392 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
VII-1-b. The procedure of classification is initiated by application of the 
owner to the State forester. The State forester, after an examination, decides 
whether the qualifications have been met and, if so, issues a certificate of classifica- 
tion, which he files in his office, copies being filed with the tax commissioner, and 
with the board of assessors of the town. A copy also goes to the owner, who must 
have it entered on the land records of the town. 
VII-2. The requirements for continued classification are as follows: The initial 
qualifications must be maintained. Wood and trees on classified land owned by a 
farmer may be cut by him when necessary for his own use in the conduct of the 
farm, or for improving or erecting buildings thereon. The law contains no pro- 
vision with reference to the effect upon classification of transfer of the property. 
VII-8. Declassification may be effected by the State forester whenever he shall 
ascertain that the property is no longer used for the purposes contemplated by 
the law, notice thereof being sent to the tax commissioner, the assessors, and the 
owner. 
MAINE. FOREST TRACT EXEMPTION, PASSED IN 1872, AMENDED IN 1907, 1909, AND 1927 
Revised Statutes of Maine, 1930, ch. 13, sec. bs paragraph XI. 
Properties classified as ‘‘set apart for * reforestation”? are exempt 
from the property tax for a period of 20 years. "The land must be cleared land or 
land from which the primitive forest has been removed, which has been planted 
or set apart for the production of forest trees and successfully cultivated for 3 
years, the trees at the time of classification being not less in number than 640 per 
acre and well distributed. The procedure of classification is initiated by applica- 
tion of the owner, to the assessors, stating that such land is set apart for the sole 
purpose of reforestation and for the benefit of the State, and stating all facts in 
relation to the growth and cultivation of the incipient forest. The trees must be 
kept alive and in a thriving condition during the 20-year period. 
The two remaining exemption laws of the optional type, those of 
Indiana and Iowa, are very similar. These laws are designed to 
promote better management of farm wood lots by requiring as a 
condition of classification the exclusion of grazing and the maintenance 
of a full stock of growing trees. They both provide for assessment 
of the land at a specific figure, $1 per acre in Indiana and $4 per acre 
in Iowa. 
The Iowa law permits the greatest ease in listing or withdrawing 
lands, but in practice the owner is obliged to ask for renewal of class- 
ification each year, as the listing is not treated as automatically con- 
tinuous.” The administration of this law is in the hands of the town- 
ship assessors, whose knowledge of the properties concerned is relied 
upon to prevent improper classification. The Indiana law contains an 
unusual provision designed to prevent it from being used by specula- 
tors as a means of tax avoidance. A law that offers such substantial 
reduction in taxes might ordinarily attract applications from owners 
having no interest in the practice of forestry, but who wished to hold 
for appreciation in value real estate having possibilities of development 
for residential, resort, or other purposes. Such an owner would count 
upon withdrawing his land from classification when the time was ripe 
for sale or other disposition. This abuse of the law is effectively 
prevented by a declassification tax equal to the increment in value 
from the time of classification as determined by comparison of an 
official appraisal made and placed on record at the time of classifica- 
tion with an appraisal made at the time of declassification. 
Relative to the privately owned forest area, the Indiana law is one 
of the most widely applied of optional laws, including those providing 
for a yleld tax. Over 86,000 acres, or about 2.5 percent of the private 
20 The obligation on the owner to apply for renewal of classification each year is apparently not imposed 
by law, but it is reported to be an administrative requirement, by W. F. Sullivan, in an unpublished master’s 
thesis, lowa State College. 1928. 
