The 1899 New Jersey State Geologist's Report: A Call for Forest Management

Abstract

By the end of the nineteenth century foresters and others were beginning to realize that the forest resources of the United States were being rapidly depleted. In 1894 the New Jersey state legislature formally recognized the severity of the problem, noting that market control was providing inadequate protection for the state's natural resources. To establish a basis for state regulation the New Jersey legislature authorized the state geologist to conduct a survey "to ascertain the extent, character and location of the wild lands in [the] state which [were] suited for permanent occupation by forests rather than by agriculture." One aim of this survey was to determine "the advantages as regards the timber supply, water supply, scenery and