A Brief History of Forestry. / In Europe, the United States and Other Countries

by B. E. Fernow

All forests submitted to the régime forestier, namely, the state and communal forests and those belonging to public institutions, are entirely managed by the state forest administration, the communities or other public forest owners paying for the service not to exceed 9 cents per acre, or 5 per cent. of the revenue. All jurisdiction and execution of forestry laws is in the hands of the officials of the Forest Administration. The foresters of the state have the exclusive responsibility of making and executing working plans, without interference by the municipalities after the plans have once been submitted and approved by them. The corporations have not even the right to appoint their own guards, all such being appointed by the prefects of the departments upon recommendation by the forest department.

The fellings, usually performed by the purchaser, (the wood being sold on the stump), are supervised most rigorously, making even the smallest deviations from the conditions of the contract sale, which otherwise would only entail the payment of damage, punishable by fine; and the responsibility for any trespass which may occur on the land reaches 250 yards beyond the limits of the purchaser’s territory, unless he gives proper warning and tries to find out the perpetrators of the same. Legal proceedings are brought before the courts of correction, and are greatly simplified, as is customary in Germany.

The public forests may not be sold, mortgaged or divided, and the product can be sold only through state foresters. As in the olden times, one-quarter of the stands in the timber forests, and one-fourth of the felling budget in the coppice is placed in reserve for urgent or unforeseen needs.

In addition to these and other restrictions which refer to the public forests, there are prescriptions which apply to all woods in general. All foresters employed, even on private properties, have sheriff’s power. Walking in the woods with axe, saw and wagon outside of the public roads which pass through them, is forbidden; the making of fires is forbidden; the making of fire lines, 20 yards wide, between private forests can be enforced by either owner, and railroads, along their rights of way, are required to make such. By special law of 1893, the setting of fires even within 200 yards of a wood is forbidden in certain regions, and the punishment of infractions of these laws is very severe.

The rights of user are gauged by the administration according to the possible yield, even in private forests, and are surrounded by many other restrictions; the wood falling under such rights of user is cut and delivered by the forest agents, and the rights can be forcibly extinguished by exchange of territory.

The supervision of the communal forests which had, indeed, existed since the 16th century was by no means an easy task. The opposition to it which had always existed and was, in earlier times, justified by the incompetence and graft of the officials, continued even after this justification of it had ceased. Thanks to the tact and efficiency of the officials of the modern period, the opposition has been largely overcome, and, thanks to the progress made in enforcing these rigorous laws, their necessity has almost vanished, and, at present, relatively few infractions need to be investigated and punished. Moreover, the rigor of the original law was somewhat abated by the law of 1859.

There are, however, voices which proclaim that the supervision by the government is not as thorough as it should be, and that the conditions of the communal property have deteriorated.

While the supervision of the management of communal property is mainly based on fiscal considerations, the Code forestier also authorizes the administration to interfere in the management of forests whose influence on the public welfare can be demonstrated.

In order to assure the possibility of such interference, every private owner who desires to clear land is required to advise the government of his purpose, when the administration can prevent such clearing, if deemed necessary to prevent landslides, erosion and torrential action, to protect watersources, sand dunes, for defensive purposes at the frontier (!), and for public health. Otherwise, the management of private forest is unhampered.