The New York Forest Owner - Volume I Number 4
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Issued Monthly by New York Forest Owners Association, Inc. Volume I October 1963 FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! We are the woods. The woods are closed for hunting have been postponed. areas to assist the Conservation plagued with continuing drought and extreme dryness in to recreation allover the state and the opening dates Hundreds of fire-fighters have gone into the burning Department in getting things under controle Your President has been directly involved. As Sheriff of Washington County, I re- ceived a call for assistance at 2:30 P.M., Oct. 8th, from District Ranger George Stewart at Warrensburg who reported that there were two fires out of control in the Town of Dres- den. At 5:30 P.M. our men were setting up a headquarters camp at Spruce Mountain and distributing sandwiches, milk and coffee to tired fire-fighters. For the next seven days we assisted in passing out several thousand sandwiches, hundreds of cartons of milk and gallons of coffee, snatching sleep when we could get it and always searching for more men to go on the next fire-line shift. Such an operation on short notice is made possible. for the Sheriff's department in this county by a unique Emergency Vehicle, which is a re- modeled school bus, equipped with radio, galley, bottled gas heat, tents, cots, bedding, tools, first aid and other equipment including a 110 volt A. C. generator and a boat. On Wednesday afternoon the need for man-power became critical, and with the bless- ing of the Conservation Department officials (who are always in command in forest fire situitions) the Sheriff notified the Governor's office in Albany that he was declaring a "Natural Disaster Emergency" for the purpose of requesting outside assistance from the National Guard or other State agencies. This was a legal step conforming to the New York State Civil Defense Law and automatically set in motion the State and County Civil Def- ense-organizations for the purpose of coordinating all participating groups and legaliz- ing the cost of operations. You, as forest owners, will be interested to know that the unit that we obtained was a group of 60 young men from the Conservation Department of Youth Camp at Rensselaerville, N.Y., whom we bedded and fed under emergency condi.tions at the local armorYe This brief description is written for the purpose of informing you first hand that a lot of thought and work has gone in to orderly preparation for catastrophies in peace or war, and to note that it is indeed strange that the President of our Association should be officially concerned in his other capacity as Sheriff in fighting forest fires. Know what YOUR forest should do for YO~ before making out a management plan. So said Dr. Farnsworth at Pack Forest. This is good advice for our associati.on too, so our executive committee meets the 26th and the Board of Directors meets November 9th to con- tinue our efforts to make the Forest Owners a "going concern". As of October 22nd, we now have 302 members. "Special Forest Products for Profit" - a 64 page illustrated bulletin issued by the
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October 1963 issue of the New York Forest Owner. Published by the New York Forest Owners Association; P.O. Box 541; Lima, NY 14485; (800)836-3566; www.nyfoa.org
Transcript of The New York Forest Owner - Volume I Number 4
Issued Monthly byNew York Forest Owners Association, Inc.
Volume I October 1963
FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! We arethe woods. The woods are closedfor hunting have been postponed.areas to assist the Conservation
plagued with continuing drought and extreme dryness into recreation allover the state and the opening datesHundreds of fire-fighters have gone into the burning
Department in getting things under controle
Your President has been directly involved. As Sheriff of Washington County, I re-ceived a call for assistance at 2:30 P.M., Oct. 8th, from District Ranger George Stewartat Warrensburg who reported that there were two fires out of control in the Town of Dres-den. At 5:30 P.M. our men were setting up a headquarters camp at Spruce Mountain anddistributing sandwiches, milk and coffee to tired fire-fighters. For the next seven dayswe assisted in passing out several thousand sandwiches, hundreds of cartons of milk andgallons of coffee, snatching sleep when we could get it and always searching for more mento go on the next fire-line shift. Such an operation on short notice is made possible.for the Sheriff's department in this county by a unique Emergency Vehicle, which is a re-modeled school bus, equipped with radio, galley, bottled gas heat, tents, cots, bedding,tools, first aid and other equipment including a 110 volt A. C. generator and a boat.
On Wednesday afternoon the need for man-power became critical, and with the bless-ing of the Conservation Department officials (who are always in command in forest firesituitions) the Sheriff notified the Governor's office in Albany that he was declaringa "Natural Disaster Emergency" for the purpose of requesting outside assistance from theNational Guard or other State agencies. This was a legal step conforming to the New YorkState Civil Defense Law and automatically set in motion the State and County Civil Def-ense-organizations for the purpose of coordinating all participating groups and legaliz-ing the cost of operations. You, as forest owners, will be interested to know that theunit that we obtained was a group of 60 young men from the Conservation Department ofYouth Camp at Rensselaerville, N.Y., whom we bedded and fed under emergency condi.tionsat the local armorYe
This brief description is written for the purpose of informing you first hand thata lot of thought and work has gone in to orderly preparation for catastrophies in peaceor war, and to note that it is indeed strange that the President of our Associationshould be officially concerned in his other capacity as Sheriff in fighting forest fires.
Know what YOUR forest should do for YO~ before making out a management plan. Sosaid Dr. Farnsworth at Pack Forest. This is good advice for our associati.on too, so ourexecutive committee meets the 26th and the Board of Directors meets November 9th to con-tinue our efforts to make the Forest Owners a "going concern".
As of October 22nd, we now have 302 members.
"Special Forest Products for Profit" - a 64 page illustrated bulletin issued by the
Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture on September 5, named some 250 productsand services from which family forest owners can obtain an income while their crop treesare growing into more profitable sizes.
About a hundred copies of this publication were distributed at the fall meeting ofthe Association at the Pack Forest on September 27-28. For those interested singlecopies of the bulletin "Special Forest Products for Profit", Agriculture InformationBulletin 278, may be obtained from the Forest Service, Room 0220 - So. U. S. Departmentof Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250.
William D. Mulholland, Asst. Commissioner for Lands and Forests, has recently ann-ounced the appointment of Fred W. Oettinger of Knox~ New York, as Superintendent ofForest Fire Control in the State Conservation Department.
liAsSuperintendent of Forest Fire Control, Mr. Oettinger is responsible for theprotection of more than eight million acres of forest lands throughout the State. Inaddition to supervising a fire force of nearly 107 forest rangers, he will have chargeof forest fire observers maintaining a network of 98 fire towers at key locationsoverlooking the State's woodlands." - according to a release of the Division of Conser-vation Education, Conservation Department.
"Man-Caused Forest Fires Increase". From a recent clipping we quote "U. S. ForestService statistics now show that 150,345 forest fires burned slightly more than fourmillion acres in 1962, an increase over the previous year when 98,517 fires burned aboutone million acres less, the Wildlife Management Institute reports. The general trendin forest fires has been downward in the past twenty years. Incendiarious debris burn-ers and smokers started the most fires in 1962."
Undoubtedly the increase in forest fire numbers and acreage burned is due in nosmall part to a dry cycle of the weather for this part of the earth. It is a grim re-minder that the threat of forest fires is a serious one.
"No place is complete without trees. A home without trees is charmless; a roadwithout trees is shadeless; a park without trees is purposeless; a country withouttrees is hopeless." From "Trees" - Journal of American Arboriculture.
The New York Forest Owners Association is de£ini~e±y -committed to backing theTree Farm movement in New York State. At mid-year New York State had 247 Tree Farmers.We hope that this number will greatly increase in New York State. For further informa-tion about the Tree Farm movement of New York State, contact Floyd E. Carlson, Secre-tary, New York Forest Owners Association, State University College of Forestry,Syracuse, N.Y. 13210.
