REPORT OF THE FORESTER. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Forestry, 

 Washington, D. C, September 10, 1900. 



Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the work of 

 the Division of Forestry for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900, 

 together with an outline of the i)lans for the work of the Division for 

 the current fiscal year. 



Respectfully, Gifford Pinchot, 



Forester. 

 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary. 



WORK OF THE YEAR. 

 PUBLIC AND private DEMANDS UPON THE DIVISION. 



The past year has witnessed a conspicuously wider and more effect- 

 ive and intelligent interest in forest matters in the United States than 

 anj^ previous year; consequently the opportunity for the spread of 

 practical forestry in the woods, through v/hich alone the forests can 

 be saved, is far better than ever before. If this unexampled oppor- 

 tunity is neglected the loss will be correspondlnglj- deplorable and 

 severe. 



The Division of Forestrj^ is beginning to move toward the place to 

 which the crucial importance of forest preservation justly entitles it. 

 This statement is illustrated and emphasized by the central fact of 

 the year, which is that the private and official demands for the serv- 

 ices of the Division have far outstripped the growth of its resources. 

 In sinte of the increased appropriations for the fiscal year 1899-1900, 

 and of the growth of its personnel from 61 on July 1, 1898, to 123 a 

 year later, this Division is proportionately less able to cover the 

 ground of its evident duty than it was a year ago. To cite but one 

 instance, the applications for working plans have grown within one 

 year from 1,513,592 acres to cover an area of 51,192,71-4 acres. Since 

 the introduction of practical forestry on the national forest reserves 

 and on private lands alike dei)ends more than on any other factor 

 upon the ability of the Division of Forestrj'- to comjily with these 

 requests, the meagerness of its resources is the most effective of all 

 liindrances to the ijrogress of forest reform in the United States. 



The most conspicuous additions to the demands ui)on this Division 

 during the year have come from the Secretary of the Interior and from 

 the Forest, Fish, and Game Commission of New York. Simply to 

 comply with the request of the former for working plans for the man- 

 agement of the timber on the national forest reserves and for the 

 investigation of the grazing and other problems within their bounda- 



103 



