Conservation Commission 69 



nent camper has a personal interest in the locality where he re- 

 sides, while the transient is usually careless and lacks this interest. 



There are about 130,000 acres of land in small isolated parcels, 

 sometimes as small as one-eighth of an acre, and in a few cases 

 consisting of a few hundred, scattered over large areas outside 

 the park and not answering any purpose required by the State. 

 They are expensive to protect and cannot be sold because the Con- 

 stitution prevents. 



There are disadvantages as well as advantages in a change of 

 the constitutional prohibition but the balance is decidedly in sup- 

 port of more use of this large resource. As a question of economy, 

 is it wise to permit the annual waste of 250,000,000 feet of lumber 

 worth, at least, $1,000,000 ? Should not this great area be made 

 not only self supporting but revenue producing? Why not con- 

 vert a $1,000,000 loss and $365,000 expense into a substantial 

 revenue? The State owns in the Forest Preserve 120,000 acres 

 of denuded land which cannot be placed under forest cover ex- 

 cept by planting and, which, therefore, does not at present fulfill 

 its function. If a portion of this proposed income could be used 

 for reforesting this area the State's revenue would eventually be 

 further increased; funds would be available to purchase other 

 lands, and thus the State's holdings be increased. The present 

 fire protection system should be supplemented by more mountain 

 observation stations and additional forest rangers, and unless this 

 is done the great forests, which the Constitution aims to protect, 

 will not be preserved. The revenue from the lease of camp sites 

 would further increase the income. The small detached parcels 

 outside the Park should be exchanged for lands within and the 

 holdings consolidated, thereby decreasing the protective expense. 



Placing this area under honest, practical, forest management 

 will not detract from its beauty or protective value, and will not 

 only give us needed wood supplies and a large net revenue, but 

 will permit the extension of the Preserve. The German, French, 

 Swiss and other nations have been securing these triple results. 

 Are they our superiors ? 



Changes in Constitution 



The so-called Burd-Merritt amendment, providing for the use 

 of 3 per cent, of the Forest Preserve for water storage purposes, 



