Forest Administration. 



For the administration of the forests a central organization was 

 arranged in 1859, at first in connection with the Central Board of 

 Surveying. Already in 1863, however, a separate Board of Forestry 

 was established. Its chief duties were in the beginning only the 

 economic care of the State forests proper, local administration for 

 the said purpose being arranged at the same time. After 1863, the 

 drawing-up of working plans also for the forests of the State fief- 

 lands was begun by the Board of Forestry, although these fief -lands 

 remained otherwise under the control of the Governors of the respec- 

 tive Districts. When in 1915 a new regulation decreed that only 

 arable and pasture lands were to be given out on rent, the forests of 

 the fief-lands were transferred under the control of the Board of Fo- 

 restry to be managed in the same manner as the other State forests. - 

 Since the year 1893 it has also been the task of the Board of Forestry 

 to draw up working plans for the forests of the ecclesiastical fief -lands, 

 the revenue from these plans to be made over, however, to the man- 

 ses and the. lands following the post of choir-leader, and to the so- 

 called building-funds of the respective parishes. 



Regarding the care of privately-owned forests, hardly any re- 

 strictions whatever were in force during the period between the be- 

 ginning of the nineteenth century and 1917. The surveillance of the 

 few stipulations ordained by the law in this respect was further not 

 in the hands of Forestry Board officials, neither \\a> there any spe- 

 cial organ for the purpose. The statutes confirmed on Nov. 2nd., 

 1917, for the prevention of the destruction of forests, ordained that 

 for the surveillance of the regulations contained therein a special 

 District Forest Committee was to be established in every administra- 

 tive district and to assist these, Parish Forest Committees, with the 

 Board of Forestry as a higher instance. 



The accumulation of new tasks at the Board of Forestry and, 

 before all, the widening and multiplication of the States' own forest 

 economy, compelled certain alterations in forest administration, more 

 particularly in the central organization. The new arrangement came 

 into force on July 1st., 1921. The most noticeable features of the 

 reform were: a more complete division of labour, a decentralization 

 of less important matters with a more effective concentration of 

 vital matters, a sharper control and sufficient rapidity, in the treat- 

 ment especially of business matters. Also in the local admi- 

 nistration of the State forests great alterations were made. The State 

 forests are divided into districts under the care of District Forest 

 Superintendents there being 102 of these districts in 1921, 

 including the fief-land forests and the experimental areas of 



