The New York Forest Owner - Volume 6, Number 9

the VOIce of 255,000 forest owners in New York- representing an ownership of II million acres

'l;,,!:\>:~4·'!\'·'The forest, compr rsmg 1/3 of th'e land area of the United States, consti-.,\ihtes a basic natural resource vitally important to the economic and spiritualwell being of the American people, - Preamble to Forest Policies of theSociety of American Foresters, 1968.

"!:SlDENT JOHN STOCK SAYS_~~VU'.V."'"TO THE ADIRONDACKS"

_:I&res, "The Adirondack's a great. I know because I have spents in what I consider to be theNew York State.

pure Adirondack forest tanged~...., ••., enj oying the 6th Annual Fall

of NYFOA."

e reservations for our Annualeeting of NYFOA Friday andy Sept. 20 and 21 and timedthe moment when the splendor

ON HUNTINGTON TOUR(right)

, Huntington Forest Wildlifeand William C. Tierson, For-

~"""lCLger, stand in fr ont of one andacre deer enclosure and beside

containing 20 channel record-_ ipment, used in study of deerhabits and preferences.

The 6th Fall Meeting program getsunderway with a tour of the 15,000acre Arthur and Anna Huntington Wild-life Station operated by the State Uni-versity College of Forestry at Syra-cuse University.

Stop No. 1 on tour of the Hunting-ton Forest will be right off Route 28Nat the site of a former CCC Camp, 2miles west of Newcomb, N. Y. and 12miles east of the village of Long Lake.

Plan to be on hand promptly onFridaySept. 20 at 12:30 noon with allindividuals having had their lunch be-fore this time. Then you will have anopportunity to register, and duringthe 45 minutes between 12:30 and 1:15you can then walk through a splendid,intensively managed white pine plan-tation, one of the finest white pineplantations in the Adir ondacks.

Automobiles will assemble alonga woods road just off the main high-way Route 28N. From there it will bean easy walk through the white pineplantation.

Atl:l5tol:30 there will be awel-come by President Stock and by Dr.Donald F. Behrend, Director of theHuntingtonForest, just prior to start-ing the auto tour of the HuntingtonForest. The tour by car begins prompt-ly at 1:30 and continues until 4:30.Late comers will find signs to enablethem to join up with the car caravan.

Stop 2 on the tour will be at theSpring Hill area. Here is an unusualopportunity to see the managementsteps taken by chemical thinning, toimprove the forest and compare it withthe native untreated woods just acros sthe road. Bill Tierson, Forest Man-ager of the "Huntington Forest, and

BILL TIERSON, PROFESSIONALFORESTER NUZZLES "STUBBORN""2 year old buck, hand raised from afawn. Bill Tierson is a native NewYorker with 17 years experience onthe 15,000 acre Huntington Forestwhere annual timber harvests aremade on designated areas.

Don Behrend will act as leaders onthe tour.

Stop 3 will be in the Catlin LakeLanding. This is a natural area andan undeveloped 500 acre lake that isas untouched today as it was when theAdirondack Indians enjoyed it for thecenturies before Columbus discoveredAmerica. With good weather and vividautumn color s, there should be an ex-cellent opportunity for picture taking.

Stop 4 is one of the unique featuresof the Huntington Forest researchareas. It will show what happens tothe woods when deer are kept out,through a fenced exclosure. We willlearnfrom Don Behrend how the deerpopulation can be managed in harmo-ny with timber growing and yet keep(continued on page 2)

(continued from page 1)an adequate supply of browse for thedeer.

That evening, Friday Sept. 20 at7:00 to 8:00 there will be a dinner atthe Riverside Lodge, 2 miles southof Tupper Lake on Route 30. Then af-ter remarks by President Stock, thenext hour will be taken up with an il-lustrated talk on the Huntington For-est's wildlife and management of for-est by Don Behrend and Bill Tierson.Kodachrome slides will show the pro-gram and beauty of the HuntingtonForest at different seas ons.

Saturday morning Sept. 21 break-fast will be served at the RiversideLodgefrom7:30to8:30. At 8:30therewill be a 4mile trip to the Rock IslandMill of Elliott Hardwood Co. Here'there is an installation of new forest'industry equipment that totals around"a million dollars. Some of it is al-. ready in use, part under construction..At this point John Stock, Supt. ofLitchfieldPark Corporation's 28,000.ac r e forest, will be the leader.

At 10:30 to 10:45 a. m. a coffee'break will take place and from 10:45to 11:30 there will be a demonstrationof the new Rokon Trail-Breaker, aremarkable two wheel vehicle recent-ly approved by the Forest Service forforest fire fighting when especiallyequipped.

The last half hour of Saturday morn-ing will be used to summarize whathas been observed and to provide aquestion and discussion period beforeadjournment at 12:00 noon.

The paper .used in the programs ofthe 6th Annual Fall Meeting was manu-factured from New York forests byFinch Pruyn Co, , Inc., Glens Falls,N. Y. Our many thanks are due thiscompany for providing NYFOA withthe finest quality program and paperand printing in any program producedto date. This arrangement was ex-peditedbyNorwoodW. Olmsted, For-est Manager, FinchPruyn Co., Inc , ,1st Vice President NYFOA, assistedby Finch Pruyn's Robert D. Green-leaf, Chairman of the Program Com-mittee for the 6th Fall Meeting.

As stated in the hands omely print-ed program "We gratefullyacknow-ledge the assistance of Don Behrend,Bill Tierson ofthe Huntington Forest,John Stock of Litchfield Park Corp.and other NYFOA members who haveparticipated in the preparation of theprogram. "

Just a final personal suggestion -please dress informally for this oc-casion. Be prepared to dress warmlyas there is always a chance that at

DON BEHREND, SPECIALIST INFOREST ZOOLOGY, EXAMINESSAMPLE of dry ration deer food, con-sisting of corn, alfalfa and oats fromone of the 20 deer feeders used in re-search project. In background, sus _ .pended grille fronts on deer feederswhich are readily pushed back whendeer want food. Time and frequencyof deer feeding is electrically record-ed.

this time of year in the great Adiron-dack country there will be a frostytinge in the air that calls for warmerclothing. So come prepared for rainor shine, - but come prepared to en-joy yourself at our 6th Fall Meeting!

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OFFOREST INSECTS

Research on forest insect popula-tions has generally been concernedwith quantity. Since the degree of dam-age to trees is related to insect pop-ulation density, it is necessary tolearn why some insects periodicallyincreas e in quantity and devastate theforest.

Recently there has been a growingrecognition of the possibility that qua-lity of a population may have an im-portant influence on quantity. The fallwebwor m , a defoliator of hardwoodswhich is being investigated at the De-partment of Forestry and Rural De-velopment, ForestResearch Labora-tory, Fredericton, N. B. illustratestwo ways in which changes in the qual-ity of natural populations may haveimportant effects on survival ratesand hence on changes in numbers.

The webworm normally feeds dur-ing the summer, but in a late or coldseason the caterpillars are unable tocomplete their feeding stage until lateSeptember or October. By this timehardwood foliage has become less nu-tritious and the fecundity of the fe-males is reduced.

More imp.ortant, however, is theconsequent reduction in the quality of

their progeny the following yMany of the eggs fail to hatch andsurvival of the young caterpillarssignificantly lower than the sur

of caterpillars that come from »sefed parents. This change in qis not a genetic change, but can betributed to a maternal influenceer ating thr ough the quality orof egg yolk.

A second change in the qualitywebworm populations fromyear is a genetic changethrough natural selection.

In addition to the poor feeding cditions in cold summers, many cpillars are unable to reach thestate, which is the only stage CCl.pa.uu

of over-wintering. The insects unato reach this stage are the late insethat required the most heat beforeemer ged in the spring. Thus,an unusually cold summer, the mheat requirement of the next genertion is considerably reduced as the rsult of natural selection.

This has been established byyears records on natural populatiin New Brunswick and Nova Scand the genetic control of heat reqments has been verified by laboratbreeding experiments.

During a series of warm sthe webworm population increasesso, too, do its heat requiremNatural selection is thereforeas a stabilizing mechanism be cthe conditions that permit incrin numbers also permit thecation of "weak" (high heat restrains which will be decimated ridly by a change in the weather.

As a result of these changesquality and their effects on the retion of t4~ popul.ari on to its e...nYirment from year to year" similardies have been initiated on thebudworm. Is a change in the qof the budworm associated withperiodic outbreaks?(Source: Research News, Dept. ofForestry and Rural Development -Canada May-June, 1968)

The different species of weodare used for interior panelingplywood offer many contrastingishes from one room toSimple finishing methods,waxing, impart soft warm tonesin many instances havethe finish with a fine patina foryears and more, with relativelyecare. Again, interior panelingbe delivered to the job completefinished and ready for application.

is grow-

P EOP LE ENJOYERTOWN WOODSWALK

For the second time in two yearsNajer, NYFOA director andof four Certified Tree Farms

the host on July 20 to NYFOA~..:.u.uvrs and friends in the Chester-

enjoyed my Woods Walk. I hadalot ofwork. during the past year

_ •. .aa.u a lot of help from good people- e Conservation Department, theen County Vocational School,Conservation Service, etc. What

me most of all on the Woods;'as the very appreciative audi-

had expected more people, - but9 showed up. I think the time be-mailing the Forest Owner and

date scheduled was too short. Aof people had social commit-

_ This was also true of the tworvation Department forestersDistrict 12 that had expected to

- THE PANTHER MOUNTAINLance L. Killmeier, 1961

"=tteofthe New York State Rang-001 (New member of NYFOA).

day by coming along. I got the enclos-ed letter from him yesterday withthree NYFOA memberships.

"The Hansens were there, - andMr. Henry Maag from Castleton. An-ton Cooper, a student member, askedme if he could bring his parents, bro-ther and sister. That was all.

"However itwas a very homegene-ous group and the weather was p.erfectwith a cool breeze blowing.

"What interested my visitors par-ticularly were the exotic evergreens

FOREST OWNERS ON TOP OFPANTHER MOUNTAIN are rewardedwith a clear view of Adirondack coun-try,

and the hardwoods in my nursery.These include butternut, black cherry,Chinese chestnut, silver maple, Wis-consin weeping willow and black lo-cust.

"I have trails through the Christ-mas tree plantation that is growinginto ·forest size. These have beenpruned and improved for small wild-life Shelters. The Woods Walkers en-

VALLEY AND DISTANT MOUN- joyedseeingmynature trail. We fin-TAINS are blended on this view from ished up on the Wilderness Trail,the cliff ofthe Panther Mountain Trail. climbing to the top of Panther Moun-_______________________________________t~a~i~n~. ~

ARSON I

The autumn of 1963 was a dry one, resulting in one of the worst fire yearsin recent times. These periods of drought and extreme fire hazard are of graveconcern to all who own wild land and particularly to those of us who do not liveon our properties. It takes only one carelessly dropped or deliberately appliedmatch to start a conflagration!

During mid-October of 1963, there had been a scattering of suspicious firesin eastern Rensselaer county, a couple of them big ones. Shortly after noonon the 23rd, a man from Fire Control dashed into my office to say that the ob-server on Number 7 Hill had just reported a fire "on Cook's place. " Knowingthat the crisp, dry leaves lay a foot deep in the hardwood lots that are inter-mingled with my conifer plantations, I had visions of thirty years of planningand work going up in smoke.

Ida and I made it to Cooxrox Forest in rather less than the usual traveltime, but even that took an hour. In the meantime, the Stephentown Fire De-partment had also got the call, had gone in and quickly put out the fire, andhad long since gone home. The fire had been set in the dry leaves and deadferns at the edge of the traveled track of our Town road, had-bur ne d up to thestone wall and north on a gentle breeze about fifty yards, but had gotten overthe wall in only one place. It blackened a couple of nice Paper Birch on theroadside, scorched the fronts of a number of Norway Spruce and two of myprized Larch. Only prompt detection and suppression stopped it from burninginto a stand of hardwood where the firemen would have had difficulty gettingto it.

Thanks to excellent detective work by Forester Ed White and ConservationInvestigator Bob McCann, two local youths were picked up and, under ques-tioning, confessed to having set the fire. Subsequently, they were indictedand presently sentenced- -to what amounted to a severe slap on the wrist! Thisleniencywas, presumably, because of their youth, but they surely were bothbig enough and old enough to start a forest fire!

Just after supper this last Halloween, I had a call from a neighbor, whoreported that the fire engine had just gone in to my place. Again we had vis-ions of a burn-out and again we sped eastward, but when we got to the Forestan hour later, there was nothing left but the smell of smoke and a burned spot.

LONG RUN CANADIANFORESTRYOUTLOOK

The long run outlook to 1975 andbeyond for Canadian forest productsexports is bright and a challenge toCanadians.

The Food and Agriculture Organ-

If forest products industry com-panies can establish sound trainingprograms to retain and advance theiremployees, in addition to shoulderingtheir responsibility for absorbing asmuch of the local enemployment prob-lem as possible, they will have madea significant contribution to the reliefof employment problems nationally.

More importantly, direct effortsto sustain the work force in forest-dependent communities will providebasic stability not only in terms oftheindustry's Iaborf or ce , but to all citi-zens who derive their livelihoods fromforest operations, whether directlyor indirectly.(Source: Special Report, NationalForest Products Association June 14,1968)

ization ofthe United Nations estimatesthat in aggregate, the world will re-quire a:t least one-third more indus-trial wood in fifteen years time thanat present.

It is expected that before 1975,Europe, the south and west of theU. S. S. R., and Japan will encounterlimits to the rate at which more woodcan be made economically availablefrom their forests. In contrast, verylar ge additional quantities of conifer-ous roundwood can be harvested inthe northern and eastern part of theU.S.S.R. and in North America.

The restricted accessibility of thenorthern and eastern forests of theU.S.S.R., to 1975, may be one of themajor restrictions to increasing out-put there,_In this period, North Am-erica is considered by FAO to be theregion most able to raise its annualoutput by the largest quantities with-out an appreciable rise in real costsand prices.

To strengthen the forest productssector of our economy which accountsfor 20 per cent of the value of all goodsexported from Canada; to ensure acontinuing favourable balance of pay-

Once again, the fire company had responded to a call and had promptly putout another roadside fire. The match had been applied to the not-particularly-dry leaves at the edge of the road right opposite the fire of 1963. On a brisknorth wind, It had bur ned downthe roadand into neighbor Cohen's birch woods,had just begun to fan out at the head when the firemen doused it. Except forthe unsightliness of the scorched spot, no consequential damage was done butifit had gotten just a little further away from the road it would have been hardte atop. Allfar as I can find out, this obviously-set fire was never reported--whoever touched it off had a bit of good, clean Halloween fun and got awayscot-free.

So what's all the excitement about a couple of little roadside fires that didno great damage? If nothing else, they are symptoms of a complicated anddeep-seated social problem and a breakdown of civil protection for the land-owner. With the depopulation of very considerable blocks of-land still readilyaccessible over miles and miles of little-used Town roads, a firebug with acar can get into many an out-of-the-way place, start a fire and get out againbefore anyone knows what is going on. No matter how it is dressed up or how"young and innocent" the offender, setting a woods fire is still ars on, andthe consequence for others can be tragic. And even if the police catch up withsomeone- -unless it be with match in hand-o-they have great difficulty in mak-ing a charge stick. Since the recent decision about the use of confessions, byour city-oriented Supreme Court, we non-resident owners are increasinglyat the mercy of any crackpot with a match!

Perhaps one of the things that NYFOA should start campaigning for istougher, tighter judicial enforcement of the present, adequate laws aboutwoods burning. It is one thing to have a statute on the books, quite another toquickly and surely apprehend a wrong-doer. We badly need some realistic in-doct.ri.nat.ion of the courts, from J.P. up, so that those responsible for lawenforcement in rural areas do not find their best efforts brought to nothing bythe misplaced lenience at the Justice's court and lack of public support foradequate punishment. If we don't get such support, we could well find our-selves in a situation where no man's forest is safe from the thrill-seekingwoods burner and where the rural landowner is denied the "equal protectionof the law."

Let's do something about it!Dave Cook of Cooxrox Forest

ments position; and to improve theCanadian competitive pos ition for for-estproducts inworld markets; an ag-gressive forestry program during thenext decade is vital.(Source: Research News, Dept. ofForestry and Rural Development -Canada May-June, 1968)

CANADIANWOODPULPWoodpulp export sales were 4 mil-

lion tons in 1966 and were higher dur-ing the first six months of 1967 than,for the same period in 1966. Threequarters of the exports, 3.0 milliontons, went to the United States. Eur-ope bought 668,000 tons.

Exports to Japan, Australia andSouth Africa have risen rapidly in re-cent years and are expected to con-tinue increasing. Canada's exports toJapan Incre as ed ten-fold from 1961 to1966, while thos e to Australia doubledin the last five years.(Source: Research News, Dept. ofForestry and Rural Development -Canada May-June, 1968)

CANADIAN LUMBERThe traditional and maj or markets

for Canadian lumber are the UnitedStates and the United Kingdom. Othermajor markets include Japan, Australia, Central America, France,Netherlands, South Africa, Belgium ,Luxembourg, Italy, West Germany,and Ireland. U. S. housing starts de-creased in 1966 to a low of 845,000units and the $525 million export peakof 1965 fell. With a sharp reversal inthe availability of credit, a sharp turn-abouthas occurred and the 1967 totalis expected to be 1.3 million units.U. S. pr o'spe ct s indicate a further im-provement to 1.5 million -Irous ingstarts in 1968. The improvement willexceed, if attained, the total housingstarts in Canada for 1968. Since a ma-jor por t i'onof Canadian lumber will beused in the U. S. residential buildingprogram, 1968 should be a very fa-vourable year for lumber exports.(Source: Research News, Dept. ofForestry and Rural Development -Canada May-June, 1968)

PLYWOOD FROM CANADASales of Canadian softwood and

hardwood plywood, marketed mainlyin the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates, have almost doubled196"1. In 1966, plywood sales amounted to $73 million and are expected tobe higher in 1967 and 1968.(Source: Research News, Dept. ofForestry and Rural Development -Canada May-June 1968)

IT'S UP AND AWAY to the woods,riding in a farm wagon with an up-holstery of baled hay.

CENTURY OWNED WOODS, SITEOF NYFOA'S 3RD WOODS WALKFOR 1968

Ten participants in member HoytAckles' Woods Walk on July 27, gotunderway riding on bales of birds-foot trefoil mounted on a farm wagondrawn by Homer Ackles on a tractor,along a farm road that moved upwardthrough contoured fields of certifiedgrain along a mile of rising grade towhere vistas of farming country inCentral New York revealed beautiesof the countryside.

Once inside the 50 acre woods HoytAckles, one of the three brothers op-rating the farm, along with Homer

and Paul, pointed out the unusual threeacre hardwood planting establishedabout 1931. Here a stand of basswood,tulip poplar, black cherry, red oakand white ash showed that in spite ofsnow damage caused by drifts piled upby the west wind, the hardwood plan-tation was able to survive with limit-ed care on what had ~~ly been

HOYT ACKLES HOST (at left) looksdown rows of three acre hardwoodplanting. Dick Garrett, forester ofe Conservation Department's Cort-

land office places his hand on a 37year old planted black cherry whilePiet van Loon, Chairman NYFOA'sWoods Walk Committee, notes plantedhardwood height growth.

a wet open pasture unsuited to culti-vated crops.

Planted about 6 x 8 through the en-couragement of former Extension For-ester Josh Cope of Cornell, the treesare now beginning to show good dia-meter growth in spite of the wet, heavysoil and poor drainage. No sugarmaple was planted.

The woods' hardwood area had suf-fered in the blow down of 1950. How-ever this Spring 140,000 board feet oftimber had been sold for a return tothe owners of $5,700, a sale that in-cluded a mix of elm, beech, red andwhite oak, hickory and basswood.

Dick Garrett, forester out of theCons ervation Department's office inCortland, accompanied the WoodsWalkers and pointed out the firewoodcuring on the stump as a result ofchemical thinning. Plans are to sellstumpage for fuelwood.

The Ackles' woods showed goodheight growth and a fine potential forwood production. Young maples on themore favorable sites were making 6to 8 rings per inch.

General plan has been to develop 5acre plots at a time, working throughthe woods over a period of years,thinning out chemically, crowded andundesirable stems.

Hoyt Ackles remarked on the con-flict between the forest and the applebusiness along with the dairy and grow-ing certified seed grains.

Hoyt readily expressed apprecia-tion of the Cons ervation Department'sForest Practice Act service over theyears, and especially in preparationof a list of 10 timber buyers for thetimber sale consumated early in theyear.

Once out of the woodlot the WoodsWalkers again seated themselves onthe birds -foot trefoil bales, and soonwere back and entered the cool, spa-cious apple packing shed to enjoy gen-er ous portions of apple cider anddoughnuts to go with the lunches eachWoods Walker had brought.

During the discussion it wasbrought out that the Ackles' farm hadbeen established around 1830 at a timewhen apples were shipped in barrelsand numbers of sheep were grazed.About 7,000 bu sh els of apples arepacked each year from some 500 trees.Some of the trees are approaching ahalf century in age, yet bearing suc-cessfully.

It was a surprise to learn that byfar the largest amount of branchesprunedfrom the apple trees were lefton the ground to serve as a mulch af-ter being reduced to small pieces by

heavy equipment.A dairy herd of 100 head with 55

milkers, the need for spraying con-secutively for some 17 weeks duringthe apple growing seas on, plus thegrowing and harvesting of certifiedseed crops, suggests the need for em-ploying an outside woods improvementservice. This it seems would bringlarger returns from the 50 acre wood-Iand,

No doubt there are thousands of for-est owners in New York State who willfind the employment of a dependablewoods improvement service a meansof producing higher income from thewoods areas. Such a dependable andskilled woods service would bring newsatisfaction to the forest owner be-cause he would see trees of improvedquality growing and being harvestedfrom his woods area.

WOODS WALKERS GATHERAROUNDbase of big shagbark hickorystump. Tree had 34" diameter, 2-1/2log length with Doyle rule volume ofmore than 1,000 board feet.

From left to right, Dick Garrett,forester; Emiel Palmer, 2nd VicePresident NYFOA; Piet van Loon,young 3-1/2 year old Eric Maier, hisfather Walter Maier, and motherMaria; Hoyt Ackles; Floyd Carlson,Executive Vice President NYFOA, andJohn Ridings, former Chairman ofWoods Walk Committee.

Dick Garrett stated it was the lar g-est shagbark hickory he had seen inCentral New York after 7years of pro-fessional forestry experience in theForestPractice Act Program. YoungEric is holding up some of the char-acteristic shaggy bark. Estimated ageof tree at least 150 years--possibly200 years.

The white pine weevil is the mostserious insect pest of the easternwhite pine. This insect's attack re-sults in the commonly observed crookor fork formation on the tree's mainstem.

NEW FOREST LANDSIMPROVEMENT SERVICE, INC.AVAILABLE TO WOODSOWNERS

Just signed up as a member ofNYFOA is Peter Catelli. Last yearhe organized Forest Lands Improve-ment Service, Inc. in Lewis County,now has a branch office at 133 SimsRd., Syracuse, N. Y. 13210.,

The service to forest owner sLn-cludes a trained crew for planting,thinning or releasing timberlandsthrough chemical or mechanicalmeans, pruning of crop trees, shear-ing and shaping of Christmas trees.Consulting services include Christ-.rnas tree production, maple syrup

SUGGESTS DOUBLING UP ON TRIPTO FALL MEETING

Editor Floyd E. Carlson:No doubt you noted date September

25 in letter from Rokon, Inc. Wilming-ton, Vermont on their anticipatedTrail-Breaker (Editor's note: Thedate of Sept. 25 was wrong. The dem-onstration will take place Saturdaymorning Sept. 21 as correctly indi-cated in the program. )

Hope I can find an accomplice toattend the Fall Meeting. It soundswonderful!

Sometime ago I suggested we listour new members, joining since theNYFOA directory was published - listthem in the Forest Owner. This mighthelp scattered members to double upon a trip to a meeting. Just heard youWednesday on WGY. Enjoyed yourtales of other day.s

Cordially,(signed) Mrs. M. D. WinneBox 426Northville, N. Y. 12134

President: John W. StockTupper Lake, N. Y. 12986

Editor: Floyd E. CarlsonCollege of ForestrySyracuse, N. Y. 13210

Associate Editor:Mi"ss Nancy Gridley1021 Westcott St.Syracuse, N. Y. 13210

Treasurer-Membership Secretary:Mrs. Luella B. Palmer157 Ballantyne Rd.Syracuse, N. Y. 13205

production, timber production andrecreation.

The corporation aims to increasethe economic and esthetic returns forthe forest owner. Alsotoprovide workand iorestry experience for highschool graduates 6£ occupationalcourses in conservation. The import-ance of the forest resource is indi-cated by the federal government'swillingness to pay 80% of the cost oftimber stand improvement projectsthrough the agricultural conservationprogram (ACP).

Last year Forest Lands Improve-ment Service, Inc. limited its opera-tions to Lewis County. At the presenttime it is expanding to fill the needsof such services in Cortland, Oneida,Onondaga and Oswego Counties.

Peter Cate-Hi-i-sa 1966 graduate ofthe State University College of For-estry at Syracuse University.

URBAN AREAS ARE A MAJOR~EDIMENT SOURCE. In the PotomacRiver Basin, only about six percentof the l5,000-square mile drainageis in urban and suburban use. Butthese areas produce 682 tons of sedi-ment per square mile while all ruralareas combined contribute only 133tons per square mile.

Altogether, two and one -half mil-lion tons of sediment wash down thePotomac into the estuary each year.(Source: March 12, 1968 TuesdayLetter, National As sociation of Soiland Water Conservation District)

It is estimated that by the year2.000. the United State population willrequire twice as much wood as it nowuses. Meeting this demand will re-quire improved management of for-ests and woodlots.

F. fF::;~'.~,'·"-..1 ~~,!,,_. I

r',~AY2~)

THE FOREST BURN ACROSS THENATION IN 1967

Due in part to the hair raising for-est fi r e weather conditions in the latesummer 1967, 4,658,5&6 acresforest land were burned, a L,lLCH;Z"::11<

and charred area equal to the areathe State of New Jersey!

However in view of the dangerousfire conditions existing in 1967 Secretary of Agriculture Orville L.Freeman says "The limitationscorched acreage last year canclassed as a triumph, when comparto such years as 1950 when more15-1/2 million acres burned, or1945 when 17.6 million acres wererazed. "

"Forest Fire Statistics" a pamplet of the Forest Service, reports atotal of 125,025- f'i r es recorded in"]thesecondhighesttotal in the 1960's.

The record of lands protected bystate or federal fire fighting forcesshow that 90%or 103,427 of these forest fires were caused by man. Hisacts of destruction ranged from out-right incendiarism to carelesslyhandled campfires.

In the states of Idaho, Montana,Washington and Oregon more thanhalf of the fires there were ignited bylightning strikes.

Already this year of 1968, therhave been many instances acrossnation of a bad forest fire seasonthe pos sibility of an even more dan-gerous situation in the West. BothAugust and Septembermonths.

Let's all remain alert to the dan-ger of forest fires!

As might be expected, the biggestforest acreage among the states isAlaska with 118,400,000 acres.