The New York Forest Owner - Volume IV, Number 6

voice of 255,000 forest owners in New York- representing an ownership of 11 million acres

Much of the credit for this new mast head and the new format of. the ForestOwner goes to Emiel B. Palmer, former Director and currently Chairman of ourCommittee on Printing. He has made numerous trips to our new Forest Ownerprinters, Associated Printing Service of Syracuse. Now we hope you will want tobegin filing issues of the Forest Owner as it becomes an increasingly importantvoice to forest owners of New York - Editor.

Vol. IV. October 1966 No.6

5H ANNUAL FALL MEETING TOPS IN SETTINGS, TOPICS, TOUR ANDLUNCHEON

Lingering clouds clinging to the tops of the Catskills Friday morning Sept.30 were wrapped up and rolled away by the time enthusiastic NYFOA mem-bers began to register at Lake Mohonk Mountain House to set in motion avaried program that proved to have wide acceptance and interest for our_ITFOA members attending.

The night before, NYFOA Directors attending a Board Meeting at Mohonkon Thursday evening may have been apprehensive about the outcome of Fri-day's weather. They had the eerie experience of driving through dense fogon the winding mountainous road leading to Mohonk. But ifthere had beenany concern it vanished the next morning. Friday the sun came out and spreada sparkle over the fall tinted and picturesque landscape comprising the Shaw-angunk Mountain Ridge that furnishes the striking site for the Lake MohonkYountainHouse. The splendid vistas westward toward the Catskills and east-ward to the Valley of the Hudson River were clear and autumn colored.

NYFOA members arriving early joined the other guests during the morn-~g hours, taking to the trails around the lake, clambering among the giantslabs of massive granite -like rock jumbled in all manner of formations aroundthe perimeter of Lake Mohonk, hiking to and climbing up the 1160 foot fireower and talking with the friendly Conservation Department look-out. Thatwas in the morning.

GUIDED TOUR WITH DAN SMILEYFollowing a luncheon in the spacious dining room of Mohonk Mountain

House with large picturesque windows facing the Catskills, the 4th AnnualFall Meeting program got underway with President Hanaburgh introducingDan Smiley who reviewed the history of Lake Mohonk Mountain House from:.ts inception nearly a hundred years ago and described its varied programt.omeet the physical, mental and spiritual needs of visitors and guests dur-~ this span of century.

Beginning inbright sunshine right at the front of Mohonk Mountain House,Dan Smiley guided NYFOA members to a number of outlook points illustrat-ing how management at Mohonk had taken measures to maintain vistas by theas e of herbicides, tree removal and encouragement of low vegetation.

Cloud formations coming up providing alternate sunshine and shadows didot prevent numerous camera carriers from recording the experience.At one stop utilizing low sloping space for the growing of Christmas trees

that could be removed and thus maintain vista, there appeared at the far edgeof an open meadow as if by prearrangement, a half dozen white tailed deerthat added special pleasure to the hikers. As this part of the program cameo an end there was general awarenes s that throughout most of the centurythe Smiley proprietors at Lake Mohonk Mountain House had demonstrated

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Meetings and correspondence are stir-ring up pr oblems that invite solutions.Keep stirring up problems and let ussee if the NYFOA can find the solu-tions.

Soon you will be able, through theForest Owner, to hear the din of battleon the taxation front from John Stock'sCommittee on Taxation; on the legis-lationfromfrom "Woody" Olmsted'sCommittee on Legislation; on the mem-bership front from Fred Najer' s Mem-bership Committee. Let us have astrong, vocal and vibrant NYFOA byeach of us getting into one of thesebattles or starting one of our own. Ifanyone can generate a cause we canorganize an army to fight for it.

From time to time we may be can-vassed by various interests, agenciesand institutions. Be not reluctant toprovide them with your opinions, am-bitions and achievements. You arethe PUBLIC and these studies serveto direct the efforts of both public andprivate agencies to your service.

Toprovide the membership of theNYFOA with the kind of service thatwe hope eventually to provide will takean annual income of about $25.000.This will provide a full time Execu-tive Secretary with office and facili-ties to service the membership alongwith an enlarged Forest Owner. Atthe present time we take in about$4,000 in dues. Most of this goes formailing, printing, stationery and theForest Owner.

For the many other services neces-sary to provide we beg, borrow orsteal from any source most readilyavailable. Eventually we must earn

for decades their concern with esthetics more than a half century before thecurrent nationwide interest in natural beauty and its importance to environ-ment.

"THE HUDSON OF THE FUTURE"With time out for relaxation and a surprisingly varied menu at the dinner

hour, the Friday evening program featured a talk illustrated with Kodachromeslides byMr. Bruce E. Howlett, Associate Executive Director, Hudson Riv-er Valley Commission with his headquarters at Iona Island, Bear Mountain,New York.

Bruce established a fine rapport with his audience. He made it clear thatwhile the Hudson River Valley Commission has no mandate of its own, itspresent staff of 20 planners, landscape architects - to be doubled in the fu-ture - are at the disposal of communities, villages, towns and metropolitanareas up and down the whole length of the Hudson. Furthermore, that whilelocal government alone has the power to determine what happens by way ofimprovements and local planning and zoning, that the Hudson River ValleyCommission nevertheless will have an important service to perform, notonly in an advis ory capacity but in putting forth proposals for establishmentof new State Parks. community parks, identification of suitable sites for in-dust r y ,' the preservation of historical hornes-aaad monuments .a.s.we.Il as fur-nishing guide lines for grouping of future residential housing.

Piles of red ripe apples, zesty cider and stacks of donuts provided for asocial hour brought to a close a successful afternoon and evening 4th AnnualFall Meeting program Friday Sept. 30. There was more to follow on Satur-day October 1. This will be covered next month.

ICORRECTION - PLEASE NOTICE

In the August 1966 issue of ForestOwner in the following statement there~eference to "plantings - -done bythe New York State Conservation De-partment." This statement conveyedwrong information. "We do not andnever have done any planting on pri-vately ownedlands" says our NYFOAmember, William D. Mulholland, Di-rector, Lands and Forests , New YorkState Conservation Dept., Albany.

FOREST RANGERS RECEIVE NEW'SALARY CLASSIFICATION

In a Leete-r to Gons ervation Gommis-sioner Kilborne, Governor Rockefel-ler announced on August 18, 1966 thatsalary grades for Conservation De-partment Forest Rangers have beenraisedtoGrade 10($5,295 to $6,525)with corresponding increases for As-sistant District Rangers and DistrictRangers.

The Governor emphasized the factthat "with a basic area of protectionofmore than 21million acres includ-ing 14-1/2millionacres of woodlands,the Forest Ranger is a vital link be-twee n the public and the administra-tion of the State's broad programs ofnatural resource conservation. "

TEXAS FORESTRY ASSOC. SAYS:Each $1. 00 from standing trees

adds $25 to Texas's economy throughmanufacturing, construction, trans-portation and marketing.

FOREST PRACTICE ACT20TH ANNIVERSARY

The New York State Forest PracticeBoard held a 20th Anniversary meet-ing October 5-7 at Lake Luzerne com-memorating the signing into law in1946 The Forest Practice Act whichprovides for the establishment ofstandards for the practice of soundforestry on privately owned wood-lands and for assistance from theConservation Dept. in carrying outthese practices.

According to the ConservationDept. there are now more than 8,000FP A cooperators. These private own-rsoLm.ore.J;han L1iQ9.j)j)O_~cre~ of

forest land have and are now receiv-ing assistance through the 47 regu-lar FPA professional foresters as-signed to this work. Backing up andsupporting these FPA foresters are7 senior professional foresters, 2FP A state foresters and 4 professionalforesters assigned tothe Appalachianprogram, making a total of 60 pro-fessional foresters serving this pro-gram in the Conservation Dept.

In return for agreeing to followsound practices the land owners re-ceive free marking assistance, tim-ber marking services and advice onreforestation and management of theirwoods. Altogether there ar.e 14 re-gional boards maintaining forest prac-tice standards locally. Representa-tives from all these District Boardsmake up the New York State ForestPractice Board.

President's Column (cont'd)

(through enlarged membership) orfind (an angel) the money for a paidExecutive Office. WHERE DO WEGET THIS MONEY? YOU TELL US

REP LY TO PRESIDENT

Attorney and Counselor at Law48 Albany StreetCazenovia, N. Y. 13035

Mr. David H. Hanaburgh, PresidentNew York Forest Owners Assoc.Craft LaneBuchanan, N. Y. 10511

Dear Mr., Hanaburgh:

Taking you at your word, invitingcomments and criticisms for yourcolumn, I wonder how many of us for-est owners have experienced the frus-tration of coming upon your woodlotcut down, and not selective but indis-criminate cutting. Then after dis rr,v,>?.ing this senseless destruction, goingthrough the frustration of trying tofind out who did it.

As an attorney and representingforest owners in attempting to recov-er for damages to their trees, letsay that is a real problem. Many ofour forest owners are absentee own-ers or have such extensive holdingsthat it is almost impossible to police.Cooperation with lumber mills is al-most impossible to obtain, since theythemselves could be made liable fordamages in handling of stolen lumber.Whether or not control at the milllev-el is the ans wer, I do not know.

__~e hav~ on_o~ New York Statutebooks triple damage provisions; thatis, a forest owner can recover threetimes the value of the actual damage.but to recover it is another story.There was talk of providing legisla-tion for registering of professionallogger s , but I have never heard any-thing further on this aspect. What thesolution is I do not quite know.

However, I definitely feel one ofthe pr ime interests of our organiza-tion should be to study this problemand possibly offer suggestions to ourlegislators.

(signed) Michael Klysa

NEW BUILDING FOR TFATexas Fore stry As s ociaticin will

break ground for new headquartersbuilding at 52nd Annual Meeting Oct.21, 1966 at Lufkin, Texas.

TRESP ASS! AN EXP ERIENCE

Dear Mr. Carlson:May I report to you the following.

am anabsentee owner of an 18 acreoodlot located in the vicinity of Ros-

endale and High Falls in Ulster County_-ew York. In 1952 I started an ap-pr-oxirnat e 8 acre reforestation plan-tation of mostly white pine, someDouglas fir and very unwisely, suchpecies as white fir, blue spruce and_-orway spruce. The last 3were plant-ed in only small numbers and for the?lITpose of beautifying the property.In these 14 years I have lost well o-ver 400 trees by theft.

On December 21. 1965 after 5 pmapprehended two men, ca r r ymg a

pruning saw, on my property, which~sposted. I ordered them out and toldem that I was going to take them toe sherrif. On reaching the road

. ounding my land they entered a truck,which theyhadparked there and madeready.to drive off. Determined thatthey should not get away I fired a shotinto the front tire or the truck.

At the resulting hearing that sameevening, with the justice of the peaceat High Falls, - I related to him myexpenditures in money, time and ef-fort to grow trees on my land. I ex-plained that some of the land beforeplanting had to be cleared of a densestand of sumach. That for severalyears I had weeded the whole planta-'on by hand. That I had carried wa-er in 5 gallon buckets on many week-ends. ThatIhadappliedhayfor mulch.That Ihad sprayed against weevil andhad eradicated gooseberries.

I also told him that I had appealedothe sheriff and State Police for helpat least in the critical times at Christ-mas and spring planting time. Thatfor the past several years I am tak-ing my vacation just before Christmas,o that Imight protect the plantation.The two men denied that they had

been on my property!The justice of the peace then said

'Many people plant trees, which isvery commendable. Much land is post-ed, but a lot of it is not legally posted.myself own fields but I do not post

zny land. Now since these men did notcut any trees and left the propertywhen you told them to get out, theyhave done nothing wrong. On the otherhand you have seriously violated thelaw. These men .can press chargesagainst you. Because it is the Christ-mas season I am recommending tothem they they do not press chargesagainst you if you will pay them fortheir tire. "

He then asked the two men if theywere willing to agree to this. Whenthey agreed he asked them how muchtheir tire was worth. They told himthat it was a brand new tire and worth$30. The justice of the peace thenasked me if I had the money to paythem. I said yes and gave the truckowner $30.

Dear Mr. Carlson, may I suggestthe following:

1. That this letter be made knowntothe members of NYFOAfor the pur-pose of considering steps to protectall, but especially absentee ownersfrom unfair verdicts once a thief hasbee n apprehended.

2. That "Posted" signs instead ofbearing the name and address of anabsentee owner, may read "This pro-perty is protected by NYFOA. "

3. That members using signs asabove mentioned pay an agreed sumof money to the NYFOA, availableto obtain as severe a sentence as pos-sible for theft or vandalism in thewoods.

Sincerely yours,(Signed) Hans Haug8631 Elm Ave., Ridgefield, N. J.07657

QUESTION FOR TAX FAX

Highlands,. Keeseville, N. Y.October 7, 1966

Dear Mr. Carlson:It is impossible for me to imagine

any member of this association whois not greatly disturbed by the in-creased taxes on our forest lands. Itis important tous all and a vital mat-ter to those of us who depend, in anydegree, on timber income to carrythe pr ope rty.

Inless than 20 years, my land taxhas increased 223%. In the last 10,it has gone up 146%. This is bad e-nough but the school tax which, byrule of thumb, used to be 1/2 of theland tax, is now 87% of it. The aver-age increase in the school tax is onmy wild forest land, 523%. I have tosee that those taxes are paid on 5000acres. Though it is a good mixedstand, I am confident that no forestercan make the property self supporting.When I bought the basic acreage, itcould. Then, sound hemlock lumbercommanded a good price for dockbuilding and exterior construction.Now, I know of no market. Popplepulp cannot be s old locally. Stumpagefor white pine is down. No timbermarket is up in proportion to taxes.

NEWS OF YOU - (CAN YOU BEATTHIS?)

As far as I know Master Donald Rob-berts, age 3 years, has the distinctionof being the youngest member ofNYFOA. His parents, Mr. & Mrs .James Roberts, Alden, N. Y., in-cluded a junior membership for himwhen they joined with us recently.His mother wrote "We thought it wasa method of encouraging his interesttowa r d this field or related subjects. "

Some other new members are:Root Glen Foundation, Inc., H. W.

van Loon, Director (Oneida)Frank Bailey Estate (Columbia)

New York CityMr. and Mrs. William A. Roden

(Warren) - Columnist for severalweekly newspapers on subjects ofhunting, fishing and conservation,Past President of New York StateConservation Council.

J. G. Jordan (Allegany) - Proprie-tor of Springbr ook Hotel at Springbr ook.

Prof. and Mrs. Ralph K. Morrill(Warren) - Professor of Architectureat Auburn University. His wife is inthe Art Department at University ofAlabama.

Kenneth L. Robb (Oswego) - Pen-nellville, construction worker.

Michael Raymond Close (Tioga) -Mail carrier in Syosset.

Indian Ladder Farms, Peter G.Ten Eyck II (Albany) - fruit farm.

If you wish to have our NYFOA liter-ature sent to anyone, please forwardthe names and addresses to me.

Mrs. Luella B. PalmerMembership Secretary

QUESTION (cont'd)The logical answer is to clear-cut

and then sell to the State. I will notdo that because I love my acres. Ingeneral, what are your suggestions?

(Signed) Koert D. BurnhamMember NYFOA

TAX FAX No.2ARE YOU BEING TAXED FAIRLY?YOU CAN CHECK!

We have found, somewhat to our sur-prise, that many forest land ownershave only the vaguest of ideas of howtheir land tax figures are arrived at.Equalization rate is a meaninglessterm. Even worse, they do not knowhow to determine if they are being un-fairly taxed. And they do not knowthe method to use in correcting aninequity.

From time to time in the ForestOwner, we would like to go into thisvital matter, with the idea that may-be we can assist some of the mem-bers of the NYFOA to be better ableto protect thems elves.

F-irot -of all you rnus t-ckriow h-owmuch your land is valued at by theTown assessors. The easiest way todetermine this, as suming you haveprobably mislaid your tax bill, is togo to the office of the Town Clerk ofthe Town in which your property islocated. In some of the smaller townsthis may be hard to find, but it isthere somewhere. Ask the Town Clerk,or his wife, if you can look at thecurrent assessment book.

This large. bulky book, lists inmore or less alphabetical order, thenames of all of the land owners in thetown. After your name there shouldbe a listing of the names of the pro-perty owners on each side of you.This enables you to find their listingand assessment if you wish.

Then there should be an indicationof the type of land you own, i. e. For-est Land, Farm, Residence, etc.Then there is an item showing howrnany acres of land you own of any

President: David H. HanaburghCraft Lane, Buchanan, N. Y. 10511

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

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

one type, followed by a figure show-ing the assessors valuation of thisland. The last figure in this sectionshould show the value of the land plusthe impr ovements (hous es, etc.) onit.

So far this is very simple andstraightforward. But now complica-tions creep in. Although by law, thisdollar and cents figure for the landis supposed to represent its full val-ue, itvery seldom does. For no val-id reason, except that "We've alwaysdone it this way," assessors valueproperty at afraction of its full value.This figure may vary anywhere from1/20th to 3/4s of the land's marketvalue.

For rather complicated reasons,that have to do with State and County-Ei.na nc.i.ng.,the.NYS Boar dof Equali-zation and Assessment determine atwhat rate each Townassesses its pro-perty. They will announce that TownA is assessing its property at 20% ofits true value and that Town B is as-sessing at 27%. This figure is calledthe Equalization Rate and can be dif-ferent from Town to Town and fromyear to year.

So in order to find out what the as-sessors think your land is worth youhave to find out the equalization rateof your town. The Town Clerk can tellyou this. If your town has an equali-zation rate of 20% and your land is as-sessed at $1000, it means the asses-sors feel that the market value is$5000.

If, for instance, you just purchasedyour land for $3000, then you willknow you are over assessed. But per-haps you have owned the landfor yearsand are not just sure what it is worth.Then th_eeasiest thing to do is to com-

pare your assessment with your neigh-bor s , or with someone in the sametown who has similar land. This ofcourse must be done on a per .acr ebasis. If your assessment per acreis more than equivalent to land invicinity, then you know you are beingdis criminated against and you shouldstart to think about what to do about it.

Do this fact collecting now, be-cause you can't take any effective ac-tion until Mayor June anyway. Lateron we will dis cus s what your nextsteps should be.

If you have any questions aboutyour land taxes, s end them along tothe Forest Owner and we will try toget some answers for you.

William R. FraserJohn W. Stock, Chairman

r.:. i-:~"-..··'H". r"

u.: ., ..

Forest Practice Act (cont'd)Our first President, Ted Buckley,

also served as Chairman of DistrictNo. 11 (which includes Saratoga, War-ren and Washington counties) and asthe representative of District lIonthe State Forest Practice Board.

NYFOAmember Francil Donnelly(Dist. No.9), Olmstedville, is StateChairman. Other NYFOA memberson the State Forest Practice Boardincluding those serving as alternates,are:AlexForester, Kenyon Parsons,RobertFord, Francis Demeree, RayWalker, John Keib, Herbert Engert,JohnHofmaster, J. S. Hand, ThomasQuick and Owen Boyd.

(Note to Forest Practice BoardMembers: Don't you think every livemember of the District Boards andevery member of the New York StateForestPractice Boards should be ac-tive members of the NYFOA? Willyou help bring them in? - Editor)

Non·Profit orglnllaatl4.U. S. POSTAGE

PAIDSYRACUSE, N. Y.PERMIT NO. 3871