The Alaska daily empire., 1920-04-06

term of forestry is based largely
 on conditions governing the forests of our own State. Our reasoning
 may not apply with equal force to
 other states, either those which have forests or those which have l none.
 First we desire to go on record
 as being of the firm belief that
 the public lands of the United States 1 should be given to the respective states in which they are located ! We would except areas tat have | special value from scenic or other
 viewpoints and which the govern
 ment can best maintain and admin 1 ister. The return of the public
 lands to the state would work no 1 financial loss to the government, as the records show that sinee the i inauguration of our Public Land l Laws the expense of administration | has exceeded the returns from sales 1 to settlers and others. The govern
 ment owns approximately one-third of the entire area of the State of 1 Washington. These vast areas com plicate our road system, our school system, detract from our taxation, retard development and threaten the welfare of our state. Though
 much money has been expended in
 refort station, no results worthy of
 mention have been accomplished in this state. At the same time. na- ture with bounty found only il few places in the United States has been reforesting and carrying for ward on such grand scale that untold acres are growing trees for con ing generations as it has done , fer centuries. Compare these vast areas with the few acres replanted by the government end no unbiased or practical man can approve the plan.
 We ere opposed to the plan pro
 posed for the exchange of publicly owned timber for privately owned logged-off lands This policy means constant increase of the acreage owned by the government and it will increase the government acreage until from holding one-third 1t may hold twothirds of the area of the State of Washington. This will in crease the taxes on the remaining acres owned privately The small allowance now made to the state for | forest protection is a niggardly ac- Enowledgement of a very large in- | debtedness. Each year the co-opera- | ton of forces. for protecting our for
 ests from fires is growing more effective The State Board of For est Commissioners gladly acknow- | lodges the assistance of the govern
 ment representatives in work per | formed and advice given, but we are
 not in sympathy with any legisla- tion which will give to any officials I control over the priyately-owned for
 ests or lands of this state. We will l not be quiet when we see a policy 1 being formulated that will hamper our citizens, complicate our manu- l featuring systems and create Ma tional Guard of Foresters which | shall have the power to dictate to
 men who have become practical lum- | bermen and foresters, and who need
 no theory of government to aid them in working out the problems
 of today and of the future. The
 policy of the State of Washington has been, and always will be, to conserve it's timber holdings, al 1 low nature to reforest lands unsuit-
 able for agriculture. and to add each year new and better methods for
 the preservation of our forests and their protection against fire.
 1 We shall maintain that our I state is entitled to all the benefits
 which come from being fortunate in
 having within it's borders millions
 of acres of timber land which will
 reforest if protected as it has done many times in the past.
 fWe look with fear upon the complicated system Of legislation
 suggested by the Chief Forester of the United States, Such system
 would mean that an army of paid officials would be necessary to do
 the work proposed, and that unless the policy of the. forest service is
 changed impractical officials will be
 sent out to enforce policy which
 they must learn after they are in
 the field. College training alone does
 not make practical foresters; only | experience does that.
 Our laws already provide that
 when the present stand of timber
 is removed from state lands they
 may be classified and reserved for
 forest growing purposes.
 Appropriate steps have been ta-
 ken to formulate plan of forestry
 for this state, which will be sub
 mitted to the next Legislature. to- gctber with recommendations for
 amendments to- our laws and for
 such action as the Legislature deems
 wise and proper"