A Brief History of Forestry.: In Europe, the United States and Other CountriesFernow, B. E. (Bernhard Eduard)
History
A Brief History of Forestry.: In Europe, the United States and Other Countries
Fernow, B. E. (Bernhard Eduard)
Forests and forestry -- History
In Hawaii, even before annexation, a movement on the part of the Sugar
Planters Association was made in 1897, to induce the insular government
to devise protective measures. The result was the appointment of a
Committee who made a report in which the writer had a hand. But not
until 1903 was a Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry
established, a Superintendent of Forestry appointed, an organization of
district foresters effected, and a number of forest reservations
established. The principle of State forest was fully recognized by
planning the gradual withdrawal of some 300,000 acres and by beginning
the extension of forested area by plantations. In 1910, 23 reserves with
an area of 575,000 acres had been made. Distribution of plant material
and of advice to planters is also part of the policy. Annual Reports are
issued which attest the good common sense in the administration.
In the Philippine Islands, a territory of 120,000 square miles, largely
mountainous, not only the protective but the commercial value of the
timberlands is considerable. The extent is variously estimated as
covering between 40 and 50 million acres (50% of total area), much of it
virgin, and 16 million acres of it commercially valuable. Of the seven
hundred odd species of trees, mostly heavy woods, composing the forest,
some 160 are marketable at home and in China; yet almost fifty per cent.
of the home consumption is imported from the States, owing to absence or
inaccessibility of softwoods, and high cost due to excessive expense of
present logging methods.
When the United States took charge of the islands it was found that the
Spaniards had since 1863 a forestry service, manned by Spanish
foresters, and in the lower ranks by Filipinos. To be sure, the
activities of this forestry bureau went hardly beyond the collection of
dues for timber licenses, which yielded little more than the cost of the
service, although on paper excellent instructions were found elaborated.
It so happened that an officer of the American army, Captain George P.
Ahern, had for some time given attention to forestry matters in the
States, and he naturally was placed in charge of this bureau, in 1900.
There were found to be around one million acres private and church
property, the rest being considered State lands, but all private owners
were required to register their holdings before being allowed to
exercise their rights. A system of licenses for cutting timber, and of
free use permits to the poor population was continued after Spanish
models. Not only was an efficient administration gradually secured, but
the technical side of dendrological and silvicultural knowledge was
developed as rapidly as possible under the able administration of
Captain Ahern, a continuously growing literature being the result.
INDEX.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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