Report of the Department of Forestry 

 For the year 1908 



Hon. James S. Whipple, Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner: 



SIR. — The work of the Forestry Department for 1908, as usual, was 

 varied and consisted of the administration and protection of over 

 one and one-half million acres of land owned by the State situated 

 in twelve Adirondack and four Catskill counties; the protection from fire 

 of all forest lands in the Adirondacks and Catskills, without regard to 

 ownership; gathering statistics from the many hundred sawmills and pulp 

 mills within the State and then tabulating these returns in order to ascer- 

 tain the kinds, and total amount of timber cut during the previous year. 

 Reforesting State land has also been carried on extensively and has now 

 become one of the most important kinds of work performed by this Depart- 

 ment. Additional lands have been acquired for the Adirondack and Cats- 

 kill Parks; several investigations have been made, the results of which will 

 be embodied in later reports. 



A detailed report of the different kinds of work maintained will be 

 found in the following pages under the headings of Trespasses, Forest 

 Fires, Annual Forest Production, Reforesting Operations, The Forest 

 Preserve and Investigations. 



Trespasses 



During the year but sixty-five trespasses were committed in the 

 State Forest Preserve. They were all carefully measured and reported to 

 the Legal Department of the Commission for prosecution or settlement. 



Forest Fires 



Serious forest fires have occurred in past years, but heretofore such 



fires, in any year have been confined to a single season. This year, how- 



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