24 ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



We have State lands in the Adirondack counties with an area of 

 1,347,280 acres; within the Catskill counties, about 92,708 acres; a total 

 State ownership of about 1,439,988 acres. During my incumbency in 

 office the Land Purchasing Board has been adding to the park lands in the 

 Adirondacks and Catskills by purchasing at a low price per acre, such lands 

 as it seemed advisable to buy, considering the terms and location, and, 

 also, the comparatively small amount of money set aside for that purpose. 



I suggest that a large appropriation for this purpose be made and 

 that land within the parks be purchased as fast as it can be obtained at a 

 fair price. Our State tree nurseries and the reforesting done under the 

 supervision of the State foresters have, and are attracting widespread 

 attention among persons interested in the work throughout the United 

 States. Man}' visits have been made to this State during the past year to 

 observe the work of the department in its reforesting operations. 



Whether wise or unwise, the Constitution prohibits the leasing of cot- 

 tage sites, or any other land in the forest preserve. In adopting it the 

 people evidently wanted that provision of the Constitution as it is. But, 

 as a practical matter, if this Commission, under proper restrictions and 

 regulations, had the right to lease small cottage sites two important things 

 could be accomplished without any injury to the park lands. 



First. A very large revenue could be obtained, somewhere from two 

 to three hundred thousand dollars annually. 



Second. Every person building a cottage or a camp, however small, 

 would have a property interest to protect from fire and would become a 

 protector of the forest. Further than that, a public park, now only access- 

 ible to comparatively a few people, would become accessible to the masses. 



It cannot be said that a business concern as large as the Forest, Fish 

 and Game Commission of the State of New York, and the law which gov- 

 erns it, can be brought up to a state of perfection in a few months, a year, or 

 a much longer time. The work from the first establishment of this Com- 

 mission, together with the law, has been in a state of evolution until fairly 

 good conditions have now been reached. There are many things, however, 

 yet to be accomplished in both. In my judgment the law should be 

 amended and strengthened in many respects. 



The system of licensing fishermen to use nets, which has long prevailed, 



