Few people of the Central or Prairie States, unless perhaps they have travelled through the southern part of the state know that Illinois has any forests or that any state department is at all concerning itself with forestry matters

Fisk, V. C

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Few people of the Central or Prairie States, unless perhaps they have travelled through the southern part of the state know that Illinois has any forests or that any state department is at all concerning itself with forestry matters.</p

Fisk, V.

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64                   TIIE    AMES    FORESTERWhat Illinois  is  Doing  In  ForestryBy  V.  C.  Fisk,  '21Few  people  of  the  Central  or  Prairie  States,  unless  per-haps  they  have  travelled  through  the  southern  part  of  thestate  know  that  Illinois  has  any  forests  or  that  any  state  de-partment  is  at  all  co,ncerning  itself  with  forestry  matters.Before  a  man  purchases  a  store  he  first  calls  for  an  in-voice or  inventory of stock, as  he  wishes  to know the capabi1-ity of the store as a producer of revenue.    The stock c]'r "grow-ing  stock"  in  a  forest  is  made  up  of  the  trees  and  reproduc-tion  on  the  ground,  the  growth  on  this  every  year  represent-ing  the  interest  on  the  investment  in  that  fc],rest  property.The  work  of  invoicing  Illinois  woodlands,  which  accord-ing  to  the  census  reports  for  the  year  1919  amount  to  overthree  million  acres  oln  farms  alone,  started  on  July  27,  1921.Three  men  all  graduates  of  forestry  schools  were  employedby  the  State  P\Tatural  History  Survey  to  do  this  work,  underthe   supervision   of   R.   B.   Miller,   the   State   Forester.     Thework first  started  in  southern  Illinc,is  and  at  the  present  timeabo,ut  three-fifths  of  the  entire  state  has  been  surveyed.    Atfirst the men traveled on foot or used livery rigs until  O'ctober(1921)   when  a  Ford  was   obtained.     Three  men  work  in   aparty,  one  driving  the  car,  one  mapping  and  the  third  takesthe  bumps  of the  back  seat and  makes  whatever  a,bservationshe  can  as  to  the  classes  of  soil  and   species  of  trees   in  theregion.    The  base  maps  used  are  the  state  topographilc  quad-Tangles  whenever  they  are  available  and  when  they  are  notavailable  the  county  rural  delivery  maps  are  used.     In  everycounty  a  detailed  examination  or  estimate  of  timberland  bythe  strip  survey  method  a,r  the  sample  area  metho,d,  is  made.During   the   field   season   of   1921,   from    July    27    untilDecember   15,  this  three   man   party,  had    gone    o'ver    about2,389,120  acres   of  land   in   eleven   southerll   counties,   finding473,362  acres  of  this,  or  an  average  of  19.897o   wooded.     Theestimated  board  foot  contents  for -these  eleven  counties  wasabc,ut  one-half  billion  board  feet  so  that   the    average   wassomething  over  1200  board  feet  per  acre.     During  the  fieldseason  of  1922  every  county  north  and  west  of  the  Illinoisriver was  surveyed.    The  finishing  up  of  maps  from  the  fieldmaps  and  the  working  up  of  the  data  on  g1-OWth  and  VO,1umeand  the  plotting  of  curves  of  the  various  sorts  is  done  in  theoffice  during  the  winter  season.Future  work  in  Illinois  will  depend  largely  on  appro,pri-ations  from  the  State.     The   educational   propaganda  of  theIllinois  Forestry Association will also be  of great aid  ill  eStab-1ishing  a  permanent  forest  policy  for  the  State  of  IllillOiS.

What Illinois is Doing In Forestry

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What Illinois is Doing In Forestry

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