poses that not only will not further increase in value or volume, but will deteriorate and become a total loss if not utilized within a few years after reaching maturity. When these trees die they fall to the ground and greatly increase the fire hazard. The lands containing mature timber are not accumulating wood growth because, on the average, decay equals growth.

The proper use of this great area is a matter of vital importance. The constitutional inhibition practically prevents any direct use, except for camping, hunting and fishing. The entire wood production on the mature areas is at present a total loss because there is no utilization of the larger trees. If we assume that the average annual growth should be 200 feet per acre per annum then the annual growth on the merchantable forest areas alone would approximate 240,000,000 feet B. M. Once the land is placed under systematic forest management, this amount could be secured annually without reducing the forest itself. It means taking the interest on the wood principal. The quantity would be further increased by ultimate growth on what are now non-merchantable areas and through reforesting of denuded lands.

Figures, e. g., 240,000,000 feet B. M., as such, do not convey their full significance. This represents nearly one-third the entire lumber cut of the State. If cut into inch boards there would be sufficient lumber to build a board walk 150 feet in width from Albany to Buffalo.

The present system does not best provide a future supply of timber. If the annual increment were utilized it would tend to increase forest preservation by reducing the demands upon other areas. Price is regulated by supply and demand; therefore, decreased production of timber causes higher price, and the increased price tempts the owner to harvest his forest crop.

The timber cut of the State is decreasing. It has been reduced from one and one-quarter billion feet in 1908 to less than one billion feet in 1912. The cut of spruce in one of the largest counties has decreased from approximately 24,000,000 in 1910 to less than half that amount in 1912. The present lumber cut of the State is an enforced one. The portable mills are manufacturing what the larger operators are unable to secure. The cut is approximately five times as much as the annual growth, and

FOREST AFTER BEING LUMBERED UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT

consumption is at least sixteen times the growth. The question of the source of supply of our necessary wood materials is one that must be seriously considered. Our demands are great and, under present methods, will soon lead to exhaustion, but if the resources of the State are properly developed the necessary supply can be produced.

The present use of the Forest Preserve is protective and aesthetic. The practice of proper forestry methods will not affect either use. The effect of lumbering operations under such practice as conducted on the parks of Dr. Webb or the Whitney estate are scarcely visible today. These forests have cleaner floors and are freer from debris than similar areas on the State land, in fact such operations have improved the appearance, the dead, down and diseased trees having been removed.

Only a few people appreciate the fact that nearly all the merchantable material in a forest is contained in a few of the larger trees. The larger trees are but a small proportion of the whole stand, therefore, their removal does not injure the forest cover.

There are instances when large quantities of timber upon State lands have been injured by fire but the particular Commissions charged with administration of the property, acting under opinions of the Attorney-General, have not been able to utilize the material. There are other cases where valuable material cut in trespass cases has been left to decay because the Constitution semed to prohibit the utilization. There are similarly quantities of dead and down timber that cannot be removed. Such material left upon the ground does not result in any value that the State might secure through indirect benefit. In fact, fire-killed or cut trees are an incentive for trespass and increase the protective work. On the other hand, any provision for limiting the sale of timber to fire-killed trees would be a great incentive to a would-be purchaser to cause fire in order to force the cutting.

If the restriction is to be modified the modification should not be limited to fire-killed trees. If only dead and down trees are permitted to be removed the cutting of roads for removal will be so out of proportion to the value of material and utilization that there will be no profit or benefit derived by the State.

Camp Sites. We have already called attention to the fact that

there are approximately 580 miles of shore line suitable for camping purposes. There is a distinct demand by the people for permanent rather than temporary use of these lands. At present only tents with board floors are permitted. They are sufficient for the transient but the person who desires to spend a few weeks, especially with a family, requires, in order to secure proper enjoyment, a structure that affords better protection and will allow housing of equipment during the remainder of the year.

A demand has, therefore, been developing that the State lease. small parcels of land for a period of years for that purpose.

The State is now maintaining this vast area at a large expense and such use would detract little, if any, from the demands made by the State upon this area. The general opinion seems to be that a permanent occupant, contrasted with a transient, would become a better protector of the forests, fish and game, that the investment made as a result of the lease would create in the lessee a personal, permanent interest in protection of the forests from trespass or fire, an assurance that the fishing in the body of water upon which he was camping would not be injured by illegal methods, nor game similarly taken.

There can be no question that such use would produce a revenue, although there would be required an initial investment for surveys and organization.

There are questions, such as the size of parcel; period of lease; proportion of sites, on a particular body of water, to be used; amount of rental to be charged; restriction to be imposed; supply of wood for fuel; and doubtless others which must be considered. They are largely administrative problems, but some of them are so broad that they affect State policy.

Indirect Uses. The fact that many of our important rivers have their headwaters in the Adirondack and Catskill region and that forest cover has a beneficial effect in regulating the flow of streams coupled with numerous other previously enumerated functions makes the preservation of forests within this area of great importance to the State. It is a factor which, as a matter of State policy, deserves first consideration. The really important question is how much the indirect benefits will be reduced if the direct uses (lumbering and leasing of camp sites) are realized.