Proceedings of the Second National Conservation Congress at Saint Paul Part 50

The natural resources of the Adirondacks, however, are not limited to the forests and streams. In a State embracing a tenth of the population of the United States, including a city embracing a twentieth of the population of the Union--a State and a city in which the vocations of life are pursued under the highest nervous tension--the Adirondacks possess natural resources for the conservation of human vitality (for the recuperation of health and the recreation of personal energy) which are no less important to the welfare and prosperity of our people than the cultivation of a timber supply or the development of hydraulic power. In addition to these considerations, two other elements enter into the question of Conservation in the Adirondacks: One is the preservation, for purposes of science and sportsmans.h.i.+p, of the natural wild species of animal life which have become extinct not only in other parts of New York, but also generally throughout the eastern States; the other is the preservation of the scenic beauty of this great mountain resort, which is seriously threatened in ways hereinafter to be mentioned.

These latter considerations of health, recreation, and esthetic delight are not less ent.i.tled to recognition because they cannot be measured in terms of board feet or amperes convertible into dollars and cents. Rest and recuperation are not the exclusive needs of men of large expenditure of brain and nerve force, nor is actual positive pleasure conceded to be the exclusive privilege of men of large means. The principle contained in the ancient command to do upon six days all that thou hast to do and to rest upon the seventh day is receiving a wider application in modern industrial conditions which constantly tend to shortened hours of labor on the six days and a larger recognition of every man's right to a measure of the possible joys as well as the inevitable labors of living.

Therefore, to conserve the Adirondacks as a health and pleasure resort for the people at large as well as for a source of a timber supply and the fountain head of important water supplies is the object of our a.s.sociation.

_Forest Conservation_

Without entering into statistics of the relative area of forested and denuded lands in New York, or the relative rate of forest removal and forest growth which is so disproportionate as to threaten the complete denudation of the State within 20 or 25 years, we may mention something of what has been done in the way of practical forest Conservation in the State, partly by the aid of this a.s.sociation.

There are six princ.i.p.al ways in which the forests can be conserved:

1--By restriction of commercial lumbering 2--By prevention of timber stealing 3--By control of forest fires 4--By building good roads 5--By replanting 6--By prevention of flooding

_1--Commercial Lumbering._ There appear to be three ways of reducing the danger of the denudation of private forest lands, namely, (_a_) to educate the owners as to the unwisdom of indiscriminate and wholesale cutting; (_b_) to convert private lands into State lands by purchase, and thus bring them under the protection of the Const.i.tution which forbids the cutting of trees on State land; and (_c_) the pa.s.sage of laws offering inducements to, or imposing some restrictions on, private owners for the purpose of reducing their cut. Of these three methods, good progress has been made with the first two; the third has been attempted only in a mild way and without effect.

In the past dozen years, the private owners of forests in New York have awakened to a lively sense of the shortsightedness of the policy of cutting everything in sight. Prior to about 1890, roughly speaking, lumbermen as a usual thing took nothing less than two-log trees, leaving all that were under 12 inches in diameter on the stump. But with the improvements in machinery and processes for the manufacture of wood pulp, not only was the range of cutting extended from poplar to spruce, hemlock, pine, and balsam, but the lumbermen also disregarded size limits and cut all the trees of certain species, large and small. This close cutting was disastrous in both its primary and secondary effects; it left no provision for future growth, and it thinned the forests so much in places that further damage was inflicted by wind and ice storms.

In the closing years of the last century signs of an awakening to the dangers of this policy appeared. In 1898 the Division of Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture issued Circular 21 ent.i.tled "Practical a.s.sistance to Farmers, Lumbermen, and Others in Handling Forest Lands," conveying an offer to cooperate with owners in the preparation of working plans for forest lands which presented conditions favorable for systematic and conservative management. One of the first private owners to appreciate the wisdom of adopting the more conservative course recommended by the Government was the late Honorable William C. Whitney, owner of a tract of 70,000 acres in Hamilton County.

Prior to 1898 he had been cutting down to a diameter of 8 inches three feet from the ground; but in 1898, after securing expert advice, he raised the limit to 10 inches, which was maintained until last spring, when lumbering on that preserve was finished. The result of this judicious policy has been that there is now a fine growth of young trees on the property, which in a few years will come to merchantable size. In 1900 the State of New York appropriated $2,000 to enable the Forest, Fish, and Game Commission to take advantage of the Government offer to the extent of working out the theory of conservative forest management on a selected tract of land known as "Towns.h.i.+p 40 of the Totten and Crossfield Purchase," embracing Raquette Lake in Hamilton County. This could be only a theoretical demonstration as applied to State forest land, because (for very excellent reasons) the State adopted a Const.i.tutional Amendment in 1894 which provides that--"The lands of the State now owned or hereafter acquired const.i.tuting the Forest Preserve as now fixed by law shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed" (article VII, section 7). But while only a demonstration on paper of a theory and not a demonstration in fact, the result of the practical study on the ground and the consequent publicity of the conclusions was of value, for it attracted the attention of lumbermen to the diameter limits below which it is wasteful in the long run to cut.

Towns.h.i.+p 40 is a virgin forest, and taking into consideration all the conditions of that particular tract--character and density of growth, rate of reproduction, proximity to outlets, cost of logging roads, camps, and stream improvements--it was calculated that 12 inches was the most advantageous minimum diameter to be used. In the following year a forest working plan for towns.h.i.+ps 5, 6, and 41 was worked out with a similar result, namely, the recommendation of a 12-inch minimum limit.

Since that time conservative lumbering has been adopted on several private properties other than the Whitney preserve. One of the most notable cases is that of the International Paper Company, the owner of very extensive woodlands, which for sometime past has not cut trees less than 10 inches in diameter.

It may be said with confidence, therefore, that the campaign of education in forest matters during the past ten years in this State, and the mathematical demonstration of the wisdom, from the practical business standpoint, of placing limitations on the cut, are bearing fruit. Not only is the system of culling or selection tending to supersede wholesale tree-cutting of all sizes, but there is also reason to believe, from the latest available statistics, that in 1908 there was an actual change in favor of a reduced cut.

In the past decade there has been material progress in forest conservation by the enlargement of the forest land holdings of the State. During this period, the State has purchased about half a million acres of forest land, and its Forest Preserve, on January 1, 1910, embraced 1,641,523 acres, of which 1,530,559 were in the Adirondack mountains and 110,964 were in the Catskill mountains. Much of the land acquired during the past decade has been lumbered land, and has contained little merchantable timber. The purchases have had the advantage, however, of increasing the area of wild land which, so long as the present forestry section of the State Const.i.tution shall stand, will at least have the chance to produce a new forest without risk of destruction. In pursuing the policy of building up its Forest Preserve, the State has shown in times past regrettable and costly procrastination, with the result that it has bought denuded land at twice the price at which it could have bought forested land. In this respect, the State still lags behind what many believe to be the rate at which the State's holdings should be increased. The signs of encouragement under this head are evident not only in the increased aggregate area of the State Forest Preserve, but also in the improved methods of administration. In times past, the forest administration has been so lax, not to characterize it more strongly, that while with one hand it was spending large sums in purchasing land, with the other it was parting with State property on flimsy pretexts, with the result that in some years, while purchases were being made, the State's holdings were actually decreasing instead of increasing. Weak compromises, by which the State parted with its timber and retained the land, involved transactions in which the State apparently bought a second time land which it already owned; and the purchase of land at exorbitant prices from favored friends, were practices of the past, the abatement or abolition of which is not the least encouraging evidence of the Conservation movement in this State.

In legislation, little has been attempted in the way of offering inducements to lumbermen to restrict their cut, and nothing has been done in the way of compulsion. In 1893 and again in 1894 Honorable Roswell P. Flower, then Governor, in a message to the Legislature recommended the enactment of a law which would provide for some reasonable compensation to such owners of private forests as should consent to cut no trees except under conditions imposed by the State; and a Law was enacted embodying that idea, and it now forms section 43 of the consolidated Forest, Fish and Game Law of 1909. This section provides that the Forest, Fish and Game Commission may "contract that lands within the Adirondack Park not owned by the State shall, in consideration of exemption from taxation for State and county purposes, become public as part of the park in like manner as State lands. Such a contract must provide against the removal of live timber except spruce, tamarack, or poplar, more than twelve inches in diameter three feet from the ground, and may reserve to the owner the right to clear not more than one acre within each hundred acres of land, and may contain such other reservations for occupancy as may be agreed upon. The approval of the commissioners of the land office must appear on any such contract by the certificate of their clerk. Such contract shall be recorded in like manner as conveyances made by commissioners of the land office." This law has proved no inducement to forest owners, and has been ineffective in limiting their cuttings.

Our a.s.sociation has considered the subject of legislation providing for some discrimination in the taxation of forest lands which, by lowering the rate of taxation on immature forests, should offer an inducement to forest owners to allow their young timber to stand and grow; but as yet no satisfactory plan has been worked out. There is another phase of this question, however, which is attracting increasing attention in neighboring States, but which as yet has received little consideration in New York, namely, the compulsory restriction of timber cutting by legislation. Two recent judicial decisions on the power of a State to regulate the use of the natural resources of private land bear with much force on this subject. The Senate of Maine requested the Supreme Court of that State to give, for its guidance, an opinion upon the following question:

In order to promote the common welfare of the people of Maine by preventing or diminis.h.i.+ng injurious droughts and freshets, and by protecting, preserving, and maintaining the natural water supply of the springs, streams, ponds, and lakes of the land, and by preventing or diminis.h.i.+ng injurious erosion of the land and the filling up of the rivers, ponds, and lakes, and as an efficient means necessary to this end, has the Legislature power under the Const.i.tution, by public general law, to regulate or restrict the cutting or destruction of trees growing on wild or uncultivated land, by the owner thereof, without compensation therefor to such owner?

With the exception of one justice, who declined to give an opinion for const.i.tutional reasons, the opinion of the Court was unanimously in the affirmative (Opinion of the Justices, 103 Me. 506).

The other decision referred to was in the case of Hathorn vs. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., involving the use of the mineral waters at Saratoga Springs. The State of New York pa.s.sed a law ent.i.tled "An act for the protection of the natural mineral springs of the State and to prevent waste and impairment of its natural mineral waters." The object of this law was to prevent the practice of artificially accelerating the natural flow of mineral waters for the purpose of extracting the carbonic acid gas for commercial uses. In the case in question, the Court of Appeals, with one dissenting voice, decided that the part of the statute in question was const.i.tutional, and affirmed an order of the lower court restraining the defendant from doing what the law forbade. Judge Haight, the dissenting justice, differed from the majority, though not on the general proposition of the State's right to regulate the use of the springs; he based his objection on the ground that the statute in question did not attempt to regulate the production of the mineral waters in order that the public might enjoy the medicinal properties contained therein, but absolutely prohibited the pumping of carbonated waters throughout the State for the purpose of extracting carbonic acid gas. On the general question of the police powers and the conclusion that the Legislature may by statute regulate the use of the waters, Judge Haight was in full accord with the majority. "Surely," he said, "the State, under its police powers, may, in the interests of the people, protect such great gifts of nature to mankind."

Decisions like these would seem to be finger-boards pointing in the direction of compulsory Conservation if an enlightened self-interest or public spirit on the part of private forest owners do not accomplish the same purpose.

_2--Timber Stealing._ A very practical form of Conservation in which this a.s.sociation has had a leading part has been the prevention of the unlawful removal of timber from State land. In 1905 reports reached us to the effect that in the face of the plain prohibition by the Const.i.tution private parties had made deliberate arrangements with contractors to lumber on State land, and that these operations were being carried on with the ample knowledge if not actual collusion of the then Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner and his subordinates. To verify these rumors, the a.s.sociation sent to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter a representative, who, using snow-shoes when other modes of travel were impossible, penetrated into the depths of the forests, and found the lumber men in active operation on State lands. As the investigation progressed, it developed that between 15,000,000 and 16,000,000 board feet of timber had been removed unlawfully from State land during the preceding year, with the knowledge of the authorities whose duty it was to prevent it; and that it was done under a well-understood system of friendly cooperation by which the timber thieves, technically called "trespa.s.sers," were permitted to go through a form of confessing judgment and paying for the timber at a rate so low as to make the transactions profitable for the trespa.s.sers. Not only was the mandatory legal penalty not exacted, but the so-called confessions of judgment were allowed to be made before country justices of the peace in amounts greatly exceeding their jurisdiction, and the timber was permitted to be removed from the State land in direct contravention of the Const.i.tution. From the perfection with which the system was then working it was apparent that the illicit practices were of long standing; but the exposure by this a.s.sociation resulted in the retirement from office of the Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner and the Chief Game Protector, and the effectual stopping of this form of depredation.

_3--Forest Fires._ Substantial progress has also been made in the direction of Conservation by fire prevention. The history of forest fires in this State may well prove of interest to other States having virgin forests. The most prolific source of forest fires in New York hitherto has been the steam locomotive. Before the introduction of the steam railroad in the Adirondacks, forest fires were infrequent and of small extent. With the construction of every new railroad using coal or wood for fuel, fires became more numerous. The danger from this direction was apparent 30 years ago, but with an indifference for which a costly penalty has been paid, the State failed to find a remedy until within the past two years. In the tenth United States Census, Professor Charles S. Sargent, speaking of the forest fires in the United States during the year 1880, said: "In the State of New York, the total area burned was, in acres, 149,491; and the value of the property destroyed, $1,210,785. Of the causes to which these fires were attributed, 37 cases were reported as originating from clearing land; 43 cases as originating from sparks from locomotives; 22 cases as originating from hunters." The "First Annual Report of the Forest Commission of the State of New York for the Year 1885" said: "The statistics show that in New York State at least, more forest fires are traced to railroads than to any other cause." Three years later (1888) the State Forest Commission was so alarmed at the danger of fires from railroads that it formally declared the extension of railroads into the forests to be a calamity. It declared--

The extension of railways into the Forest Preserve proper cannot but be regarded as a calamity, and it is respectfully submitted that it would be most expedient to put a check upon their further encroachment by proper legislation. * * * A further extension of 'better means of transportation' by railway or steamboat threatens more danger to the forest than it promises benefit to the public. * * * Complaints are loud against all railroads as being instrumental in scattering fire.

These warnings are cited not so much as an argument against the introduction of railroads into forest lands--which can now be done with safety by the use of oil fuel or electric power--as to show how early was the realization of the danger of forest fires from railroads.

About 1892 another railroad, the Mohawk and Malone, was built through the heart of the forests, and the testimony taken from old woodsmen in the fire investigation in 1908 showed that the building of the road was followed by the inevitable train of fire. The annual fire area in the Adirondacks which had previously ranged from a few hundred acres up to 25 square miles, increased to 80 square miles in 1899 and to 940 square miles in 1903. In 1908 an area of 277 square miles was burned over in the Adirondacks alone. The maps of the large fires of 1903 and 1908, showing the burned areas chiefly bordering the lines of railroads, were strong object lessons as to the princ.i.p.al source of the fires, however the railroad companies might attempt to disguise them. In 1908 public sentiment on this subject became aroused as never before. It was felt that whatever may have been the excuse for permitting the advent of coal-burning or wood-burning locomotives in the forests 30 or more years ago, the further toleration of these fire-spreading agents was little short of criminal since electricity and oil fuel had been developed as practical agencies for developing power. In the year last mentioned, therefore, the Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner, backed up by the a.s.sociation for the Protection of the Adirondacks, applied to the Public Service Commission for an order to compel the railroads running through the Forest Preserve to use oil-burning locomotives during the fire danger season. The railroads, as was to be expected, earnestly protested against the innovation; but the evidence was so convincingly against them that the Public Service Commission ordered the use of oil fuel, and the installation of oil-burners has made an encouraging beginning.

With the removal of this prolific cause of forest fires, the enforcement of salutary laws which had practically been a dead letter, the enactment of certain new laws providing for toplopping by lumbermen, etc, and the organization of an improved fire-fighting system by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, it is believed that New York has taken a long step forward in the direction of conserving her forests from fire.

_4--Forest Conservation by Good Roads._ The natural conditions in the Adirondacks which for so many years made the mountain wilderness impregnable by civilization and to a great extent preserved that region from the denudation which has characterized the more thickly populated parts of the State have also r.e.t.a.r.ded the development of road building.

The road system of the Adirondacks is therefore rudimentary. Avenues of communication are comparatively few, and such as exist are not systematically connected and are generally of poor quality. Until recently, this comparative impenetrability of the forests has doubtless tended toward their preservation; but conditions have changed to such a degree in recent years that the construction of good roads in the Adirondacks seems to be desirable both for the greater enjoyment of the Forest Preserve as a health and pleasure resort and for the greater safety of the forests themselves. The increased appreciation of the Forest Preserve as a refuge in summer time, the great progress made in methods of highway travel, and the increased facility which good roads would afford for visiting the woods, are in themselves strong reasons for the extension of the present highway system in that region. When, to the foregoing considerations, are added the very practical value of roads as fire lanes and the advantage which they would afford in reaching forest fires, the argument for their construction becomes very strong.

The att.i.tude of this a.s.sociation with reference to the bearing of the Const.i.tution on the subject of roads in the Forest Preserve is that if good roads be necessary to keep the forest lands as "wild forest lands,"

in the words of the Const.i.tution, they should be allowed. An opinion of Attorney General O'Malley, given to the Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner on or about June 22, 1910, however, has been interpreted to mean that no roads can be built on Forest Preserve land under the Const.i.tution. The question was raised by the Superintendent of Roads in Franklin County, who asked permission to use stone from a ledge of rocks on neighboring State land for road purposes, promising not to cut away any timber or otherwise damage the land. In his opinion, the Attorney General said in part, "It was clearly the intent of the framers of the Const.i.tution to preserve the lands const.i.tuting the forest preserve in their natural state, and therefore you have no authority to permit county officials to use the stone in the ledge referred to." In order, however, plainly to authorize the construction of highways in the Adirondacks, our a.s.sociation caused two alternative propositions to be introduced in the Legislature of 1910. One was in the form of a bill providing that when validated by an amendment to the Const.i.tution it should be lawful to construct upon State lands in the Forest Preserve any of the State highways described in section 120 of Chapter 330 of the Laws of 1908, and any of the county highways designated upon a map already prepared by the State Engineer and Surveyor, as provided by law and approved by the Legislature by Chapter 715 of the Laws of 1907. The bill limited such highways to a width of 4 rods, provided that they should be built and maintained under the supervision of the State Highway Commission, and imposed certain other conditions with reference to keeping the highways clean, removing inflammable material, the exclusion of railroads, the public inspection of maps of routes, etc.

This bill, if enacted, was not to become effective until validated by an amendment to section 7 of Article VII of the Const.i.tution specifically referring to it by chapter number and year.

After that bill was introduced it appeared that the same end might be attained, without becoming complicated with other questions relating to section 7 of Article VII, by amending section 12 of the same article referring to Highways. We therefore caused to be introduced a Concurrent Resolution to amend section 12 of Article VII of the Const.i.tution by inserting after the first sentence these words: "Any county having part of the forest preserve therein shall receive its equitable apportionment of highways. Highways within the forest preserve shall be opened or improved in the same manner as other highways in the State, except that they shall not be laid out to a greater width than 100 feet or improved for a greater width than other highways in the State under similar conditions." But this proposition, so highly desired by the State Highway Commissioners, by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, by the local communities in the Adirondacks, and by the visitors to the Adirondacks, was smothered in the Ways and Means Committee through the opposition of the Chairman, who was also the majority leader in the a.s.sembly, who is financially interested in water-storage, and who was evidently determined that no legislation beneficial to the Adirondacks should be pa.s.sed until the private interests which he represented had secured what they wanted in the way of permission to build storage reservoirs on State lands. For this reason, then, forest conservation by road building is at a standstill.

_5--Replanting of Denuded Areas._ Constructive forest conservation, that is to say, the building up of new forests to take the place of those removed, has made some progress in New York, but not so rapid as could be wished. The fault has not been that of the Forest, Fish and Game Department, but of the Legislature which has not furnished the means for the liberal prosecution of this work. The State has good nurseries and expert help, but lacks means to prosecute this branch of its work in the manner which its importance warrants. Fortunately, private owners are taking up the subject of replanting effectively. The International Paper Company, for instance, has adopted the policy of tree-planting to renew its crops, and has a large nursery at Randolph, Vermont, from which it is distributing young plants to different sections of the country, including the Adirondacks, where it owns and controls lands. Within the limits of the Adirondack Park there are about 120,000 acres of State land which should be replanted, and in the Catskill Park about 30,000 acres. As to the cost of replanting: last year the Forest, Fish and Game Commission sold about 1,000,000 trees to 180 private parties for reforesting, and a careful a.n.a.lysis and average of their reports by the Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner indicate that reforesting cost these parties, including cost of stock, expressage, and labor, $8.50 an acre.

We are informed that the State could reforest to advantage from 2,000 to 2,500 acres a year, and could supply material for planting at least 30,000 acres a year on private land.

The importance of conservation by reforestation becomes apparent when one takes into consideration the relative rates of forest removal and forest reproduction. In the United States at large, we take from our forests each year, not counting the loss by fire, three times their yearly growth. We take 36 cubic feet per acre for each 12 cubic feet grown. We take 230 cubic feet per capita, while Germany uses 37 cubic feet and France 25 cubic feet. In the State of New York we are cutting away our trees five times as fast as they grow, and at the present rate of denudation, the State will be rendered practically barren of forest growth--except in the Forest Preserve--within 20 years, unless there is a decided change in the proportion between tree-cutting and tree-planting.

_6--Tree Destruction by Flooding._ A source of tree destruction of no inconsiderable extent in the Adirondacks in years gone by has been flooding by lumbermen's dams. The seriousness of this phase of the forest question has been greater than the area of destruction might indicate, for the reason that, in addition to the loss of the trees killed, unsightly and unhealthy conditions have been produced which have robbed certain regions of important elements of value. Prior to the adoption of the Const.i.tutional Amendment of 1894, which prohibited the removal or destruction of timber upon the lands of the Forest Preserve, it had been the practice for nearly fifty years to build dams in the Adirondack region either for the purpose of driving logs or in connection with ca.n.a.l feeders. Those were days of prodigality, when the great North Woods stood in almost their pristine condition, and when the lumbermen, in the presence of thousands of square miles of luxuriant forests, thought nothing of killing thousands of trees by drowning.

Almost every dam, therefore, that was built in the woods, set back the water upon forest land and killed trees. A dam built at Forestport in 1848 and subsequently enlarged killed so many trees that the State had to appropriate thousands of dollars simply to remove the dead trunks.

About 1879 the State built a dam at Old Forge on Moose river, which is the outlet of the famous Fulton Chain of lakes, and subsequently built a dam at the outlet of the Sixth lake of the chain. These dams raised the water in the various lakes from one to six feet, blighting the adjacent timber and producing a scene of desolation the vestiges of which are still evident after a lapse of thirty years. In 1886 and 1887 the State built a dam on Beaver river at Stillwater, raising the water 9 feet.

Great areas of timber land for a distance of 20 miles were flooded and the trees killed. The whole basin became filled with a tangle of drift-wood; great swamps were created beyond the flow line, springs were covered up and polluted, and the region rendered so unhealthy that land became unsalable. Lovely lakes and ponds were submerged, and favorite camp-sites obliterated; feeding grounds for game were destroyed; and hunting in that vicinity was ruined. The magnitude of the damage may be judged from the fact that one of the adjacent property owners, Mr Wm.

Seward Webb, sued the State for $184,350 damages. The claim was settled by the State buying from the claimant 75,377 acres, including the damaged area, for $600,000. In 1865 the building of a dam was authorized on Oswegatchie river at the mouth of Cranberry lake; this dam created a reservoir of 13 square miles flooding thousands of acres of land, destroying large quant.i.ties of timber, and creating unsightly and unsanitary conditions. About 1882 a dam was built on Raquette river below the Tupper lake outlet, with the result that soon the region between Big Tupper and Little Tupper lakes looked as if some terrible blight had fallen upon it. The scene in 1893 is thus described in the Forest Commission's report:

The serious and extensive damage caused by the dam arrests the eye, presenting one of the saddest and most desolate pictures of destruction ever witnessed. No forest fire or devastating cyclone or ruthless axe of the charcoal burner ever wrought such ruin or left such a blasted scene as this. For ten miles the lands along the Raquette river are covered with the white and ghastly skeletons of the n.o.ble trees which once made this spot a sylvan paradise. The bare trunks, bleached by the sun and storm, the gnarled roots and gray, scrawny limbs thrust sharply forth, recall to mind one of Dore's pictures in the "Inferno." The traveler gazes on it all with amazement, and then gives vent to the strongest words that a righteous indignation can supply. And this was once one of the most beautiful rivers in all the wilderness.

Ill.u.s.trations of this sort could be multiplied to show the spirit of indifference to tree destruction in the past, and conditions which are now forbidden to be repeated upon State land. The Const.i.tutional Amendment adopted in 1894, prohibiting the destruction of trees in the Forest Preserve, was aimed at this evil among others, and has been one of the most valuable instruments in this State for forest conservation.

_Water Conservation_

The subject of water conservation in the State of New York presents five different aspects:

1--The development of hydraulic or electric power, 2--The improvement of commercial waterways, 3--Flood prevention, 4--Sanitation, 5--Domestic use.

As might be expected in the largest manufacturing State in the Union, there is in New York a very general appreciation of the importance of water storage for the development of power for industrial use; therefore, of the different phases of the water-storage question now pressed upon public notice, that one probably commands the most attention at the present time.

_1--Power Development._ The a.s.sociation for the Protection of the Adirondacks is chiefly concerned with this question as it bears on the Adirondacks; but owing to the fact that waters originating in part in the Adirondacks flow in many cases to great distances beyond that region, it is impossible to treat the subject as one of purely localized interest. The question naturally arises, What proportion of importance is there between the question of water storage in the Adirondacks and water storage in the State at large? On the face of things, the proportion seems small. The water-sheds of the whole State aggregate 30,476,800 acres, while the State lands within the Adirondack Preserve with which we are chiefly concerned comprise only 1,530,559 acres, or less than 5 percent. A comparison of possible water-power developments shows a similar disproportion. The Fourth Annual Report of the State Water Supply Commission says that "With the complete utilization of all storage possibilities an eventual development amounting to not less than 1,500,000 horsepower, exclusive of Niagara and Saint Lawrence rivers, is possible for the entire State." If, to this estimate be added the existing 200,000 horsepower development at Niagara Falls, 100,000 horsepower as the resource of the lower Niagara, and 400,000 horsepower for the Saint Lawrence, an eventual total of 2,200,000 horsepower for the whole State does not seem to be beyond the range of possibility.

From figures derived from the various sources it would appear that about 7-1/2 percent of this development would require encroachment upon State land in the Adirondack Park, which is now forbidden by the Const.i.tution.

When it is considered that attention has been concentrated for several years on the resources of the princ.i.p.al Adirondack streams, while the possibilities of the rivers outside of the Adirondacks have not yet been completely explored, there is much reason to believe that were the census of the hydraulic resources of the State complete it would be found that the ratio of the power possibilities of State Forest lands to the power possibilities of the whole State is about the same as the ratio of the respective water-sheds, or about 5 percent. There are two or three reasons, however, why the question of water storage in the Adirondacks a.s.sumes an importance quite out of proportion to this ratio.

One is the acknowledged fact that the majority leader of the larger house of the State Legislature is personally interested in water-power developed from Adirondack waters, and desires to have the Const.i.tution amended so that State lands may be flooded for the benefit of his own as well as other private corporations. This powerful member of the Legislature has the sympathetic support of the Speaker of the a.s.sembly, who stands sponsor for a power corporation on Genesee river, on the banks of which the Speaker lives. With the water-power interests thus strongly represented in the Legislature, and with some of them casting covetous eyes on State land from which they are restrained only by the Const.i.tution, it is not surprising, perhaps, that in the public agitation of the water-storage question such statements should be made as that "the most important single obstacle to the carrying out by the State of this conservation policy" is "the necessity of amending the Const.i.tution" so as to permit the flooding of State land.

Now the att.i.tude of this a.s.sociation--and this may be of interest to other States where the same question may arise--is as follows: At the outset, the a.s.sociation opposed amending the Const.i.tution for the purpose of permitting the flooding of State lands on two grounds; _first_, on account of the disastrous consequences to the forests which have invariably followed the construction of reservoirs in the past, and _second_, because it involved the principle of using public lands for private purposes without any guarantee of proportionate returns to the people whose domain was thus used. For several years the a.s.sociation, with the unquestionable support of public opinion, maintained that position for the reason that there appeared to be no safe way of compromise.

During the past year, however, as the result of painstaking study of the problem by the New York Board of Trade and Transportation and our a.s.sociation, a plan of legislation was evolved which it is believed may safely be adopted, and which, while conserving the public interests in the Adirondacks, will permit a reasonable use of State land for the purpose desired by the water storage people. The first problem encountered in working out this plan was presented by the fact that if the Const.i.tution were amended generally so as to permit the flooding of State land, n.o.body could foretell to what extent or in what manner the lands might be flooded. It was therefore decided to prepare a law which should prescribe all the limitations and regulations in advance, and which should contain a provision that it should not become effective until validated by a const.i.tutional amendment. Then, after this law had been enacted, it was proposed to adopt an amendment to the Const.i.tution referring to the law specifically by chapter number and year, and permitting what was provided therein and nothing more. In pursuance of this plan, such a bill was drafted and introduced in the Legislature at its session which closed in May, 1910. It provided that storage reservoirs might be built upon State lands in certain specified water-sheds at certain specified points; that the flow-lines should be accurately surveyed and permanently monumented; that the total area of State land flooded should not exceed certain stated amounts--approximately 3 percent of the total area of the Forest Preserve; that all trees, stumps, and other organic material should be removed from within the flow-line; and certain other conditions designed to protect the public interests in the construction, maintenance and use of the reservoirs and the water-power developed therefrom. The law was not to become effective until validated by an amendment to the Const.i.tution, and the const.i.tutional amendment was to consist simply of an addition to the present section 7 of Article VII to the effect that "The provisions of this section may be modified as provided in chapter ---- of the laws of 1910, but in no other respect whatever." By this plan it was believed that the safeguards would be erected in advance, and in voting for a const.i.tutional amendment our citizens would know exactly what they were voting for. The bill, however, was defeated through the influence of the majority leader of the a.s.sembly, and instead a concurrent resolution to amend the Const.i.tution, proposed by him, pa.s.sed the first of three requisite stages of adoption. The provisions of this amendment and the utterances of its author clearly reveal the att.i.tude of the water-power interests represented by him, and present an issue of importance to every State in which the question of Conservation under State auspices may arise. This issue, in brief, is whether, after the State has granted the use of land already belonging to the people and has acquired additional land in the exercise of its power of eminent domain; after it has furnished the capital for building storage reservoirs and for managing them when built, the profits shall accrue only to the private individuals or corporations benefited thereby, or whether the State itself shall derive a reasonable revenue from its lands and reservoirs for the relief of taxation, or for public improvements, to the consequent benefit of all the people?

The Const.i.tutional Amendment proposed by the water-power interests in the last Legislature provides only that the actual cost of the water storage shall be paid by the private beneficiaries, leaving to them all of the profits and advantages; and the author of the amendment publicly declared himself as opposed to the periodical regulation of charges for the use of water thus conserved, or to paying anything more than the bare cost of construction and administration. On the other hand, the proposition of this a.s.sociation left the question of State revenue open for future legislation without any inflexible const.i.tutional provision one way or the other. There the matter rests at the present moment. The issue remains to be fought out in the future, possibly in the Legislature of 1911, possibly at the polls the following November, and possibly later. At present the signs of the times are not encouraging to the belief that private interests will be given such valuable privileges without some reasonable return to the people from whom they are derived.

_2--Improvement of Waterways._ Water conservation for the improvement of commercial waterways has little connection with the Adirondacks. The princ.i.p.al waterway improvement now in progress in New York State is the enlargement of Erie Ca.n.a.l at a cost of $101,000,000. Very little of the water for the ca.n.a.l comes from the Adirondacks, and the construction of reservoirs on State forest land is not required to augment the supply.

_3--Flood Prevention._ The three princ.i.p.al streams within the borders of New York--the Genesee, Mohawk, and Hudson--are subject at times to disastrous floods. These are in no small part the result of human folly.

In the first place, the indiscriminate denudation of forests of the greater part of the State has removed one of the most valuable natural regulators; and it is the universal complaint that such denudation has resulted in the spasmodic flow of streams which are dry or low at one season and raging torrents at another. In other cases, as for instance at Rochester, on the Genesee, the river has been obstructed by bridge piers unscientifically placed, which obstruct the flow of water and cause great damage. The Hudson, from the confluence of the Mohawk to Albany, is also subject to floods, and as the headwaters of the Hudson rise in the Adirondacks it has been argued by those who desire to have storage reservoirs for power purposes in Adirondack Park that the Const.i.tution should be amended so as to permit the building of reservoirs in the Adirondacks to control the floods of the Hudson. As a matter of fact, the statistics furnished by competent engineers show that 75 percent of the floods at Troy and Albany are due to waters which do not originate in the Adirondacks, but can be controlled along the Mohawk; and that of the remaining 25 percent over half (say 15 percent) are due to water originating along the Hudson and its tributaries outside of Adirondack Park. So far, then, as flood control is concerned, it has little bearing on Conservation in the Adirondacks.

_4--Sanitation._ Except as a subterfuge, there is practically no connection between the subject of water conservation in the Adirondacks and sanitation. The Hudson is so polluted from Troy southward with sewage that the fish have been almost exterminated, and the industry of fis.h.i.+ng on the Hudson which thrived within the memory of living men has almost disappeared. Sanitation of the Hudson from the head of navigation southward cannot be effected by storage reservoirs in the Adirondacks.