Text and images courtesy of Neil Piper.
Seavey Piper, a selectman, farmer, landowner, and leader of the Town of Troy in the 1920s through the early 1950s prepared a report about establishing a town forest in Troy. The remarks below are a summary of several presentations which Seavey made to extension agents, foresters, and civic groups, in 1949 after about ten years of operation of the Troy Town Forest.
Seavey Piper's report showed the challenges rural citizens faced following the Depression, and how cooperation, hard work, some government assistance, and a lot of bold leadership helped the town through difficult times. While this was not the only effort made during the 1930s and 1940s, it is one story of many of how Mainers coped and survived.
The Situation
Troy is in the northern part of Waldo County in the central region of the state of Maine. In 1949, the town consisted of 22,000 acres of taxable land. Of this area about 15,000 acres were owned by residents of the town and 5,000 acres owned by non-residents. The town had about 2,000 acres of land owned by the town, taken for unpaid back taxes.
In 1939 Troy held 3,000 acres of tax delinquent land or about 13% of the total taxable area of the town. Troy was strictly an agricultural town made up of small farms, each having some field land and wooded areas. The population in 1939 was 582 residents. The 1940 census reported that there were 569 native born residents, and 13 foreign born residents. The assessed valuation was $238,000 and the town tax rate was 66 mills. The land held for the forest area was taxed at .30 cents per acre.
Why a Town Forest?
Beginning with the market crash in 1929 and all through the 1930s Depression years, there were many economic problems in Troy. The town had a tax commitment of $18,000 and often the town had over $3,000 in tax liens (17% of total tax commitment). During these years the expenses for poor relief—due to large unemployment—cost between $2,000 and $3,000 per year. During this 10-year period, the town acquired title to 3,000 acres or approximately 13% of the taxable area of the town.
The people of the town were aware of the conditions, but no one knew what to do about it. Many people were discouraged and losing interest in farming.
The idea for a Town Forest was proposed at a land use meeting held in the town by the County extension agent, the Local Farm Bureau members, and selectmen. Phil Parsons was the Waldo County extension agent at the time, and he showed aerial photos and soil maps of the town.
From this study the selectmen realized that some of the farms owned by the town included very marginal land that was not suited for farming purposes.
After this first meeting Phil Parsons arranged for a meeting with the Troy selectmen and brought in an extension forestry specialist, A. D. Nutting, who eventually became Forest Commissioner for the State of Maine. They learned that the Agricultural Adjustment Act or “Triple A,” a Depression-era work program, would pay for forest plantations by distributing tree seedlings to those who wanted to plant them. Many meetings followed with town officials and taxpayers at the Grange Hall and even during visits at the homes of some Troy citizens.
At the annual March Town Meeting in 1940, the town selectmen voted to establish the Troy Forest Area. This included about 12 different lots of land comprising about 963 acres.
The selectmen were frugal in their decisions. They chose lots with the least favorable agricultural farming uses, or parcels that were “back farms” located on dead end roads, with limited access, and unlikely to find new owners in near future. Because of this, the town saved money by limiting some road maintenance.
These lots were all old farms and each originally had some open fields and wooded areas. All together on the 12 lots there were about 200 acres of open fields and the rest were woods or brush covered pasture. If the lots contained buildings, they were sold off for removal only, or torn down.
The stated purposes of the Town Forest Area were:
1. To return the open idle field and pasture land to forest by seedling plantings.
2. To improve the wooded areas by “selective cutting,” thinning and pruning.
3. To provide local employment.
4. To seek cash returns to the town from the idled land because it had not yielded any taxes to the town in several years.
The management of this project fell to the selectmen. Immediately following the town meeting 50,000 forest seedlings were ordered from the State nursery in Orono, and assistance was sought from every available source.
For the planting of plantations, thinning trees, and forest improvement work in the woods, the Town received federal payments of $1,500. Many of the townspeople volunteered a day’s work and the 4-H club also helped with the planting. A field day was held and continued to be held annually to help with the plantings.
At the very start the selectmen sought out and were granted a funds from Depression-era work projects. Mr. Fuller of Bangor was head of the National Youth Administration, and provided assistance through this division of the Works Project Administration. The Waldo County Soil Conservation District furnished maps, field plans, and donated 25,000 seedlings. Federal and State Agencies under the direction of Mr. Bradbury of Belfast carried out “Pine Blister Rust Control” and removed nearly 50,000 currant and gooseberry bushes.
Fire department equipment and storage unit, Troy, ca. 1942
Courtesy of Neil Piper, an individual partner
The State Forest Department encouraged and aided the town in the purchase of Indian pumps and spades to help in control of fires. This also was the impetus to get a town fire department. A metal lined box at the Piper farm was the original storage for this fire equipment.
There were approximately 200 acres of trees planted. The town planted over 190,000 seedlings—probably 100,000 Norway pine, with the remainder being white pine, and white spruce. There were some Norway spruce, red spruce, and some scotch pine planted.
About 140 acres of land had been thinned to improve the quality of the forest and to speed up the growth rate of the trees. Practically all the cutting and thinning was done by paid day labor, and much of it was under the direction of Charles Cook as foreman.
Accomplishments
- In eight years from 1941-1949, the town had marketed and cut fuel, pulp, birch and plywood logs from 300 acres of the Town Forest out of the 963 total acres, and realized sales of $11,900.
- The Town’s expenses for seedlings, planting, and supplies were $1600.
- Labor, cutting costs, yarding, and trucking were $7,000.
- In 1945 the town purchased a war bond for $2,590 with the Town Forest proceeds that was later used to pay for a consolidated school building with a total cost about $11,000.
- Even with the school expenses, Troy had a balance of about $800.
Other benefits
The land was taxed at $.30 per acre. Over eight years the forest area paid the town a net of about $.40 per acre. This positive economic return was in light of fact that much of the land would not return any taxes to town unless it was purchased by an individual.
Some of the land was still Town Forest as of 1949, but much was sold off for house lots.
Seavey Piper documented the administrative, planting, and logging process of the Troy Town Forest. Explore his photographs below.
