366 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



OtI)er Tfyan lousiness Considerations. 



There is no doubt that the majority of the people who were interested in the 

 preservation of the Adirondack woods under State ownership never looked at the 

 proposition as one involving business considerations ; they did not conceive the woods 

 in the hands of the State as objects of profitable exploitation, as a thing with which to 

 do anything else but leave it alone. Some saw in the wilderness only a pleasure ground, 

 a health-giving resort, a park to be set aside for the use of those who need and could 

 afford the relaxation of a life in the woods. Others had conceived that the climatic 

 influence of the forest cover on water supplies imposed the duty on the State to look 

 to the preservation of the forest cover. 



To the first proposition — namely, that the State set aside a pleasure park — that 

 portion of the people who cannot afford to take advantage of it naturally objected ; as 

 to the latter proposition, that the water supply of the State required forest conserva- 

 tion, doubts regarding this relation and the need of State protection are by no means 

 unfrequent or untenable. 



But both these classes of advocates of State ownership of the woods have over- 

 looked the fact that their objects are attainable without sacrificing the other functions 

 which a forest is to fulfill, namely, the furnishing of wood supplies. It is not necessary 

 to withdraw this large area of land from economic use; it is not necessary to make it 

 an expense, a burden on the taxpayer. On the contrary, the protective function and 

 the luxury function can be subserved as well as the economic function, by a proper 

 system of forest management, which takes into consideration the esthetic as well as 

 the business aspects of the property. 



Forest preservation is attained in the same way as the preservation of mankind, by 

 reproduction, by removing the old and giving a chance to the young crop. This 

 involves the cutting of trees, to be sure; but if this is done with regard to securing a 

 new growth of better composition, it is the rational method of forest preservation. 



The forest policy of the State will only be completely and rationally rounded out 

 when the State forests are managed for revenue as well as for the other benefits that 

 may be derived from them under skillful foresters, such as the State College of 

 Forestry is intended to educate. 



