SBD BULLETIN 364, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
gion—Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas. Louisiana has provided 
by law for a forestry department under the State Conservation Com- 
mission, but for lack of funds it has never been organized. Alabama 
endeavored to establish a forestry commission, but the law author- 
izing it was declared unconstitutional on account of an error in the 
procedure of enactment. 
Thirty States have established forestry departments. Some have 
placed them under departments already established, namely, the 
board of agriculture in Colorado and Vermont; agricultual experi- 
ment station in Connecticut, Kansas, and Ohio; geological survey 
in North Carolina and Virginia; agricultural and mechanical college 
in Texas; State school of forestry in North Dakota; State land de- 
partment in Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota; and forest, fish, 
and game department in Tennessee and West Virginia. New and 
separate organizations have been created as forestry boards or com- 
missions by California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, 
New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. New 
Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin have consolidated their forestry 
departments with so-called allied departments into conservation com- 
missions, and, similarly, Michigan has put the forestry work under 
a public-domain commission. Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode 
Island have given control to a forest commissioner or State forester, 
who, as in the case of the board or other organization, is directly 
.responsible to the governor or the legislature. 
Whatever the character of the organization may be, the best 
results will be obtained by keeping it free from politics. If a single 
officer directs it, his tenure of office should be permanent and he 
should be removable only for cause. If a new and separate board is 
organized, it should be nonpartisan and the members should receive 
no compensation other than necessary traveling expenses. The ex 
officio membership of the board should comprise officials who are 
removed from politics as far as possible, such as the president of the 
State University, director of the State forest school or agricultural 
experiment station, and the State geologist. Appointees to the board 
might be chosen, as in some States, upon the recommendation of 
organizations interested in the advancement of forestry in the State, 
such as conservation, forestry, agricultural, lumbermen’s, or timber 
owners’ associations. 
The State forester should be chosen solely for his fitness for the 
position and should be a technically trained forester of experience. 
If he is to werk under the direction of a board he should be appointed 
by the board. 
The forestry department should be authorized especially to or- 
ganize a forest-fire protective system; to cooperate with private 
owners and towns; to acquire lands for State forest purposes; and 
