FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 63 



and one is detailed as required by law to the supervision of the St. Lawrence Res- 

 ervation or International Park. Thus, there are but thirty three landmen to cover 

 sixty-one counties. Some of the counties are so large and the means of travel so 

 inconvenient that several Protectors could work in the same without coming in 

 contact with each other. This is the case in most of the Adirondack counties, as 

 well as some of the Catskill counties, in which there are large tracts of State land. 



There is no Protector in the tier of six counties east of the Hudson River, 

 although this region is naturally prolific of fish and game. Formerly there were 

 two Protectors in that tier of counties, but they were legislated out of office when 

 the Fish and Game Commission was consolidated with the Forest Commission in 

 1895. In the Adirondack counties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Warren, Essex, Franklin 

 and St. Lawrence, containing approximately 5,000,000 acres of land, there are only 

 eight Protectors, one of whom is located on the St. Lawrence River. In these 

 Adirondack counties there are 1,000,000 acres of State forest land to protect in addi- 

 tion to the protection of fish and game. Under the circumstances I think the force 

 should be increased to fifty or more men, with the understanding that two of them 

 should be appointed in the counties east of the Hudson River, and seven at least in 

 the Adirondack counties above mentioned, one in the Catskills (Sullivan county), 

 one in Onondaga or Cortland county, and one at or near the head of Cayuga Lake. 

 At present there is no Protector in New York city, although I am firmly of the 

 opinion that one or more could work profitably in that great market for fish and 

 game. The general public does not object to appropriations for the purchase of 

 forest lands, nor to the maintenance of hatcheries, which they readily concede are 

 very beneficial in restocking the numerous depleted waters of the State, and it is 

 confidently asserted that more and better paid Protectors should be furnished to 

 look after the State's interest along these lines. 



In this connection I desire to call your attention to the fact that the v/ork 

 required of the Protectors is of a character dangerous to health and life. They 

 must enter alone on an almost trackless wilderness and on the large lakes and rivers, 

 and maintain themselves there for days at a time ; thus they must have the skill and 

 courage of experienced woodsmen and the ability of trained oarsmen. They must 

 be on duty under cover of nightfall, for it is at that time that nearly all violations 

 occur with fish pirates and pot-hunters. They must take their lives in their hands 

 and make warfare on illegal operators of fish nets, who are a most desperate class of 

 citizens, prone to the use of firearms in opposition to the law. They have to be 

 transferred from their home counties, at much expense, to other and distant counties 

 to work in cognito where the local Protector is known to every citizen, and word is 



