Richard J. Robertson, Ass't. District Forester
Chester L. Sewell, Ass't. District Forester
James C. Wilce, Ass't. District Forester
Robert G. Dennis, Supervisor Fire Control
Leon Spicer, Supervisor Fire Control
Lawrence Parsons, Supt. Pocomoke Forest

District 4—Bel Air

(Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, Kent, Queen Anne's Counties)

William A. Parr, District Forester
Clarence Blackstock, Ass't. District Forester
William L. Hobart, Ass't. District Forester
Henry Stasiek, Ass't. District Forester
Gerald Williams, Ass't. District Forester
L. B. Bettinger, Supervisor Fire Control
Paul H. Seward, Supervisor Fire Control
Eugene Bowers, Supt. Elk Neck State Park
Fred Hiser, Park Guard, The Rocks State Park

The Commission of Forests and Parks consists of five members
appointed by the Governor, one recommended by the Maryland Farm
Bureau, one by the Maryland State Grange; a third member shall
have had practical experience in the lumbering business, while the
remaining two shall have an interest in the advancement of State
parks and recreation. The members serve for a term of five years with
overlapping tenure of office. They select their chairman and appoint
the Director of the Department of Forests and Parks (Code 1951,
Art. 66C, secs. 340, 341).

A forestry department was first organized in 1906 under the State
Board of Forestry. The present Department, associated with the
Board of Natural Resources, was organized in 1941, and is the
successor of the first department. The Department of Forests and
Parks administers the tree marketing program under which woodland
owners who plan to dispose of their timber may secure a free marking
service to yield maximum return in saw timber and other forest
products with due provision made for a sustained yield of successive
timber crops. To supplement the timber cropping program and
provide adequate planting stock for reforestation, the State maintains
a nursery with a potential capacity of ten million trees. The Depart-
ment also administers the Forest Conservancy Districts Act designed
to ensure the practice of forestry on privately owned woodlands
throughout the State (Code 1951, Art. 66C, secs. 342-406). The
district foresters of the Department serve as executive officers and
secretaries of local forestry boards set up under the Act. Another
responsibility of the Department is the protection from fire of
2,700,000 acres of public and private woodland. To carry out this
assignment, the Department maintains a specially trained fire control
force, which is supplemented by 600-700 forest wardens commissioned
by the Governor. The protection of approximately 3,000,000 trees
along the State highways is also a responsibility of the Department.
A force of wardens is employed to supervise tree trimming operations
by the public utility companies along their pole-line right of ways.
The Department also examines and licenses tree experts operating
within the State.

The Department administers ten State Forests with a total area of
119,796 acres. These forests serve as demonstration areas in forestry
management. Recreational areas have been developed in several of