Report of ff)e 5 a P er tatendenf of 



Forests. 



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



GENTLEMEN : — I have the honor to submit herewith my annual report on the 

 forests of New York, both public and private, so far as they are related to forestry 

 matters of a general character — the increasing area of the public preserve, the 

 annual product of the woodlands that are not controlled by the State, the damages 

 from forest fires during the past year, the suppression of timber thieving, and other 

 subjects connected with the work of the Forestry Department. 



The total area of the State of New York, land and water, is 32,129,920 acres. 

 The assessed acreage, not including Kings, Queens, and New York counties, 

 is 28,118,284 acres. The total area of woodlands is estimated, approximately, at 

 7,065,000 acres. Of the latter amount, the Great Forest of Northern New York 

 includes 3,588,803 acres of contiguous woods, as computed from the assessment rolls 

 of the forest towns, in which the acreage of each lot is stated, together with a 

 description of its character, whether forest, waste, denuded, or burned. The four 

 Catskill counties, Ulster, Greene, Delaware and Sullivan, contain large forests whose 

 area is estimated at 1,565,000 acres. The combined woodlands of the State cover . 

 about twenty per cent, of the entire territory, and include not only the great forests of 

 the Adirondacks and Catskills, but the smaller woodland tracts and groves scattered 

 throughout the farming counties. The percentage is less than that of Germany, but 

 more than that of France. 



With the exception of the Adirondack forest it is difficult to arrive at any accurate 

 figures for the wooded areas. There has been no State census since 1875 ; and the 

 census then taken of our woodlands contained so many errors that it cannot be 

 accepted as reliable. 



The United States census of 1890 offers little or no information on the subject. 

 If the actual forest area of this State is to be determined it will have to be done 

 through work and methods inaugurated by this department. 



The area of the Forest of Northern New York has been accurately ascertained and 

 classified through statistics prepared in this office, from which it appears that there 



are 3,588,803 acres in that territory. 



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