WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



323 



ALABAMA. 



The forestry work in Alabama has been done through the 

 State Commission of Forestry consisting of the Governor, as 

 chairman, and 5 other members, and through the Commission in 

 co-operation with the United States Forest Service. 



The following quotation from a report of John H. Wallace, 

 Jr., State Game and Fish Commissioner and Secretary of the 

 State Commission of Forestry, will serve to show in some meas- 

 ure the condition of Alabama forests and the work undertaken 

 for their protection : 



*'In conformity with the plan outlined by the State Com- 

 mission of Forestry, bulletins have been issued directing the 

 attention of the people to the economic value of the forests of 

 Alabama. Although circumscribed in action by the very lim- 

 ited appropriation made by the legislature, still such labors as 

 we have been able to prosecute have been fruitful of most ex- 

 cellent results. To a large extent the reckless destruction of 

 useful timber trees has been checked, the annual burning of 

 forests has been discouraged, and many inquiries have been 

 made by the people with a view of engaging in the art of timber 



*'It should be most gratifying to the State Commission of 

 Forestry to know that the Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington classes the statute that brought us into official existence, 

 as pre-eminently superior to any law ever enacted in the United 

 States for the preservation and protection of the forests. The 

 State Commission of Forestry should continue to disseminate 

 useful information among the people, that will awaken them to 

 an active interest in the preservation of their woodlands. 



"Within a decade practically every vestage of the remain- 

 ing virgin forests of Alabama will have been cut away, hence 

 the problem which will confront the people of the state is the 

 care of their second growth growing timber which in time, if 

 properly treated, will develop into commercial trees. * * * * * 



"The work of saving the forests of Alabama from complete 

 obliteration, which has been begun so favorably, should be vig- 

 orously pushed, even into the remotest sections of the state, 

 for upon the preservation of the trees depends the health, the 



