forest, fish and game commissioner. 53 



Catskill Lands. 



Forest i , 96 1 



Lumbered 4.144 



Waste land 2 , 699 



Denuded 322 



Burned 386 



Cleared 264 



Improved 251 



10,027 



The terms used in the Adirondack classification mean that Virgin Forest 

 consists of the primitive growth in which no timber cutting or lumbering 

 has been done; Lumbered Forest is one in which the lumbermen have 

 removed the soft woods down to ten inches diameter on the stump, leaving 

 the land under a forest cover to hard woods and small evergreens;* Second- 

 growth Forest stands for tracts that were cut, burned, or cleared many years 

 ago. since which the land has reforested itself with trees 25 to 40 feet high; 

 Waste land means tracts covered with a scrubby growth of dwarfed trees, 

 bushes, and briers; Denuded land consists for the most part of abandoned 

 clearings, or of areas covered with ferns, huckleberry bushes, or other small 

 growth ; Wild Meadows are clearings on which wild hay is cut each year and 

 includes beaver meadows ; Improved land is a term used by assessors to denote 

 farms or fields on which crops are raised or have been recently cultivated. 



Most of the lots are in scattered situations, a long distance from the 

 park, and cannot be properly watched or cared for without going to con- 

 siderable expense. If these outlying lands could be sold the proceeds 

 would purchase an equal or greater acreage within the park, where the 

 holdings would be better located, would help to consolidate tracts already 

 owned by the State, and would be better adapted to forestry purposes. 

 The timber lots, though widely scattered and small in area, would, when 

 duly advertised, bring large prices, on account of their accessibility; and 

 even the denuded and burned tracts could be sold at fair prices for farming 

 purposes. In short, it is better to transfer this acreage to territory within 

 the parks. 



* On private lands the lumbermen now take the smaller softwoods also, cutting 

 down to a diameter of eight inches or less. 



