In 1822, a commission composed of foresters was instituted to revise the
ordinance of 1669, which, here and there modified, had continued to be
valid, except during the revolutionary period. The result of the work of
this commission was the _Code Forestier_ (1829) which is the law of the
present day. In it, principles are laid down under which the state,
communal and other public forests are to be managed.
All forests submitted to the _régime forestier_, namely, the state and
communal forests and those belonging to public institutions, are
entirely managed by the state forest administration, the communities or
other public forest owners paying for the service not to exceed 9 cents
per acre, or 5 per cent. of the revenue. All jurisdiction and execution
of forestry laws is in the hands of the officials of the Forest
Administration. The foresters of the state have the exclusive
responsibility of making and executing working plans, without
interference by the municipalities after the plans have once been
submitted and approved by them. The corporations have not even the right
to appoint their own guards, all such being appointed by the prefects of
the departments upon recommendation by the forest department.
The fellings, usually performed by the purchaser, (the wood being sold
on the stump), are supervised most rigorously, making even the smallest
deviations from the conditions of the contract sale, which otherwise
would only entail the payment of damage, punishable by fine; and the
responsibility for any trespass which may occur on the land reaches 250
yards beyond the limits of the purchaser’s territory, unless he gives
proper warning and tries to find out the perpetrators of the same. Legal
proceedings are brought before the courts of correction, and are greatly
simplified, as is customary in Germany.
The public forests may not be sold, mortgaged or divided, and the
product can be sold only through state foresters. As in the olden times,
one-quarter of the stands in the timber forests, and one-fourth of the
felling budget in the coppice is placed in reserve for urgent or
unforeseen needs.
In addition to these and other restrictions which refer to the _public_
forests, there are prescriptions which apply to _all_ woods in general.
All foresters employed, even on private properties, have sheriff’s
power. Walking in the woods with axe, saw and wagon outside of the
public roads which pass through them, is forbidden; the making of fires
is forbidden; the making of fire lines, 20 yards wide, between private
forests can be enforced by either owner, and railroads, along their
rights of way, are required to make such. By special law of 1893, the
setting of fires even within 200 yards of a wood is forbidden in certain
regions, and the punishment of infractions of these laws is very severe.
The rights of user are gauged by the administration according to the
possible yield, even in private forests, and are surrounded by many
other restrictions; the wood falling under such rights of user is cut
and delivered by the forest agents, and the rights can be forcibly
extinguished by exchange of territory.
The supervision of the communal forests which had, indeed, existed since
the 16th century was by no means an easy task. The opposition to it
which had always existed and was, in earlier times, justified by the
incompetence and graft of the officials, continued even after this
justification of it had ceased. Thanks to the tact and efficiency of the
officials of the modern period, the opposition has been largely
overcome, and, thanks to the progress made in enforcing these rigorous
laws, their necessity has almost vanished, and, at present, relatively
few infractions need to be investigated and punished. Moreover, the
rigor of the original law was somewhat abated by the law of 1859.
There are, however, voices which proclaim that the supervision by the
government is not as thorough as it should be, and that the conditions
of the communal property have deteriorated.
While the supervision of the management of communal property is mainly
based on fiscal considerations, the _Code forestier_ also authorizes the
administration to interfere in the management of forests whose influence
on the public welfare can be demonstrated.
In order to assure the possibility of such interference, every private
owner who desires to clear land is required to advise the government of
his purpose, when the administration can prevent such clearing, if
deemed necessary to prevent landslides, erosion and torrential action,
to protect watersources, sand dunes, _for defensive purposes at the
frontier_ (!), and for public health. Otherwise, the management of
private forest is unhampered.
By special legislation, enacted in 1860 and 1882, however, the special
cases of torrential action were taken care of in a special manner, which
will be set forth in following pages. The reboisement law of 1882
authorizes the administration to acquire by expropriation mountain
forests or mountain slopes needed for reforestation for the sake of
safeguarding them and preventing torrential damage.
For Algiers, the same authorization to expropriate was extended by law
of 1903 to include all such areas on which according to the _Code
forestier_ the administration might forbid clearing, and such extension
is advocated for the mother country.
As a rule the administration has been able to avoid expropriation and
secure the territories by voluntary sale at less than $10 per acre.
At present, the forest service is under the Minister of Agriculture as
President of the Forestry Council, with a Director-General as Vice
President and technical head, and three _Administrateurs Vérificateurs
généraux_, chiefs of the three bureaux into which the administration is
divided, each with two chiefs of sections, Inspectors, and the necessary
office staff. For purposes of the local administration the forest area
is divided into 32 conservations, each under charge of a _Conservateur_
equivalent to the German Oberforstmeister. These are again subdivided
into _Chefferies_ or _Inspections_, two to twelve in each conservation,
which are administrative units, under the supervision of Inspectors
(200) and Assistant Inspectors (210). In addition, a special service for
forest-organization and reboisement employs 14 inspectors and some 20
assistants. The forest districts or _cantonments_ (ranges) finally are
under the direct charge of _Gardes généraux_ (162), with the assistance
of _Gardes généraux stagiaires_ (67) and underforesters or guards
(_Brigadiers_) (3,650); altogether a personnel of over 4,400 officials.
While this is a larger force per acreage, yet the expense for personnel
per acre is less than one-half that of the Prussian forest
administration, and one-quarter of that in several of the other German
state administrations.
In 1909, a reorganization was effected improving to some extent the
salaries.
The legislation of 1909 also further strengthens State influence by
placing certain private properties under the control of the
Administration, and allowing the latter to undertake the management of
private properties at the request of owners for a consideration.
The budget for 1911 places the total expenditure for the Forest
Administration at 3 million dollars (98 cents per acre), of which
950,000 for reboisement and other improvement work. The receipts for the
last five years have averaged near 7 million dollars, so that a net
result of $1.60 per acre seems attained, considering the expense of
reboisement as new investment.