25 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Parcfyase of Igands. 



We would again respectfully ask that your honorable body take some favorable 

 action to provide for the purchase of forest lands in the Adirondack and Catskill 

 region. We do not deem it necessary to rehearse here the many arguments in favor 

 of forest preservation. We assume that you are already familiar with them. For 

 years the newspapers throughout this State have set forth the various reasons without 

 a dissenting editorial. From the press and the people comes an unanimous demand 

 that the Legislature shall recognize the importance of this question by making yearly 

 appropriations for forest purchases, until the entire area of the Adirondack and Cats- 

 kill parks shall be included in the Forest Preserve. 



Such appropriations are different from the ordinary items of the yearly budget, 

 and are entitled to preference. They are not an expenditure, but an investment; and 

 a safe one, that is convertible into cash at any time. While the State is expending 

 millions each year for which it has nothing tangible to show, why not put a part of it 

 where there will always be a first-class asset, and at the same time protect the vast 

 interests which are dependent on forest preservation ? If it was right to vote $9,000,000 

 for deepening our canals, it is certainly right and absolutely imperative that the Legis- 

 lature appropriate the necessary amount for protecting the water supply. A similar 

 idea suggests itself in relation to the constant expenditure for dredging and deepen- 

 ing the Hudson river, and for the construction of dams to assist the decreasing energy 

 of the water wheels throughout the State. 



A large amount of good forest land is now offered to the State at a very low figure. 

 If not purchased soon, these offers will be withdrawn. Much of this land can be 

 bought now for $1.50 per acre. The spruce and hemlock have been removed from 

 these lands, but the hardwoods and young conifers remain. Their function as a pro- 

 tective forest is not seriously impaired. 



The State is a joint owner in a large amount of land in the Forest Preserve tracts, 

 in which it has an undivided interest with some other party. The lots in this class of 

 land aggregate 34,120 acres. Money should be appropriated to enable the State to 

 buy out the interest of the joint owners. Otherwise, the joint owner, who has all the 

 rights of a partner, will go on the land and cut over the entire lot or lots, after which 

 he can tender the State its share of the value of the timber, and the State is powerless 

 to prevent such action. 



• Nor has the State any right to complain. By a provision of its new Constitution 

 it has debarred itself from cutting timber or obtaining any revenue whatever from its 



