satisfy those engaged in the business of making paper or the business of making newspapers, but that would conflict with the interest of the public. Such solutions, in the age of enlightenment upon forestry which we may hope we are entering, would be no solutions, any more than unlimited and unconditional franchises were in the end a solution of the problem of rapid transit in our cities. It is the good fortune of the paper manufacturer and the paper user that the most practical solution of their common problem is a solution that benefits rather than exploits the nation. Here lies if not the greatest, certainly the highest value of reforestation to the American newspaper.

PROPOSED RECREATION RESERVE

Prof. A. B. Recknagel

Forester and Secretary. Empire State Forest Products Association.

Read at the meeting of the New York State Forestry Association at Albany, January 22, 1918.

T the Lake Placid meeting of the New York State Forestry Association on September 7, 1917, the Conservation Commissioner, in unequivocal terms, stated his position in regard to the cutting State timber. As quoted, this was as follows:

"The State of New York has been absolutely right in establishing its Forest Preserve and in prohibiting every form of lumbering therein

the Constitution has been the salvation of the Adirondacks and continues to be the safeguard of our forest land as nothing else could. I have become more than ever convinced that the best interest of the people of the Empire State-not of any small class of citizens-demands that we should adhere to the Constitution without abating one jot of its restrictions."

This may be taken as the Commissioner's deep rooted conviction, arrived at after careful weighing of all the circumstances in the case. As an editorial in "The Adirondack Enterprise" of September 11, 1917, put it:

.

"The importance of the position taken by the Commissioner after nearly three years in office is not to be underestimated. Commissioner Pratt declares that 'destructive lumbering followed by fire, produced the crematory' and is not perturbed by the reply of the scientific forester who says that the 'non-productive State land is a cemetery'."

It

Of course, this is counter to the economic trend of the times. does not matter how ardently the aesthetic interests oppose the proper utilization of the State's timber-when the economic pressure becomes sufficient, utilization will be brought about. The present wood fuel shortage is a case in point.

But to defer this consummation is fraught with loss to the Statenot only directly in revenue (estimated by the Commission itself at $635,000 a year* and by President Ostrander of the Empire State Forest Products Association at $1,200,000 a year**), but indirectly in aggravating the opposing extremes of "cemetery" and "crematory" to which I have repeatedly referred as characterizing the State land, and much of the private timber land respectively, in the Adirondacks and Catskills. The State Superintendent of Forests has aptly stated this indirect detriment to the State's interest:*

"During the past few years there has been agitation for legislation tending towards State control of cutting of forests on private land. There is no doubt that some operators are sacrificing their forests for present needs, and are cutting trees of too small sizes, a practice which results not only in a loss to themselves but in injury to the State. Their argument is that they have large mills and investments which require the raw material. The regulation of cutting on private lands would necessarily reduce the supply which the mills are securing at the present time. If their argument holds, the securing of a supply of raw material from State land would enable them to lumber their lands more conservatively and thus, instead of having State lands with large and overmature forests and, at the same time private holdings which have to a certain extent been severely cut, the result would be that the entire territory would be lumbered conservatively, better forests would be maintained over larger areas, and the entire production of timber would be increased."

My own experience supports this: it is a condition which is accentuated by the present shortage of raw material—especially pulpwood, and the increased demand for forest products-especially paper.

The policy of "laissez faire" is therefore not a safe one to follow. A middle ground should be sought which will bring about the proper co-ordination of all the interests which use the forests.

Here again the wise report of the Conservation Commission for 1913 points the way when it states (p. 67): "The purpose could be best accomplished by classifying the Preserve into areas which should be maintained as protective forests and into other areas which could be used

*Third Annual Report of the Conservation Commission, 1913, pp. 24 and 68.

**Proceedings, Twelfth Annual Convention, E. S. F. P. A., Utica, N. Y., November, 1917.

for wood production. The former would include mountain tops, steep slopes, or other places where it might be difficult to maintain the fores* cover, and which should not, therefore, be lumbered. The latter would include the lower and more level sections where operations could be profitably conducted without injuring the forest cover, leaving, however, belts around lakes and other places where the aesthetic or camping interest was more important than the commercial."

The full face words are mine and bring out the point that such a "protection forest" would serve the recreation interests-sports, health, pleasure, tourists, etc.—exclusively. In this respect it would be like the National Parks. It might therefore be called a "Recreation Reserve."

I have attempted to locate such a "Recreation Reserve" as the result of four months continuous travel in the Adirondacks during the past season. A careful study of the region best suited for such a playground points to the area around Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. This area includes the greatest Adirondack health and pleasure resorts. As described below and shown on the accompanying map, it comprises, roughly, 200,000 acres.

It is the Heart of Hearts of the Adirondacks. Within

it no green timber on State land should ever be cut; without its boundaries the practice of conservative cutting on State land may-nay should be allowed for reasons which have been repeatedly urged. Of course, this cutting will leave adequate fringes of timber around lakes, along highways and wherever the unsightly scars of cutting might give offense to the eye of the pleasure seeker.

Not over 2 per cent of our 10,000,000 State population actually visit the Adirondacks and these do not penetrate over 10 per cent of the forest area. They stay close to the resorts, as a rule, and few venture into the outlying areas of State owned timberland which are nevertheless reserved for their supposed delectation. Such eclectic policy may well be confined to the proposed Saranac Recreation Reserve described as follows:

"Suggested Boundary of Proposed

"Saranac Recreation Reserve

"To be Kept Forever as Wild Forest Lands.

"No Green Timber to be Cut Thereon.

"Beginning at the Southeast corner of the Town of St. Armand, Essex County, thence Westerly along the North boundary of Lots III and