THE FORESTER. 161 



be considered among the very definite returns from the National 

 Forests. In addition there are the general benefits not measurable 

 in terms of money value, but of great public importance, such as the 

 benefits of watershed protection and of the utilization of all resources 

 along lines that make for stable industrial and community develop- 

 ment "without monopoly. 



CLAEMS, ALIENATIONS, AND LAND CLASSIFICATION. 



During the year 881 individual tracts of land passed into private 

 ownership through the patenting of claims. Of these 360 were home- 

 stead, 2 timber and stone, 501 mineral, 17 coal, and 1 miscellaneous. 



The chief source of alienation is the opening of lands to home- 

 steading under the Forest Homestead Act. This is based on land 

 classification. The land classification work also furnishes the basis 

 for recommending eliminations from the Forests of areas found not 

 to be chiefly valuable for Forest purposes. This work is proceeding 

 rapidly as a result of the special appropriation for it. At the close 

 of the fiscal year a total gross area of 18,707,127 acres had been classi- 

 fied through final action of the Secretary of Agriculture upon re- 

 ports of special field parties engaged in this work. Of this amount 

 3,349,215 acres was alienated land taken up before the creation of the 

 Forests or already listed under the Forest Homestead Act. Naturally 

 these alienations comprised as a rule the pick of the land classified. 

 The Government land totaled 15,357,912 acres. Of this 216,375 acres 

 was classified as chiefly valuable for agriculture. In addition 97,523 

 acres was found which may be" suitable for farming after the re- 

 moval of the present heavy stand of valuable timber. Action was 

 suspended on such tracts until the timber is removed. The remaining 

 land proved to be chiefly valuable for forest purposes. 



In addition to the classification work done by special field parties, 

 many small tracts were examined at the request of individual appli- 

 cants. There were thus listed and opened to entry 2,356 individual 

 tracts, covering 238,525 acres. At the end of the year the number of 

 individual tracts listed since the passage of the Forest Homestead Act 

 was 18,020, with a total of 1,920,608 acres thus opened to settlement. 



As a further result of the classification work, 1,107,224 acres was 

 eliminated from the National Forests. The larger areas classified as 

 agricultural were thus dealt with, as well as areas of low value for 

 forest purposes, some of which was believed to have possible value 

 for farm purposes. Other eliminations with a total area of 7,507,536 

 acres which had been recommended by the Forest Service and had 

 received the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture were awaiting 

 the action of the Department of the Interior and the President ; the 

 Forests and areas involved were: Chugach, 5,800,000 acres; Cleve- 

 land, 749,730 acres; Dixie. 567,800 acres; Paulina, 127,219 acres; and 

 Kansas, 262,787 acres. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



The sales of timber during the past year have brought out clearly 

 both the relation of the National Forest timber to local supply and 

 development and its relation to the general lumber industry and 

 lumber needs of the country. While a widespread depression in the 

 lumber industry curtailed the output of many mills and decreased the 



22814°— AGE 1915 11 



