62 ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Catskill maps, and to indicate definitely the location of each one of the 

 6,262 separate parcels of land which constitute the Forest Preserve. With 

 this printed list of lots each forester, inspector, and fire-warden knows the 

 location of the lands which are in his care and custody, and the property 

 that requires his particular supervision. 



In section 216, chapter 20, Laws of 1900, the Preserve is defined as 

 follows : 



' The Forest Preserve shall include the lands owned or hereafter 

 acquired by the State within the county of Clinton, except the towns of 

 Altona and Dannemora, and the counties of Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Ful- 

 ton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Warren, 

 Washington, Greene, Ulster and Sullivan, except 



1 . Lands within the limits of any village or city, and 



2. Lands not wild lands acquired by the State on foreclosure of mort- 

 gages made to loan commissioners." 



The second exception renders it difficult in some instances to determine 

 whether a parcel of land belongs to the Preserve. A farm property, sold 

 under foreclosure, may contain a large tract of woods or " wild land " as 

 well as cleared or cultivated ground. The question then arises whether 

 the portion containing the woodlands does not belong to the Preserve. 



It is not always easy to draw the line between wild land and pasture. 

 Then, again, some of the areas acquired by the State under foreclosure 

 of mortgages made to loan commissioners are now abandoned farms that 

 have grown up to brush or trees, and which in a few years will become 

 second-growth forests. For these reasons several lots obtained through 

 foreclosures are included in the list. 



The list contains, also, some lands acquired through tax sales, the 

 title to which may be doubtful, owing to errors on the part of the assessors 

 or tax collectors. These errors had not been discovered at the time of the 

 tax sale, and so the title to the lands passed nominally to the State. As 

 these lots are entered upon the books of the Comptroller as State land, it 

 becomes necessary to include them here as part of the Forest Preserve. In 

 fact, these lands with their disputed titles cannot be stricken off the schedule 

 except by order of the courts or action of the Legislature. 



The large tract in Franklin county, bought by the Forest Preserve 



