Forestry Notes. 



205 



expenses of the little community." In these European com- 

 munities the question of municipal ownership is so well settled 

 there is but one side to it. In America we spend a tremendous 

 amount of mental energ>^ in discussing the academic question, 

 only to arrive at the conclusion that we are not honest enough 

 for such ownership, and it must be confessed that where municipal 

 ownership has been put to the test it has not always developed the 

 sense of responsibihty hoped for. 



the men who drew up the State forestry law of California five 

 years ago. They showed such confidence in their belief that they 

 left the appointment of Warden of the California Redwood 

 Park unguarded against political interference, although the selec- 

 tion of State Forester was carefully protected from it. There is 

 no question, however, but the California Board of Forestry, made 

 up of the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Attorney- 

 General, is essentially a poHtical body. As executive officer the 

 Forester is made a member of the board. Professor H. H. 

 Chapman, of the Yale Forest School faculty, has been closely 

 following for some years the practical working of the forest laws 

 adopted by the various States. This subject enters into his 

 course of instruction at Yale. He writes the results of his obser- 

 vations in Conservation for August, and touches upon the com- 

 position of forestry boards : "A progressive forest policy for a 

 State calls for absolute freedom from political connections and 

 for direction by men of proper training and knowledge of for- 

 estry. The experience of some States has indicated the best 

 method of securing an efficient and non-political management of 

 forest reserves. . . . This board should be composed of men 

 occupying positions of responsibility in the State, in educational 

 or technical Hues ; as for instance, the President of the State 

 Universit}', Director of State Geological Survey, Professor of 

 Forestry in some well-known institution. Five members should 

 make a large enough board." 



This is a conclusion quite opposed to the California plan; and 

 we regret to say that California may have furnished the author 

 with one fact on which to base his statement, as the present 

 Board of Forestry promptly displaced the excellent warden of 

 the Redwood Park, trained under the first commission and under 

 Governor Pardee's board, for a purely political appointee. This 

 transaction has created a great amount of irritation among the 

 frequenters of the Park and it is safe to say that it has greatly 

 discredited the State forest policy among the people. This is 



Chapman on State 

 Forest Policy. 



Such a behef in the ultimate effect of 

 responsibility upon politically elected State 

 officers of a high rank certainly influenced 



