The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-07-17
REGULATIONS FOR
BERRY P|CKERS
INDUSTRY OF CONSIDERABLE
MAGNITUDE FURNISHED EN-
PLOYMENT FOR ABOUT $500
PEOPLE DURING THE SEASON IN
THE KABETOGANIA DISTRICT
MANY FROM HERE GO.

Special forms and regulations for
control of commercial BURBERRY pick
ing on the Kabetogama State Forest
north of Orr have been issued by Gro
yer M. Comet, commissioner of forestry
and fire prevention.
The regulations apply only to COM
mercial operations in the Kabotagama
area Private individuals picking for
home use have free access to the blue
berry fields, whether on the State For
est or private land in that area, recog-
nized as the greatest BURBERRY country
in the state, says Mr.. Comet.
All commercial picking must be done
under permit and approval of the
Forestry Department. Special use per-
mitS are sold to small number OF
buyers, which gives them the right to
hire pickers on the area they have
leased and makes them responsible for
all damage and losses caused by the
piGkers they hire.
In addition to the land in the State
Forest, which totals about lot, 900
acres owned by the Virginia and
Rainy Lake Lumber Company are sub
ject to similar regulations. l.. R.
Beatty, district forest ranger, in charge
of the area in which these lands are
located, has been made special agent
by the lumber company, with authority
to lease and supervise their land in
the same manner as the state lands.
A summary of the regulations is:
A lease must be procured which costs
$500 per township.
Money from state land leases goes
into the trust fund.
Each permittee must furnish the
picker with an identification card
which centralizes responsibility.
Camps for the pickers must be kept
clean and orderly.
Green trees are not to be cut or
damaged.
Extreme caution must be used with
fire, and the costs of fighting fires
caused by berry pickers are to be
borne by the buyer holding the permit.
Private individuals have the right to
pick berries for home consumption
without being molested by the COM
mercial pickers.
The fire hazard has been extremely
high for the last three years, and was
greatly increased by the large number
of people attracted to the berry fields.
The fields were overcrowded by double
the number of pickers required. Care
leSSneSs with smokes and camp fires
started forest fires and created a criti-
cal situation. Drastic regulation and
supervision was found necessary not
only to prevent the immediate area
from being burned but also to save
forests on adjoining lands.
A large majority of the pickerS are
Indians. Entire families are imported
by the buyers from the various reser-
vationS in Minnesota and even from
Wisconsin. In 1928 it was estimated
that there were 1900 people, which was
more than doubled in 1929 when there
were $500.
The BURBERRY plant follows fire in
a region suitable to its growth. A
large percent of the area was logged
before 1920, and burned over by large
fires within few years. The first
commercial picking was in 1920, when
the crop was estimated to have been
5000 bushels. The crop grew until In
1928 it amounted to about 10000
bushels. 1t was estimated that about
$4,000 bushels were harvested in 1929
and 1880.