The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-10
A FOREST POLICY :. ,.. ], !. FOR CALIFORNIA;
THE STATE TO SPEND $l5,ooo ON
 EXAMINATION OF FORESTS.
Character and Extent of Timber, Location of State Timber Lands, Suppression of Fires, Effects of Laundering and Planting on
 Chaparral Lands to Be,
 Investigated.
washington, D. C., July 9, 1903

Washington, D. C., July 3, 19O3
 With the intention of fixing upon a proper forest policy. California has un- dertaken this year, with the help of the Bureau of Forestry, comprehensive and detailed study of its forests The State Legislature recently appropriated $l5, 900 for the study, the condition being that it Forestry. and that the Bureau should bear half the expense.
 The State desires to know those facts about its forests that will guide it in passing wise forest laws It 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 on them, how forest fires may best be restrained. whether tree-planting in denuded areas will pay, etc.
 The task of securing all the information necessary for a forest policy for Cali fornia the Bureau of Forestry has begun this summer. The work is of such magni- tude that several years will be required to complete 1t. but valuable and sugges- tive results will be secured each year.
 The work has been begun on a large scale. Six men are now examining 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 in order to detersline the uses to which they may best be put, who should administer them, and what sort of administration they should have. A forest map of California will be made showing the location of all forest areas and distinguishing between the different kinds of forest. In connection with the forest map will be study of important trees in order to learn with exactness the commercial range of the valuable species An investigation will be made of the ef- fects of numbering on the forest in order to determine what ought to be done to cut-over lands. It Is of great importance to Know what happens to the land in different parts of the timbered regions af- ter it is cut over by the lumberman- whether 1t comes up again in timber or whether 1t becomes waste land.
 The effects of fire on the forest, espec- ially after numbering, and what may be done by the State to prevent fire are sub jects that will take long time to work out. In September E. Az 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 Califor- mia in order to learn whether 1t will pay to plant them with timber trees. very interesting question has been raised as to whether chaparral-which includes a great variety of scrub trees such as manzani- ta, scrub oak valley mahogany, and scrub cherry-will retain the moisture in the soil as well as timber trees. Chapar- ral grows denser than timber trees, and often reaches height of twenty to twen- ty-five feet and a diameter of sixteen to eighteen inches. L. c. Miller, who has charge of this work is now making a study of the conditions under which chap arral grows in the San Gabriel Noun tains, near Pasadena, where the Bureau has been planting pines and cedars for several years.
 The results of these separate investiga- tions will be gathered together by William c. Hodge of the Bureau. who has gen. eral charge of the California work. and will be presented to the State in formal report. accompanied by maps.