- 

 tinctly forest character, forming at present the most 

 valuable part of the Reserve. We have here then 

 young growth varying from 5 to 50 feet in height, 

 from open Jack Pine and oak groves, to dense thickets of 

 tamarack, cedar and spruce, covering fully 56 per cent 

 of the total area. Assuming only 50 per cent of the 

 Reserve area thus stocked with young growth, we 

 have 19,500 acres of land with about eight million trees 

 from 5 to 50 feet in height, growing and making wood 

 as long as they are protected from fire. Assuming 

 that the yearly growth of these wooded areas is worth 

 only 20 cents per acre, the value of the total growth per 

 year sums up to $3,800, or more than four times the 

 amount of money actually spent in the protection of 

 the lands. In this estimate the growth on the other 

 50 per cent of the land, the constant betterment of 

 the forest, the steady increase in the rate of growth, 

 the better quality of the material grown on farger tim- 

 ber and the increase in price of wood, all have been 

 left out of consideration. 



Turning now to the character of the land, it will 

 suffice to say that these lands have long been logged; 

 have long been in the market at almost any price ; that 

 in the fall of 1903 over 80,000 acres of the neighboring 

 lands were offered by the State Land Office and only 

 about 10 per cent of the lands could be sold, and even 

 this picked 10 per cent only brought about $1.20 per 

 acre, or less than half what the Federal Government 

 sells arid lands for in New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana 

 and other remote mountain districts. And after all 

 these years of effort, Township 2i-N, R 3-W has but a 

 single settler and he is a bachelor homesteader, having 

 homesteaded a "Cedar Claim" as he naively admitted 

 himself. It is land which has remained without settle- 

 ment, unsightly, blackened, stump waste for a quarter 

 of a century; which for lack of a little protection has 

 been unproductive, of no value to town, county or 

 State. If on such lands it is possible to produce even 

 but ten cents worth of the much needed timber, does 

 not this protection promise to pay? 



Valuing the land at $1.00 per acre, as is now the 

 rule, it is necessary only to produce three cents worth 

 of timber over and above the expense of protection to 

 make it pay better than the average farm pays in 

 Michigan. Is this visionary, theoretic or extravagant? 



In carrying on the work of protection, all efforts 

 are made to prevent fire rather than to fight it. The 

 ranger patrols the district daily and whenever the 

 season is especially dry and fire risks therefore great, 

 the ranger is given authority to employ extra help. 

 The experience of the last two seasons fully demon- 

 strates that extra effort must be made directly after 

 the snow leaves in spring and usually after the heavy 

 fall frosts have browned the great mass of bracken, 

 sedges and other ground cover. At such times as 

 many as four men per township are desirable, though 

 of course, their presence is needed but a short time, 

 the first rain doing away with extra help. 



The results of the protective work were excellent. 

 There were no fires of any consequence during the fall 

 of 1904. Early last spring, however, a spell of dry 

 weather brought abundance of trouble. Numerous 

 fires were burning all about the Reserves, in a number 

 of places farm and other property was burned or de- 

 fended with difficulty and east of Roscommon several 

 villages were reported in danger. Day after day the 

 sun was obscured by smoke and would set a deep, red 

 ball of fire in a haze of smoke. A fire with a front over 

 a mile in length came from Kalkaska and threatened 

 to invade District No. i. It was successfully fought 

 with plough and shovel by the planting crew under 

 Ranger Hatch, so that not an acre of Reserve land was 

 scorched. 



