NATIONAL FOREST WORK 



Working on Administrative Problems 



Associate Forester A. F. Potter has returned 

 recently from a trip of about a month to 

 confer with national forest officers on the ad- 

 mmistrative methods of the Forest Service 

 and to take up with them the questions of 

 changes in procedure considered desirable by 

 the Secretary of Agriculture and the For- 

 ester. He visited the offices of the district 

 foresters at Missoula, Mont., Portland, Greg., 

 Ogden, Utah, and Denver, Colo. At Missoula 

 and Portland he attended meetings of all 

 the forest supervisors of Montana, northern 

 Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Mr. Potter 

 attended the meeting at Missoula during the 

 early part of the week of March 21 to 26, 

 and the meeting at Portland during the latter 

 part of the same week. 



Secretary Wilson is anxious that in apply- 

 ing the national forest policy the fullest con- 

 sideration compatible with the welfare of the 

 forests be given to users and to persons en- 

 titled under the land laws to patents of na- 

 tional forest land. The listing of agricultural 

 lands within the national forests, permitted 

 by the law of June 11, 1906, when the land is 

 found to be actually more valuable for agri- 

 cultural purposes than for its timber, is an es- 

 tablished part of the Forest Service work. Com- 

 plaint has been made in some quarters that 

 forest officers have shown an excess of zeal in 

 opposing bona fide claims, and that the Forest 

 Service has been too strict in applying the law 

 permitting agricultural settlement. While the 

 great majority of such complaints have been 

 found, on investigation, to be without just 

 cause. Secretary Wilson regards it as worth 

 while to inquire whether any modifications of 

 the present procedure are called for to insure 

 that his wishes are actually carried out. 



This does not mean that any departure from 

 the policies which have governed the admin- 

 istration of the national forests is contem- 

 plated. It may be, however, that the details 

 of the administrative work require looking 

 after in some particulars to insure that the 

 decisions of field officers actually apply the 

 principles laid down for the Forest Service, 

 and it is to inquire into this matter that the 

 Secretary authorized Mr. Potter to make his 

 trip. 



5^ «? «< 



Squatter Rights in National Forests 



Secretary Wilson has just issued an order 



providing for a more liberal treatment of 



bona fide squatters upon unsurveyed land 



which has been included within national for- 



252 



ests since the time of actual occupancy of the 

 land by the squatter. 



Under the homestead law it is impossible 

 for any one to secure legal title to unsur- 

 veyed public land, but occupancy pending sur- 

 vey IS recognized as giving a prior claim to 

 the land after survey, under what is known 

 as "squatters' rights." A squatter who had, 

 in good faith, taken possession of a piece of 

 national forest land before the national for- 

 ests were created is not dispossessed of his 

 claim by the Forest Service, and if he lives 

 upon It and cultivates it until the land has 

 been surveyed, he is able to get his homestead 

 just as though he had settled on any part of 

 tlie unreserved public domain. But since the 

 passage of the Act of June 11, 1906, which 

 permits the Secretary of Agriculture to list 

 for settlement land which he finds chiefly 

 valuable for agriculture, it has been possible 

 for squatters to apply for the listing of their 

 lands under this Act, and thus to obtain title 

 prior to the government survey. The object 

 of the new order of the Secretary is to pro- 

 vide for the listing of the full amount of land 

 which the occupant would receive if he exer- 

 cised his option of awaiting the government 

 survey, irrespective of whether or not the en- 

 tire area is cultivable, provided the claim is 

 bona fide and the land is not more valuable 

 for Its timber than for agriculture. 



Secretary Wilson's order is as follows • "A 

 person who has settled upon and continuously 

 occupied unsurveyed lands within a national 

 forest before its creation and is at the pres- 

 ent time occupying such lands in good faith 

 and is in all respects complying with the 

 homestead law, has the right to include within 

 the lines of his homestead r6o acres after the 

 land IS surveyed. Therefore, if the land is oc- 

 cupied for agricultural purposes and is not 

 more valuable for its timber than for such 

 purposes, and there are no circumstances which 

 would in the opinion of the District For- 

 ester tend to discredit the bona fides of the 

 c aimant, he should be allowed to make ap- 

 plication for the patenting of such lands un- 

 der the Act of June 11, 1906, and the exami- 

 nation for listing should be made with a view 

 of listing 160 acres of land where possible 

 Ihe tracts as listed should conform so far as 

 practicable to the form of the public land sur- 

 veys. The listing of lands as above should 

 not in any way govern the determination of 

 the total area or amount of non-cultivable 

 land listed for applicants under the Act of 

 June II, 1906, who were not residing upon the 

 land before the creation of the forest. In 

 cases where less than 160 acres of land has 

 been listed to a person who settled upon the 



