hello List members,

        I am trying to work out some details regarding New YOrk STate's
REforestation lands. Here in Chicago, I don't have ready access to the
maps and books I
would need to answer this question so I hoped that someone on the list
could possibly help.

        My question concerns specifically the lands within the State's
REforestation program. That is, the program that was established in the
late 1920s in order to
purchase abandoned farm land and plant it with trees. This land was of the
type considered "submarginal" for agricultural purposes and state planners
wanted to reforest it to protect 1)watersheds, 2)provide timber, and
3)prevent
further attempts to farm it. As I recall from research I did several years
ago, the initial plans in the late 1920s were to eventually purchase 2
million acres of land. However, the onset of the Depression meant the
State could not
raise enough money to buy that much land and scaled back to about 1
million acres. (I think they reached this goal by the early 1950s). The
lands were purchased in initial blocks that had to be of a minimal size (I
think it was 500 acres) and then more was added to these blocks as
adjoining
acreage was bought up.  So the 1 million acres of land is not in one
parcel, of course, but scattered across  a number of blocks of land.
        My question is this: what percentage of the the 1 million acres of
state
reforestation land is located within the Appalachian Upland REgion?
        A second question concerns the total of the 2 million acres the
state wanted to purchase, but could not afford to. (This is
hypothetical) Would that other 1
million acres located in more or less the same areas as the 1 million
acres that the state did purchase? That is, the reforestation would
have been in the same areas but the there would have had more and
larger blocks of land.

        I ask these questions because I am wondering if the REforestation
program was targeted at the Appalachian Uplands. (This interest stems
from the paper I am preparing for the New YOrk State history conference
in June). The reforestation program of the 1920s
was part of a general and ongoing  regional and state responses to
the
ecological and conservation  concerns. The Adirondack and Catskill park
systems had already been created by the early part of the century. And, of
course, although state officials
identified some 6 or 7 acres of land in the state as "submarginal", they
were encouraging private reforestation efforts and could expect that some
of
the "submarginal" land was already being allowed to "naturally" reforest.
That is, the land was SO BAD, that no one would continue to attempt to
farm it, and so it was let go to grow to forest.
        I am wondering if the agricultural history of the Appalachian
uplands--and a possible threat of continued attempts at
agriculatural use there--demanded
a more activist approach by the state. And I could infer
that this was the case IF most of the 1 million acres of REforestation
land purchased in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s was within the Appalachian
Uplands.

        Thanks for considering my questions.

Ian McGiver
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