Report of ff)e 3aperintendent of 

 3tate Forests. 



To tl)e Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests: 



GENTLEMEN : — The forestry work of this Department has been carried on during 

 the past year with satisfactory results. Forest fires have been of rare occurrence — 

 the damage from this source being merely nominal as compared with the destruction 

 and devastation wrought in former years. The burnings this season were few in 

 number and small in area. It is a matter of congratulation that none occurred on the 

 Forest Preserve. With one exception, these fires started near the outskirts of the 

 main forest, or along the highways where, for the most part, they originated in brush 

 fires started by farmers for clearing land, from which the flames, driven by wind or 

 through lack of proper watching, escaped into 'the adjoining forest. The exception 

 referred to was a fire that occurred in the interior of the wilderness, and which was 

 started from an abandoned camp-fire of some fishermen. In nearly every instance, 

 incipient fires were promptly extinguished through the activity and efficiency of the 

 local firewardens, of whom there are 281 in the woodland towns. The reports of the 

 firewardens include also some cases where small tracts of waste or brush land were 

 burned over — these fires originating from locomotives, or from incendiarism on the 

 part of huckleberry pickers with a view to increasing the next year's crop. The 

 damage from this class of fires is slight so far as regards present conditions ; but it 

 involves a loss, in this, that it prevents the future reforesting of these waste tracts. 

 This class of fires, which at one time were a regular occurrence each season, have been 

 so far minimized that we have reason to believe they will soon be prevented altogether. 



The activity and efficiency of the foresters throughout the Adirondack and Catskill 

 regions is well attested by the fact that there has been no timber cutting or trespassing 

 on State land during the past year, aside from cases in which the title to the land was 

 in dispute, or where there was a misunderstanding as to the location of boundary lines. 

 Even in such instances the cutting was promptly stopped before it had proceeded to 

 any serious extent. The penalty in each case was promptly enforced. Occasional 

 reports were received of petty depredations, based on the thieving instincts of indi- 

 viduals, which are as difficult to suppress in a forest community as in the inhabitants 

 of a city. 



The lumber and wood-pulp industries of our State continue to make a heavy drain 

 upon the resources of our Adirondack forests. The demand is increasing; the supply 



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