FORESTRY. 



EDITED BY DR. B. E. FERNOW. 

 It takes 30 years to grow a tree and 30 minutes to cut it down and destroy it. 



WISCONSIN FORESTRY. 



Another State has fallen in line in for- 

 mulating a definite rational forest policy for 

 itself. ' May 22 of this year the Governor of 

 Wisconsin approved an act to establish a 

 system of State forests and to promote im- 

 proved methods of forestry. 



The first attempt to secure something of 

 the sort with any tangible result was made 

 6 years ago, when a commission of inquiry 

 was enacted to draw up a plan to protect. 

 and utilize the forest resources of the 

 State of Wisconsin. 



As a result of this action, through co- 

 operation with the Federal Forestry Di- 

 vision and the State Geological Survey, a 

 comprehensive forest survey of the forested 

 counties of the State was made and the re- 

 sults published as Bulletin No. 16 of the 

 Forestry Division ; also by the State Geo- 

 logical Survey. Various bills were pro- 

 posed by the commission on the basis of 

 this survey, but only this year did the mat- 

 ter take final shape. The act establishes a 

 department of State forestry,' under an un- 

 paid board of 5 State forest commissioners, 

 with the Attorney General, the Secretary 

 of State and the State Treasurer as mem- 

 bers ex-officio, the other 2 appointed by the 

 Governor. These are to appoint a super- 

 intendent of forests, with a salary of $2,500. 

 This is about half what a really competent, 

 first class man should command, and the 

 appropriation for carrying out the pro- 

 visions of the act is also a pittance, namely 

 $3,000. The superintendent shall be forest 

 warden of the State, and as such responsi- 

 ble for the enforcement of the forest fire 

 laws and for the protection of State lands 

 against trespass. In this capacity he is 

 clothed with sheriff's power, as are the 

 fire wardens and other officers under him. 

 He is to appoint 5 wardens, one or more 

 in each town of the forested counties, and 

 at request of supervisors in any county not 

 specifically mentioned. These fire wardens 

 ?re clothed with power to summon any 

 citizen to assist in putting out fires. The 

 county is to pay the expenses of such serv- 

 ice up to a certain amount, namely, not to 

 exceed $100 for each 36 sections in any one 

 year in any one town. 



This provision may occasionally become 

 impractical, and might prevent the extin- 

 guishment of fires, unless an emergency 

 clause is added, which,. under certain rules, 

 permits an excess over this expediture, 

 which excess might be paid by the State. 



This forest fire legislation had already 

 been enacted in 1898 and 1899, an d is only 

 amplified and the execution placed under 

 the new superintendent. 



The most important feature of the act, 

 however, is the establishment of a State 

 forest reserve, which is to consist of all 

 the lands still in the hands of the State, ex- 

 cepting swamp lands, lands suitable for 

 agriculture, wood lots convenient to farm 

 homes and isolated tracts not exceeding 80 

 acres. The reserve at present can not be 

 large, for in 1898 the State owned less than 

 300,000 acres in the counties concerned ; but 

 further acquisition of lands is foreshad- 

 owed by grants of lands from private own- 

 ers or otherwise. 



This reserve the superintendent is to in- 

 vestigate with a view of placing it under 

 forestry management and ruling out what- 

 ever is not desirable to hold in reserve. For 

 the present he is to cut only the dead and 

 down timber "with a view to the best pos- 

 sible financial return to the State." 



It is to be wondered where in Wisconsin 

 it may be practicable to cut dead and down 

 timber at a profit. This cautious provision 

 certainly does not recognize that forestry 

 is much advanced beyond the stage of mere 

 let alone or cleaning up. This half hearted 

 recognition of what forestry means is rather 

 disappointing in a State where, not the 

 sporting interest, as in New York, dictates 

 the forest policy, but the lumberman, with 

 good sound business sense, and presumably 

 with a realization of the fact that only re- 

 production, not non-utilization, is the hope 

 of the future. He ought to be the advo- 

 cates of sound forestry principles. 



To be sure, "the superintendent of State 

 forests shall, as soon as practicable, after 

 this law shall have gone into effect, estab- 

 list one or more forest experiment stations 

 for the purpose of conducting researches 

 into the best methods of forest manage- 

 ment under the conditions prevailing in the 

 various portions of Wisconsin" ; and this is 

 to be done in co-operation, whenever expe- 

 dient, with the State University, the State 

 Geological and Natural History Survey, 

 the various scientific bureaus of the United 

 States and other institutions of like char- 

 acter. 



What can such experiments in forest 

 management consist of? If forestry means 

 anything it means providing a wood crop 

 for the future. It certainly does not mean 

 keeping the nature-grown forest intact, for 



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