Home › Soldiers of the Common Good: August › Soldiers of the Common Good: August: State-owned

Soldiers of the Common Good: August: State-owned

THE GOOD WORK THE STATES ARE DOING In addition to the rapid development of the national Forest Service, more than half the States now have forest departments to look after State-owned lands and to co-operate with the national government and with private owners in fire protection and in teaching these private owners, by the methods successfully employed on State lands, how to manage their own to the best advantage. Of special importance, you can see, from what has already been said, is the fact that some of these States are working out systems of taxation which, while giving due regard to the State's revenues, will justify lumbermen, paper-pulp manufacturers, and other private owners in reforesting cut-over land. For example, in Massachusetts, land which is being devoted solely to the growing of timber is exempt from taxation until the timber is large enough to cut and then a 6 per cent production tax is levied at the time of cutting. In Massachusetts you can even loan your cut-over land to the State, let the State put it into good shape, start new trees, and everything, and then have it back again at any time within ten years, simply by paying the actual expense of these improvements.