In the fires of 1899, 51,565 acres were burned over, of which the State owned 3,558 acres, with a resulting loss of upwards of $60,000. In that year 15,560 days labor were employed in fighting fire at a cost of approximately $30,000. The cost to the State and to the towns in fighting fires will not be less than $185,000 for 1903, so that the total money loss from forest fires during that year will amount to more than $1,000,000. Owing to the vigilance and efficiency of the forest commission, only 12 per cent. of the fires occurred on State lands, but the loss to private owners is directly injurious to public interests. Four hundred and sixty-five thousand acres were burned over during the year, and it is apparent that unless the recurrence of such a catastrophe can be prevented, all efforts toward forest preservation will be in vain. These fires occur only in years of exceptional drought. They are due to railroads, to burning fallows, to the carelessness of campers and fishermen and to incendiaries. There was a general concurrence of opinion among those who appeared before the committee in attributing 50 per cent. of these fires to railroads. The railroads in the Adirondacks are: The Mohawk and Malone (N. Y. C. & H. R. R.), running through forest lands 127 miles from Forestport to Owls Head, and within the Adirondack Park 91 miles from Otter Lake to Rainbow; The Carthage and Adirondack (N. Y. C.

*Included in first item.

Included in second item.

& H. R. R.), in forest lands in or near the Park, 29 miles; the Racquette Lake (N. Y. C. & H. R. R.) 18 miles, wholly within the Park; the New York and Ottawa, 49 miles in forest lands from Dickenson Center to Tupper Lake, and 29 miles within the Park; The Chateaugay (D. & H.), from Chazy Lake to Lake Placid, 55 miles, of which 17 miles is in the Park.

A map showing the burned areas in the Adirondacks, prepared by the Bureau of Forestry at Washington, is made a part of this report through the courtesy of that department. It was verified before the committee by the testimony of the official who prepared it. From this map it appears that fires raged substantially throughout the entire length of each of these railroads, except the Racquette Lake Railroad. Of the 127 miles of the Mohawk and Malone, there was scarcely 15 miles free from extensive conflagrations on either side of its track. None of the other lines except the Racquette Lake is noticeably better, and one is distinctly worse. It is difficult after examining this map to credit 50 per cent. of the fires to other causes than railroads.

From the testimony of the officials of the State Commission on Forestry, the Forest Department at Washington and experts from Yale and Cornell universities, the committee is satisfied that reasonable precautions would effectually prevent railroad fires. They are substantially unknown in European forests, notwithstanding equal exposure. Not a single fire occurred along the 18 miles of the Racquette Lake Railroad, where petroleum is used. While fires would not occur except for the use of coal, they are only set from engines burning coal, by reason of gross carelessness and lack of reasonable precaution. The carelessness may appear in defective fire screens, but is

more likely to appear in engines overtaxed by heavy loads or high speed on heavy grades and throwing coals from a strong exhaust, and from carelessly dumping fire boxes. The lack of reasonable precaution is further shown by insufficient fire patrol. General slackness is promoted by inadequate laws fixing the liability for fire damage and imposing official restraint and supervision for fire prevention. There is no reason why damage to the forests by fire occasioned by carelessness should not be collected equally with damages suffered by private owners in more settled sections. In fact the obligation to the State to avoid damage in such cases is as much greater as the interest of the State and its people is greater in their own forests than in private lands. Legislation should be enacted requiring strict accountability in all such cases.

The larger forest fires occur not only in years of drought, but generally during the spring months before the foliage is developed, during a period varying with the season from April 1st to June 15th. Expert opinion is unanimous to the effect that with reasonably efficient laws providing against careless or wanton fire setting, a system of fire patrol will prevent extensive conflagrations. Such a patrol should be established along railroads and in sections frequented by campers and fishermen. As the need of this precaution exists only two months of the year, and in its full extent only in years of drought, the patrol should be organized as far as possible from the present force in the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, but with such additions as are absolutely required to make it effectual. The additional expense of maintaining a fire patrol along railroads should be borne. by the railroad companies and the State, and off the railroads, shared by the State and the towns proportionately to the value

of the State's holdings. The interest on the amount of the losses from fire in forests during the year 1903 would be adequate to maintain for all time a fire patrol service at what are now exposed points. Regular stations for dumping fire boxes should be established and strict regulations for their exclusive use enforced. The only true way to fight fires is to prevent them.

REFORESTING.

Closely related to fire prevention is reforesting. The dead timber and debris on denuded and burned lands are, in the absence of green timber, a standing menace from fire: a great menace in exceptionally dry seasons, and a menace at all times. Such tracts burn over repeatedly until the debris is completely consumed. The tendency is for such areas to enlarge their borders and every fire has an ill effect upon the soil. The only remedy is tree planting. Experiments already made by the Forest Department show this to be entirely practicable, the cost varying from three to five dollars per acre. If planted with soft woods, it will produce a forest cover furnishing all of the benefits of a forest except merchantable timber in from twenty to twenty-five years, and merchantable timber in from thirty to forty years. Under the terms of the forest amendment to the Constitution as thus far construed, the State government is powerless to remove or disturb this dead timber and debris, even though necessary to enable it to plant young trees. An amendment should, in our judgment, be adopted so far modifying its terms as to permit the Legislature to authorize the destruction or removal of the dead timber by the State itself through its own agencies and employees, and not by contract, for the purpose of reforestation.

In this connection, the committee find that the State is the owner of approximately 135,000 acres of lands lying in detached parcels ranging from 10 to 500 acres in counties in the Forest Preserve, but outside the Park limits, and for the most part wholly unsuited for a forest preserve. Present holdings of this class have been acquired from tax sales and it is anticipated that there will be future acquisitions in the same way. Much of it is not forest land, and its location renders its care by the State burdensome and expensive. In some cases the State's ownership is a positive damage to the community where it is located. There has been so much misapprehension on this subject that it may be well to illustrate: If a cottage within half a mile of the city limits of Utica, Ogdensburg, Plattsburg or Kingston were now, or so long as the Constitution remains in its present form should become State property through delinquent taxes, it would be a part of the Forest Preserve by force of the Constitution and the statute as it stood when the Constitution was enacted. So would a farm in the town of Potsdam or Lowville, or Saratoga or New Paltz.

The Constitution forbids a sale, and we recommend that such an amendment be made as will authorize the Legislature to provide for the sale of these lands when not suitable for a forest preserve and located so far beyond the limits of the Adirondack Park as to render their inclusion therein at any future time impossible. The proceeds of sales should be devoted to the further acquisition of lands in the Park. It is conservatively estimated that a half million dollars can be realized from this source.

The Constitution likewise applies to all of the State lands in the Forest Preserve counties of the Catskills, where no park has