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Show F0EEST PROTECTION. LAWS FORBIDDING THE DESTRUCTION OF TIMBER IN EUROPE. Governments Have Supervision Over Private Pri-vate as Well a National uud Communal Forests Reforesting Carried on by Established Es-tablished Departments. In Germany the varions governments own and manage, in a ; conservative spirit, about one-third of the forest area, and they also control the management manage-ment of another sixth, whion belongs to villages, cities and public institutions, in so far as these com uuni ties are obliged to employ expert foresters and must submit their working plans to the government for approval, -?kus preventing prevent-ing improvident and waste-ful methods. The other half of the forest property, in the hands of private owners, is managed man-aged mostly without interference, although al-though upon methods similar ;o those employed by the government, and by trained foresters, who receive their education edu-cation in ono of the eight higher and several sev-eral lower schools of forestry which the various governments have established. The several states differ m their law regarding forest property. Of the private pri-vate forests 70 percent are without any control whatever, while 80 per cent are Bubject to supervision, bo ill? as clearing and devastation are concerred. The tendency oa the par): of the government gov-ernment has been rather tdvard persuasive persua-sive measures. Thus in addition to buying buy-ing up or acquiring by exclange and reforesting re-foresting waste lands smQ 800, COO acres have been bo reforested during the last 25 years the government gives assistance as-sistance to private ownersjti reforesting their waste land. During '-the last . 10 years $300, 000 was granted in this way. - In Austria, by a law adopted in 1852, not only are the state forests comprising compris-ing less; than 30 per cent, of the total forest area rationally nuinaged, and the management of the communal forests for-ests nearly 40 per cent officially supervised, su-pervised, . but private owners holding about 32 per cent are -printed from devastating their forest pv'jp. ty tf. the agricultural use can "be made withont" the consent of the district authorities, from which, however, an appeal to a civil judge is possible, who adjusts the conflict of interests. Any cleared or cut forest must be replanted re-planted or reseeded within five years. On sandy soils and mountain sides clearing clear-ing is forbidden, and only culling of the ripe timber is allowed. In Hungary, also, where liberty of private property rights ar-d strong objection ob-jection to government interference had been jealously upheld, a complete reaction reac-tion set in some 15 years ago, wfcich led to the law of 1880, giving the state control con-trol of private forest property as in Austria. Aus-tria. Under a law adopted in Italy in 1888 the department of agriculture, in co-op erationwith the department of public works and in consultation with the f or-estal or-estal committee of the province and he respective owners, is to designate the territory which for public reasons must be reforested under governmental control. con-trol. The owners may associate themselves for the purpose of reforestation and for the purnpse may then borrow money at low interest from the State Soil Credit institution, the forest department contributing con-tributing three-fifths of the cost of reforestation re-forestation upon condition that the wori is done according to its plans and within the time specified by the government. In Russia until lately liberty to cut burn, destroy an devastate was unrestricted, unre-stricted, but in 1888 a comprehensive and well considered law cut off, so fat as this can be done on paper, this liberty of vandalism. For autocratic Russia this law is rather timid and is in the nature na-ture of a compromise between communal commu-nal and private interests, in which much if not all depends on the good will of the private owner. A federal law was adopted in Switzerland Switzer-land in 1876 which gives the federation control over the forests of the mountaia region embracing eight entire cantons and parts of seven others, or over 1,000,-000 1,000,-000 acre3 of forest The federation itself does not own any forest land, and the cantons hardly 100,000 acres, somewhat over 4 per cent of the forest area, two-thirdB two-thirdB of which is held in communa ownership and the. rest by ji rivate owners. own-ers. The federal authorities h&ve .supervision .supervi-sion ovei all cantonal, communal and private forests, so far as they are "protective "pro-tective forests," but the execution of tha law rests with the cantonal authorities under the inflection of federal officers. In Franco not only does the state manage man-age its own forest property, one-ninth of the forest area, in approved manner, and supervise the management of forests for-ests belonging to communities and other public institutions, double the area of state forests, in a manner similar to the regulation of forests in Germany, but it extends its control over the large area of private forests by forbidding any clearing clear-ing except with the consent of the forest administration. Century Magazine. |
