160 ANNUAL EEPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTURB. 



preserve in Oklahoma, formerly administered as part of District 3 

 from Albuquerque, N. Mex., a suitable new unit was formed. A 

 large purchase of land in North Carolina during the year added a 

 sixteenth Purchase Area, the Boone, which is now under adminis- 

 tration as a part of District 7. 



COST AND RETURNS. 



The cost of protecting the Forests was increased beyond the normal 

 by an extraordinarily severe fire season, necessitating emergency 

 expenditures which were partly provided for through a deficiency 

 appropriation, passed January 26, 1915, of $349,243. Of the regular 

 appropriation for the Forest Service of $5,662,094.13 carried by the 

 Agricultural appropriation act, approximately $5,281,000 was ex- 

 pended for the protection, utilization, and improvement of the Na- 

 tional Forests, including all overhead administrative costs. From 

 the special fund provided for public roads and trails on the Forests, 

 consisting of 10 per cent of the National Forest receipts, an addi- 

 tional sum of approximately $196,000 was spent. 



The expenditures include the cost of handling the business con- 

 nected with the utilization of the Forests and of protecting the 

 timber and other resources which at present do not bring in any 

 direct cash return to the Government. They include protecting the 

 timber which at present is inaccessible, but which will be of great 

 importance to provide for later demands for timber and which will 

 produce a direct future return. The outlay covers, further, the pro- 

 tection of mountain watersheds, whose returns are measured by gen- 

 eral public benefits. No attempt, however, is made in connection with 

 the expenditures for administering and protecting the Forests to 

 distinguish between the outlay necessary to provide for the present 

 use and the outlay which might properly be charged against future 

 returns or against watershed protection and other general benefits. 



During the past fiscal year the National Forest cash receipts were 

 $2,481,469.35, from the 'following sources : Timber, $1,175,133.95 ; 

 grazing, $1,130,495; and special uses, $175,840.40. This represents 

 an increase of $43,759.14 over the year 1914. The increase of cash 

 earnings was not as great as would have occurred under normal con- 

 ditions. The depressed lumber market furnishes the reason. That 

 the increase will be more rapid during the fiscal year 1916 is already 

 clear, since the first three months show an increase of $118,834.36 

 over the earnings of the same period in the year 1915. 



In addition to the timber which was sold, there was given away a 

 large amount of material to settlers free of cost, and a considerable 

 quantity of timber was also sold at cost. The value of the timber 

 given away amounted to $206,464.13. The value of the timber sold 

 at cost was some $33,000 greater than the amount received by the 

 Government. The revenue foregone through free use of grazing 

 lands is estimated to exceed $120,000. There were many special mis- 

 cellaneous uses of National Forest lands which are free of charge, 

 though their administration involves some expense. A moderate 

 charge for these miscellaneous uses would yield approximately 

 $100,000. The values represented by the free use of timber and other 

 privileges granted free in the Forests have never been entered for- 

 mally as a credit to the Forest business. They nevertheless should 



