HO TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



$18,566.25 was in settlement of offences committed prior to the current 

 year, and $1,085.00 for trespasses during 1906. 



The forest inspectors, game protectors, and other employes of the 

 Commission are now required by law to report immediately to this office 

 each trespass when discovered, its location, and number of trees cut; also the 

 kind of trees and diameter of the stump. They are provided with printed 

 blanks on which to make out these reports, and which must be mailed to 

 the superintendent as soon as the offender is discovered and the stumps 

 counted and measured. When the report is received at the Albany office it 

 is entered on a book of record and then handed to the legal department of 

 the Commission for immediate prosecution. In no case will a settlement be 

 made for less than three times the value of the timber; and in aggravated 

 cases or repeated offenses the defendants are indicted for grand larceny. 



There are no lumbering operations now on State land as formerly, and 

 the only trespasses committed by lumbermen are where the old blazed line of 

 a state lot has become obliterated, or where there is a disputed boundary. 

 The most of the trespasses in 1906 were by persons who cut trees for firewood. 



If the question is asked why these trespasses were not stopped before 

 I would respectfully call your attention to the fact that prior to the pass- 

 age of chapter 285, Laws of 1905, the business connected with the suppres- 

 sion of trespasses was entrusted by law to officials belonging to another 

 department of this Commission. When the business was placed in my 

 hands by this law of 1905 all lumbering on State lands was stopped imme- 

 diately, and timber cutting on the Preserve was suppressed so far that no 

 violations occurred last year, except petty cases among the poorer class of 

 residents who took trees for firewood, or persons who cut timber along 

 some disputed line or on some lot to which they claimed title and on which 

 they had paid taxes for many years. 



Area of Forest Preserve 



The Forest Preserve as defined by law includes the lands now owned 

 or which may be hereafter acquired by the State within the county of 

 Clinton, except the towns of Altona and Dannemora, and the counties of 

 Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, Saratoga, 



