Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1903-07-28
FOREST POLICY.
California to Spend $4,000 In Ex-
animation Of Resources.
The Bureau of Forestry to rlake
Studies Upon Which Forest
Legislation Will be Based.


a proper forest policy, California
has undertaken this year, with the
help of the Bureau of Forestry, a
comprehensive and detailed study
of its forests, The state legislature
recently appropriated $4,000 for
for the study, the condition being
that it should be carried oat by the
Bureau of Forestry, and that the
bureau should bear half the ex-
penses.
The state desires to know those
facts about it's forests that will
guide it in passing wise forest laws.
1t desires to know, for instance,
what disposal should be made Of
the state forest lands, what should
be done to regulate the cutting Of
timber 90 them, how forest fires
may be restrained, whether tree
planting in denuded areas will pay,
etc.
The task of securing all the i'm
formation necessary for a forest
policy for California the Bureau of
Forestry has begun this summer.
The work is of such magnitude that
several years will be required to
Icomplete It, but valuable and sug-
gestive results will be secured each
year.
The work has been begun on
large scale. Six men are now ex.
aiming public lands in the state to
determine what parts of them are
suitable for national forest reserves,
and similar studies will be made of
lands for state reserves. A study
will be made of all lands owned by
the state 10 order to determine the
use to which they may best be put,
who should administer them, and
what sort of administration they
should have. A forest map of Cali
tornia will be made, showing the
location of all forest areas and dis
tinguishing between the different
kinds of forest. In connection with
the forest map will be a study of
important trees in order to learn
with eXactness the commercial
range of the valuable species. An
Investigation will be made of the
effects of numbering on the forests
IN order to determine what ought to
be done to cut-over lands. 1t is Of
great Importance to know what
happens to the land in different
parts of the timbered regions after
it is cut over by the lumbermen-
whether it comes up again in tim
Der or whether it becomes waste
land.
The effects OF fire on the forest,
especially after numbering, and
what may be done by the state to
prevent FIRE are subjects that will
take long time to work cut. In
September e. A. Sterling, of the
Bureau, will try to determine what
is the cheapest and most effective
method of protecting from fire land
that has been numbered.
The bureau will also make a
study of the chaparral lands of
Southern California in order to learn
whether it will pay to plant them
with timber trees. a very inter-
esting question has been raised as
to whether chaparral-which in
cludes a variety of scrub trees,
such as manzanita, scrub oak,
valley mahogany and scrub cherry
will retain the moisture in the
soil as well as timber trees. Chapar-
raj grows denser than timber trees,
and often reaches a height of 20
to IS feet and a diameter of 10 to 10
inches. l.. c. Miller, who has
charge of this work, is now making
study of the conditions under
which chaparral grows in the San
Gabriel Mountains, near Pasadena,
where the Bureau has been plant
ing pines and cedars for several |
years.
The results of these separate in
vestigations will be gathered to-
getber by William c. Hodge, of the
Bureau, who has general charge of
the California work, and will be
presented to the State in a formal
report, accompanied by maps.