236 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



well started upon this wise and neces- 

 sary policy. 



"The lands acquired by the government 

 will be held as national forests. They 

 will be protected from fire and the growth 

 of the timber will be improved as much 

 as possible. The lands will not be game 

 preserves, but will continue to be open to 

 the public for hunting and fishing in ac- 

 cordance with the laws of the state in 

 which they are situated. All their resources 

 will be available for the public under rea- 

 sonable conditions. Another point which 

 I wish to emphasize is that we are not 

 going to take from people their homes 

 in order to put the lands into national for- 

 ests." 



The areas within which offers of land 

 are desired are set forth in detail in the 

 circular of the^orest Service. The approxi- 

 mate location of these areas is as follows, 

 although Secretary Wilson warns those 

 wishing to offer land that they should 

 first secure the circular in order to see 

 whether their holdings fall within the more 

 detailed areas therein indicated: 



In New Hampshire, lands in the White 

 Mountains region. 



In Maine, lands in a portion of Batchel- 

 der's Grant in Oxford County. 



In Maryland, a portion of the western 

 part of Garrett County. 



In Virginia, parts of Shenandoah, Rock- 

 ingham, southwestern Warren, western Page, 

 northern Bedford, eastern Botetourt, south- 

 ern Rockbridge, southern Washington, 

 Smyth, and Wythe counties, and western 

 Grayson County. 



In West Virginia, parts of Pendleton, 

 Hardy, Randolph, and Pocahontas counties. 



In Tennessee, parts of northeastern John- 

 son County, Cocke, Sevier, Blount, and 

 Monroe counties. 



In North Carolina, parts of Wilkes, Cald- 

 well, Wautauga, Buncombe, Yancey, Mc- 

 Dowell, southwestern Mitchell. Haywood, 

 Swain, Jackson, Henderson, Transylvania, 

 Macon, Clay, Cherokee, and Graham coun- 

 ties. 



In South Carolina, a part of Oconee 

 County. 



In Georgia, parts of Rabun, Habersham 

 and White counties. 



New Grazing Regulations 



The Secretary of Agriculture has ap- 

 proved a revised form of the grazing regu- 

 lations, which govern the use of national 

 forest ranges. The most important de- 

 partures from the old regulations are found, 

 first, in the fact that provision is made for 

 recognition of a permanent national ad- 

 visory board representing the sheep and 

 cattle interests, which will confer an- 



nually with the Secretary of Agriculture 

 concerning grazing matters;and secondly, 

 in the laying down of a rule that on for- 

 ests where the quality of range and ad- 

 vantages for raising cattle and sheep are 

 equal, the yearlong rate for sheep after the 

 season of 1911 will be thirty per cent of the 

 yearlong rate for cattle. 



The new regulations have been made the 

 subject of extended and most careful con- 

 sideration, and are promulgated at the 

 present time as the result of a general 

 revision made of all the regulations gov- 

 erning the use of the national forests. 

 Before deciding on the grazing regula- 

 tions. Secretary' Wilson invited representa- 

 tives of the two national organizations of 

 stockmen, the National Wool Growers' Asso- 

 ciation and the American National Live 

 Stock Association, to present their views 

 to him on grazing matters, and to make any 

 suggestions which they might wish to offer 

 concerning the proposed regulations. The 

 proposed regulations, as they had been 

 drafted by the Forest Service, were sub- 

 mitted to delegates of the two associa- 

 tions, who came to Washington in response 

 to the Secretary's invitation. Secretary 

 Wilson recognizes that the one and one- 

 half million cattle and seven and one-half 

 million sheep, which are annually grazed 

 on the forests, bear an important re- 

 lation to the price of beef and mutton in 

 this country, and that the public need of 

 increased food supplies no less than the 

 best interests of the stock industry call 

 for careful methods of regulation to pro- 

 mote the full use of the grazing resource. 



Regulated grazing on the national for- 

 ests seeks not only to make available, 

 to the fullest degree consistent with proper 

 protection of the range itself and of forest 

 growth and streamflow conditions, the an- 

 nual forage crop, but also to allot the graz- 

 ing privilege equitably. By giving the 

 stockmen themselves a chance to be heard 

 with regard to the rules established, and 

 by securing their help in the adjustment 

 of disputes between claimants for use of 

 the range, the department officials con- 

 sider that the task of administering the 

 range satisfactorily has been made much 

 easier. 



No radical changes in the regulations 

 have been made. As a result of the con- 

 ferences with the representatives of the 

 stockmen's associations, a number of 

 changes were made in the details concern- 

 ing the conditions under which owners 

 may surrender, transfer, or renew appli- 

 cation for grazing privileges. Both the de- 

 partment and the stockmen are anxious to 

 prevent speculation in grazing privileges, 

 and suggestions for minor modifications of 

 the rules, offered by the stockmen to this 

 end, were readily accepted. 



