1 66 FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



The purchase of such a large acreage of land each year involves a large 

 amount of correspondence, the work and entire time of two inspectors, 

 much surveying, and a large amount of labor preparing maps in the office 

 and examining the titles. 



In order to carry on this work successfully both in the office and the 

 field, also for the use of game protectors and others to aid in locating State 

 land and protecting it, a map was necessary. This map is of great value to 

 the tourists who travel the forest sections, and it is the only guide for them 

 in locating State lands as they are not posted or otherwise marked. From 

 time to time such maps of the Adirondacks and Catskills have been issued. 

 During the past year a new Adirondack map was published by this Depart- 

 ment. The United States Geological Survey had completed the topographic 

 survey of a large part of the region and their data was used, as far as avail- 

 able, for this purpose. All known errors in allotment of the various tracts, 

 purchases, patents and grants were corrected and all State land owned at 

 that time carefully located and colored in red. The map even though it 

 embraces an area of almost four million acres, the largest portion of twelve 

 counties, is wonderfully accurate, has elicited the highest praise, and is the 

 authoritative map of the region. The demand was so great that the entire 

 edition was soon distributed and none are available for distribution at 

 present. The map should be corrected by adding recently acquired State 

 land, and a new edition should be printed. 



Our map of the Catskill Preserve is entirely out of date, and in some 

 respects wrong. The last edition of this map was prepared and printed in 

 1899, but since that time 55,000 acres of land have been acquired in the 

 park, nearly doubling the area of State land at that time. We have also 

 found that in a few cases the allotments used were not the correct ones. As 

 a result we are at a great disadvantage in properly conducting both our 

 office and field work. 



The Forest Preserve, even though a small portion of the total area of 

 the State, has been of immeasurable value in protecting our watersheds, 

 preventing floods, storing water, affording one of the great health and 

 pleasure resorts of the continent, and has aided materially in helping to 

 maintain the supremacy of the State. 



