2 74 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



As we are prohibited by law from attempting anything like forestry or forest 

 improvement, the work of the Department has been confined as usual to duties of a 

 police character, the suppression of timber thieves and prevention of fires. 



So far as I can learn from the reports of the foresters and my own observations 

 there has been no timber cut on State lands during the year 1897, other than 

 some petty trespassing. In no place have the axemen of the lumber companies 

 crossed the lines and cut timber on State lots. The few depredations that occurred 

 were committed by residents who wanted some building material or fuel. During 

 the year there were thirty-eight cases of timber cutting on State land, each of which 

 was duly prosecuted. The judgments rendered in these cases amounted, in all, to 

 $2,825.99. 



The amount seems small as compared with the wholesale cutting on State land that 

 prevailed when the Forestry Department was first organized, and for which, in 

 repeated instances, individuals and companies were made to pay $5,000 or more in 

 settlement of damages. But such depredations are no longer possible ; the cutting 

 could not progress far before it would be stopped If it were undertaken on disputed 

 territory, the State would promptly procure an injunction restraining any such 

 operations until the title could be decided. 



Under the provisions of the foresty law the firewardens of the various towns are 

 required to report annually the fires in their respective districts, together with a state- 

 ment of the number of acres burned over, the amount of damage, and the cause of the 

 fire. These reports having been collated and tabulated, it appears that there were 

 ninety-eight fires during the year ; that the aggregate area burned over was 26,187 

 acres; and that the total amount of damages was $26,941. Of the burned area, 2,105 

 belong to the State. 



Much of the burned territory reported by the firewardens consisted of land on 

 which there was only a scant growth of trees and no merchantable timber ; a large 

 portion also consisted of wild or waste lands, partly covered with dwarfed trees or 

 bushes. Some of the tracts were mere barrens that were burned over for the second 

 or third time, the ferns and brush having been fired intentionally by berry pickers to 

 increase the yield of fruit. Hence, the total damages are not as great as the acreage 

 would indicate. 



Although much of the burned area consisted of lands that were worthless before 

 the fire ran over them, these burnings are a greater evil than any measure of damages 

 would indicate, because they prevent any future growth of timber. It will be almost 

 impossible to reforest these areas that have been fired repeatedly, for the heat 

 destroys the soil itself, consuming the vegetable mold and leaving nothing but barren 

 sand or rock. 



